Last weekend I had a very rare visit in my backyard. When my husband told me my chickadee was “out there”, I thought he was making fun of the paper chickadees that can be found here and there in our house lately, but it was no joke. For the first time in the 6 years I have been living in western Tennessee, I have seen 2 black-capped chickadees. At first there was only one on a branch, then another flew in and they started flying acrobatically in circles and dips as if they were playing tag. Not only are they cute and have the most cheerful chirp, I had forgotten how playful they are. They certainly are tough little guys too, because they came right after the ice storm and one of our very rare snowfalls. On her blog and in reference to my cards, Anne Matasci, The Maui Stamper, mentions that chickadees are very faithful to their counterparts. Certainly, following a mate so far away from the regular territory is testimony to their bond. All of a sudden I saw a romantic side to these cute little birds and decided to make yet another chickadee Valentine’s Day card, one that would ooze romance.
As usual, supplies and instructions for this card are right under this photo, but click here or on the chickadee in the side-bar to download and print the instructions to make the chickadee.
Card stock: Sahara Sand, Naturals Ivory, Very Vanilla (+ chickadee colors)
Jumbo Stamping wheels: I {love} love (117084), Very Vintage (117693)
Ink: Sahara Sand (+chickadee colors)
Accessories: Very Vanilla Taffeta ribbon
Punches: X-Large Two-Step Bird (117191), Pinking Hearts Border (117649), Large Oval (107305), Scallop Oval (114889), Photo Corners (109042)
Other tools and supplies: bone folder, paper cutter, crimper, stylus, sponge daubers, Tombo glue, mini glue dots, snail adhesive
The card is 5″ x 5-1/4″ in Sahara Sand (card stock was cut 5″ x 10-1/2″). The front is stamped with both wheels mentioned above. Two score lines 1/8″ apart separate the 2 different patterns. The heart is cut out of Very Vanilla and scored with the use of the paper cutter and a bone folder. Click here to download the HEART TEMPLATE WITH SCORING LINES. The leaves are punched in Very Vanilla with the bird punch. The stems were trimmed and leaves were curled by pressing and pulling between the thumb and the small end of a stylus. I used Tombo glue to adhere them to the heart. The finished size of the first mat in Naturals Ivory is 3-7/8″ x 3-3/4″, although I initially cut it 4-7/8″ x 4-3/4″ to make scoring of the edges easier. The first score line is at 1/2″ from the edges, then I scored 2 more lines 1/8″ apart. I then cut the mat close to the first score line and inked the raised lines with the ink pad. The second mat is 4-1/8″ x 4-1/4″ in Sahara Sand, with edges sponged in Sahara Sand . The decorative trim at the bottom of the mat is a 1″ strip of Sahara Sand that was passed through the crimper, punched with the Pinking Hearts Border punch, and sponged with Sahara Sand. The greeting on the oval label is from the I {love} love wheel stamped on Very Vanilla. I blocked off the images around that greeting on the wheel with painter’s tape. The greeting was punched out with Large Oval punch and the edges were sponged. The scallop oval is Sahara Sand sponged with Sahara Sand. The small photo corner was stamped with the Very Vintage wheel and sponged around the edges, then glued on top of the large photo corner that was trimmed and also sponged. The bow was made with long ends that were folded twice. On each bow end, I put a glue dot inside the 2nd fold, then another under that same fold to adhere the bow end to the card. It was the best way I could secure the ends to the card but still have them look like they loosely fall from the bow. Hope this is clear… wish I had a good camcorder to demonstrate this.
annscreativemoments.com 
Your card is absolutely beautiful!!
OMG…this is a trully beautiful card! Obviously you have too much time on your hands! LOL! I am not sure I would have the patience! Thank you for sharing your beautiful work!
This is so pretty…
All these creations are amazing…I love this creamy heart and I love chickadees!
This is fabulous!!!! LOVE the heart and the scoring behind it, and the chickadees are amazing!!
This is an excellent description of your truly gorgeous and creative card. I love your elegant color combo of s. sand v vanilla. Your dimensional leaf heart wreath is just stunning. Then there is the adorable chicadee that is just irresistable. I will be printing your chicadee template for future use. My SU hostess club girls will just love it as we are all bird and nature lovers. I just subscribed to your blog and can’t wait for more inspiration. TFS Ann…..you are a treasure 🙂
OMG Ann, I am so in love with all your beautiful and very creative chicadee cards. I am also totally hooked on the fun and just fantastic EX LG 2 step bird punch. If you would like to see my bird punch cards I would love to have you check out my SCS gallery……nancy littrell. I do not have a blog, am also a SU demo. I will be using your chickadee soon I am sure. TFS and being such an inspiration.
Oh my, Nancy, I just visited your SCS gallery, and what a source of inspiration! Not only do I love your bird punch cards, I am absolutely in awe of all your creations! Everything is so tastefully done and gorgeous. Thanks for inviting me to have a look! I will go for another longer visit once I complete the promised shamrock flower instructions.
I just found this link to your site and I LOVE your birds. I hope you don’t mind if I come up with a flock of my own. I can’t wait to see the rest of you site.
Bonnie, not only do I not mind, I’d love it! Every time I see a project inspired by my chickadee instructions it makes my day. Thanks for visiting my site, and have fun making your flock!
Lovely, lovely cards. The chickadees are brilliant. Thanks for the tutorial. Just got my punch and will try my hand at this.
How BEAUTIFUL!! I’m thoroughly enjoying my romp through your delightful blog today. Thanks for the inspiration, and for your generosity in sharing your creativity.
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Hi Ann,
You have a great eye for the bird details and it really makes your project special. What a super job you do with the bird punch and I agree, you should submit to Shelli’s challenge as they are beautifully unique. I would love to see different types of birds too, since you seem to be knowledgeable about birds and I enjoy reading the educational bits about them. Hope to see a lot more from you with the bird theme!! Thanks for sharing and posting so we can all view them. Tweet tweet. Mary L
Wow, that is just lovely! Thank you so much for being so generous in sharing how to make those adorable chickadees etc. Love it!
Ann, your chickadee cards, all of them, are absolutely charming. Thank you so much for sharing the wonderful directions.
Ann, I didn’t think you could do more with the little chickadees, but you have. I love these little guys! As with the others, this is a must have. I am having to substitute other leaves, but hope to soon be in position to buy the correct die. You have done a fantastic job and your instructions are great. Can’t wait to try this card. I have almost completed the other card, but am not totally satisfied with my substitutions.
Thanks so much for sharing!
Bonnie, the leaves I use in my samples are from the branch that is on the same punch as the bird, except for the card with the single chickadee holding the valentine in his beak, which is made with a die. Do you mean that you have to use different kind of leaf pattern? If you’re not satisfied with your card, just scan and email it to me if you want … maybe I can make suggestions. Let me know if I can help.
WOW!! ann, i am so impressed! your artwork is georgious. you are quite a talent and i can’t wait to see more of your creations. 🙂
Anne, you must submit this card to Shelli’s Valentine’s challenge!!! It is absolutely stunning! Great job! Thank you so much for sharing your card and the tutorial 🙂
Roxanne, thanks so much for mentioning that! I didn’t know about this challenge. I’ll look into it right now.