Pop Up Bird Houses

Hello friends.  No challenges today...just finally getting around to playing with a die set that I bought eons ago after debating whether I would really use it, and then of course bought it and there it sat!  Drives me nuts that I do that...HAVE to have it, and then don't use it!  Sometimes I wonder if I like the shopping more than I do the creating??  Nah...just a bit lazy, but I do eventually get around to using everything!!

So anyway, today I have two pop up easel cards for you using Poppystamps Bird House Pop Up Easel Set, and let me tell you, once I started making these, I wanted to make even more, and questioned why I had waited SOOOOO long?!!  So take a look:

The die set is made to be used as a Christmas card, but I watched Jennifer McGuire do a video (HERE) and she showed different ways to make it a non-Christmas card too, so that's what I did.  A Springtime one and a Christmas one.

Let's start with the Christmas one.  The dies start with a base die that I cut with white and this piece has the folds scored into it so that it will work as an easel card.  I added a kraft layer next and then a red layer.  The red layer has horizontal lines already scored into it, but I also used a MB Pinpoint Snowflake Plate die to add a bit more design to the front of the bird house.  I sponged all the edges with Soft Suede ink to give a bit of a vintage look, and then added the Cardinal and branches.  I also added a few tiny die cut snowflakes from IO.  The sentiment is from an older PTI Christmas sentiments set.  I also added a bit of Distress Glitter to the snowflakes and branches.  Super easy to assemble and I love the way it turned out!!

Here's my Springtime birdhouse, and I basically did everything the same, except for stenciling on the lower half of the birdhouse with Gina K's Funky Flourish Stencil and then added a miniature grapevine wreath die cut that my sweet friend Birgit gifted me from Creative Expressions.  It was like the wreath was made specifically for this bird house...love it when that happens!!  The tiny leaves and flowers are from SU!'s Sweet As A Peach die set, and the sentiment is a freebie from a Taylored Expressions order.

I was trying to take a picture of how the card looks popped up, but I don't do so well with dimensional photography!  Hopefully you can sort of see what it looks like propped up as an easel card!  Oh, and I used the same bird die that comes with the set for my Springtime card but just cut off the top part of the cardinals head so it didn't look like a blue Cardinal...hope that makes sense?!!  So there you have it...a Christmas AND a Springtime card both using the same die set, and I'm already thinking about a Fall card too using this set!  Stay tuned...

I will be adding this card to Darnell's NBUS  as I think it definitely qualifies considering how loooooong it sat in my craft room without being used!

                                        Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!