Author: birch press

Pretty in Teal
by April Antonio

Creating a Showstopping Birthday Card with the Block Print Pretty Peacock

If you’ve been looking for a card project that feels like a true wow moment — this is it. The Block Print Pretty Peacock from Birch Press is one of those dies that stops people in their tracks, and when you pair it with gold details and a rich teal cardstock, the result is honestly stunning. Let’s walk through how this “Birthday Cheer” card came together and check out the below video for other fun ways to use this beautiful die set!

Starting with the base
The foundation of this card is the Memory Box Lagoon Cardstock Pack — and honestly, it was the perfect choice for this card base. That deep teal is such a gorgeous backdrop for all the gold and shimmer that comes later. I cut my card base from the lagoon cardstock and immediately knew it was going to be a good day at the craft table.

Die cutting the peacock
Now for the star of the show – the Block Print Pretty Peacock die. This die is an absolute dream to work with. The tail feathers are made up of beautifully detailed teardrop shapes arranged in a gorgeous fan pattern, and the whole design just has this elegant, almost art deco feel to it. I diecut the peacock tail directly into the teal card base, which creates that beautiful inlay look where the die cut openings become part of the design itself.

For the paper piecing, I used the Memory Box Rainbow Reflections Mirror Pad behind the tail openings to get those gorgeous gold foil teardrop feathers, and those lighter, shimmery teal tones woven through the inner feathers. The combination of gold mirror and soft teal creates such a rich, layered look — it really mimics the iridescence of a real peacock tail.

Building the peacock body
The peacock body is die cut separately and foam mounted on top of the card for that lovely dimensional lift. Once the body was mounted, the whole card really started to come alive.

Adding the sentiment
For the sentiment, I used the Birthday Cheer Vintage Sentiment die — and it is such a perfect match for this card. The chunky, retro-style lettering in gold (die cut from the Rainbow Reflections Mirror Pad) with teal cardstock as the shadow which gives it this gorgeous two-tone effect. I also have the Thinking of You Vintage Sentiment die on hand, which means this same peacock design could easily be adapted for so many other occasions — something to keep in mind if you fall in love with this color combo like I did!

Finishing touches
To finish things off, I scattered some Open Studio Fairy Jewels across the card — a mix of warm gold and rich jewel-toned gems that tie everything together beautifully. A few gems clustered near the sentiment and dotted around the feathers adds just the right amount of sparkle without competing with all those gorgeous gold mirror feathers.

The end result is a card that looks incredibly intricate but is really all about letting these amazing dies do the heavy lifting. The Block Print Pretty Peacock is such a versatile, show-stopping die — I can’t wait to make more versions of this one!

Have you made a card with the Block Print Pretty Peacock?

We’d love to see your creations! Tag us and share your version — this is one of those designs that’s beautiful in every colorway.

Happy crafting!

57591 Block Print Pretty Peacock

57572 Birthday Cheer Vintage Sentiment

Supplies

SP1010 Lagoon 6×6 pack

FP1003 Rainbow Reflections Mirror Pad

JWL005 Christmas Fairy Jewels

April 9, 2026
Elegant Peacocks
by Toni M Maddox

Hello, friends! Toni here with you today with a couple of thank you cards using the Block Print Pretty Peacock from the latest release.

I used an “ugly” origami paper behind the tail fan. It’s just one I didn’t prefer but looks amazing through those feathers.

I chose the colors of the Block Print Pretty Peacock from it, using Memory Box 6×6 cardstocks.

It occurred to me that the tail fan could be used twice to create a cool symetrical background. I decided they looked like mums that the Block Print Soaring Hummingbird is exploring.

For both cards, I used the Sugar Script Big Thanks die which is one of my favorites–such a great size and font!

I hope you enjoyed today’s cards and have a great rest of your week!

Feel free to visit my blog, Frankie Helps Craft, for a full list of supplies used and to check out my other creations.

57591 Block Print Pretty Peacock

57659 Block Print Soaring Hummingbird

57142 Big Thanks Sugar Script

SP1011 Greenery 6×6 pack

SP1012 Blush 6×6 pack

SP1013 Sunrise 6×6 pack

April 7, 2026
Kaleidoscope of Butterflies
by Christina Rannow

Hello! Christina here. Did you know that a grouping of butterflies is commonly called a kaleidoscope? I always thought they were referred to as a swarm, which is another common word to describe these fluttering beauties, but I think “kaleidoscope” is a better description. Don’t you?

