One For The Birds

Once upon a time, a very nice lady let me play with an unreleased stamp set at a retreat. This lady's name is Gina, and her beautiful daughter Alicia - my fellow black cat enthusiast - designed this incredible stamp set that makes for GORGEOUS watercolored cards. It's like classic nature illustrations and contains the scientific names of the birds, so it would make such a great gift set of cards for a bird lover. As a matter of fact, as I was painting this first little birdie at the retreat, after stamping it in Fadeout Ink, my friend Kat asked if she could have it for her mother, who is an avid birder. So when I was done painting it, I left it without a sentiment so she could send it to her mom.

I was using the "Lydia split" of Daniel Smith watercolor - basically I've curated a collection of my favorite Daniel Smith colors into a split that will be for sale later this month in my group. I've worked with it for two trips now and it's pretty perfect. I've painted a variety of subject matter with it and I never find myself looking for a color I don't have. So behold - Alicia's beautiful bird #1. This set also comes in a bundle with matching dies.

Snow Birds [ GNK ] Snow Birds Bundle [ GNK ] Fruit of the Season StampTV Kit [ GNK ] *What's New - Gina K. Designs, LLC [ GNK ] Fadeout No Line coloring Detail Ink [ INK ] VersaFine Clair Ink Pad, Nocturne -... [ ELH | SSS ] Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors [ BLIC ] Escoda Versatil Brushes, Travel Round... [ UTR | BLIC | INK ] Da Vinci Cosmotop Sable Mix F Brushes... [ BLIC | ELH ] Fabriano Extra White Cold Press... [ BLIC ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- White [ GNK ] Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045 [ SSS | ELH | CST | ART ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Nesting Porcelain Bowls - BLICK art... [ BLIC ] My Favorite Watercolor Sketchbook [ UTR ] Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue [ ART | BLIC | ELH | SSS | MFT ] Absorber - Synthetic Cleaning Cloth [ AMZUS ] Mudder 10 Pack White Buffer Sanding... [ AMZUS ] Xyron ADHESIVE ERASER 23675 [ SSS | ART | AMZUS ] Essentials by Ellen Storage... [ ELH ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH | SSS ] Ink Off Cloth [ INK ]

I stamped the other two birds too and I love them so much! I googled this one to get accurate colors, but the shape of each of these birds could be used for a wide variety of types of birds, just with a little different paint. Instead of just the blue glow I love and used above, I gave this little guy more of a hint of a sky and thought this would make a fun Christmas card with this STUNNING kit sentiment stamped in Nocturne.

And last - why should the male cardinals get all the glory? I made mine a female - I love seeing the little females in the yard, with their soft suede coloring and hints of red. I used this sentiment again from the beautiful kit for another Christmas card.

Are those not incredible images? I am so grateful to Gina & Alicia for these inspiring stamps, and for getting to play with them a bit early. Nice ladies, those.

She has some other AMAZING stamps out tonight - so check those out here. My wallet is endangered! :)

Loveyameanitbye.