The Write Stuff

Best of 2014!

Welcome to the November Challenge for Serendipity Stamps! This month the challenge is appropriately…Things you are Thankful or Grateful! You can get all the details over on the Serendipity Challenge Blog.  The DT has the added challenge telling a story about why we chose the images/dies we used.. And as always, we have a  have a gift certificate up for grabs to a random player. The sale this week is 20% off both the Thanksgiving and the Autumn Categories …  good through Nov 11th.


The story behind my card is bittersweet and hard to tell without tearing up. This wasn’t the original card I set out to make, but this image was really calling my name. And though the little bird on the birdhouse looks suspiciously like a chickadee, I colored him to look like an American goldfinch because…well let me back up. Two years ago this Friday, we lost our long time companion…a red mask conure (parrot) named Odie who had been part of our family for almost 27 years. He loved to watch the birds at the feeder and the goldfinch (birds see in color, unlike dogs or cats who see only black & white) was his favorite. We’ve had dogs and were always sad when they passed but this little bird was something special. He was an import from South America (back when they could still do that) and we rescued him when he was about a year old. He had been dumped on a friend on mine who didn’t know what do with him. My husband and I had been reading about parrots and really wanted to adopt one, so we took him. The reason we named him Odie was because we also had a cocker spaniel at the time and Odie could see him  through his window and the first thing he did was imitate the dog barking. He later had a pretty good vocabulary and contrary to public opinion, birds are super intelligent (even more than dogs or cats). They have reasoning ability and other than man, they are one of the only species able to construct and use tools to help themselves.  It’s really something to have a “pet” who can not only talk to you, but also lives with you longer than most children! So that’s my reason for using these images as I’m ever so thankful for the almost 27 years we had with such a special little bird!

After stamping the birdhouse and coloring it with Copics, I die cut using a little bit of my out of the box technique on the left side. I left the die in place and sponged on a little antique linen ink. I added a few more die cut layers using paper from one of my fave paper collections. I also added some stamped, colored & fussy cut maple leaves and two die cut acorns on top along with the greeting. The finished card is 4.25 x 5.50 and these are the Copics I used.

Here’s a little look at the inside  & if you’d like to see a picture of Odie, look down toward the bottom of my sidebar. That’s Odie on his favorite coffee cup. 🙂

Thanks so much for stopping by! Please be sure to visit and comment on all the DT blogs so you’ll be entered to win!

Special Guest Designer: Lisa Minckler

• Julie Warner (you are here!)
• Karen Amidon
• Marybeth Lopez
• Miriam Napier
• Vickie Zimmer
• Jeanne Jachna
• Jenny Gropp

Supplies: