FCD Goes Outdoors - a blog hop!!

Hi everyone, welcome to another FireCracker Designs by Pamela blog hop!! This time around, FCD is going outdoors - all the cards in the hop will have something to do with the great outdoors! You may have found your way here by way of Pamela's blog, which is great - but no worries if you started here, because this hop is circular - there is no beginning or end - you can just go around the circuit and end up right back here if you'd like! But do make sure and hop around and leave comments on every blog - Pamela will pick one of the blogs - I'm not even sure which one - and draw a winner from that blog's comments!! So make sure you're in the running by leaving comments!! The hop ends on Tuesday, June 30. At that time you can pop back by Pamela's blog to see if you've won, or she will be contacting you via email.

Ok now that I have all of THAT out of the way, let me tell you about my card!! If you've been following my blog this week, OF COURSE you knew I'd be using *MY BIRDS* for this outdoor-themed hop!! (read this post to know why I call them MY BIRDS!) The set is actually called A Little Bird Told Me, and I think it's just lovely!!! I recently saw a "diorama card" created by Diana Gibbs in a Stampin' Up publication, and fell in love with it - so I decided to try one myself for this hop! Turns out Diana had written a tutorial for Splitcoast a while back, so putting this card together was easy peasy following her wonderful instructions!! I think it turned out really pretty. And believe it or not, it can actually be flattened down to put in an envelope! I used the sentiment "Heard you were home!" which I just love with the purple martin image and house - I don't know if you know about purple martins, but if you have a martin house in your yard, the same martins come back to it year after year. Here in Texas, they visit in the very early spring and have their babies, and then migrate someplace else for the rest of the year. It makes me so very happy every spring when they come back home, to sing their song (they have the weirdest call, it sounds sorta like a robot!) and eat all of the mosquitos from my yard. :-D I'll be giving this card to a friend who will soon be moving back to Austin after living away for a bit. (YAY! Can't wait to have her back home too!) I'll put all the recipe details for this card down below - but let me know if you have any questions about it. It truly was very easy to put together, so I think you should give a diorama a try! :-) (disclaimer: the diorama is very cool but not easy to photograph! Sorry my photos aren't perfect!) And if you are as in love with this bird set as I am, and rush straight over to the FCD site to order it, you'll see that it's currently sold out!! **GASP** But never fear, Pamela has more on order and will get yours out to you just as soon as her shipment arrives!

Ok, now it's time to hop on over to the next blog - which is the lovely and talented Marie! :-D I can't wait to see what she's created! Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: A Little Bird Told Me from FireCracker Designs by Pamela
• Paper: Pale Plum, Whisper White, PTI bitty dots DP, Violet DP from the Basic Grey Wisteria line
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Slit & Scalloped Edge punches, Periwinkle Shimmerz, Mark Richards pearls, bird charm from Blue Moon Beads, ribbon from my stash