Author: birch press

  • Elegant Wedding Card Made Easy | by April Antonio

    Elegant Wedding Card Made Easy | by April Antonio

    Happy Wednesday my crafty friends! April here sharing an easy wedding card I created using the Kinsley Heart layering plate dies and a sentiment from the newest Kind Hearts stamp set.

    A friend recently requested a wedding card and I settled on using the a love theme — of course– and grabbed the Kinsley Heart layering plate set. I love this set because it basically does the work for you. It is already so elegant, and I find it easy to pick three colors, cut them out and adhere them together.

    I grabbed a red and pink cardstock sheet from the Berry Red Memory Box paper pack and a beautiful pearl colored sheet from the Vintage Pastel Mirror pad. I used these colors to cut Layers A, B, and C of the Kinsley Heart layering set.

    PRO TIP: Adding liquid glue to the edges of the layering dies and just a few drops to the center helps you to line up each layer and will stick just as well as trying to add glue all over the center. I save so much time now that I add most of my glue on only the edges.

    I then grabbed the ‘Best wishes on your journey together’ sentiment from Birch Press’ newest stamp set Kind Hearts and heat embossed it on a piece of thick vellum.

    This stamp set has a beautiful mix of fonts and wonderful sentiments that I can’t wait to use such as ‘Hoping today is as wonderful as you are’ and ‘The world is full of amazing things’. It also has simple saying such as ‘thank you’ in a very elegant font.

    I adhered the vellum across the all three heart layers and secure it on the back of the panel with double sided tape, which is one of my favorite ways to adhere vellum without showing any glue on the front.

    The side of the card looked a little empty to me so I also cut two flowers from the Star Flowers Contour Layers set using the same pearl cardstock and a pearly-pink cardstock from the 6×6 Mirror Pad. The center of the flower was cut using a gold cardstock from the same cardstockp pad.

    PRO TIP: If you would like to give your flowers a 3D look, only adhered the center to the card and once dry, use your fingers or tweezers to gently lift the petals off the page. They will flatten if you are mailing the card, but will not be fully stuck to the page so that whoever receives the card will still see the 3D effect up close.

    I finished off the card by putting the entire panel onto a 4.25″ x 5.5″ folded card. Also, I could not resist adding some crystals to the center of some of the hearts.

    That is all for today! Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you were inspired to break out your plate layering sets and create something beautiful.

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  • Winter Berries | By Allison Frazier

    Winter Berries | By Allison Frazier

    Hello, Friends! It was a snowy weekend here in Colorado, so I decided to make a wintery card. I love how versatile the new floral contour die sets are – they work for every season and every occasion.

    I started by die cutting the berries from the Eucalyptus Stem and Berries die set from a dark red card stock. I glued those onto the little matching branches that I had cut from brown card stock. I then swiped a bit of white pigment ink over the berries to lighten them up. I cut a second set of berries from the same red card stock and then glued those on top. The lighter color underneath gives a nice highlight. For the leaves, I used the smaller set of leaves from the Dainty Rose and Leaves die set and cut those from mint green card stock. I ink blended the top layers of those leaves with Evergreen Bough Distress Ink to give them more dimension.

    My card base started as a chocolate brown A2 card base. I tried to ink blend some dark brown ink around the edges to create a bit of highlight in the middle, but I ended up having to go a bit darker and used some Black Soot Distress Oxide. The effect is pretty subtle and much more obvious in person. After glueing the berries and leaves directly to the card base, I then splattered the whole thing with some white acrylic paint. I finished the card with one of my favorite word dies – the Big Joy Sugar Script die.

    Thank you so much for joining us today. I really love how this card turned out, especially the paint splatter. I hope it brought a smile to your face.

    Wishing you a crafty day,
    Allison


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  • Birthday Peony | by Crystal Komara

    Birthday Peony | by Crystal Komara

    Hello readers! This is Design Team member Crystal Komara here with you today sharing another way to use the Adornment Peony dies. Last week on Valentine’s Day, I shared this very traditional card using the same dies and today I chose to create a very different look using alcohol inks as the focal point behind the outline dies.

    Card details:

    The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. Using Layer Plate B of the Flora Layering set, I die cut this layer from white cardstock and adhered it to the base of the card.