So today I’m sharing with you a card featuring a kaleidoscope of the Linear Boho Butterflies. I love these simple yet intricate die-cuts, and they look beautiful on a soft faux watercolor background. Let’s take a look at how this card came together.

First I die-cut the butterflies from white cardstock and then inked them with a buttery yellow and a muted orange to create a soft gradient color blend. Then I applied a light spatter of black ink to the butterflies before attaching the body pieces that I die-cut from black cardstock.

For the background panel, I used a faux watercolor technique to create a soft, dreamy backdrop for the butterflies. I started with a piece of heavyweight white cardstock, larger than I needed so when I was finished with the faux watercolor technique, I could choose the part of the panel I liked the best. This technique is simple, and there really is no right or wrong way to do it. After choosing an ink color (I chose Salvaged Patina Distress Ink this time), I dabbed the ink pad on my glass mat a few times and then lightly spritzed the ink with water.

From this point, you have some options. You can lightly press parts of your cardstock panel into the ink, turning the panel different ways each time, or you can use a piece of plastic wrapping to pick up the ink and dab it across the panel, twisting and turning the plastic each time, or, lastly, you can use a sea sponge to pick up the ink and then apply it to your panel, which adds a little more texture than the other methods. All methods work well and will give you beautiful results. For this card, I picked up some ink with my cardstock panel and used a piece of plastic wrapping to achieve the results I was looking for. I also added some ink spatter to the panel for a little more interest.

I let the ink dry for a few minutes and then trimmed the panel down to 3.75 x 5 inches. Then I arranged the butterflies on the panel, and before attaching them with foam squares for some lift off the panel, I stamped a sentiment in the bottom right corner. The finishing touch was to add a few clear drops for embellishment.

Thank you so much for checking out my card featuring a kaleidoscope of the Linear Boho Butterflies on a dreamy background I create using a faux watercolor technique. See you again soon!

CB516 Sentimental Banners

57574 Linear Boho Butterflies

March 31, 2026
Festive Thank You
by Rosemary Dennis

Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today with a thank you card featuring the new Block Print Festive Bird die set, as well as two older products. Let’s have a look at what I created.

One of the things I like about the packaging for all of the Birch Press Design products is that it shares an image of the finished design in color. This provides you with a great jumping off point for creating your own little bird. I have done that in the past, but this time I decided to use colored cardstock and glitter cardstock to create my little bird. I kept my color scheme fairly simple.

You can see all the pieces of my bird laid out above. I used cardstock from the Memory Box Lagoon 6×6 pad, as well as glitter cardstock from my stash and a tiny piece of yellow cardstock for the beak.

I did want to mention that before I started making color choices for my little bird I did die cut all the pieces from a scrap of cardstock so I could make sure I knew how all the pieces fit together.

I used liquid adhesive to adhere my bird together. Once I had the bird finished I set it aside to figure out the rest of my card. Originally I was going to have the bird perched on a large die cut sentiment, but nothing was working. So, I decided to go through all my BPD dies and came across the Abundant Branch die. Perfect for my little bird to perch on!

I die cut the branch from kraft cardstock and then from green cardstock. I trimmed the leaves off the green branch and adhered them with liquid glue to the kraft cardstock branch. I did that a second time and then trimmed apart that branch to I could position the pieces as you see. Then adhered my little bird on the branch.

The sentiment is from the Vintage Everyday Greetings stamp set and was stamped on the same light blue cardstock I used for the background. I die cut it, a second layer, adhered them together with liquid adhesive and added it to my card front.

I hope you enjoyed today’s project. Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

57575 Abundant Branch
CL8168 Vintage Everyday Greetings
57587 Block Print Festive Bird

March 26, 2026
Birthday Greetings Two Ways
by Toni M Maddox

Greetings, friends! We can never have too many birthday cards on hand, right? Toni here sharing two birthday cards, one quite feminine and the other cheerfully unisex.

I created the background of my first card using the Birthday Candle Blowout Stencils. I spattered that with ink for a funky vibe.

Next, I arrange some of the Plain & Simple Birthday Greetings on my MISTI and embossed them on sturdy vellum. I left a space at the top to add the Plain & Simple Birthday Greetings sentiment diecut.

I covered the back of the vellum panel with double-sided tape, leaving a small margin that I burnished with black glitter.

My second card definitely has a more feminine feel to it, don’t you agree?

