Krafting a Nest

Hello and welcome everyone.  I hope you're finding some time to play this weekend - at whatever it is that gives you joy.

I'm here to catch up with some long neglected duties and pleasures.  Owing to the absence of a working printer, I've fallen behind with offering you any inspiration pieces using images from the fabulous Nicecrane Designs.  Well, I'm now back up and running, so I'm here with a pair of cards (and matching envelopes too!) in the hopes that doing the double will at least partly make up for it!

It's also been far too long since I managed to play along over at Frilly and Funkie - life just keeps getting in the way - so I'm delighted to offer these up for the Birds and Nests challenge there, as well as having "krafted" them so that they'd fit in with Simon Says Stamp and Show's Kraft challenge.

There is also a challenge over at 13arts where the theme is A House, with a recycled element involved, and at least two different media.  There were lots of birdhouses amongst the amazing DT inspiration - but I've taken it a step further: these nests are the houses for my birds - so I'm hoping this will fit there too...

I started with some images from the beautiful Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady.

The lovely Ignacio of Nicecrane has produced these images both in pre-coloured and the non-coloured versions I've used.










That means you can choose to colour them yourself or, as I have, leave them in sketch form.

I printed two of the bird images onto kraft paper and tore and inked the edges.













The next layer is of watercolour paper, again torn and inked to provide a lighter frame before we get to - guess what! - yes, corrugated card!








I'm going to own up here - I had "finished" these cards once already, but I just wasn't happy with them - but then I never am with cards... I find them really hard for some incalculable reason.  So I thought I should call it a day and get on with something else.

But then I suddenly remembered the birds' nests I won in some fab candy from the lovely Miss Danielle Renee way back when.

So the cards went back to the craft table, got ripped to pieces, and I started to layer in some extra elements.






It seems fitting that one year on from when this blog started, with a complete obsession with the colour combination blue & brown, that I'm back there this week!

One of the nests had some very pale turquoise eggs, and another had some that were a deeper shade.







So I grabbed the Broken China and Salty Ocean Distress Paints and added some colour to my corrugated card.














While the paint was still wet, I dipped it into clear UTEE and heated for a wet-look, textured finish.











The Salty Ocean turned out to be slightly less greeny than the eggs themselves... solution - give the eggs a touch of paint, obviously.













In my pile of half-makes and leftovers was a sheet of kraft on which I'd used up spare Picket Fence DP when stamping the wooden rulers to make my Tools of the Trade tag.

There was just enough to tear into two additional panels to insert between the corrugated card and my white background.









The borders are done with a stamp from the Autumn Leaves Stampology On the Edge set, and then given just a hint of the Distress Paint colour for that card.

I also edged a couple of bark hearts with the appropriate colours and added them to the mix.

The matching envelopes each have a slightly larger version of the images. 

They've also got the border stamp and are edged with the matching DP.













Again the images were printed on kraft paper -which I really like against the white, especially with that edging of Vintage Photo Distress ink.

The sentiments of course are by Tim Holtz - a couple of my favourites!

I'm still not entirely convinced, to be honest, but I quite like them - given they're cards, and I really don't get on with making cards - and they're certainly an improvement on the first version.  

Who knows, I may end up ripping them to pieces again and adding more!

The thing I do know is I love the images themselves, and there are thousands more where they come from.









So I really recommend paying Nicecrane Designs a visit - not only lots of beautiful images, of so many different types and styles, but at a really great price too...

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Looking forward to seeing you again soon either here, or elsewhere in Craftyblogland.

There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before.
Robert Lynd

I'm entering this in the following:
Frilly and Funkie's challenge Birds and Nests
Kraft at Simon Says Stamp and Show
At 13arts they are playing the theme House - my birds live in the nests, so that's home for them, and my corrugated card is recycled from a packaging box, and I've used paints and inks.