    For the alcohol ink peony: On a 4″ x 6″ piece of Yupo Paper, I added drops of raspberry and sherbet alcohol inks and blew the ink around. Then I added drops of lime and citrus alcohol ink. Once this dried, I used the base shadow layer of the Adornment Peony dies to die cut the base out. On white cardstock, I die cut the top layer of the Adornment Peony (notice the white shadow outline around the flowers). I adhered this thin outline die using a fine tip liquid glue.

    I adhered the peonies to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. Lastly I stamped the sentiment “happy birthday” in pink ink on white cardstock. This sentiment is from the Contempo Greetings stamp set. I die cut the sentiment using the coordinating Contempo Greetings dies. I adhered the sentiment to the lower left corner also using 3M foam adhesive for added height.

    I hope you have enjoyed today’s card. Thank you for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

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  • Sending Hugs Across The Ocean | By April Antonio

    Sending Hugs Across The Ocean | By April Antonio

    Welcome back everyone, and happy Saturday! April here sharing a card in support of #cardsforUkraine.

    This card features the Field of Blooms layering plate set alongside the beautiful, new Memory Box Rainbow Reflections 6×6 mirror cardstock pad.

    I started with the Field of Blooms plate Layer A and cut it from heavyweight white cardstock. I then cut Layer B from a bright blue piece of mirror or foil cardstock I pulled from the Memory Box Rainbow Reflections 6×6 mirror cardstock pack.

    Next, I cut die cut Layer C from a piece of yellow cardstock pulled from the Memory Box Sunny Orange 6×6 cardstock pack.

    I wanted something bright to show through the bottom of all of the layers so the most bottom layer of the card is a piece of blue glitter cardstock I pulled from the Memory Box Twinkling Jewel 6×6 Glitter Pad. I cut the 6×6 piece of cardstock down to A2 size (4.25″ x 5.5″).

    I then adhered Layer C (the die cut yellow piece) to the blue glitter cardstock using doublesided tape since I find this works well on a glitter surface.

    I then used liquid glue to adhere the other two layers (A and B) on top of Layer C, and glued the entire sandwich onto an A2 cardfront created from heavyweight cardstock. In the end I ended up with a nice sandwich made up of four layers: White cardstock (top layer), Mirror cardstock, Yellow cardstock, Glitter cardstock (bottom layer).

    I used the Big Hugs Sugar Script dies for my sentiment, cutting the shadow from the same blue mirror cardstock, and the sentiment from heavyweight white cardstock that I layered a few times.

    Lastly, I used silver jewels from the Memory Box Christams Fairy Jewels set to add some sparkle to each little leaf/swirl impression on the front of the card.

    Thank you for joining me today for this short blog tutorial. I hope everyone has a great weekend and continues to be inspired to create!

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  • Winsome Rose by Jeanne Jachna

    Winsome Rose
    by Jeanne Jachna

    Have you noticed it’s a flower garden around here lately? That’s because our latest release is LOADED with gorgeous layered floral die cuts!!!

    Today I’m sharing a monochromatic card in blue and sharing a quick way to cut LOTS of flowers with minimal effort.

    The Winsome Rose is three layers. I selected three layers of ombre blue cardstock. Choose a light, medium and dark of any color you like. If you can’t decide, cut a whole bunch like I did! Cut all three dies in each of the three colors and then start stacking. Now you have three different colored beautiful blooms that look great together!

    My background is a distress inked panel in Tumbled Glass topped with a Viola Plate die cut. I like to use a stencil brush to remove little bits of paper left behind on my die cuts. My favorite is from Royal & Langnickel 5/8″ 16 mm Crafter’s Choice (R9113).

    I love that the new florals are easy to mix and match. I used the Dainty Rose leaves with the Winsome Rose on this card.

    The sentiment is from the Happy Lingo stamp set. I wanted something simple that wouldn’t cover up all the beautiful die cuts. The finishing touch is a few Fairy Drops to look like dew.

    Thanks for stopping by! I hope these beautiful blooms make you smile!

    Finished Size 4.25 x 5.5″

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  • Layered Rose Hello | by Toni M Maddox

    Layered Rose Hello | by Toni M Maddox

    Hello, everyone! Toni here with you today. I was so excited to play with the products in the latest release. I am in love and have so many ideas in my head using them!

