Introducing Bibi’s Hummingbirds from Spellbinders!

Hi there! I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend! I am so excited to share these projects with you today… My friend Bibiana Cameron reached out to me a few months ago and asked if I would be interested in helping introduce her new Bibi’s Hummingbirds collection from Spellbinders, and I immediately said yes! I loved working with her gorgeous Bibi’s Butterflies collection last year (you can check out that post HERE), so I knew the new Hummingbirds collection would be just as gorgeous. It certainly fulfilled my expectations! I have two super saturated cards filled with details to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

I created a set of cards featuring a bright fuschia purple and teal color scheme. I was inspired by hummingbirds that I found on Pinterest; hummingbirds come in such a wide variety of colors, and the iridescent sheen of their feathers can make them virtually rainbow-colored! Each of these cards features a different technique to achieve the vibrancy and richness I desired. Let’s get started with the details!

My first card features the Hummingbird and Lily dies. One of the attributes that I enjoyed most when working with these dies was the ease of construction. The die cuts have areas of debossing that show you exactly where the different pieces are to be adhered so there’s very little guesswork in determining where they are to be placed! I die cut all of the elements for the Hummingbird and Lily from white cardstock, then used blending brushes with a variety of inks from Pinkfresh Studio. (I will link all of the inks below in the link list.) To keep the purple and teal from becoming muddy, I simply made sure to keep a band of very light blending between the two colors. The blue in the teal and the red in the purples meld together nicely in that lightly blended area to create a lovely fade between the two contrasting colors. I did use some alcohol markers on the foliage of the lily to enhance the shadows and the shape, as well as to add some little dots on the petals of the flower.

To create a ground for my flower and hummingbird scene, I die cut the Essential Four Petal Labels from some Teal Topaz cardstock. I then used the same turquoise inks that I used to ink blend on the hummingbird to blend around the edges and create a dramatic background for my bird and flower. I also die cut the Scrolled Punch & Pierce Plate from some Blue Spruce cardstock and backed it with a panel of Waterfall cardstock to allow lots of contrast, showcasing that beautifully intricate design of the cover plate. I adhered the blended label die cut to the pierced cover plate panel with some foam adhesive, then added the hummingbird and lily die cuts with more foam adhesive as well as liquid adhesive, creating a double layer of adhesive in some spots.

For the greeting, I heat embossed one of the lovely Hummingbird Sentiments on a rectangle of Blue Spruce cardstock using white embossing powder. I popped it up with some more foam tape, as well, nestling it amongst the bird and flower. The final touch was to add some iridescent yellow gems to the stamens on the flower and some iridescent black gems to the eye of the hummingbird. I love that you can create your own custom colored cardstock with a few ink pads, blending brushes, and white cardstock!

My second project features the utterly delightful Delicate Floral Hummingbirds. Instead of using ink pads and ink blending, I decided to utilize my OLO markers to create stunningly dramatic images. I die cut all of the components of the Delicate Floral Hummingbirds from plain white cardstock. I then used the OLO Teal Markers and OLO Purple Markers (carried in Spellbinders’s store) to create these lovely, incredibly vibrant hummingbirds. I’m not an ornithologist, so I’m sure these birds are far more vibrant and imaginative than real hummingbirds, but I love how beautifully the bold purple pops from amongst the turquoise foliage background! These contrasting colors would at first thought not blend nicely together, but I was able to blend the lightest purple and lightest teal markers together to create a seamless blend between the color families. I also did some “glazing” on the tail feathers with the medium purple marker, first coloring the tail feathers with the dark teal markers, then adding some swipes of purple and blending it out with the teal markers, leaving the tiniest hint of purple along the tail feathers. I also added some shimmer to the birds using a sparkle pen, though it is difficult to tell in the photos.

To slightly simplify the coloring for the large, intricate foliage on the background (this is a 5×7 card, in case you were wondering! The Delicate Floral Hummingbirds set is so big and gorgeous!) I first colored the entirety of the foliage die cut with the lightest aqua marker, then went back in and added a few details to the individual leaves with some darker markers, blending the color out with the lightest markers. Once I had finished adding color to the foliage background, it was time to add the colorful birds, flowers, and individual leaves using liquid adhesive. The purple colored images pop so beautifully and dramatically from the aqua background!!

To create a coordinating background for the intricate die cut images, I trimmed down a panel of 5×7 Teal Topaz cardstock. To add some interest to the flat colored cardstock panel, I again blended the dark teal inks around the edge, also adding the tiniest bit of dark, dark blue ink around the very edge. So dramatic and interesting! I adhered the die cut background to the blended cardstock panel using foam adhesive to add lots of dimension and to keep it from blending into the monochromatic background. I heat embossed and trimmed out another greeting from the Hummingbird Sentiments and popped it up with some more foam tape. I added the stamens to the flowers, cut from some White Glitter Foam, as well as a few iridescent white gems. Such an intense, vibrant card with eye popping color and shimmering details!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! The new Bibi’s Hummingbirds collection features such a beautiful variety of products. I hope you will check it out! Thank you so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!