I {heart} Signs of Spring

You wouldn't know it if you looked out of the windows of my house, but spring is coming. The snow we got yesterday probably won't melt away for a month or so--I only get sunlight on the front of my house for a short time in the early morning, so once I get snow or ice, it tends to stick around for a while--but I'm looking for the signs.

This week's 3D challenge on Paper Craft Planet was to make a birdhouse. Susanna, this week's hostess, provided a fun template that you can just print on the back side of patterned paper, cut, and fold to assemble (find the info here). I went a different route and altered a small wooden birdhouse I had in my stash of alterable stuff. Yes, I had a wooden birdhouse . . . and if you're reading this, you probably have a bunch of odds and ends like I do, just waiting for an opportunity like this, so don't laugh!

For the roof, I crimped a panel of Creamy Caramel cardstock with my crimping tool (once I located it . . .). This gave the roof a nice, textured look.

I covered the bird house with patterned papers from the Sassafras Lass Sunshine Lollipops paper pad and attached the paper with Mod Podge. I used some pretty velvet ric rac along the edges of the house as trim. The front has a pink puffy heart and a dainty pink daisy for embellishment. And, since no bird house would be complete without a resident, I added a bird, cut from paper from the same paper pad using a bird die. So cute!

Materials Used:

from i {heart} papers: Sassafras Lass Sunshine Lollipops paper pad, May Arts light fuchsia velvet ric rac, The Card Co. puffy heart and pink beaded daisy, Nestabilities Nested Bird die; Hero Arts accent pearl

other: Creamy Caramel cardstock (Stampin' Up!); paper crimper (Fiskars); Mod Podge (Plaid); wooden bird house

And, here's another card featuring a different sign of spring--a cute little bunny. I know I've said this before, but I am such a sucker for bunny rabbit images! I based this card on Beate's weekend sketch challenge.

This one comes from the Spring Fling stamp set from Memory Box. It's stamped on white cardstock, embellished with some Stickles, then cut out and placed on the pink mat. The Sweet Blush and Melon Berry cardstock from Papertrey Ink are a perfect match for the colors in the SEI Mimosa designer papers I used on this card. These papers are absolutely gorgeous in person! I wrapped a piece of shimmery pink ribbon around the bottom panel of the card for just a little more sparkle.

Materials Used:

from i {heart} papers: Memory Box Spring Fling stamp set, SEI Mimosa patterned papers (Daiquiri and Pink Lady), Nestabilities circle and scalloped circle dies, Creative Impressions pink shimmery ribbon, Yellow and Cotton Candy Stickles

other: Melon Berry Palette ink, Melon Berry and Sweet Blush cardstock (Papertrey Ink); border punch (EK Success); dimensionals