Cards: 'Ornate Bird' scrap-cards

Hello. 

I don't buy a lot of stamps. Not really. Well ... how many's 'a lot' ... Actually ... I guess it all depends on who I'm comparing myself to doesn't it? But however many I buy, sometimes there's one that I just have to have.

Like this:

It's the 'Ornate Bird' from Clarity Stamp who I stumbled into while looking for something else entirely and ... well ... he somehow flew into my basket:

And he [she? it?] became the worthy star of the cards I made for Mother's Day, plus a couple more ... because I liked them so much I didn't want to stop ... 

I was aiming for a multi-layered, tactile, jumble-y vintage collection feel to them so first I stamped on to lightly patterned and/or lightly textured cardstock as I find that a much nicer base than stark plain white: 

Next I coloured the bird in using ProMarkers:

The first thing I thought when I spotted him on the website was that it was some sort of automaton, a clockwork bird. And while he isn't, I do think he has a slight Steampunk / mechanical feel to him.

Even though I'd stamped on to the patterned papers the image still felt bare to me, so I decided to stamp in lighter shades of ink across the backgrounds:

So as not to stamp over my first image I protected it with a mask made from stamping the bird again on to newspaper; cutting around it and laying it over my original image to hide it while I stamped my smaller images across the page:

Once that was complete I turned to looking for the right papers, from my scrap and off-cuts bag, and ancient hoarded embellishments to build the card with:

I also challenged myself to keep adding elements even when it seemed like I had enough. I allowed two voices in my head to battle it out between themselves ... I was a case of "that's too much, it can't all be seen clearly anyway, some of it's hidden, so why bother?" versus "Even if you never bought another sheet of paper/ribbon/journaling block again you have enough to last a small geological age ... so get it used! Now!!".

The latter won.

And I suspect it'll probably keep on winning because:

1. I do have a lot of supplies ... and I'd rather they took flight on a project rather than drag me down into a pit of stash [all-be-it a rather pretty pit!;
2. I like the feel of the 'scrap-cards' I've been making of late, they're a bit like the way I dress ... multi-layered, patterned and cosy!
3. Hopefully they're interesting to receive and to look at ... and when you're giving cards I guess that's is the most impportant thing!

OK then, that's me for today. I hope you likemy 'scrap cards' ... think of me next time you're wondering whether to add that extra layer  / item ... and then let it go ... and glue it down!

Jx