Hello, and welcome to my blog!! I'm sorry I haven't posted for a while, but I had surgery and just now feel up to it. Today, I made a Mother's Day Card for my mother-in-law, using Spellbinders, Brutus Monroe, Altenew, and Lawn Fawn products. I saw this die set and had to have it; I love hummingbirds and lilies! I'm going to guide you step-by-step how I created it.

I started out by cutting all elements of Spellbinder's Hummingbird and Lily die set out with Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80 lb cardstock. I prefer to cut images from white, then ink them myself instead of cutting pieces out of colored cardstock. The process longer, but the die cuts are more 3-D when you ink them.

I started with the lilies. I turned them into Stargazer Lilies because they are my favorite. Starting with the lightest color firs, I used Altenew Crisp Dye Inks in Coral Berry, Ruby Red, Sweet Leaf, and Just Green. Pro tip: leave a little white on your die cut for a highlight. This makes the finished flower look more realistic and adds depth.

This is the finished bloom. I used Gina K Connect Glue. I love all realistic outcome!

I repeated the same process with the bird dies, using Neenah cardstock.

I looked at the picture of a hummingbird on Google to get the colors right. There are many types of hummingbirds. I thought these colors would go well with the lily. I again used Altenew inks in Firefly, Grass Field, Canyon Clay, Burnt Red, and Mangrove Root. I used a black ink from my stash for the beak. So the eye appeared black, I used a black glaze pen from Sakura. 

Finished bird. Spellbinders included two layers for each wing. I think this adds a lot of depth to the die cut. I added a small dot of Sakura White Gel Pen onto the black eye to make the bird seem more realistic.