I created an aperture and shadow with the Block Print Forest Scene die. A random assortment of Tall Party Candles cut from mirror and glitter cardstocks fill the space.

Finally, I sponged a bit of blue at the bottom of the card front before adding the Handwritten Happy Birthday & Outline. Pretty!

I hope you enjoyed today’s card and have a great rest of your week!

Feel free to visit my blog, Frankie Helps Craft, for a full list of supplies used and to check out my other creations.

57576 Tall Party Candles

57571 Handwritten Happy Birthday and Outline

42043 Birthday Candle Blowout

57572 Birthday Cheer Vintage Sentiment

57650 Block Print Forest Scene

CL8167 Plain and Simple Birthday Greetings

FP1002 Vintage Pastel Mirror Pad

GP1001 Delicate Pastel Glitter Pad

SP1009 Earth Neutral

March 23, 2026
Spring Daisies
by Christina Rannow

Hello, it’s Christina! Spring has sprung, and I have a bright and happy card to share with you featuring the new Block Print Daisy Flower craft dies. I love that you can layer up the daisy petals to get full, beautiful blooms with plenty of depth and dimension. I combined the daisies with some more new goodies, the Mod Branches and Thinking of You Vintage Sentiment craft dies. And to round out this bright and happy card design, I added a small Buzzing Bumblebee and a few smaller flowers to complement the daisies. Grab your favorite cardstock colors and we’ll get started!

I started by die-cutting all the components for the different elements of my design and then assembled them, securing everything with glue. I chose a pale pink and a salmon-colored cardstock for the daisy petals and a buttery yellow and an orange for the smaller flowers. For the Mod Branches, I chose a bright cilantro green cardstock, and after die-cutting two of them, I snipped a few leaves and berries from the branches, leaving me with just a few leaves on each one to accent the daisies. I decided on black cardstock for the sentiment because it coordinated with the bumblebee, tying everything together.

With all the die-cutting and assembling done, it was time to put everything together. I kept the background panel simple and used plain white cardstock that I die-cut to give it a dotted detail around the edges. Then I placed the Mod Branches on the panel so they formed a natural frame and added the big beautiful daisies to fill in the corners. I placed the sentiment along the bottom and then embellished my design with the smaller flowers, scattering them throughout, and the sweet bumblebee buzzing into the scene. The final step was to attach the card front to a side-fold card base.

Thank you so much for checking out my bright and happy card design featuring the new Block Print Daisy Flower craft dies! Happy crafting!

57605 Block Print Star Flowers

57598 Block Print Buzzing Bumblebee

57573 Thinking of You Vintage Sentiment

57633 Block Print Mod Branches

57634 Block Print Daisy Flower

March 16, 2026
Sweet Bird Duo
by Rosemary Dennis

Hello and happy March everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today with a sweet birthday card that I think just says “spring”! I used the new Block Print Bird Duo, Block Print Mod Branches and Elegant Birthday Sentiments for my card. Let’s have a look at what I made.

This card is similar to the card I posted at the end of February in that I die cut white cardstock and then blended on the ink. But this time I decided to use Memory Box white woodgrain cardstock for all my die cutting to give the the birds and branch a little bit more interest.

To do the blending on these small pieces I love to use my Waffle Flower 0+ blending brushes. You can see them in the photo. Inking tiny pieces with them is a breeze!

I decided to keep a relatively cohesive color scheme to keep things simple and allow me to complete the card rather quickly. I used two shades of green ink for the leaves, stem and parts of the bird. Then I threw blue, yellow and a little bit of red for the berries into the mix.

Here I have the branch mostly completed. Below are all the pieces of the birds inked up and ready to be assembled.

I love dimension on my cards, but with the cost of postage being so high now days I often refrain from using foam squares. In order to obtain some dimension without adding thickness I will often not completely glue down pieces. For example, the leaves are only glued down at the base of the stem and the wings of the birds at the top. That way I can lift up the pieces and give the illusion of dimension.

Once everything was assembled I die cut another piece of white woodgrain cardstock with a medium sized rectangle and adhered that to a bright green cardstock base with double sided tape. I then adhered the branch (which was a little tricky, lol) and the birds using glue. I finished with the sentiment that was stamped and die cut with the matching die.

I hope you enjoyed today’s card. Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

57585 Block Print Bird Duo
57633 Block Print Mod Branches
8166 Elegant Birthday Sentiments clear stamp and die set

March 11, 2026
Tropical Birthday Greetings
by Toni M Maddox

Hello, my friends! Toni here today sharing a birthday card for any bird lovers in your life. Who am I kidding? This is perfect for anyone with a birthday!

