I hope you’re having a great day! Today I’m sharing a card made with the Birch Press Design Time To Celebrate clear stamp set! I love florals and this set is absolutely gorgeous! The set has line drawn flowers for you to color as well as solid florals that you can ink with no coloring required. Of course there are matching dies that make this set even easier to work with and adds so much versatility with the different designs you can create.
Here’s how I made this beautiful card… I cut a panel of white card stock slightly smaller than the size of my A2 card base (4.25 x 5.5″) I planned on stamping my sentiment on a strip of paper that would span the width of the card and have flowers peeking out from underneath.
I stamped the floral images around a strip of paper that represents where my stamped sentiment will be.
Next I added Spun Sugar Distress Ink along the edges of the cover panel blending as close to the flowers as possible without coloring them. Then I stamped the splatter image from the stamp set in darker shade of pink ink randomly around the stamped images. The shape of the splatter stamp makes it easy to get around the flowers.
Now for the coloring. We’ve done all that work getting the background right I sure don’t want to mess up when I select the colors for my flowers. A simple way to “test” the colors is to lay a clear piece of plastic over your design and colored on the plastic to see what colors you like best. Since Copics are alcohol markers I wipe the plastic with rubbing alcohol so the plastic sheet is ready to use next time. If you use water base markers you can use a baby wipe to clean the plastic.
It’s never too late to revise your design. I thought the flowers peeking out under the strip looked a little “flat” so I stamped and die cut a few and adhered them with adhesive foam tape. I left the smaller flowers “as is” on the card panel base.
I added a few berry sprigs as accents and some shiny sequins for some sparkle. I used a corner rounder on the bottom corners of the card to give it a more interesting shape.
I love the florals in this set and I hope you do too!
Hi all! I’m here with a funky, retro sort-of card for you today. There was no real rhyme or reason here, believe it or not. Yes, I went out of my comfort zone. I literally chose three of the images from the new A Little Birdie stamp set and randomly stamped them with a hybrid ink. I knew I was going to watercolor them, so after inking, I heat set it with my heat gun. Nothing fancy, just go over the stamped images with your heat gun for maybe 20-30 seconds. That’s it. I then used my Zig Clean Color markers (any watercolor markers will work) and colored in only the edges of the images where I wanted the color to be darker. Just a little swipe, not colored perfectly AT ALL. Next, I spritzed some water onto my (waterproof) work surface and used a paintbrush to blend the ink. I watercolored one color at a time, meaning I watercolored all of the red parts. Cleaned my brush, then watercolored all of the orange parts. Cleaned my brush, and so on, until I was done. Again, I was going for a funky feel for this card, so the watercoloring is, well, sloppy. 😀 Pure fun and I love it! I used a light gray marker to sort of color in the background as well using the same technique as the birds. Once dried, I cut it with a rectangle die. The sentiment is from the Time to Celebrate stamp set. I stamped it onto black card stock, then embossed it with white embossing powder. Keeping with the funky-feel, I hand cut (gasp!) the sentiment. I layered the two pieces with foam adhesive. I hope I’ve inspired you to step out of your comfort zone and just have FUN!
Thanks for stopping by! And a shout out to my mom – today is her birthday! Love you!
Time for some more Tuesday inspiration using Birch Press Design’s craft dies and stamps.
Today I am showing you another way to add colour using the Birch Press Design Stackable layer craft dies. I am using Peony Blooms Layer A, Peony Blooms Layer B and Peony Blooms Layer C along with Ranger Distress Oxide inks. I have put together a video tutorial for you.
After I sponged my three panels with Distress Oxide inks I spritzed water on them so the Oxides could work their magic. These are the three panels I sponged cut out with the Peony Blooms Stackable Layer dies. In order from left to right Layer A, B and C.
Once adhered together I prepared the cad base. Once again using Distess Oxide ink to sponge the background and spritzed it with water and lifted the excess with paper towel. All layers were adhered together with Elmer’s Craft Bond Spray Adhesive (see previous tutorial done by designer, Laurie Schmidlin). I sponged some more Distress Oxide ink on to my base panel and also spritzed it with some clean water.
The die cut layers were adhered to the front of the card base. I added my sentiment stamped and die cut from the Make a Statement Make a Statement clear stamps and Make a Statement craft dies.
