Tutorial - Nest Card

Every little bird needs a comfy nest to come home to.

Luckily for us, we can create a nest using a few simple items that you may already have in your stash.

1. Start with this little bird from the Blue Wrens set. I've used one of the images from the Blue Wrens cut sheets, but you can stamp and colour your image if you prefer.

2. Use a small pair of scissors to remove the legs and branch from the bottom of the image, then separate the legs from the branches.

3. You'll need a piece of paper for the background, a scrap of kraft cardstock, and a small piece of hessian or burlap. Use a pencil to draw a rough outline of a nest, which will look a bit like a curved sausage... it doesn't have to be perfect as it will be covered by the hessian. Make sure your nest is big enough to hold your bird.

4. Cut out your nest shape and colour it roughly with different coloured brown markers or pencils. Again, don't worry too much about the colouring as most of the nest will be covered by the hessian.

5. Pull the hessian apart so you're left with lots of strands.

6. Apply a generous amount of glue to your cardstock nest and start securing the hessian strands over the top. The strands should run roughly in the same direction, but make sure they cross over, intertwine, and have messy edges.

7. I added a few sprinkles of flower soft for a bit of variation. You might like to look around your craft room for little pieces of thread or yarn, or perhaps go outside and collect some very tiny, dry twigs.

8. To construct the card, I secured a large kraft cardstock frame around my patterned paper with foam tape. Then I played around with the positioning of the nest and branches. Once I was happy, I began to secure the different pieces in place, starting with the main branch that will hold the nest.

9. I find it easiest to secure the little bird and the end branches to the back of the nest rather than adhering them to the paper. It's easier to adjust the placement first and then adhere the whole thing to the background.

10. Now add the panel to your card blank and you're done!

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