Author: birch press

Hello and welcome back to the Birch Press Design blog! Today I am sharing a quick to create card, centered around the concept that sometimes the best sentiment, is no sentiment at all.

I had a busy week and wanted to create a quick, colorful card. One thing I love about the Birch Press layering plate dies is that the layers work on their own. For this card I used only Layer C from the Kinsley Heart Plate Layering set and cut it from heavy weight white cardstock.

One thing I love to do when making a quick card is to pair complementary colors. In this case I used a bright yellow and blue. I placed a bright blue from the Memory Box Ocean Blue Collection behind the layer I cut and made sure to pop up the layer with thin strips of foam tape.

PRO TIP: Have thicker foam tape? Cut it in half to make DIY thin strips.

Next, I used some leftover flowers I had from the Star Flowers Contour layers set to cut the flowers from yellow and the contour and stamen from white. I glued these onto the card front using liquid glue, and glued only the center of the flowers so I could gently lift the petals and add a lot of extra dimension to the card.

Lastly, I can hardly get away from finishing off a card without adding some bling! I love the Open Studio gems and I used some from the Treasure Chest Fairy Gemstones set. As featured, this card has no sentiment. I love the look of the flowers on the front, and being in a time crunch, I opted to keep the delicate flowers and not add any words on the front or inside.

That is it! I promised a quick card and this card took my about 10 minutes to pull together. (15 if I count the times I stopped to watch TV!)

I hope, as always, this short tutorial and card have inspired you to keep on crafting. Have an amazing day!

-April

Supplies

Hello Everyone and Welcome Back!

Little surprise for today! We are NOT going to create a card, LOL! Our stash can be so much more… So, today we are going to make a couple bookmarkers in no time featuring the Pimpernel Contour Layering Die Set along with the Pinpoint Radial Cover Plate!

Start by getting your elements all die cut and get them arranged in front of you!

Start by taking the panel you die cut with the Pinpoint Radial and cut it along the 4 1/4in side at 2 1/8 inches. You will then cut two panels at 2 ½ in x 6in from a piece of solid card stock. I chose the Black from the Memory Box 6×6 card stock pad from the Neutrals set.

Next, on the back of the solid card stock panel we want to emboss our sentiment. I pulled a sentiment from the Kind Hearts Stamp Set and heat embossed it in white.

We can now get our floral layers prepared for placement on our panels. What I find absolutely wonderful with these die sets is you do not always have to layer them, they can stand alone!

Placed my florals and leaves usin liquid adhesive and then placed the layered panel on top of my solid card stock panel.

Punched a hole in the top section and added some scrap twine for a tassel, and there we have it! A perfect gift for the someone who still loves to hold a book!

Hope you enjoyed today’s project!

Make sure you stay tuned for more wonderful projects coming soon!

Supplies

Happy Thursday and welcome back to the Birch Press Design blog! I am excited to be sharing another Easter themed card this week using the Petal Egg Layering die set.

I wanted to change up how I used the layering dies, so I have a couple of ideas on how to stretch your supplies. Read on to find out how and to see how I pulled this card together!

To create this card, let’s start with the background. One way I have found to stretch my layering dies is to use them as stencils. I die cut Layer Plate B from the Flora Player Layering set from heavyweight cardstock.

I cut it from a 5″x7″ piece of cardstock by die cutting then lining up the die and die cutting a 2nd time. I used this piece of cardstock as a stencil to create this stenciled background with Squeezed Lemonade Distress Oxide ink.

I made sure to tape off the edge of the card with a low tack tape so I wouldn’t accidentally stencil the back of the card as well.

To create the Easter egg, I first die cut each layer of the Petal Egg Layer set from Open Studio #140 watercolor paper. I made sure to die cut first, then watercolor. Doing this the other way around would mean the paper might still be kind of soft and wet when I’m trying to die cut.

Next I used a large paintbrush to watercolor each layer using some watercolors that I had on hand. I used a heat tool to dry each layer some, then applied a 2nd layer of watercolor to really get a more vibrant look.

I dried each layer fully using a heat tool, then glued them together using liquid adhesive. Next, I put thin pieces of foam tape on the back of the egg and adhered it to the stenciled card front.

To create my sentiment, I put together two of the sentiments found on the Blooming Spring Stamp Set which is my new favorite! I cut the cardstock down to a strip, and then cut the right edge at a diagonal to add some interest.

My final touches were to add pink jewels to the center of the flowers on the stenciled background. I love that this card didn’t take a long time, and allowed me to use some different crafting techniques when it came to layering cards. I hope you found some inspiration today and will keep on crafting!

-April

Supplies

Happy April! This month is not only my namesake, but my birthday month and I always get really excited! Also this month, many will be celebrating the Easter holiday. Whether you’ll be celebrating Easter or Spring break, the card I’m sharing today is festive enough for the entire month.

To start this card, I wanted a subtle yet interesting background. I took Layer B from the Kinsley Heart Plate Layering set and cut it from heavyweight white cardstock. I took this layer and glued it down to an A2 card panel.

Next, I grabbed the Memory Box vintage Pastel Mirror pad. I have been LOVING this pad that has a mix of foil cardstocks and have used up so many of the colors. I chose blue, light pink and peach colors from the set. I cut layers A, B and C from the Petal Egg Layer set — one layer from each color.

PRO TIP: Want to add some dimension to your layering cardstock pieces? Add some foam dots behind one of the layers.

To add dimension to my card I glued layer A directly to layer B for the egg. Then I added foam dots to the back of layer B and adhered it to layer C. This helped pop up the top two layers. This technique would also work well for creating a shaker element on a card.

I finished off the front of the card by adding jewels from the Memory Box pastel jewel pack, to every section of the egg that had a small dot cut out. I then added a few jewels to the background of the card front as well.

Lastly, I thought the front looked great as is, so I added the sentiment on the inside. I used two sentiments ‘Easter’ and ‘celebrate the miracle of’ from the Blooming Spring Stamp set.

That is the card for today! If you are in a rush, you can definitely skip adding the jewels and just put the layers of the egg together for a look that is still very elegant.

I hope the rest of your Saturday goes well!

April

Supplies