An oldie, but a goodie...

A few years ago I entered a card contest using this card.  There were many entries, but all my hard work paid off and this card won.  

When I say, "hard work,"  I really mean it.  You might notice that the lacy looking border on the card is quite intricate and it was completely cut out by hand.  There are two layers to the frame; the bottom one had to be cut out around the edge, then the top one was cut out around the outside edge and then in the center (including in and around all the flourishes).  The lightest bird was stamped off twice and then stamped directly onto the bottom layer of the framed portion.  Then the next bird was stamped off once and cut out and popped up on 1 layer of dimensionals.  Finally, the darkest bird was stamped and cut out and popped up on 2 layers of dimentionals.  All of this done just to create an effect of the bird flying out of the frame; it was a labor of love and turned out great.

Sorry the picture isn't great.  It's actually as scan I took before I sent it off to my fabulous mother-in-law, the lady who bought me my first stamp set :)

Hope you enjoy...

cardstock:

basic black

very vanilla

ink:

basic black classic

bling and things:

5/8" very vanilla satin ribbon 

tools and toys:

dimensionals

snail adhesive

nail scissors

stamp sets:

baroque border

notably ornate

{heart},