These close up photos really show how much depth and dimension can be achieved with these dies and just a few gradient changes in colour.
Perfect for a summer birthday.
With the Stackable craft dies the possibilities are endless. I hope I inspired you today to make something beautiful.
Thanks for stopping by! Every Tuesday we feature items from the craft section of the store! Today I made a shaker card inspired by a beautiful Summer day!
I started by cutting the Fiori Plate layer C from pink card stock, and layer B from white card stock. I adhered the two layers together and placed a large acrylic block over them to keep pressure over them as the glue dried. The cover plates are sized perfectly for an A2 card (4.25 x 5.5″) Next to make the shaker…
I placed two ovals from the Memory Box Open Studio Stitched Oval Layers inside each other and cut them in my die cut machine to create a frame. Using the larger oval die I cut a piece of acetate and adhered on the reverse of the frame. Next I added adhesive foam tape to the reverse side of the frame. I usually leave an opening in the adhesive foam tape at the top of the frame. After I attach it to the card base I add sequins. Then I add a piece of adhesive foam tape to seal off the opening so my sequins don’t escape.
I added iridescent pink and clear sequins to the inside of the shaker. I love that you can still sett he beautiful stitching of the Fiori Plate layers inside the shaker window!
I stamped the floral and dragonfly images from the Dragonfly Greetings stamp set in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored them with Copic alcohol markers.. I purposely left the brush strokes on the butterfly wings to add contrast and interest.
The Dragonfly Greetings is a beautiful stamp set with floral images, dragonflies, and simple sentiments. The coordinating die cuts make it easy to get a clean detailed cut with one pass through your die cut machine.
I hope you find time to make something beautiful today!
It’s Independence Day here in the USA! Most of us have been lucky to enjoy a long weekend .. maybe you’re having a cookout and going to see some fireworks later in the evening! I thought I’d give the Peony Bloom Layer Dies a Patriotic makeover!
I started with a color block base of ombre blues. I selected three different shades of blue, trimmed panels in different widths, taped them together on their reverse and then trimmed the panel to fit my A2 (4.25 x 5.5″) card base.
Next I cut the Peony Bloom dies in three shades of red using the darkest for Layer A. The bright red makes me think of summer geraniums!
The “thank you” sentiment is from the new Make A Statement Clear Stamp set. Matching dies make it easy to cut out each of the sentiments making them so versatile!
A special thank you to all of you who left a comment on Angel’s post last Tuesday! Birch Press Design was the sponsor of the Summer Coffee Lover’s Blog Hop and offered up winners choice of any one cover plate die from the store on the June 27 post. Random Number Generator selected a winner for us… Kris! Congratulations Kris! Thanks for your lovely comments!
Hi all! Angel here with a cup o’ Joe for you this morning! Birch Press is one of the Coffee Lover’s Blog Hop Sponsors! And if you don’t know what that is Please go check out Amy Tsuruta’s Blog Hop HERE (she’s the hostess of this fab blog hop!). We will also be giving away a prize here on the Birch Press Blog – scroll down for more info!
My card looks like I slaved over it but that’s how Birch Press Design dies work – effortless beauty! I am in love with this Fiori Plate Layer C! I cut it out of some primitive white card stock then layered it with foam adhesive over a kraft card base. I cut out this super fun coffee cup from the Morning Cup Poppy Stamps die. I did cut it out twice so I could layer the larger, middle part of the cup, just for dimension.
The sentiment is from the Dragonfly Greetings stamp set. And yes, I think coffee is the greatest. 🙂
We will be giving away one of our Cover Plate Dies (winner gets to choose which one!)!!!!! All you have to do is comment on this post by 2 July. The winner will be posted on 4 July.
Have you had a chance to use the new Peony Blooms Stackable Dies yet? Watercolouring has become my new favourite colouring medium to use in crafting. Today I am going to use Peerless Watercolors in dilute washes for the layers of my peonies to create a monochromatic flower with lots of dimension.
To begin I cut one each of the Peony Blooms Stackable dies–Layer A, Layer B and Layer C using 140 lb cold press watercolour paper.
