Hello to all you Arties visiting my blog! I hope your day has brought you a fresh load of creative passion. How great to have you stop by. Angie, from Concord & 9th, wrote me a few weeks ago to ask if I would like to guest design for this month’s release. I played it cool, but on the inside I nearly burst with excitement.

When the full release came in the mail, I just could not wait to get started with it. Each stamp set from Concord & 9th brims with well-thought out and open-ended designs, so possibilities never end. Plus, they make the stamps with high-quality photopolymer, so they stand up to a good stamping and lay down an even image.

This week, I want to show you four cards I made using the Songbird stamp set. Supplies appear at the bottom of the page. (I may use affiliate links at no additional cost to you.)

Missing You
The first card, Missing You, features a songbird colored like the state bird of Missouri, the Eastern Bluebird. Originally from Missouri, I now live a world away in Rhode Island, so my “Missing You” goes out to my beautiful home.

I stamped the images of the songbird, branch and leaves in Copic friendly Memento Rich Cocoa Ink on Neenah Classic Crest 110lb cardstock. Then I colored them in using Copic markers: (Bird — Blues: B29, B04, B45, B41, Orange/Yellow: YR04, YR31, E08, Y28 Gray: N04. Branch — Gray N04 Leaves: G29, G07, E39, Y28, YG17)

I stamped the sentiment, Missing You, from the Songbird stamp set. Then, I colored the edges of another panel of cardstock, cut just a bit larger than the main panel, with a B29 Copic marker. I layered them all together and that finished off the first card.

You Make My Heart Sing
For the second card, I stamped a 4.25 x 5.5 piece of Strathmore Cold Press watercolor with clear embossing ink and white heat embossed the image of the bird and branch. Then, using my Arteza Real Brush Pens, I began to add layers of color by adding swatches of watercolor ink and blending them in, drying them with a heat gun and repeating the process with different colors. I added a sentiment on vellum with silver heat embossing, adhered them all together with some liquid adhesive and attached it to a Neenah Classic Crest White card base.

You’re In My Thoughts
Next up, another Arteza Real Brush Pens card with a monochromatic palette. I layered several different shades of black and gray and then stamped the image of the songbird and branch on top. Then, I added some shading to the image with an Arteza pen and blended it out with the water pen Arteza includes in their set. The sentiment, “You’re in My Thoughts,” comes from the same stamp set.

You Are Wonderful
Finally, for my last project, I did a five-minute card, stamping the songbird and branch image along with some pine needles and a pine cone on some Neenah Desert Storm card stock with Versafine Onyx Black Ink. Then I stamp the bird’s head and beak on some scrap paper and cut it out to make a mask for the berries. I stamped the berries and colored them in with Arteza Real Brush Pens in three shades of red. The sentiment, “You Are Wonderful,” comes from the same Songbird stamp set.

I hope you have enjoyed these cards! If you want to purchase supplies to make these cards yourself, please use the affiliate links, at no additional cost to you.

Concord & 9th Songbird Stamp Set (from Concord & 9th)

Concord & 9th Full October 2018 Release (from Concord & 9th)

Arteza Real Brush Pens 96 Count (from Amazon)

Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb card stock (from Amazon)

Tonic Studios Tim Holtz Glass Mat (from Scrapbook)

Tonic Studios Tim Holtz Mini Trimmer (from Scrapbook)

Versafine Onyx Black Ink (from Scrapbook)

Neenah Desert Storm Cardstock (from Amazon)

Vellum Cardstock (from Scrapbook)

Copic Sketch Markers (from Amazon)

Copic Sketch Markers (from Blick)