Author: birch press

  • Watercolor Wildflowers | By Laurie Schmidlin

    Watercolor Wildflowers | By Laurie Schmidlin


    Hi there!  I’m not sure what the weather is like where you live, but here in Montana it is still a snow covered, frozen tundra!  Ha!  Spring can not come fast enough for me.  While I wait, I thought I would bring some Spring like cheer indoors with some pretty stamped wildflowers!  I enjoyed creating so much that I made two cards to share with you!

    My first card features some pretty pinks, bright yellows, and some fresh blue colors.  I just love how how effortless it is to create faux watercolor looks with the Watercolor Wildflowers set!

    I stamped a sentiment from the Poppystamps Grateful Hearts stamp set and then splattered on some black paint.  For embellishment, I tied a twine bow across the bottom.  I mounted the top stamped layer onto a Chipboard Notecard using foam dimensional tape.  When using any kind of watercolor (or water in this case), I like to use a heavier card base like this one because lighter ones tend to warp.


    To create the faux watercolor look, I started by stamping my flowers and stems using the Watercolor Wildflowers stamp set.  I used Distress Oxide stamp pads, but you could use any water based ink.  The important part is that the ink should react, or “run” when sprayed with water.  After my imaged were stamped, I taped the paper down on a piece of chipboard (for stability) using some painter’s tape.  This prevents the paper from warping too badly and causing the ink to pool.

    This next step is where the magic happens!  I just lightly spritzed the paper with water.  I chose not to use watercolor paper so I was careful not to add too much water.  I didn’t want the images to continue to muddy so I immediately used my heat tool to dry the paper.

    I noticed that there were a few places that images were still solid, so I took a waterbrush and pulled some of the color out.  You can tell the places that I did this as it has smoother lines than from the spritzing but I was still pleased with the result.


    After all the water was dry, I again splattered the background with black paint.

    I embossed a sentiment from the Poppystamps Grateful Hearts stamp set onto a strip of black cardstock using white embossing powder.  I adhered it along the bottom.  For embellishment, I sprinkled on some clear sequins.


    I hope I have inspired you to give this very easy, but beautiful technique a try!

    Thanks so much for joining me here today!

     

     

  • Oh Happy Day | By Jeanne Jachna

    Oh Happy Day | By Jeanne Jachna


    I hope you’re checking out all the pretty heart dies in the store!   They’re really a shape that every crafter should have in their stash – they’re good for so many different types of projects.  What a great way to spread a little love!  I think that’s the reason so many of us like to give home made gifts and cards – just to show how much we care!

    I made this elegant card that would make a beautiful wedding or engagement congratulations.  Or.. how about a pretty Anniversary card?   It’s very clean and simple and the touch of gold makes it look rich and expensive!

    I cut the Nadia Heart on a panel of white card stock trimmed to fit an A2 (4.25 x 5.5″) card.  Next I cut the Dainty Stitched Heart Border along the bottom edge.    I cut a second Nadia Heart and  Dainty Stitched Heart Border from Gold Glitter Paper.

    Trim a panel of colored card stock slightly smaller than the card base, stamp a sentiment on this panel if you like.  I used one from the Poppystamps Grateful Hearts Clear Cling Set. Attach the panel of colored card stock to your card base. You can coordinate the colors with wedding invitation or the color of the bridesmaid dresses!    I chose “something blue” for mine!

    Next I attached the gold die cut Dainty Stitched Heart Border to the white die cut panel before adhering it to the card base.  I adhered the gold cut die cut Nadia Heart inside the opening on the white die cut panel and embellished it with a gem.

    Just two dies made this beautiful card!   What will you make today?

  • Angel Rivera | Love you always

    Angel Rivera | Love you always

    Hi all!  Happy Valentine’s Day!  My card today features the gorgeous trio of the Amour layer dies.  I went for a bold look of black, white, hot pink and gold foil.  These dies sure do make a statement, regardless of the colors used!  The white heat-embossed sentiment and small gold heat-embossed heart are from the Poppystamps Grateful Heart Clear stamp set.  Between the bold colors and all those layers, I felt the card didn’t need anything else – besides a sweet sentiment, of course!

    Thank you for stopping by!

    I hope you have a *sweet* day!

