bird ballad card for the Pals Blog Hop — critter edition!

Welcome to the Pals’ Blog Hop! We’re so glad you’re here. You may be starting the hop here or coming from a previous Pal’s blog. Either way, you’ve come to the right place. This month we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Pals Blog Hop with “Critters” from the Stampin’ Pretty Pals. Many of the design team members are offering “Mystery Blog Candy” of their choice to 1 lucky winner. To play along, just leave a comment on as many blog posts as desired. A random winner will be announced on a subsequent blog post by each participating design team member. You’ll find the full line-up below to help you “hop” along from Pal to Pal.

Fussy cutting! Everybody’s favorite papercrafting technique, am I right??

Today I’m sharing another card made using the Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper. Making this card is super simple: first, spend hours and hours fussy cutting birds and flowers from your DSP! (Moderately helpful note: as it turns out, you will probably need way more flowers than birds. Less helpful note: as it turns out, flowers are trickier and more time-consuming to cut than birds!)

About a month ago I was looking to make a non-traditional Valentine’s Day card and I ended up making one with a lot of elements cut out from the DSP and arranged in a heart shape. But actually I was super-indecisive about what birds to use and what colors I wanted, and once I started cutting things I just couldn’t stop (it’s an addiction!) and I actually have a whole pile of cut-out stuff that I finally picked from to make the card.

This meant, naturally, that I had a ton of leftover cut-out birds and flowers (handily sitting in the exquisitely-themed Bird Ballad tin that the laser-cut cards come in) and so I went a little crazy making another card with them. The technique is quite similar; building up the card in this diagonal layout with layers and using dimensionals to pop up some of the birds and flowers.

This card is for Mother’s Day (I feel so ahead of the game for having this done already) but since the sentiment is just this super simple thing I stamped in Pool Party on a scrap of white cardstock and attached to the top corner, you could change it up and use it for any sort of vaguely-bird-related occasion! (Another advantage of the diagonal layout–no fiddling around trying to get all these uncooperative birds into a heart shape like I had to do for the Valentine’s card! Diagonals–in style for every occasion!)

I added a few of the Bird Ballad Trinkets (just the flowers because I thought they fit in the best, and also I used up all the keys making my Cherry Cobbler Key Cards) and that was it! Though, also, I should add, I think this kind of card looks great with a few of the leaves sticking off the edges of the card, but that introduces some complications if you want to send it through the mail.

More inspiration awaits! Use the Blog Hop Line-up below to visit the rest of this month’s Design Team. My fellow Pals are excited to show you what they’ve created! Mark your calendars for Wednesday, April 8th, for our “Special Occasions” blog hop when our Design Team showcase projects for weddings, graduation, anniversary, baby, Mother’s/Father’s Day or any special occasion. Don’t miss the fun!

  1. Mary Fish at Stampin’ Pretty  First Hop – January 2010
  2. Rae Harper Burnet at Wild West Paper Arts First Hop – May 2011
  3. Brian King at Stamp with Brian First Hop – June 2012
  4. Peggy Noe at Pretty Paper Cards First Hop – September 2012
  5. Katy McGloin at Just Fun Stamping First Hop – March 2013
  6. Debbie Mageed at Secrets to Stamping First Hop – March 2013
  7. Lisa Ann Bernard at Queen B Creations First Hop – August 2013
  8. Amanda Merrill at Inkflair First Hop – April 2014
  9. Wendy Klein at Doggone Delightful Stampin’ First Hop – May 2014
  10. Beth McCullough at Stamping Mom First Hop – September 2014
  11. Jennifer Michalski at Stamping Serenity First Hop – January 2015
  12. Pamela Sadler at Stampin Pink Rose First Hop – January 2015
  13. Tricia Chuba at ButterDish Designs First Hop – June 2015
  14. Debra Simonis at Deb’s Stampin’ Grounds First Hop – July 2015
  15. Karen Hallam at Karen’s Stamping Habit First Hop – September 2015
  16. Jeanie Stark at Just Stampin’ First Hop – August 2016
  17. Mary Hanson at Up North Stampin’ First Hop – September 2016
  18. Jackie Beers at Blue Line Stamping First Hop – April 2017
  19. Stesha Bloodhart at Stampin’ Hoot! First Hop – May 2017
  20. Su Mohr at Aromas And Art First Hop – June 2017
  21. Leah O’Brien at Ink, Paper, Stamps, Oh My! First Hop – February 2018
  22. Lori Pinto at LollyPop Paper and Ink First Hop – June 2018
  23. Jen Roque at Stamp Camp with Jen First Hop – October 2019
  24. Ann Murray at Murray Stamps Ink First Hop – November 2019
  25. Sue Jackson at Just Peachy Stamping First Hop – January 2020
  26. Deb Walker at Deb Stamps Life First Hop – March 2020

68 Responses to “bird ballad card for the Pals Blog Hop — critter edition!”

Read below or add a comment...

  1. Shannon Miller says:

    One of my favorite sets is the bird ballad one. Pretty card!

    • amanda says:

      I love the stamp set, too, but lately I’ve gone crazy with this coordinating DSP and haven’t stamped a thing with it for months!

  2. Pat Stewart says:

    All those birdies!!!! Such a nice card. Thank you.

  3. Jackie Beers says:

    Oh my! This card is gorgeous!! All the birds layered is so pretty.

