Stampin' Up! bird builder punch & Take Care stamp set

Have been having so much fun with my new stamp sets & punches.  There is nothing nicer on these freezing cold, dark nights than sitting at my craft table surrounded by all my lovely new things getting inspirational.  Some things work and some don't quite but part of the fun is learning and each time I make something I don't quite I'm learning.

So, what have I started with :-

• bird builder punch
• New Take Care stamp set
• Teeny tiny sentiments stamp set
• word window punch
• Pumpkin pie & old olive card stock
• soft suede, lucky limeade, early espresso & calypso coral ink pads

The card stock I bought came in 12 different colours (great value starter pack at £6.25 for 24 large sheets) so I can create lots of different cards & decide which are my favourite colours before I buy whole packs of same colour. Brilliant.

I have already bought a variety of ink pads & because everything really mixes & matches again I can experiment working out what colours blend and go together the best.

I used a sponging technicque on the bird to create a red breast & body & just sponged a little heavier on the beak.  I did the same on the little leaves & twig.  The blessings sentiment I stamped out using the word window punch.

Second card is really simple but I kinda like it. Simply stamped tree with 2 little decorations taken from  christmas deer set to just set it off.

Now for one that didn't work! Reckon its good to sometimes put things that don't work so here it is. Thought as I was using quite bright card stock with the pumpkin pie I would just use brown & green for the bird & the little eggs for the border.  Unfortunately I think it looks a little drab & probably would have looked better if I had mounted the bird on a white or light coloured backgound. I do like using the little eggs as a border though so that is something to use on another card.