Silhouette Songbird

I'm back! I was out of town on a business trip last week, but it wasn't all work (and even the work was pretty fun I have to say). I was able to attend my cousin's wedding and visit with family while I was away. The wedding was wonderful. It was a lovely ceremony, the bride (my cousin) was breathtakingly beautiful, and the reception in my aunt's garden rivalled the Governor-General's garden parties (or at least what I imagine them to be, since I haven't actually been to one yet). And to gild the lily, I got to spend some stamping time with my aunt during the week. I got to go to her LSS too, and found some treasures that I can't wait to start using. I found out that Lisa Strahl (!) was teaching at that LSS the day I flew out. I almost changed my flight to attend, when I found that out, but I found out after I got home, so it was beyond my reach on the space-time continuum to do that. But if I coulda, I woulda.

Now, about this card. I needed a card for my boss who will be going on extended leave soon. I wanted to use a silhouette stamp, and this one was one of the first ones I found (things are still in slings in my stamping area). I had planned to do a quickie card with my brayer and an Adirondack spectrum pad, but my brayer is nowhere to be found. I hope I find it soon. I've lost my little brayer, and I hoped it would turn up in the move, but no such luck. Now the big brayer is missing too. I miss my brayers!

Anyway, back to the card. Plan B was to make my own multicoloured background using my Colorbox stylus and foam tips with chalk ink. I've used this colour combination a few times before, and I would have tried something different only my boss seems to really like these colours so I used them. I added a little branch stamp in the background with platinum brilliance ink and light blue chalk ink. The bird is embossed in black and I added a frame around the whole thing with markers. I dithered with the ribbon for some time, added it twice and took it off twice, even curling it once with my heat tool (don't heat it too much or it will get holes in it...sigh...). After deciding the holey ribbon didn't really add a lot, I cut it off, but after I had the whole thing put together, I felt it needed ribbon after all so I squeezed it back on, threading it under the image panel. I was going to add my trusty Espresso acrylic paint dots, but I could only find my bottles of the coloured paint, not the black one, so I had to use brads. They show on the inside, but not too much since they had to through five layers of cardstock.... (I know, in addition to being a brayer addict, I am also a layer addict). And that's it for the card!

This weekend is shaping up to be a good one. Today was a barbecue down by the river for work, which made for a very pleasant afternoon. It's nice to see colleagues outside the office. Then this evening after the mad-chore-dash, The Office season finale from the spring was on and I got to do some stamping! The fun continues tomorrow when we're going to the fair (my thrill-seeking 2-year-old is going to love the rides), and my elder daughter has her dear friend coming for a sleepover afterwards. Then on Saturday we get to play with our niece and nephew and then Sunday we clean the house (likely the low point of the weekend) because my parents come for a visit on Monday. I can't wait!

Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies: Stamps: Song Bird - Penny Black, In Full Bloom, Linen - Stampin' Up; Ink: Kiwi Kiss, colorbox chalk (warm violet, wisteria, lime pastel), aspen mist versa? chalk, versamark; Paper: PTI white, basic black, silver, kiwi kiss; Other: black embossing powder, black brads, orchid organdy ribbon (retired SU), Tombow marker, stylus, foam tips.