    • amanda says:

      Hi Jackie! I really like the affect you get when it’s just a CRAZY amount of cut out birds–I’ve seen some cards with just a few birds, or often just one to serve as the focal point, and they are very pretty too but I wanted something a little more wild here….my mother better appreciate all the hours of fussy cutting that I did to make this card for her! 🙂

  4. Patricia Allison says:

    I enjoy fussy cutting as well, and this bird ballad DSP is captivating! Lovely card!

  5. Linda says:

    Love the effect of the massive quantity of birds and flowers on the card. I, too, like bits hanging off the card front. Feels so much more organic. Great project

  6. Debstamps says:

    I always love to see how others put their own stamp on things! A terrific showcase my fellow fussy cutter/bird enthusiast!

  7. Cindy O says:

    I love to fussy cut, so this is a great card for me. Thank you!

  8. Jen Roque says:

    This is a stunning card! You must really love to fussy cut, but this card was well worth your effort! Thanks for sharing!

  9. Janeen says:

    Wow! That’s a lot of work, beautiful card!

  10. Linda White says:

    Your colors and card are beautiful

  11. Mary Beth Ayers says:

    Such a pretty card! All of those fussy cut birds are amazing! I feel like it needs just a few more birds though. 🙂

  12. Pat Crocker says:

    Absolutely magnificent card! Thank you.

  13. Jeanie H Stark says:

    WOW! THat’s a lot of fussy cutting! I love the Bird Ballad DSP and this is such a pretty Mothers Day card idea! Thanks for sharing!

  14. MaryB says:

    Wow! Gorgeous card! It is truly a work of heart! That’s a lot of fussy cutting!

  15. Laurie says:

    Wow! So beautiful!

  16. Kim says:

    I love the bird ballad paper too! Nice design.

  17. Judi Beran says:

    What detail! Beautiful

  18. Jody says:

    Beautiful! Nice design! Love the bird ballad dsp!

  19. Susan Beranek says:

    LOVE….LOVE…..This Card !

  20. Denise Wekwert says:

    Love your Mother’s Day card with all those adorable birds.

  21. Lorna Wooldridge says:

    This card is just simply beautiful. 🙂

  22. JoAnn Porter says:

    great mothers day card

  23. Tricia Chuba says:

    Fabulous collage style card Amanda!

  24. Elaine H Holland says:

    Beautiful card. You have to really love fussy cutting and you do a great job.

  25. suzy mcbride says:

    It’s beautiful and worth all the cutting!

  26. Robin Daus says:

    Lovely birds

  27. Lisa Slonecker says:

    I love the color combinations of this card!

  28. Sue Seipel says:

    Love your work! Well done!

  29. OPAL LARKIN says:

    A lot of birds and greenery require a lot of coloring,. Great card.

  30. Sonny Peterson says:

    Wow ! This is a beauty ! I love to fussy cut and I have this paper …yay ! Thank you for the hint about doing the layout on the diagonal !
    Plus I was hesitant to start cutting out the birds without a layout plan !
    Love it !!

  31. Candy Rude says:

    I have the birds stamp and Designer Paper and love it! Love your card ideas for the set. They are beautiful!

  32. Kathy Beemer says:

    I’m crushin’ on these birds!!!

  33. Lynnette VanDerWerff says:

    Beautiful card! That’s a lot of fussy cutting!

  34. Sue Jackson says:

    Beautiful card and your fussy cutting is fabulous! Love all the layers!

  35. Wow, Amanda!! What a stunner! I thought I liked to fussy cut but you have taken it to a whole new level. This card is incredible! I am so, so happy you joined us for the blog hop and really hope you join us again next month.

  36. Pat C. says:

    Love those birds!

  37. Angie Latham says:

    Great job!!!

  38. Totally gorgeous! I like to cut out images, too. It’s a lot of work, but on paper it looks like they could jump off the page! Very special card!

  39. Rae Burnet says:

    This is so beautiful Amanda. Thanks for hopping with us again.

  40. Carol B. says:

    WOW! Your “fussy cutting” is over the top!

  41. Su Mohr says:

    Amazing fussy cutting, Amanda! Welcome back!

  42. Shirley Madsen says:

    Thanks for sharing your wonderful card showing these adorable birds.

  43. Marti says:

    Your card is amazing! All the careful cutting done so well and arranged beautifully. I want to try this. I don’t mind cutting small things if I can take breaks; hope I can do as well as you. This is one of the prettiest cards using Bird Ballad dsp that I have seen.

  44. Dana M says:

    Wow, gorgeous card! Love the explosion of florals, perfect next for the lovely birds.

  45. Carlyn Lamb says:

    Wow…that’s a lot of fussy cutting! The card is beautiful! Love all the birds and layers!

  46. Patty S. of Ohio says:

    That’s a lot of birds! Looks like a great gathering for Spring! Beautiful card!

  47. Geann K says:

    I love this bird card. So pretty

  48. Sandimn says:

    What a beautiful bird card. I am not much of a bird watcher but love this stamp. I love to fussy
    Cut so this would be good for me. Congrats. 10 th.

  49. Lynne says:

    Beautiful card. So much detail. Well done.

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    magnificent points altogether, you simply won a brand new reader.
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  51. Justin says:

    Great post.

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