Prickley Pear Blue Bird

I know there is no such thing as a blue cardinal, but seeing how he has snowflakes on him, I had to go blue.

The stamp is from Cardinal 2 Clear Stamp Set by Prickley Pear. He is colored with Copics, layered on a Label Twenty Five die from Spellbinders. The snowflakes and swirls embellishments are chipboard from Make It Crafty. I also used the stamp Swirls & Snowflakes from Prickley Pear, first around the edges of the blue background, then on the white cardstock .

The blue background is a really cool technique I found in the "Craft Stamper" magazine from the UK.

1. You want to take 2 pieces of cardstock, same size, and gesso them. Make it about 1 to 2 mm thick.
2. Press the gessoed sides together.
3. Slowly pull them apart. You'll  have a nice pattern on both sides. Let the pieces dry overnight.
4. Now you can color your background.

 I choose to play with Distress Stains, Salty Ocean, Chipped Sapphire and Pewter. Play around with your colors, blot where it's to dark, mist to make the colors run together etc. Liesbeth Fedder, who did the tutorial in Craft Stamper used water color crayons and a barrel water brush on hers. When you're satisfied, let the panel dry completely.

5. I then stamped and embossed around the edges.

Voila, your very own and unique background paper.