Digging into the Magpie's Hoard

The sun actually made an appearance and - hey presto - I had cards to make! First there was a friend who needed our telephone number so out came my hoard of magpie treasures and I set to work! I used the parrot from @Retro Cafe Art's pack of cut-out birds to add humour and I provided her with a glamorous golden wing from one of Retro Cafe Art's Dresden foil swallows.

The 'retro' prince on the telephone is from one of my Oxfam, vintage knitwear patterns. The tags are made using a Tim Holtz 'Movers and Shapers' die; the papers are from 'Bo Bunny' and the antique clock tape is from Retro Cafe Art. I stamped some script in Peacock distress ink across the tags. The colours and images give a nineteen fifties feel to this card, I feel. It is quite different to my usual style so it was really fun to make and quick too. For a friend's birthday I indulged my love of serene blues (Pacific Blue) and greens (Hyde Park) in Fresco paint from @Paper Artsy and collaged Debrina Pratt fashion images and birds against stamped script and a stencilled background.

The card was three-fold so I was able to create three different mini collages.

Here is the card folded out to display the different images and backgrounds inside.

Finally, I needed to say 'Thank you' for a day spent with a friend at her home in Saint Margaret's Bay near Dover. It was the first almost Spring day we'd had and her garden has such a fairy-tale quality I wanted to capture it in the card: there was a really glossy blackbird with a bright orange beak just like this one, drinking from her fountain too! I created some window cards like this a few Christmases ago and then I was reminded of this idea again when looking at Suzanne Csozek's 'Bluebell Wood' contribution to the Paper Artsy blog, where she had used a Paper Artsy window stamp to open out onto an image inside the card.

The window is a stamp by 'Crafty Individuals'. I used Fresco Paints - Ice blue, Pacific Blue and Sky, Hyde Park and Zesty Zing. The Black-bird and collage picture inside the card of the 'Mad tea-party' are both from Retro Cafe Art. Below is a view of inside the card. There are two cut-out eggs hidden in the grass!

The last image is of the view through the window!

Thanks for looking!