I started by cutting small pieces of the watercolor films from the Peerless Watercolor book that I was going to use for the flower and foliage. I colours I used were Royal Scarlet, Royal Crimson, Carnation Pink, Light Green and Brilliant Yellow. Put each piece of cut film into a different tray of a watercolour palette. Add a small bit of water to each of the trays to dissolve the colour from the film and tint the water, then remove the film from the trays with a pair of tweezers. ETA: Carnation Pink was added to the palette after photographing.
Starting with Layer C I applied a generous amount of water to the die cut flower and then I painted the flower with the full strength of my dilute Royal Scarlet wash. I set it aside to dry.
Next I did the same with Layer B using the Royal Crimson dilute. After the first layer of colour dried a bit I went back and added some darker highlights to the edges of the flower in the same colour but directly from the film in the book. I set that layer aside to dry.
For Layer A I painted the Carnation Pink dilute directly to the dry die cut and then set it aside to dry.
For the leaves I painted Layer C in Brilliant Yellow and added Light Green to the centre. For the leaves in Layer B I mixed some of the Brilliant Yellow and Light Green together in last available palette in my tray to make a yellow/green then I painted the Layer B leaves with it. I added more water to the custom yellow/green dilute to lighten the colour a bit more and painted the last leaves from Layer A.
Once all papers were dry I assembled the Peony and leaves onto a white card base, isn’t the dimension achieved from the monochromtic watercolouring amazing? Finally the thank you sentiment from Dragonfly Greeting clear stamp set was die cut using the die from the Dragonfly Greetings die set and adhered to the card.
I hope you enjoyed today’s tutorial on watercolouring in a monochromatic colour scheme and see how well it works with the lovely detailed dies from Birch Press Design. See you again next Tuesday for more Design Team inspiration.
Happy Tuesday! Today I’m sharing a quick and easy way to create a sentiment frame. This simple technique can be used on almost any card!
First, I have to say that the new Peony Bloom layering die set is one of the prettiest that I have seen! As soon as I saw it I was smitten! While playing around with it I started thinking about different ways to add sentiments. I didn’t want to cover up any of the flowers so I came up with the idea of stamping around the edges.
The Dragonfly Greetings stamp set is full of sentiments that are perfect for this technique! I chose to use the Thank You sentiment. I started by lightly penciling in lines 1/4″ from the edges on all four sides. I then stamped the sentiment repeatedly, using the pencil marks as a guideline to stamp. Don’t worry if your sentiment goes off of the page at the corners as this will be covered up with the layering dies.
One tip that can save you some time and frustration is to make sure your ink is completely dry before going on to the next step. Trust me. Ha!
After the ink was dry, I erased all of the pencil marks using a high quality eraser.
After assembling the three Peony Bloom layers (I used all three on my card), I adhered it to the white sentiment stamped layer. For embellishment, I added some decorative jewels to the center of the flowers.
Hello everyone and welcome! I am sharing a video today that features the Peony Bloom Stackable Dies – this set is so versatile and the layers create a beautiful three dimensional effect.
I am showing a basic card using different shades and textures of cardstock – and then taking it to the next level in the video by using Peerless Watercolors to shade each layer and create a completely different look. You’ll love the results!
There are three layers in the Peony Bloom Set – Layers A,B and C – and they are designed to work together. When I was working with them, I liked to use the lightest shade of paper on Layer A (this is the top layer) and then work my way towards darker shades as the layers went down.
Here is a look at Layer A by itself – this could be used on its own to make a striking card. Just add a sentiment and it is ready to go!
And here is what the layers look like when used together! I used three shades of pink and three shades of green cardstock to make this look – and I really wanted to use texture on the card so that there was a lot to look at visually. Positioning the leaves is fun -it seems like there isn’t a bad place to put them!
The layers create a raised appearance that is quite striking – very sculptural and it makes you want to run your fingers over it. I loved the pink and green together, but I wanted to try another color combination in a more subdued palette.
This stunning combination of greens and browns gives the card a completely different feel! I used lots of texture again – for a rich look. Notice that the lighter colors are on top and then it gets deeper towards the bottom – you might try the opposite. There are no rules here!
I love how the shapes overlap so well – here are some dramatic close-ups of the blooms. The way the light catches the cutouts and adds extra shadow makes it look even better!
