Cartoony Cardinal

Sometimes waiting on the Inspiration Fairy is not necessary.  Some days inspiration is delivered directly to my laptop.  I had just uploaded a creation to share on splitcoast this weekend and the card next to mine in the gallery was precious.  It is a chubby cardinal on a real branch - how cute is that?  It appears she has removed her card from splitcoast - it was darling, so I can't imagine why.  (ek)

Well, of course I had to copy it and "ellen-ize" it (which means cartoon it up - because I just can't seem to do "serious").  Here is my version:

• Head/body - Ornament Punch (how long is that punch going to keep showing up in my stuff?)
• Wings and Tail - 1 scallop circle punch - re-punched with 1 inch circle so that 3 scallops are showing.  I got both wings from one scallop and a left over piece is the tail.
• Eyes - heart to heart punch - marker for blacks
• Beak - one petal from the 5 petal flower, trimmed
• Black face - square from trimmer
• Snowflake - snowflake punch

Stamp and sentiment from Short and Sweet.

Obviously with a real branch from the yard, this in not the best card for sending through the mail -  but you could easily freehand a branch from paper, make a branch with ribbon, OR instead of a card, use this idea for gift tags.  How about using it with gifts of birdseed for your bird watching friends or neighbors?