Birch Press Design

Author: birch press

  • Shaving Cream Banner Heart | by Crystal Komara

    Shaving Cream Banner Heart | by Crystal Komara

    Hello Birch Press Design fans and happy New Year! This is design team member Crystal Komara here today and I tried out a messy new technique over the holiday season! Shaving cream! Now, I’m not typically a “messy” technique kind of person, so this one scared me a bit, but in reality, it was not nearly as messy as I envisioned. My only tip would be to use unscented shaving cream, my card does have a bit of a medicinal smell!

    I found a whole variety of YouTube tutorials on how to make shaving cream backgrounds, but essentially I spread a 2″ layer of shaving cream into a 12″ x9″ jelly roll pan and dropped ink colors randomly over it and then used a toothpick to swirl or spread the ink around. Then I simply placed sheets of 5 1/4″ x 4″ Mixed Media paper into the shaving cream and let dry a little before wiping off the excess with a paper towel. I made about 30 backgrounds in under 30 minutes and each one has it’s own unique marbled look.

    Card details:

    The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. This is my go-to cardstock for everything – die cutting, card bases, card inserts, Copic coloring, etc. It’s much easier to just keep one style of paper in my craft room than trying to figure out what paper works best for what.

    I cut the shaving cream background into a 5″ x 3 3/4″ rectangle and die cut the heart out of the center of the card using the Banner Heart Layer set. I placed a piece of acetate behind the shaving cream background to create a shaker card. Next I die cut Layer A of the same Banner Heart Layering dies from a magenta pink cardstock and adhered it to the front of the acetate. Using foam adhesive I lined the back of the shaving cream background end-to-end (so no sequins will fall out) and placed about a tablespoon of sequins on before sealing the ends.

    Lastly, I stamped the sentiment “love and hugs” in black ink on a thin white strip of cardstock and adhered the sentiment strip using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. This sentiment came from the Lingo Thanks stamp set.

    I hope you’ll give this fun (and only slightly messy) technique a try! Shaving cream is usually something everyone has on hand quite readily at home. Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

    Supplies

    8143 Lingo Thanks clear stamp set and die set

    57510 Banner Heart Layer Set

  • Jovial Blooms | By Seeka

    Jovial Blooms | By Seeka

    Hello and welcome! Seeka here and today I’m sharing a card featuring the Jovial Blooms and Leaves Contour Layer flowers with a large leaf made with the Curved Leaf Branch Contour Layers die.

    I started by die cutting the three layers of the blooms in three shades of orange and yellow cardstock. I cut the flower centers from a vibrant pink cardstock and then glued the layers together.

    Next, I die cut the large branch from green cardstock.

    For the background, I used the Gilded Petalpoint hot foil plate to dry emboss a 4.25″ x 5.5″ panel of white cardstock. Dry embossing is easily done by using the embossing pad that comes with most die cutting machines and the sandwich recommended by the machine’s manufacturer.

    To finish, I used foam tape to adhere the branch and blooms to the dry-embossed panel. Then I added a sentiment from my stash and glued the card front to a card base.

    Thank you so much for visiting!


    Supplies


    57502 Jovial Blooms and Leaves Contour Layers
    57513 Curved Leaf Branch Contour Layers
    BPF516 Gilded Petalpoint Hot Foil Plate and Die Set
  • Snowflake Thank You | by Rosemary Dennis

    Snowflake Thank You | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here today. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas celebration with family and friends. Now that Christmas is past it is time to think about thanking people for the gifts given. With that in mind I made a wintry thank you card using several Birch Press Design snowflake dies. Let’s take a look at what I made.

    When I made the light blue snowflake ornament for my last post I had lots of scraps of the panels I had made left over. I decided to die cut lots of snowflakes using the Felicity Snowflakes die set with the idea to use them on a card.

    I then pulled out the Frosty Flake Layering die set and determined an arrangement of the flakes that I liked. I then die cut the Frosty Flake layers from a very pale blue cardstock, silver glitter cardstock and white.

    To give the layered snowflake more dimension and movement I only adhered the layers together in the very center. Adhering the snowflake together this way also created some off-setting of the layers which I think looks really pretty.

