Cardinal on a pine branch

This cardinal was so fun and easy to make!  Having all of the pieces together in the die set is great and makes it very simple.  Add snow to the pine sprigs or cut from glitter white paper and it will be a lovely Christmas card.  Although I often think of cardinals at Christmas time, there is a couple in my back garden that come to visit mainly in the summer.  My next project is to try to use the same die set and create a Blue Jay…stay tuned!

Cardinal on a Branch

Materials:

Cardinal Die (Dee’s Distinctively)                          IME091

Branch                                                                              IME095

Ponderosa Sprig                                                           IME096

Embossing Folder Delicate Hearts                        ECF1003

Stampendous liquid embossing ink

Embossing powder

Red, orange, brown pigment inks

Green, Red, Ivory, Black, Brown Card Stock

Double-sided tape

Glue pen

Foam tabs (0.5mm 1.5 mm)

Die Cutting Machine

Heat gun

Instructions:

1. Cut a piece of green card stock 10” x 7” and fold in half.
2. Cut a piece of ivory card stock 4.5 x 6.5”.
3. Emboss the bottom third of the card using the Embossing folder.  Score a few lines above the embossing as shown to make it look like a fence.
4. Attach the ivory embossed layer to the green card using double-sided tape.
5. Use pigment ink or embossing ink on a piece of lightweight green cards stock to add variation to the color.  Add embossing powder and heat to create a sheen.  Then use the ponderosa sprig die to cut all of the pine sprigs at once.  It is easier to create the desired colored paper first then die cut the pine sprigs rather than do each one individually.
6. Die cut the branch from brown card stock.
7. Place the branch on the card as desired using foam tabs.
8. Add the ponderosa pine sprigs to the branch to create the pine branch using foam tabs.
9. Die cut the cardinal out of red card stock and the face mask and feet out of black card stock.  All of the pieces for the cardinal are included in the cardinal die
10. Use some pigment ink on the body of the cardinal to create depth and shading.   I used some red over the body and some orange on the beak and then added some brown/black over the wings.  Sprinkle with embossing powder and heat with your heat gun.  Repeat the above step until you have the desired shading.
11. Glue or use double sided-tape to attach the black face mask (I put grey behind the eye) to the cardinal as shown.
12. Attach the wings to the body using foam tabs.
13. Attach the feet to the body of the cardinal using a glue pen.
14. Attach the cardinal to the card using foam tabs.