Oh, did I mention how versatile these are? You don’t have to keep the flowers in the frame! Just assemble the layers, cut the peony blooms off of the frame and they can be used to embellish a card on their own!
Here I placed the blooms onto some notecards and stamped some phrases from the Make A Statement Clear Stamp Set. I just used my MISTI to stamp and emboss the phrases with some white embossing powder – and then tucked those beautiful blooms into the corners!
Here’s a plain version where I stamped directly onto the paper…
…and here is an updated version where I embossed the sentiment separately and then die cut it with the matching Make A Statement die set. I like both – but that extra pop you get by cutting out the words with the die set is probably my favorite!
I stuck to the original pink and green color scheme and then just arranged the leaves so that they would border the card and leave plenty of space for the sentiment.
I tried a simpler idea too – no leaves and just some gentle sponging with Distress Oxide Ink in Worn Lipstick and Peeled Paint. The sponged ink makes the white “hello” stand out and I used black dye ink for the “sending a happy”. This was pretty quick and I am going to give a set of these to a friend for a gift!
I had so much fun looking at the cards when I was done – and then got to thinking that it would be really cool if I could get shading on the petals. So I die cut the layers using 140 lb. hot press watercolor paper and got out my Peerless Watercolors and got to painting!
I painted the bottom layer and top layer as evenly as possible (check out the video for some tips on how to do this) and then concentrated my shading on the middle layer. The Peerless Watercolors have 40 colors in the pack, so I had plenty of shades to work from. The colors I used for the bloom were:
Layer A Chrome Yellow
Layer B Chrome Orange
Layer C Scarlet Vermillion
I wanted the color scheme to be really intense – so I painted several layers of color to really build up the bottom shades.
You can see how the middle color changes on the petals from light to dark, enhancing the dimensional quality of the layers. It was so wonderful watching the flower come to life!
For the leaves, the colors I used were:
Chrome Yellow
Grass Green
Chrome Green
I loved how it turned out, but then couldn’t wait to try a pastel version!
So I used the following colors of watercolor to create something softer looking:
Flower
Alizarine Red
Amethyst
Leaves and Background
Myrtle Green
Hunter Green
The main tip here is to use lots of water!
For Layer C (the bottom layer) I used lots of water and just a little Alizarine Red – this gave me a nice pink base to wrk with.
Then when I painted Layer B, I used lots of water and just a little Alizarine Red – and then I barely added some amethyst along the edges of the petals. I wasn’t too careful when adding them – I wanted there to be light areas and dark areas, just like you might see in the folds of the petal.
Layer A was just plain – no paint added at all so that there is a nice bright outline on top!
I painted the background with a soft wash of green – and then when it was dry I simply splattered it with some of the green paint.
I think you’ll love both techniques – if you decide to use cardstock the project will go quickly (the hardest part will be deciding what colors of cardstock to try!). Watercolor takes some time but it is really worth it – you’ll want to frame your creation when you are done!
I hope you’re having a great day! Tuesdays are dedicated to the craft section of the Birch Press Design Store! Have you had a chance to see the new Peony Bloom and Fiori Plate Layer Dies? Today I’m sharing a card made with the Fiori set!
There are three stackable dies for each collection that you can use individually or together as a set. It’s fun mixing paper colors for unique designs. I love to add a layer of glitter paper for some sparkle and shine.
Today I wanted to share some of my favorite things to have on hand when working with these intricate dies. First I would recommend a steel shim / adapter plate for your die cut machine. You can find them where you purchased your machine under “accessories” . Several die manufactures also carry them like Memory Box.
There’s lots of ways to add adhesive to the back of your designs – my favorite is a precision needle tip applicator that reduces glue mishaps. A large acrylic stamping block provides just the right amount of weight to keep your design flat while each layer dries.
I always cut the final panel (in this case the orange) that’s attached to my white card stock base slightly smaller than the die cut background so it doesn’t peek out the edges.
The layered backgrounds are all so beautiful that you will want to keep your sentiment’s simple so those intricate background patterns steal the show. This sentiment is from the Make A Statement Stamp Set.
If you visited during our giveaway last week I want to thank you for all your wonderful comments! You make us all so happy! There are three winners to announce – all selected with random number generator. Congratulations!
