Hello Bee friends. It’s Bobbi Lemanski here sharing a card featuring a beautiful red cardinal. Cardinals are special to see, especially around the holidays. They are considered to be an uplifting, happy sign that those we have lost will live forever, so long as we keep their memory alive in our hearts.

Today is also another sale day at Honey Bee Stamps. Save 50% on all Honey Bee Stamps brand paper pads and envelopes. You can shop here now!

My card today features the following Honey Bee Stamps products:

Lovely Layers: Winter Birds – Honey Cuts

Lovely Layers: Winter Greenery – Honey Cuts

Let Nature Sing stamp set and coordinating dies

Kaleidoscope – 3D Embossing Folder

The featured project below is made from Neenah 80lb Solar White cardstock for the card front and a soft gray cardstock for the card base. All of the black ink stamping was done using Honey Bee’s Bee Creative Intense Black Ink. I use Honey Bee Stamps Bee Creative Precision Glue for adhering my elements together. My card is 5″ X 7″ in size.

To make this 5″ X 7″ card, I die cut all of the elements of the cardinal bird from a maroon cardstock (bottom layer only) and a red cardstock for the top layers. The feet and eye patch were cut from black cardstock and the beak from white. I added some shadowing for more dimension on the layers using ,Distress Oxide Inks in Lumberjack Plaid, Fired Brick, and Aged Mahogany. I added foam tabs in between two layers (only) using Scrapbook Adhesives .25 Foam Squares. This makes the bird stand out more. For the eye, I added a Nuvo Drop of black to make the eye a bit dimensional. I used my white gel pen to add some white around the eye to make it stand out a bit from the black cardstock around the eyes.

For the background, I cut an A2-sized piece of white cardstock and embossed it using the Kaleidoscope – 3D Embossing Folder. I attached it to a warm gray A7 cardstock. I speckled the entire front using dark brown, metallic gold and bronze watercolor paint and a fan-shaped brush.

Using the Lovely Layers: Winter Greenery – Honey Cuts, I added a brown branch for the bird to perch on and various greenery stems around the cardinal cut from different shades of green. I also used Ranger Distress Oxide Ink in Forest Moss to tone down the brighter greens to make them look more realistic.

I cut the berries from white cardstock and used Copics in R89, R29, R22, and R11 to color them. I added a little glue and some glitter to make the berries glisten. For the two pinecones, I cut the top layer out of glitter paper to make the pinecones look like they have a snowy edge.

Everything was assembled and glued in place. Lastly, I stamped, cut and attached the sentiment using Let Nature Sing stamp set and coordinating dies. I used Scrapbook Adhesives .25 Foam Squares to make it stand out from the greenery and balance the cardinal.

You can shop the entire Honey Bee Stamps Make It Merry release here. If you decide to place an order, please use the links in this post so that Honey Bee knows which ideas inspired you!

Thanks for stopping by today. If you want to see more ideas and inspiration from me, subscribe to my blog, BobbiHartDesign.com. I’ll send you updates on new posts! You can also find me on Instagram as @BobbiHartDesign and on Facebook as BobbiHartDesign.