Jail Birds Halloween Card

One day I was looking through my collection of stamps trying to come up with a Halloween card idea.  I stumbled across a cute stamp that had three birds sitting on a wire dressed up like prison inmates wearing masks.  Now I absolutely love watching the birds in my backyard, so I thought I could use the jail birds as the feature on a Halloween card.  I developed a sketch and found a combination of papers that I liked.  I also found a nice little play on words for the inside of my Jail Bird Halloween card.

Speaking of jail birds...I have a bird I'd like to see wearing prison stripes for harassment!  As I mentioned above, I love watching the birds and critters in my backyard.
Here's a picture of what my cats and I look down on from my computer room.

My garden area has been created as a bird and butterfly habitat.  We watch hundreds of birds of all kinds come and go, as well as, many different animals.  Recently we've had this guy hanging around.

He's beautiful, but like I said, he should be arrested for harassment of my little birdies.  One day I was watching a chickadee take a bath in a little plant saucer on my deck when that sneaky little hawk tried to swoop down and grab him.  He missed because of all of the plants on the deck, but I thought he was going to join me in the kitchen through the slider.  I got a real good look at a hawk belly because it was within a foot of my face!  Such excitement...I love birds of prey, just not hunting in my backyard...nature's way or not!

Now, back to the business of creating a Halloween card.


The Making of a Jail Bird Halloween Card


Card Statistics

• Final Card Size: 5.5" wide x 4.25" tall
• Image Size: 3.25" wide x 2.875" tall
• Tools: paper cutter, scissors, Martha Stewart scoring board, sponge pieces, ruler, stamp
• Materials: cardstock, cover stock, adhesive, buttons, ink pads, spray sealer, gamsol, prismacolor pencils, gel pens, scrapbook paper
• You can purchase this card from my Etsy shop: Jail Birds Halloween Card

Card Front

The card base is black cardstock cut and scored.  As I often do, I made two separate card panels (front and inside) that are attached to the card base when they are completed.  I usually make the front panel first and then tie the decoration of the inside panel to it.  That's the strategy I used on this card too.

I used orange cardstock for the base of the front panel.  I layered the top half with a teal and orange print paper and the lower half with a teal paper.  A layered strip of black and orange cardstocks was affixed over the joint of the two papers.

I stamped my image on white cardstock and colored the birds using gamsol and Prismacolor pencils.  Inks were sponged on the background to create the sky and sun.  A black gel pen was used to give some dimension to the masks, beaks, and feet of the birds.  The completed image was matted with black cardstock and positioned on the front panel.  Two small buttons were added as embellishments to complete the panel.  The panel was affixed to the front of the card base.


Angle View of Card Front to Show Dimension

The only visible dimension on the card front is the button embellishments.


Card Inside

For the inside panel, I printed "Trick or Tweet!" on white cardstock.  I decorated it with a layered strip of orange cardstock and printed paper from the front of the card.  This simple panel was affixed to the inside of the card base.

My logo was placed on the back of the card.

I also made an envelope from scratch to compliment the card.  It is made of heavy cover stock.  In the lower left hand corner I stamped one of the jail birds and colored it using gamsol and Prismacolor pencils.  The area around the bird was sponged with inks to resemble the sky.  Sealer was sprayed lightly on the image to protect it while traversing through the postal system.


Final Card and Envelope Combo

I'm satisfied with how my card turned out.

This card and envelope ensemble can be purchased from my Etsy Shop: Jail Birds Halloween Card.

Tidbit of wisdom from the experience: Nature is nature, but you can have a little fun with it like I did in the picture below.

Note that my hawk is now wearing prison stripes.


Card Recipe Specifics

• Cardstock: Wausau, Embassy, Staples
• Cover stock: Staples
• Printed Scrapbook Paper: DCWV
• Inks: Colorbox, Stazon black, Gelly Roll
• Stamp: Inkadinkado
• Prismacolor Pencils: crimson lake, crimson red, poppy red, canary yellow, orange, true blue, lavender, blue slate, sky blue light, imperial violet, peacock blue, mediterranean blue

Thank you for visiting and I hope you come back soon!

Page Content © 2010 Polished Moxie Concepts and Designs