I used the Pinpoint Contour Plate on the pale blue card front then sponged it with a darker blue Catherine Pooler ink (aquatini?).

Setting the panel aside to dry after spattering it with a bit of water, I die cut the Abundant Branch and blossoms from Memory Box cardstock.

I particularly enjoyed assembling the Block Print Perched Tropical Bird where I used Memory Box cardstock sponged with Catherine Pooler ink for shading.

My final step was to emboss and diecut the Elegant Birthday Sentiments. Such a great font, isn’t it?

I hope you enjoyed today’s card and have a great rest of your week!

Feel free to visit my blog, Frankie Helps Craft, for a full list of supplies used and to check out my other creations.

CL8166 Elegant Birthday Sentiments

57586 Block Print Perched Tropical Bird

57575 Abundant Branch

57511 Pinpoint Contour Plate

SP1011 Greenery 6×6 pack

SP1012 Blush 6×6 pack

SP1013 Sunrise 6×6 pack

March 9, 2026
Birthday Greetings
by Rosemary Dennis

Hello everyone! February is winding down and I am starting to think of spring even though we really haven’t had much of a winter here in the Pacific Northwest. While there are lots of pretty dies in the newest Birch Press Design release the beautiful Soaring Hummingbird and Daisy Flower dies from the Block Print line caught my eye and I just had to use them first. Let’s look at what I created.

I love the other hummingbird die set from Birch Press Design (Block Print Hummingbird) and so was delighted to see this new hummingbird die. I started by die cutting all the hummingbird pieces from white cardstock. Initially I was just going to use them to help me determine how the bird went together, but then I decided to use distress oxide ink color the pieces instead of diecutting from colored cardstock which was my original idea. I used small blending brushes to color all the pieces.

In the photo you can see some of the inks I used as well as the inkblended pieces.

I die cut the daisies and centers from white cardstock as well. You will need two die cuts per flower to create the daisies on my card. I think it would be fun to die cut a third flower to create an even fuller daisy – like a gerber daisiy. In this photo you can see the small blending brush I used to color the die cuts. My blending isn’t perfect because in real life flowers are perfect, either!

The bird and the flowers were assembled using liquid adhesive and then set aside to dry.

Then I die cut the stems and leaves added the inkblending and added the leaves to the tall stem. I die cut white cardstock using a Memory Box Curved Cap Pinpoint Layers die and then layered that onto light gray cardstock that I die cut with a rectangle die.

Now it was time to layer on all elements. I used liquid adhesive to adhere everything to the card front except for the hummingbird. For him I used a combination of liquid adhesive and foam squares. I stamped the greeting from the Elegant Birthday Sentiments stamp set with black ink and die cut it with the matching die. The die was used to die cut two more layers that were adhered behind the stamped sentiment and then adhered to the card with liquid adhesive.

I really love how this card turned out. It will be going to my sweet mom who will be turning 89 at the end of April. I hope she loves it too!

CL8166 Elegant Birthday Sentiments

57634 Block Print Daisy Flower

57659 Block Print Soaring Hummingbird

February 25, 2026
Make a Wish
by Christina Rannow

Hello! Christina here to share a quick and easy birthday card featuring the Tall Party Candles craft dies. I’m always in need of more birthday cards, and this design is perfect for mass-producing. This card would work for just about anyone, plus you can customize it by changing up the candle colors. Let’s take a look at how this card came together!

Like I said, this card is quick and easy. I started by die-cutting the candles from four different shades of blue cardstock. I think shades of pink or even a rainbow of colors would be pretty too. I wanted the flames to be yellow, so I die-cut the candles again, but from yellow cardstock. I snipped the flame pieces off the candles and attached them to the blue candles.

Next, I trimmed a piece of white cardstock to approximately 3.75 x 5 inches and arranged the candles in the center. Before attaching them to the panel, I lightly blended yellow ink where the candle flames would be so they would have a bit of a glow. Then I attached the candles with glue and stamped a sentiment from the Plain and Simple Birthday Greetings stamp set just underneath them.

My final step was to attach the panel to an A2 side-fold card base. I used foam tape so the panel would pop off the card base for a little dimension to the design. And that’s all there is for this quick and easy birthday card. Thank you so much for checking it out!

57576 Tall Party Candles
CL8167 Plain and Simple Birthday Greetings

February 20, 2026