Picture Perfect

I love to watch the hummingbirds feeding at our feeders in the spring and summer.  This past year though we didn't have very many to visit us.  It is funny how territorial they are.  We have two feeders on our deck and when I am sitting outside they will dive bomb another bird if it comes to get a drink of the nectar.  So funny!

So, you can guess that I was excited to see the hummingbird image in one of the new stamps in the Occasions catalog!   And it's not just any old humming bird .... it is a 4 Step Stamping bird!!  This photopolymer stamp set has 4 separate stamps to complete the hummingbird, as well as 3 steps to complete the roses; for for the starfish and 3 for the leaves in the set.  The sentiments are pretty sweet too.  This was my favorite stamp set out of the catalog this time.

I will have to admit though that it is not the easiest set to use.  There is a bit of a learning curve.  I practiced with several birds, roses, and leaves before I got the ones I liked and got more adept at the technique.  The images are numbered 1-4 (or 1-3) so you know what order to stamp the images in.  Stampin' Up! recommends that you start with the stamp numbered 1 (in your lightest ink) and progress one-by-one to the fourth stamp.  I found that it was a little easier to stamp the bird backwards from 4 to 1 starting with the darkest color.  But I did them both ways with good results.  I played around with different colors and stamping off before positioning and stamping a couple of times.  Every stamp has a little tag on it that will help you line them up properly.  I also found it easier if I also used the bird's eye to line up with.

For the card above, I stamped the bird and sentiment directly on Very Vanilla cardstock.  But I stamped the flowers onto scrap Vanilla card stock, fussy cut them and popped them up with dimensionals.

 The color combos I used were:

Hummingbird - Pistachio Pudding (retired color) / Wild Wasabi / Mossy Meadow / Cherry Cobbler
Roses - #1  So Saffron - once full strength and once stamped off
#2 - Blackberry Bliss (full strength and stamped off)
#3 Rose Red  (full strength and stamped off)
Leaves - Pear Pizazz, Wild Wasabi, Mossy Meadow

Marianne and I are driving to Charlotte tomorrow for the NC Demos Quarterly meeting.  I have been busy getting my swaps ready for the event - 35 Occasions swaps; 24 Sale-a-Bration swaps; 35 Shoebox cards; and 8 Technique cards!  Whew!!  I will have lots to share.  We will return Saturday afternoon and gearing up for the Steelers play-off game Saturday night.  Got my fingers crossed!!