You can't have too many bluebirds....

...and it's a good thing, since I have them everywhere. Thank you, Artistic Outpost, for creating this lovely sheet!

This card was made with Stampin'Up!'s Blue Bayou and Whisper White CS. The yellow gingham and green border where scraps from my stash. I stamped the image in Blue Bayou, then colored it with watercolor pencils and an Aquapainter. I added a bit more length to the branches with brown wc pencil as well. The birds were stamped on a large brad (Basic Grey or Bazzill - can't remember which at the moment) with Blue Bayou ink and heat set. I layered the image onto the green scrap, then tied the ribbon around the yellow scrap before I attached the bird image. All was layered onto Blue Bayou CS, with a bit of inking on most of the edges.

Here's a ribbon trick or two:
1. This ribbon was black and white gingham, but I needed blue, and not that wussy light blue. I wanted a strong blue. I inked the ribbon with Blue Bayou to match the card. If you have black and white ribbon, you can make it match any card you're making. I keep a stash of gingham, dots and swirls in black and white just for this technique.

2. My other trick is a green trick: if you're going to tie a ribbon around a card, the back side is just wasted. Cut your ribbon 2 inches longer than the width of your card and wrap the extra inch to the back on each side, securing with double-stick tape. You might even get away with 1/2" on each side. After you glue your layers down, tie a scrap piece of ribbon to the base ribbon. You can tie a knot or a small bow. Either way, you're using less ribbon and saving a tree in the Amazon jungle. Just kidding about the tree, but it sure makes your ribbon go farther.

I'll post again tomorrow evening. Not sure which plate, so come back and be surprised. I know I will be!