    Angel


  • Love Warms Our Hearts | by Laurie Schmidlin

    Love Warms Our Hearts | by Laurie Schmidlin

    Happy Tuesday!  Today I’ve got a sweet, heart filled card to share with you!  Speaking of hearts, have you seen all of the new Valentine’s dies in the Birch Press store?  They are so lovely and versatile (I plan on using many of them year round)!


    I combined  several of the new Valentine’s craft dies to create this very pink and very feminine card.

    To create my card, I started by cutting three strips in different shades of pink using the new Proper Stitched Heart Border.


    For the focal image, I started by die cutting the largest heart from the Perfect Hearts die set using white cardstock.  I then die cut the Doodle Heart die three times using the different pinks form my borders.  I layered the darkest pink Doodle Heart layer on top of the white heart.  I then filled in the petals using the other two pinks.

    I wanted to add a little shimmer to the white part of the heart.  I added some liquid adhesive to all the white parts of the heart and then sprinkled on some clear glitter.  I topped each of the petals with some acrylic dots.


    The sentiment is from the Grateful Heart Clear Stamp Set from Poppystamps.  I finished the card by rounding the bottom corners with a punch and adding some white twine.

    Thanks so much for joining me here today!

     


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  • Shimmering Watercolor Rainbow Hearts | by Tracey McNeely

    Shimmering Watercolor Rainbow Hearts | by Tracey McNeely


    In today’s post we are creating a card featuring a shimmering rainbow of watercolored hearts. Sometimes a beautiful and fun card can be created with the simplest of elements. The four stacked hearts have been watercolored in bold colours and each have a lovely iridescent glow from the shimmer mist that was applied after the watercolor dried.

    To recreate this card you will need watercolor paper, watercolor paint and shimmer spray. Peerless Watercolors, and Birch Press Design Perfect Hearts dies from the Birch Press Design store were used for this card but you could also use the Birch Press Designs Simple Hearts dies. Watercolor four panels, one in each color of your rainbow. After the panels dried water was spritzed on the panels and soaked up with paper towel to add some distressing. This was seen in Angel Rivera’s Rainbow Heart Shaker tutorial from last week. Shimmer mist was then generously sprayed on to the panels and once again they were set to dry. Once completely dry simply die cut one of each colour using the four heart dies.

    Prepare your card base and add the sentiment to the bottom centre of the front panel. Adhere the largest heart to the top centre of the card base with adhesive tape. Then adhere the rest of the hearts going down one size at a time with adhesive foam tape.

    It is so easy to create fabulous cards with just this one simple set of dies.

    Thank you for joining us again this week! Come visit us every Tuesday for some crafty inspiration!

     

     

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  • Big Hugs | By Jeanne Jachna

    Big Hugs | By Jeanne Jachna


    Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you’re having a great day!  I’m making some Valentine’s Day cards!  I like to send them to friends and family (and one for my special sweetie of course!) so a variety of styles is always welcome.  My card is inspired by pastel candy conversation hearts.

    I started by cutting several Loop The Loop border dies.  I left the die cut centers in place to add more color to the design.

    I topped the background with two large Simple Hearts – one in pink and one in gold glitter paper.  The largest Simple Heart is the perfect background die for the Prismatic Heart.

    To define the flower shapes I spy inside the Prismatic Heart I added some gem centers (who doesn’t love a little bling?).

    A few small hearts from Hearts Aglow fit perfectly inside the Loop The Loop Hearts and add even more shine.

    The sentiment is from Poppystamps Grateful Heart Clear Cling Stamp Set.

    If you’re making Valentine’s Day cards too, you need to check out the craft section of the store – there’s lots of beautiful new dies that you’re going to ADORE!


  • Angel Rivera | Rainbow Heart Shaker

    Angel Rivera | Rainbow Heart Shaker

    Hi all!  I’m popping in today to show you what I created using the negative part of the die from my card I made for the blog blitz last week and the Hearts Aglow die.  I trimmed the paper down so that I ended up with a square 4×4 card.  Also, I spritzed the watercolored paper with water then used a paper towel to soak it up so that it would also remove some of the ink, leaving the spots you see here.

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    To create a shaker card, first adhere some clear acetate directly to the back of the die cut paper, then adhered foam adhesive around die cut area, in this case, the hearts.  Be sure to enclose the area so that none of the shaker elements can escape.

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    Once all of the foam adhesive is done, adhere plain card stock on the back, again, so that none of the sequins, etc, can escape.  Then adhere that to your card base and voila!  I also kept this card sentiment free because I feel it could be used for several occasions.

