Hello Bluebird | Fairy Garden & Garden Friends

In the far away land of make believe

Where fairies dance

And ladybugs swing
 Under golden light
 As bluebells chime to their delight

And the whirl-about goes round!

Hello dear bluebird friends, welcome to my front porch!

Did you have a wonderful and blessed Easter?

We are settling back into a routine after having guests for the weekend.

Last week we talked a little about mediums and styles.  This week I thought it might be nice to settle back and take a look at a card creation that incorporates both - patterned paper, copic marker AND two stamp sets that bring the magical land of make believe to life.

I cannot take a walk through the gardens of Middleton or Magnolia without seeing fairies (she smiles).  You might say, "Oh Susie, how can that be?"  Well, when you see bald cypress knees grouped together as if they were extended family, or petite blossoms growing along the waters edge, and hanging moss that looks like a long grey beard, it's difficult not to believe.  It's easy to envision the scene above.   And that's just what I did.

The beautifully illustrated stamps sets, Fairy Garden and Garden Friends from Hello Bluebird are meant to interact together, and scaled to do so.

I started this card by cutting patterned paper with the Grassy Knoll stand alone die.  I color-tipped the ends of the grass with a darker green from my Copic marker to provide contrast against the light blue patterned paper of the sky.  If you look close you'll see slight pink wisps of color that are part of the patterned paper design.  I deepened the pink a little more with my Polychromos pencil.

Then I began to build my scene with style!  The toadstool from Garden Friends was the perfect center element for a magical merry go round.  Can you imagine how much fun that would be in the land of make believe?!  I pierced the toadstool in three locations.   A little strip of woodgrain patterned paper snipped into a tiny rectangles became the swing seat for our little ladybugs to stand on.  And embroidery thread their handlebars.  I shortened the right side to give the appearance of swinging upward and the left a little lower as they whirl about.

Bluebells from Fairy Garden shimmer in golden light and play their magical tune as the butterfly from Garden Friends looks on, and the snail glides along the forest floor.  All the stamped images were colored with Copic markers.  Some were adhered flat, while others with adhesive mounting tape to give depth and dimension.  A peek through a grassy field of bluebells on a sunny day, where ladybugs play to the delight of their garden friends.

   What lies beneath black waters still and deep where gossamer wings doth fly? Sentinels of bald cypress knees keep watch by day and twilight casts last light as fairies dance and play.

I hope you've been inspired to create with imagination in mind as you step into the land of make believe with Hello Bluebird Stamps.

Hello Bluebird | Preview Day 1 |Fairy Garden

Fairy Garden and Garden Friends

The soft stars are shinning,

The moon is alight;

The folk of the forest

Are dancing tonight...

~ Katherine Davis

1892 - 1980

Hello Bluebird friends!   Welcome to my front porch, and to the first day of previews for the new April release.  I will be sharing a new card with you for the next four days which will culminate on release night, April 16th at 7:00pm MST, when the release goes live on the Hello Bluebird Stamps website.

Come sit with me a while -- let's have a glass of sweet tea and I'll show you what's new this month.

Living in the coastal low country of South Carolina adds to the magical illustration of these new release stamp sets, Fairy Garden and Garden Friends.   Each time I take my camera to the beautiful gardens of Middleton and Magnolia, or our own garden, I am transported to a land of make believe.  Where fairies gather under the moonlight to play with woodland friends, ring the bells of lavender blue, and cast their spells of twinkling dust, and dance in the light of the sliv'ry moon!

The Fairy Garden set includes seventeen images plus two sentiments.  Garden Friends includes thirteen images and three sentiments - that's what I call value added!   Coordinating dies are also available.  I have used two little images (the red violet single flower and the firefly) from the Garden Friends set to compliment my Fairy Garden scene.  The Garden Friends set is scaled to compliment the Fairy Garden set.   Imagine how many sweet scenes you can create with these sets!

I started this design by ink blending the background around a masked circle (for the moon) using Ranger Distress Inks in a blue/blue violet color palette.   When I finished I lightly slid the edge of the sponge across the moon several times to give the appearance of wispy clouds.   All the images were die-cut with coordinating dies and colored with Copic markers.  I kept a blue/blue violet and yellow palette for my little fairy's dress.   And here's a little tip:  when I color a face I always used just a little V20 Copic right under the hairline - try it next time you color and see if you don't like it too.   A wink of stella, some white gel pen, and flat clear sequins were used to finish the card.   The finished panel was mounted using fun foam onto the card base.

I hope you've enjoyed our time together as we took our first look at this adorable stamp set from Hello Bluebird Stamps.   Tomorrow we'll soar into the wild blue yonder!   Be sure to check out all of the Design Team cards on Instagram as we feature, Fairy Garden and Garden Friends.  As always it's a pleasure to have you visit today.