Delicious Swirly Bird!

Aloha, all!

It’s been ages since I’ve had my Swirly Bird Stamp Set from Stampin’ Up! out on my work table. But now that Sale-a-Bration is over, I’ve decided to focus on some unused or rarely used stamp sets from the Stampin’ Up! 2017-2018 Annual and 2018 Occasions Catalogs. This week’s challenge picture for The Card Concept Design Team Blog pushed me right over to my stamp case to get Swirly Bird out!

I saw those swirls on the cupcakes and immediately saw the swirls in the stamp set. But it wasn’t the stamp set that I ended up using the most of – it was the coordinating Swirly Scribbles Thinlits. 

It took a while for this little design to come together. There was lots of stamping and die-cutting going on as I tried to figure out what would look right, at least to me. I finally decided on making a base image using the Layering Circles Framelits, first by cutting a piece of Whisper White Cardstock with the largest scalloped circle, then by cutting the inside “rim” of gold foil, using two of the plain circles.

Before I adhered the foil circle, I used the small swirl in the stamp set to stamp Powder Pink swirls onto the plate to mimic the design in the challenge picture.

To make the “cupcakes,” I first cut circles about the same size as the small swirls using Melon Mambo, So Saffron, and Soft Sky Cardstock. Then I cut the small swirles using the same cardstock. Finally, I cut a floral image (I used two) in each of the colors. In the real worlds, I cut all of each color at the same time, but this was after I’d figured out exactly what I wanted to do, and this was a longish thought process.

As the design came to its end, I made my final decision and that was that ALL of the various and sundry pieces and layers were going to go inside that “plate.” So I added leaves made with Garden Green Cardstock and a bow made with Garden Green 3/8″ Stitched Satin Ribbon.  Then I added “happy birthday” from the Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Set, stamped in Melon Mambo Ink and punched using the Classic Label Punch. The final touch was a small circle from the Metallic Enamel Shapes set.

The background was my last decision point. I tried several of the colors I’d already used in the design, and settled finally on Melon Mambo Cardstock, texturized with the Simple Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder from the Occasions Catalog.

This was fun! I love these challenges and they really have pushed me kicking and screaming – and lots of die-cutting – out of my comfort zone. It’s a great feeling, and it goes nicely along with my new blog look, too!