Great news - the bird has flown the nest!Three weeks he has been my cardmaking muse, my constant companion ... one day he was testing the sweet nectar from the honey suckle flower vine, the next I saw him swallow a live spider, and another bird feed him a morsel from its beak... and I knew it was only a short time to go.
He grew his flight feathers in a matter of a week and has not returned.
Our baby bird has flown off with the local flock of noisy minors and our home is a little quieter for the loss of him. I wonder does he miss our 6.45 am feed sessions of mushy apple sauce, cat biscuits and honey water? I'm not sure that I do.
How do you inspire yourself to choose a stampset for your next project?
1st prize: A hostess stampset "Best Yet" and a sample of 6x6 Designer series papers.
What do you have to do to win? 
We are still feeding our little noisy minor bird ... every couple of hours. Here he is only a few days after we found him on the first Monday of the school holidays.
When I am making cards he is on the floor lookng at me, chirping at me and showing his pretty yellow and grey plumage. So I have made another friends 24/7 card using the markers direct to rubber and coupled it with the friendly words wheel. A portrait of our little bird as he grows.
This is my daughter enjoying a reptile display at a nearby business open day - she certainly enjoys every moment, the little things and the big things. I just couldn't giggle, myself while a diamond python wrapped itself around my neck ... but each to their own. 
This scrapbooking page just needed an embossed title to compete with the photos my partner took of our angel wrestling with wild animals (That Bindi has a lot to answer for). A fascination with snakes, spiders, lizards and crocodiles comes from her father's side I am certain... 
Here's my kiwi kiss Wild about you crocodile on the edge of the clear embossed friendly words wheel on pink passion cardstock. If these colours are looking familiar I recently made a card using them for the elite challenges site. (Passionate kisses ...)
Jessica says, that her dad didn't get a photo of her kissing the blue tongue lizard ... eeewww!!!
The journalling is done with my basic grey marker on a silver embossed flower medallian from the same stampset. I have used the corner rounder as I don't have a big enough circle punch to cut that one out. The little white flowers were stamped in clear embossing powder on white cardstock , sponged with kiwi kiss ink and cut out with a small circle punch and raised on dimensionals.
The pot is made from silver cardstock put through my crimper (must use this tool more!)... and the star is a build a brad.
I wasnt happy with the bubble on the top of the build a brad so I have put crystal effects over the embossed star which works fabulously well. 
This is only the second swing card I have ever made. I modified the original dimensions to make it a square-ish card that then I realised I needed to make a handmade envelope to fit it. I love how when you open thise card the image swings around to show the sentiment... Thank you for your friendship. 
Then you can flip it over again and see the stamping on the back... not as exciting as the front, but shows you how its made. 
The little bird is coloured with markers direct to rubber, using the so saffron marker and the sahara sand marker (does it look a little bit like a noisy miner?), ... and the branch is in chocolate chip and the leaves in Old Olive. I huffed on the stamp to moisten it up before stamping. The Best is yet to be stamp is also multi-coloured with markers ... as are the flowers and damask image stamps aswell.
I am an optimist always: the best is yet to be ... no matter where you are right now...Enjoy!
Once again I have rock and rolled the butterfly in pink pirouette and riding hood red and used a brad to hold the buttlerfly in its place on the damask medallion on whisper white cardstock. 
The sentiment is from Best yet. The Best yet stampset is a hostess gift, you can only get it if you, and your friends host a workshop - either at your home or a virtual workshop (where you place orders to the value of $300). I love this little set it has words for nearly every occasion. I have used it constantly on my cards.
I like to use the circle punch and mat it with a darker coloured cardstock. To give some depth I have overstamped the sentiment with a pale pink pirouette damask stamp. The same one I have stamped in the background. The ribbon is Riding hood Red striped grosgrain. I chose these colours because they match with the Bella Rose designer series patterned papers.
My second card is made from the same stampsets and Ski slope paper ... 
with a base of kiwi kiss this time and some paper piercing in the corners around the Forest friend tree. This tree in silver just shines ... 
Did I say that I love embossing? And I love this colour combination : baja breeze, chocolate chip, real red and old olive ... and I added kiwi kiss because it is much brighter and lighter than old olive but goes well with it. The sentiment : Seasons Greetings is from from the Snow swirled stampset and I have used the two ink pads for a two tone effect. 
A bit of blue a bit of green, a few holes in the corner, silver brads - It's another Christmas card: the layout could suit many different card occasions by just changing the sentiment. 
The background is stamped with the damask stamp from friends 24/7... rock and rolled in pink pirouette and riding hood red ink. I did the same with the bird ( a bit heavier with the riding hood red) and cut it out so that I could place it up off the page with a few dimensionals.
Then I coated the bird in shiny crystal effects. Its an adhesive that dries hard and clear and gives a great shiny coating to cardstock when you spread it with the nozzle.
The sentiment "My friend" was stamped and embossed on white cardstock using the "friendly words wheel", cut out and attached with a dimensional too. The pink flower is a metal brad (from the Spring mini catalogue) and I have edged the two layers with the eyelet border punch.
