Inspired By: Studio Calico wood birds!

Hey you guys! How are you this week? Is anyone out there taking the Kick Start Your Creativity class with Jennifer and Kristina? I am honored to be one of the guest artists for the class, so I’ve been hanging out and watching the videos — and I must say, it’s been very inspiring so far! (And, you can register at any time for the class, so come and join us.)

Anyhow, in one of the lessons, Kristina talked about how she is inspired by craft supplies in and of themselves. So when I was finishing off a birthday card I was sitting there thinking to myself “Hmmm, this really needs something. I sure wish I had a wood veneer heart to go with these Studio Calico birds…” and then CLICK! a light bulb went off and I decided to try and make my own. It was really super easy!

Here’s the finished card!

Don’t the hearts just make the card? Here’s how I made them:

First, I used the Holiday Shapes die to cut out one set of hearts from birch paper — it’s real birch wood, too cool! (I’ll admit that I’ve been hoarding this paper for a while, but now I know what to do with it, ha!)

Then I wanted to make the hearts as thick as the birds, so I cut two sets of hearts from some chipboard that I’d saved from a package of 12×12 paper. (I like to save this chipboard, it always comes in handy!). I found that by using a metal shim adapter plate the die cut through the chipboard and the birch paper like butter. WOO!

I stuck two chipboard hearts together with glossy accents, and stuck a birch heart on top. Next, I colored the edges of the hearts with a brown marker to make them look like the Studio Calico birds. Here’s a top-down look so that you can see it better:

I added a little pearl on top of each heart to go with the doily and the white embossing — and to hide the little “pimple” from the circle in the die cut, ha ha! Note that when you cut these out of cardstock you usually don’t get the zit, but since the birch paper is thicker it does show — you can see them in the photo above with the marker. But add a pearl or a gem and no one will ever know! :)

Supplies:

Of course, I had to add a little washi to the card too, ha! (Love this set of traditional Japanese patterns where the lacy gray washi came from.) And I also love the neon purple with all of the neutrals — I got that idea from my neon pinterest board.

If you’d like to see some more posts where I’m inspired by something you can check them all out here. There’s not very many yet — I should do more!

11 Replies to “Inspired By: Studio Calico wood birds!”

  1. Awesome. I have wood. I have chipboard. I’ve been making my own “thick” elements, but not out of wood, yet. Thanks for the great idea!

  2. Your hearts turned out great! They’re the perfect finishing touch to your beautiful card!

  3. Totally cool! You’re a genius!

  4. Absolutely awesome! You are such a genius!!! :)

  5. Oh how gorgeous :) I completely bypassed getting the purple neon ink – I feel a re-consideration coming on – LOL!

  6. barbara lassiter says:

    I often make my own “chipboard like” embellishments and have been wishing for some that looked like wood veneer! I don’t have that paper (yet), but I do have a wood grain stamp and a wood grain embossing folder! I’ll have to see what I can do because this card is just so cute and gives me lots of ideas with which to play!!!! Thanks. I always find inspiration on your blog!

  7. Cute, cute, cute! Love your birch paper hearts!

  8. I take this class!!! I won a spot in their former class (through your blog) and loved it so much that I signed up for the very next class. [I loved your guest post so much – in both classes, by the way]. It’s funny as I was inspired by the same lesson on Kick Start, but used Jennifer’s post-it idea to come up with things to do with a new craft die I bought from Simon Says Stamp. Small world :)

  9. So clever!! Thanks for sharing, Lisa! Love your card. Off to get some of the goodies you used! =)

  10. Perfect match of the hearts to the birds. You convinced me! :-)

  11. Barb Ghigliotty says:

    Such a fun idea, Lisa! Thanks for sharing your inspiration with us :-)

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