    I die cut a piece of white cardstock with a rectangle die and then arranged all the snowflakes on the panel as you see. When adhering the smaller snowflakes I only used the liquid adhesive on the centers of them so that there is a little bit of dimension and movement. I foiled the sentiment using Thank You Noted Script hot foil plate using a light blue foil and then die cut with the matching die. I adhered that to the card using a combination of foam squares and liquid adhesive. An icy blue fairy jewel was added to the center of the large snowflake to finish off the card.

    I hope you enjoyed today’s project. Thanks for stopping by and have a very, very happy new year!

    Supplies

    BPF511 Thank You Noted Script Hot Foil Plate and Die Set

    57453 Felicity Snowflakes

    57388 Frosty Flake Layer Set

    GP1008 Majestic Hues Glitter Pad

  • Winter Thank You | by Allison Frazier

    Winter Thank You | by Allison Frazier

    Hello, Birch Press friends! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have been enjoying the holiday season. I admit that I am always sad to see the holiday card making come to an end. But just because the holidays are over doesn’t mean that you have to put your winter-themed supplies away. Snowflakes are still great for winter birthdays, winter greetings, or in the case of my card today, a post-holiday thank you card. I am featuring the Piped Icing Star die set today, and I am just using the detail die from that set as a snowflake.

    I started by choosing a background for my card. I love plaid for the holidays, but since I am not necessarily going for a holiday card, I reached for an older pad of Memory Box paper – the Madras Plaid Blue and Violet paper pad. This has some fun plaids that make me think more of spring, but this particular piece of paper also says winter to me. I mounted this piece of paper onto a dark, muted purple piece of card stock and then glued that to an A2 card base.

    I then cut the detail die from the Piped Icing Star set out of white card stock eight times. This is so I could glue two of the “snowflakes” together for dimension, for a total of four snowflakes. As you can see from the card, I used almost three full snowflakes and a portion of the fourth up in the right corner. After glueing my snowflakes to my card panel, I just snipped off the excess that hung over the panel.

    I hot foiled the Thank You Noted Script sentiment with light blue foil and cut it out with the matching die. I glued that to my panel, and I love how the points of the snowflakes complement the shape of this sentiment. Once I was done gluing my die cut elements, I added light blue jewels to each of the snowflakes. I also added a larger, clear crystal to the middle of each snowflake. The addition of these embellishments really kicks things up a notch, don’t you think?

    That is it for my card today. I hope it puts a smile on your face. Thank you so much for joining us today.


    Supplies


    57454 Piped Icing Star
    bpf511 Thank You Noted Script Hot Foil Plate and Die Set
    sp1006 Stormy Blue 6×6 pack

    Supplies


    cry102 Christmas Fairy Crystals
    jwl002 Pastel Jewels
  • Finding Joy | by April Antonio

    Finding Joy | by April Antonio

    Happy Saturday! I’m so excited to be back on the blog today sharing a card on this Christmas weekend. I used the really fun Piped Icing Star die set to create a sparkling holiday card. Read on to find out how I paper pieced this card together.

    I cut an A2 sized panel from white cardstock and then used the ‘icing’ part of the Piped Icing Star die set to cut from the panel three times — at the bottom, the middle, and the top, creating a visual triangle along with the placement. I then took the panel and die cut it withe the Pinpoint Contour Plate to give the background the fun wavy dot texture.

    I glued the panel to an A2 card base and then did one of my favorite things – die cut inlay. I cut the intricate star from white cardstock multiple times, and then stacked them three times into the openings I cut into the cardstock panel.

    I also cut the star from three colors from the Glitzy Glitter Pad (dark blue, medium blue, and purple) and added the inner star pieces into my die cut inlays.

    I used the same dark blue to cut the words ‘find joy’ using the Find Joy die set. The shadow I cut from vellum, and I cut the word once from black cardstock and layered it underneath the glitter from some added dimension.

    Lastly, I had to add some sparkle of course! I used the Bright Jewels rhinestone set to add matching jewels to each star.

    That is it! I love die cut inlay, and with the beautiful piped icing set it’s easy to cut everything from white and add a little shine with glitter. I hope you have an amazing holiday season and happy new year!

    Supplies

    57454 Piped Icing Star

    GP1007 Glitzy Glitter Pad

    57511 Pinpoint Contour Plate

    57452 Find Joy and Outline

    Supplies

    jwl003 Bright Jewels

  • Black Tie Holiday | by Toni M Maddox

    Black Tie Holiday | by Toni M Maddox

    Hello, Birch Press fans! Toni here with you today sharing an elegant and rather unexpected holiday card.

    I used a variety of Neenah metallic shimmery papers to cut out the Splendid Poinsettia Contour Layers. So so pretty.

    I used the same shimmer paper for the bottom layer of the Herbarium Plate with the second layer in an iridescent foil and black for the top.

    I tucked a few Oval Leaf Branches in white for a pop of contrasting color. To finish the card I cut out Holiday Hugs in shimmer paper and layered that on top of a black layer for oomph.

    Talk about a statement card. Modern. Elegant. Fabulous!

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

    Supplies

    57517 Splendid Poinsettia Contour Layers

    57525 Oval Leaf Branches Contour Layers

    57458 Herbarium Plate Layer Set

    57540 Holiday Hugs Vintage Sentiment

  • Merry Patina(mas) } by Crystal Komara

    Merry Patina(mas) } by Crystal Komara

    Hello Birch Press Design fans and followers! This is design team member Crystal Komara here today with some non-traditional and rustic holiday inspiration using the Twinkle Ornament Layer Set.

    Now before we get to the card details, I know you’re going to first inquire about that background! So, in full disclosure, I recently attended a gelli plate class and this was one of the backgrounds I created from that class. I’m no expert and I couldn’t tell you all the professional gelli plate terms, but I’ll describe what we did as best I can.

    On the gelli plate we dropped acrylic inks in gold and amber and swirled it around the plate with a brayer. When it was almost dry, we took a patina blue paint and dotted it onto bubble wrap. Then we dipped the bubble wrap into the ink. Lastly, I took a 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ sheet of mixed media cardstock and smooshed it into the gelli plate. Easy peasy, right? Just kidding. And you know with gelli plates even if I tried to recreate this background, it would never look exactly the same!

    Card details:

    The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. kraft cardstock. I added the dried gelli plate background directly to the card base.

    Using the Twinkle Ornament Layer Set, I die cut Layer C (the bottom layer) from a teal cardstock. Layer B from a gold glitter cardstock and Layer A (the top layer) from the same teal cardstock. I layered the three together using a fine tip liquid glue. Then I adhered the ornament to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.

    I die cut the ornament topper from gold glitter cardstock. I die cut the “merry” sentiment from the Handwritten Merry Christmas and Outline die. I die cut the top thinner layer from the same teal cardstock and the bottom outline layer from gold glitter cardstock. I decided to cut off the “Christmas” portion of the die, so it just reads “merry.” I adhered the sentiment to the card using foam adhesive.

    This card is SOooo far outside of my comfort zone, but I guess that’s why I like it. Sometimes taking a creative risk is worth it! Try it for yourself and you just might be surprised! Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day.


    Supplies

    56116 Twinkle Ornament Layer Set

    57538 Merry Christmas Vintage Sentiment

    SP1003 Lush Green 6×6 pack

    SP1006 Stormy Blue 6×6 pack

    GP1006 Festive Glitter Pad

  • Ho Ho Holidays | by April Antonio

    Ho Ho Holidays | by April Antonio

    Happy Saturday! With Christmas less than 10 days away, I think many of us are in full swing with holiday themed cards. I had a lot of fun creating a Santa card using the Adornment Santa die set. Read on to find out how I pulled this card together!

    I started with the Santa Adornment die set and die cut each piece from white cardstock. I also cut the hat from a beautiful red glitter cardstock piece from the Memory Box Glitzy Glitter Pad.

    I used ink and blending brushes to color my Santa brown, and used red on the circle shape for his nose.

    Next I assembled Santa together, starting with his face and, beard, and hat pieces. Then I added his mustache and nose, and also made sure to layer the thin outline cut out pieces (I did leave the outline pieces off of his hat by choice). I used a shiny black gel pen to add eyes to his face 🙂

    For the card base I cut the outline from the Adornment Snowflake out of silver cardstock I grabbed from the Vintage Pastel Mirror Pad (which is one of my favorites!). I cut the snowflake background from white cardstock and layered the white and silver pieces together. I then glued the assembled snowflakes to my A2 card background, and trimmed off the pieces that were hanging over.

    I then glued my Santa on top of this background, and added red Christmas Fairy Crystals around him for some extra shine.

    That is it! The Adornment Santa is super cute and perfect for the holidays!

    Supplies

    57482 Adornment Santa

    57483 Adornment Snowflake

    Supplies

    GP1007 Glitzy Glitter Pad

    FP1002 Vintage Pastel Mirror Pad

    CRY102 Christmas Fairy Crystals

  • Simple Ornaments | by Rosemary Dennis

    Simple Ornaments | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today. With Christmas right around the corner I thought it would be fun to make a couple of simple ornaments using the Pinpoint Snowflake die set. Let’s take a look at what I created.

    The first ornament I created is a 3d one. I started by covering some heavy weight white cardstock with a distress spray stain and several different distress mica sprays in icy blues and grays.

    When the panels were dry I die cut them with the Pinpoint Snowflake die, scored them down the middle of each snowflake (which was really pretty easy) and then folded them in half.

    Then I glued them together using liquid adhesive. I did each side one at a time and after adhering each side together placed an acrylic block on the finished side to allow the glue to set. Before adhering the final snowflake I cut a length of silver thread, knotted it at one end and then laid it down the center of the snowflake. The final snowflake was adhered securing the hanger inside the snowflake.

    I finished off the ornament with lots of fairy jewels in an icy blue and milky white. There you have it a three-sided dimensional snowflake to hang on your tree! The second ornament was even easier to create and can be used as a tag for a gift before hanging it on the tree.

    For this one I pulled out some plaid papers from the Memory Box Christmas Jolly 6×6 pad to die cut the snowflake. I had some thin chipboard that I used to die cut the snowflake from and that was sandwiched between the patterned paper snowflakes. When I die cut the patterned paper snowflakes I made sure to position the die in approximately the same spot on the paper to that the back and front would match fairly well.

    After adhering all the pieces together I used a pointed tool I have to help place gems, etc on my projects to pierce a hole through the top of the snowflake. Then I stamped a sentiment from the Contempo Christmas Greetings stamp and die set on white cardstock with dark red ink. I die cut with the matching die and pierced a whole through it. Gold thread was used as a hanger for this ornament and was threaded through the ornament and little tag, then tied in a knot.

    I finished off both the front and the back of the ornament with two little gold snowflakes in the center and red fairy gems on the points of the snowflake. The dies I used for the little snowflakes are the Felicity Snowflakes.

    I hope I inspired you to think outside the box and create an ornament or two with your snowflake dies! Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

    Supplies

    57453 Felicity Snowflakes

    57385 Pinpoint Snowflake

    cl8162 Contempo Christmas Greetings clear stamp set

  • Merry Christmas Poinsettia | By Sandhya Iyer

    Merry Christmas Poinsettia | By Sandhya Iyer

    Hello, BP friends! Sandhya here and today I am sharing my Christmas Poinsettia card. I used the Splendid Poinsettia Contour Layers die set for my focal point. I used a sentiment from the Glad Tidings stamp set for my sentiment. So let’s get started!

    I started by spraying a few pieces of watercolor paper with Distress Spray Stain and Distress Mica Sprays in shades of red and green. To keep the layers distinct, I tried to keep one sheet a few shades darker than the other. Then, I die-cut the base layer out of the darker piece and the detailed layer out of the lighter piece.

    Next, I assembled the layers and built my layered poinsettia. I used all the layers interchangeably to get a more dense layered look. For the center, I added iridescent flatback drops in a tiny cluster. Next, I added gold details using gold foundry wax.

    Finally, I trimmed some textured watercolor cardstock with a deckled trimmer to create my panel. I stamped my sentiment in black and adhered the layered poinsettia to it. Then, I inked around a kraft card base and adhered the panel down to it in a slanting manner.

    This brings us to the end of today’s post. Thank you so much for stopping by and I will be back soon with one more card before we end the year!

    Supplies:

    57517 Splendid Poinsettia Contour Layers
    CL8164 Glad Tidings clear stamp set