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    Thanks for stopping by!

    _signature-angel-2

  • Birch Press Design Blog Blitz Winners

    Thanks so much for joining us during our very first blog blitz!  We are so excited to share the new craft dies with you.  I can’t tell you how much we appreciate your kind comments … you really do make our day!  We hope you’ll stop by every Tuesday when we feature products from the craft section of the store.

    Congratulations to the winners who have all been contacted by email!

    1/10/2017 Jeanne’s Post Caprice Layer B Mary Holshouser
    1/11/2017 Angel’s Post Hearts Aglow Nandini
    1/12/2017 Tracey’s Post Doodle Heart Tracie Pond
    1/13/2017 Laurie’s Post Band of Hearts Sue LD
  • New Release Blog Blitz – Band of Hearts | by Laurie Schmidlin

    New Release Blog Blitz – Band of Hearts | by Laurie Schmidlin

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    It’s the final day of our new release Blog Blitz!  All week we’ve been sharing projects created with the brand new Birch Press Design Craft Dies!

    Band of Hearts

    When I first saw the Band of Hearts craft die, I was excited about all of the design possibilities!  My first card shows how beautiful this die can be when layered together.

    band-of-hearts

    I started by die cutting three Band of Hearts using a pink ombre color palette.  I glued them together, stair stepping each one.

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    After adhering the Band of Hearts die cut trio to my background layer, I trimmed the top.

    love-detail-1-by-laurie-schmidlin

    The heart focal image and sentiment are from the Grateful Heart stamp set from our sister company, Poppystamps.  The hearts were die cut using the coordinating Grateful Heart die set (also from Poppystamps).

    love-you-always-by-laurie-schmidlin

    My next card also features the Band of Hearts die.  This time, I used all of the small hearts leftover from my first card.  I started by die cutting the new Amour Layer A craft die.  I filled in the larger die cut hearts with the smaller hearts.

    love-you-always-detail-1-by-laurie-schmidlin

    I used another sentiment from the Grateful Heart stamp set from Poppystamps.

    Would you like a chance to win the new Band of Hearts die?

    Band of Hearts

     

    All you have to do is leave me a comment!  Here are the details…

    Our blog blitz runs  from January 10-13, 2017.  We’ll be giving  away a prize on every post during this time.

    To enter to win you need to leave a comment on EACH of the posts that you wish to enter.   One person will be chosen at random from each of the posts during the blog blitz.

    Only one prize per person per blog blitz. We use random number generator to select winners from comments.

    You have until midnight US EST January 15 to leave a comment on each and every post that you want to enter.  Winners will announced on this blog on January 16.  Visit our sister company Poppystamps who is also having a Blog Blitz!  I think you’ll be glad you did!!

    Thanks for joining us again today!

    bpd_laurie-signature

  • New Release Blog Blitz – Doodle Heart | by Tracey McNeely

    New Release Blog Blitz – Doodle Heart | by Tracey McNeely

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    Welcome to Day 3 of the New Release Blog Blitz, we are having so much fun sharing all the new Birch Press dies with you. Today we are sharing the new DOODLE HEART die with you and another chance for you to win a prize.
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    The new PERFECT HEARTS dies are a set of four dies. The largest die co-ordinates with the DOODLE HEART die and can be used as a backer.
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    This delicate die can be used to create a simple card.
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    Or you can do something creative like inlaid die cutting. Prepare the card base for the inlaid technique by applying adhesive to the bottom layer (card base). Double sided tape is an excellent adhesive to use with this technique.
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    Piece the die cut using different colours.
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    Stamped sentiments on both cards are from our sister company Poppystamps.  The set is called GRATEFUL HEARTS and you can find it here. 
    Now would you like a chance to win DOODLE HEART?
    tracey_detail
    All you have to do is leave me a comment!  Here’s the details…

    Our blog blitz runs  from January 10-13, 2017.  We’ll be giving  away a prize on every post during this time.

    To enter to win you need to leave a comment on EACH of the posts that you wish to enter.   One person will be chosen at random from each of the posts during the blog blitz.

    Only one prize per person per blog blitz. We use random number generator to select winners from comments.

    You have until midnight US EST January 15 to leave a comment on each and every post that you want to enter.  Winners will announced on this blog on January 16.  Visit our sister company Poppystamps who is also having a Blog Blitz!  I think you’ll be glad you did!!

    Thanks for joining us again today!
    _tracey-signature

     


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