Step by Step Tutorial: Dress Up A Little Birdie For Winter? Yes Please!

Hello there, Michelle Short here to share a step-by-step tutorial using the All About Christmas Collection by Lisa Horton. This wonderful collection features lots of basics, including shape dies and stencils, but what I fell in love with are the Little Birdies. They are so cute, and you can dress them up for winter, which is even cuter! This is what I have based my card around.

STEP 1 – DIE CUTTING THE BIRDIE, ACCESSORIES + FOLIAGE

Die cut dies from Little Birdies:

1. Cut pieces of cardstock slightly larger than the size of the dies.
2. Place the bird die onto Lavender ColorWheel Cardstock and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
3. Place the wing die onto Lilac ColorWheel Cardstock and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
4. Place eye die onto Raven ColorWheel Cardstock and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
5. Place legs and beak die onto Beeswax ColorWheel Cardstock and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
6. Place hat, scarf and boots dies onto Pomegranate ColorWheel Cardstock and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
7. Place fluffy parts of hat die onto Classic White ColorWheel Cardstock and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.

TIP: Holding dies down with tape prevents them from shifting when going through the die-cutting machine. Use a low-tack tape like Best Ever Craft Tape so that it removes easily from the cardstock.

8. Create your die cutting plate sandwich – (bottom to top) A Platform Base, B Platform Top, C Cutting Plate, cardstock pieces with dies on top, C Cutting Plate.
9. Run through Platinum SIX Die Cutting Machine.
10. Remove dies from cardstock and pop out die cuts.

Die cut dies from Christmas Foliage:

11. Place evergreen sprigs and base layer of holly dies onto Fern ColorWheel Cardstock and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
12. Place greenery sprigs and top layer of holly dies onto Rainforest ColorWheel Cardstock and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
13. Place berry sprig die onto Peridot ColorWheel Cardstock and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
14. Place berries die onto Lavender ColorWheel Cardstock and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
15. Run through Platinum SIX Die Cutting Machine to die cut them out using the same die cutting sandwich as above.

STEP 2 – ASSEMBLE THE BIRDIE

1. Add Bearly Art Glue onto the bird where the wing will be placed (there are indentation lines on the die cut to know where to place it).
2. Place wing on top.

1. Turn bird over and apply glue around the opening of the eye.
2. Place black eye piece on top.

TIP: I like to use tweezers or an embellishment tool to help pick up and place down small die cuts.

3. Add a small dab of glue onto the beak and adhere to the back of the bird so that it pops out from the side of his face.
4. Add small dabs of glue onto the tops of the legs.
5. Adhere bird on top.

6. Add small dabs of glue to the bottom of the legs.
7. Adhere boots on top.

8. Adhere scarf parts to bird.

9. Adhere white parts to hat.
10. Adhere hat to bird.

STEP 3 – CREATING THE SENTIMENT

1. Die cut Christmas word from Christmas Sentiments Clear Stamp & Die Set from Lilac ColorWheel Cardstock.
2. Die cut first outline layer for the word from Classic White ColorWheel Cardstock.
3. Add glue to the back of the word and adhere to the outline layer.

4. Stamp Christmas Sentiments Clear Stamp Set onto Classic White ColorWheel Cardstock using Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink.

5. Place coordinating die for sentiments over the stamped sentiments and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
6. Run through Platinum SIX Die Cutting Machine.
7. Pop sentiments out. Keep the ‘greetings’ one for the card, and keep the rest safe for future projects.

STEP 4 – ASSEMBLE THE CARD

1. Adhere top layer of holly leaves onto base layers.
2. Adhere berries onto sprig.

3. Create A2 sized card base from Classic White ColorWheel Cardstock.
4. Using the Christmas word as a guide, start adhering foliage onto the card, around the sentiment, using Bearly Art Glue.

TIP: I like to not add glue all the way to the tips of the foliage; this is so that they are not adhered completely flat.  This creates some dimension without adding any foam tape.

5. Add foliage underneath where the sentiment will be, followed by the berry sprig.

6. Add foam squares onto he back of the sentiment, leaving a little gap in the middle where the bulk of the foliage is (so that the sentiment will adhere down flat).
7. Remove backings off foam tape and adhere to card.
8. Add foam squares to the back of the ‘greetings’ strip and adhere below Christmas word.

9. Add foam squares to the back of the birdie.
10. Remove backings off foam tape and adhere to card so that he is standing/perching on the Christmas word.

11. To finish, embellish with Crystal Mix Color Essentials Gems.

I really love that little birdie all dressed up for winter, and he is the perfect size to perch on the sentiment! Thank you so much for stopping by today. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Other Supplies

Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink