Author: birch press

Do you love animals?  For most of my life I’ve been surrounded by different pets.  I’ve had dogs and cats and lots of more interesting things my children have brought home for some TLC… baby bunnies and birds, toads and turtles.  My card today features the Purrfect Cats die cut.
I love the intricate layered dies from Birch Press Design but I confess that I am always hesitant to cover them up.  The backgrounds are so beautiful I always think they should take center stage.  Sometimes I worry that if I add die cuts and embellishments that my card will look too busy or cluttered.
I started my card with a distress ink background in Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Dried Marigold, Worn Lipstick and Wilted Violet.  The panel was splattered with water and white ink before I topped it with a Sevilla Layer A die cut.  The Purrfect Cats die cut works well with the busy background because it is a large solid die cut in contrast with the detailed colorful background.
 I triple cut the cat and glued the die cuts together to make one thick die cut.  I embellished the cat with some rhinestones, a twine bow and a bitty die cut tag.  The background is embellished with gold sequins from the Not So Heavy Metal tin from the store.
The sentiment is from the Love and Miss You stamp set.  The coordinating die set cuts the large word sentiments from the stamp set.

I hope you have a great day with time to create!

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Hi there and welcome to another crafty inspiration post. We are also excited that we are sponsoring the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #449.The prize for one lucky participant is a $20 gift certificate for Birch Press Design. All the details are over on the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge Blog.

Today I made a card inspired by the new Theme Challenge Under the Sea using Birch Press Design craft dies and clear stamps.

I created my sea by first sponging two panels of Bristol Smooth cardstock with Salty Ocean Distress Oxide inks. The back panel I sponged very gently so that the colour was not too intense. The second layer I put more pressure so that I got a more vibrant blue. On both panels I did not worry about covered the entire panel evenly, I felt it was more true to the turbulent s of the ocean. Using the Waves Plate B craft die I die cut the second, darker panel and adhered it on top of the first panel using spray adhesive to make sure all the waves were stuck down.

Next is where I started to get a little creative and have some fun. I made some fish using the Viva Layer A craft die. Wait, that is a mandala die not a fish die? By selecting three different shapes within the die I was able to piece together my fish body, tail and eyes.

All it took was a little drop of glue to adhere the tail and the eye to the body.

Once the fish were assembled I placed them on to the card in the swirls of the waves.

The handwritten Smile from Wishing You the Best clear stamp set, was stamped in black and die cut in white. Then the phrase ‘It’s Your Birthday’ from the same set was stamped and heat embossed in white on black cardstock. Splitting the sentiment up into two different colours adds interest. Here is another look at the finished card.

I hope that today I have inspired you to look at some of the products you may already have in a different way to create something new. Don’t forget to visit the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge blog to play along and possibly win a gift certificate from Birch Press Design. Thanks you for stopping by and have a wonderful day.

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Hi there!  Laurie here with you today sharing some crafty inspiration with you!

 

 

I created two cards using the Butterfly Garden Plate Layer C die.  For the first one, I used warm ink colors that I sponged onto the die cut panel.

 

 

For the sentiment I die cut the Big Hugs die from black cardstock and mounted it on a vellum shadow layer.  The great thing about this die set is that both the word and shadow layer dies are included together!

The stamped sentiment is from the Dragonfly Greetings clear stamp set.

 

 

When I’m needing to replenish my card stash, I try to create multiple cards at the same time.  It really doesn’t take that much longer to die cut the layers twice instead of only once.  Even though I chose different colors to sponge on the background, I used the same gold and white paint to splatter on.

 

 

My second card features cool ink colors.  I usually choose three ink colors to use when I’m sponging a background like this.  I also try to choose colors that blend well together.

 

 

 

 

I’m so glad you joined me here today!  I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

 

 

 

 

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Welcome to another inspiration post here at Birch Press Design. I just can seem to get enough of the new Mandala dies and today I have a video tutorial to create a pretty wedding card. I am using the Kaleidoscope Layer A, Kaleidoscope Layer B and Kaleidoscope Layer C craft dies along with the Big Sending Sugar Script die in a colour scheme that is perfect for a summer wedding.

The mandala dies are very detailed and quite elegant but making this card was actually quite quick and easy. The dies do most of the work for you and along with the addition of a few other supplies you can make something really unique.
The video below will show you how I created all the elements for my cards using Distress Oxide inks and Bristol Smooth cardstock to create my own custom coloured cardstock to use with the dies.


As you could see in the video I decided to change the embossed sentiment from black to the same custom blue that I used for the mandala. The black ended up looking a bit heavy with the pastel colours. I pulled the blue from the deepest layer of the mandala to really make the sentiment pop.

The Big Sending Sugar Script die was cut with a single layer of white and the shadow was cut from a piece of vellum. The sentiment strip were created from two clear stamp sets. Best Wishes came from the Sending Love clear stamp set and ‘On Your Special Day’ from the Wishing You The Best clear stamp set.

One more look at the completed card.

Thank you for stopping in today, we are hoping that you have been enjoying the more frequent posts at Birch Press Design. I hope that I have inspired you to use the mandala craft dies when you look at creating cards for summer celebrations.

 

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