Bird is the word 'Life' & MCS May Sketch Challenge

Hi There!

So the best thing about playing at Bird is the word is that you can double dip with other challenges! So this month I have combined the current Bird is the word 'Life' with the May Sketch challenge at MCS. This is based on a gorgeous sketch by Michelle Fowler

I love this beautiful pic of my baby girl Evie. She was 10 weeks old in this photo & she is now 7 months old. Where has the time gone!!
The background paper that you really can't see is from Echo Park 'Be Mine' collection, the main background blue paper is Fancy Pants 'Happy Together'. To get the distressed, crumpled effect I have used the same technique as before where I sprayed water on the paper & crumpled it into a ball then smoothed it out & let it dry. I also distressed the edges with my trusty distressing tool.
I then used a Martha Stewart punch to get the scalloped edge. The paper is part of Websters Pages 'Country Estate' collection.

I used my new toy the Sew Easy tool with the zig zag head (thanx Nelle for the awesome bday present- she also bought me the country estate collection pack too!!) I used some grey embroidery thread to hand stitch around a circle. To get an even circle pattern I just used a plate and traced a circle on the paper & followed this line with the Sew Easy tool. I really like the stiching pattern on this page.

The flowers & bird were fussy cut from paper from Websters Pages "Country Estate' & I used some stickers from this collection to with the frame sticker & a small phrase sticker. The flourish in the corner is Pink Paislee Parisian Anthology.

To finish off the page I wanted a cute quote that suited the photo & also wanted to include Life in it for BITW. I couldn't find anything suitable so I  just used Microsoft Word & typed the saying "The greatest gift in life is a beautiful smile" . I printed this on transperancy sheet.

Thanks for looking!