As I was looking through all my designer paper to see which one spoke to me to make a card, perhaps with scraps, it was the Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper that won out, but as I looked through my scraps, what was not a scrap was the pattern with various bird cages printed on the Calypso Coral background. I had a full sheet of this particular paper and decided to use it some way to make a card! It wasn’t a favorite of mine!

Once I cut out a piece to be a layer on a Calypso Coral card base I started liking the design better, especially after I put a thin margin of Whisper White Cardstock underneath. I even used that piece of Whisper White to cut out the Whisper White oval I used on the front of the card. Just don’t tell anyone! I don’t often do it, but it is a little trick you can use if you really want to save paper and if you are positive it will not be apparent to the look of the card.

Because of the sizes of the ovals and needing a large oval on which to layer the bird, I chose a scalloped oval from the Layering Ovals Dies and die cut that out of Whisper White and die cut a plain oval out of Calypso Coral.

Next, I chose a bird that I liked on the scraps I had of the Bird Ballad Designer Paper. I simply cut out the bird, branch, and flowers myself with my Paper Snips while watching TV! You do not have to get into every nook and cranny when you cut something out yourself and I do not find it difficult at all. One tip Stampin’ Up! gave us years ago was to cut just a tiny bit off the actual image instead of on the actual line of the image because that is a little more forgiving in your cutting if it is not exactly perfect. Just do whatever is the easiest for you.

After I cut out the bird, I really like the way it layered on the ovals and how the colors all went together well with the background of the bird cage paper.

I decided to use the “Hello” greeting in the Free As a Bird Stamp Set that coordinates with the designer paper. I was afraid to just stamp it directly in the empty space on the Whisper White lest I make some kind of mess! Maybe if I had planned ahead because you should usually do your stamping first and then other steps. But I opted to stamp and die cut with the little wavy banner in the Ornate Frames Dies. I have loved these dies since they came out in the past Holiday Catalog with a Halloween stamp set, but they are great to use in lots of other ways!

Putting a little “Hello” on a card makes it perfect for almost any reason to send a card, especially just a note to catch up with a friend or family member. On the inside of the card, I adhered a Whisper White layer either with a couple flowers stamped with Calypso Coral Ink or a strip of matching designer paper along the bottom edge of that Whisper White layer.

Here’s another card I made with a different pattern of the Bird Ballad paper. I didn’t care for every sheet in this package of designer paper but several I thought were just beautiful. So if you like this paper, be sure to get some on the Last-Chance List before it is gone. The last date to order retiring products is June 2, 2020.

Remember to do some fussy cutting with good scissors for that like the Paper Snips if you don’t want to stamp or if you like an image on the designer paper. In some cases, you might be able to punch or die-cut a circle or oval from the paper, but I find fussy cutting is a good stress reliever! And remember that sometimes a piece of designer paper that you didn’t think you cared for can really turn into a pretty card like this Bird Ballad Bird Cage Paper Card.