The Shortcut Guide to Paper-Piecing

Hello, Saturday and a new Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge! 

The multi-talented Edna has chosen "Q is for Quilts" for our latest challenge. And by that, we mean paper-piecing of any type. As you'll see if you click over to the main blog, we are giving this one a wide range of possibilities! I went for straight-up paper-piecing, but a lot of it... 

Paper-piecing can add a fun look to an image, but all that careful cutting can be a lot of work. So here's my shortcut... use an image that has matching dies that cut RIGHT ON THE EDGE! The Bird Crazy dies do exactly that. They even have little dies that cut out the eyes, beak and wings! Now that being said, I did still have some fussy-cutting left to do. I decided I wanted the wings in a contrasting paper to the bird's body, but they didn't look right without matching his tail feathers and back. I also cut out the ribbon for the present. I patted some distress ink on an acrylic block, spritzed with water and smooshed it on the bottom of a watercolour cardstock panel so he'd have somewhere to stand. All the papers are from an incredibly old patterned paper pad. 
My friend Glenda is on the team at Seize the Birthday, and for some reason I've never played(!), so I'm going to add my bird to their Anything Goes birthday challenge, as well as the current Wednesday Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp. 
Not only do we have great inspiration over on the Snarky blog, but we are also introducing some guest designers joining us for the next few months! I hope you'll pop over and give them a warm and snarky welcome, then join us with your own *quilted* creation! 

Supplies: white cardstock, Fluid hot press watercolour paper, Basic Grey PB&J patterned papers, Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous stamps & dies, Paper Smooches Birthday Buddies stamps, Versafine onyx black ink, Wow clear & clear matte embossing powder, Paper Smooches word bubbles die, Glossy Accents, pop-dot tape