    I started today’s card by diecutting the Fuddled Leaf Branches Contour Layers as well as the Winsome Rose & Leaves Contour Layers. I used papers from the MB Vintage Pastel Mirror and Lush Green 6×6 Pads. That pastel mirror/pearlescent paper is to die for!

    I noticed the Fuddled Leaf Branches negative diecut would make an awesome stencil so I used it with Distress Oxide Mowed Lawn on the card base then started playing around with the layout of the blooms and stems.

    I wanted a really full look so I added diecuts of Tiny Tuft Flowers & Leaves Contour Layers, Eucalyptus Stem & Berries Contour Layers and the Dainty Rose & Leave Contour Layers. I used more of the Vintage Pastel Mirror and Lush Green papers, adding a bit of Festive Glitter to boot.

    For the sentiment I used the Big Hello Sugar Script layered dies. I tied it all together using a few black Fairy Jewels.

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

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  • Butterfly Hugs | By Allison Frazier

    Butterfly Hugs | By Allison Frazier

    Hello, Everyone! Today, I am sharing more inspiration from the new Floral Contour Layers release. I made a mini slimline card featuring two of the new die sets – the Simple Butterfly Contour Layers and the Tiny Tuft Flowers and Leaves Contour Layers.

    I started by creating a white card base that measures 3.5″ x 6.25″. I used the leaves die from the Tiny Tuft Flowers and Leaves Contour Layers set to cut a bunch of leaves from the same white card stock. I then arranged these leaves on my card base and adhered them with liquid glue. I love the texture that these leaves give – it’s almost like creating your own background die.

    Next, I started die cutting my butterflies. I chose to stick to a warm palette, so I used different shades of yellow, pink and orange card stock. I adhered the smaller parts of the butterflies to the larger parts, making sure to only put glue in the center, so that the sides could lift up for dimension.

    The small, delicate bodies of each butterfly were the same color as the rest of the butterfly, but I wanted them all to be gold. So, rather than use the dies to cut more bodies out of gold card stock, I just used the bodies that I had. I took a piece of Post-it tape (washi tape would also work) and taped the very ends of it to a piece of paper so that the adhesive side of the tape was facing out. I then put all of the butterfly bodies onto the adhesive, inked them up with VersaMark ink and heat embossed them with gold embossing powder. Once embossed, I was able to just pull the bodies off of the Post-it tape and glue them onto the butterflies. This was the easiest way for me to emboss all of those delicate die cuts.

    I arranged all of my butterflies onto the card base and then glued them down when I was happy with the placement. Again, I only applied glue in the very centers so that the butterfly wings could lift up and look dimensional. For the sentiment, I used the Handwritten Hugs die and some gold foil card stock. To give it dimension, I stacked the gold Hugs onto two more layers that I had cut out of white card stock. After adhering that to my card, I finished by scattering some tiny Fairy Jewels around the butterflies in coordinating colors.

    I love the simplicity and dimension of these butterflies! I hope my card brought a smile to your face today. Thank you so much for joining us.

    Wishing you all a crafty day,
    Allison


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  • Vibrant Watercolor Leaves | By Dilay Nacar

    Vibrant Watercolor Leaves | By Dilay Nacar

    Happy Monday, friends! Dee here today to share this vibrant watercolored card featuring the brand new Fuddled Leaf Branches dies! 

    To begin, I applied a few of my favorite colors using watercolor brush markers onto a piece of watercolor paper and once dry, I die cut the larger leaf in each color.

    Next, I used the Ringadings 3D embossing folder and an A2-sized panel to create a fun and textured backdrop for the leaves, adhering each one with foam adhesive. To finish, I cut the Handwritten Hugs sentiment in black and the shadow in white and adhered to the panel using foam tape!

    Thank you so much for joining me today! I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

  • Lavender Roses | By April Antonio

    Happy Sunday everyone! I am excited to be back on the blog today sharing a layered card using the new Dainty Rose & Leaves die set. Birch Press recently released a line of beautiful layering dies and they all coordinate so beautifully with each other.

    For the card I am sharing today I am using two of the layering dies along with a layering background die for some extra dimension and interest.

    To start, I used the Kinsley Heart Plate Layer A and die cut it three times — twice from heavyweight white cardstock and once from lavender cardstock taken from the Memory Box Vibrant Violet cardstock pack. I glued those layers together, putting the lavender layer on top, and then adhered it to a A2 card base.

    Next, I wanted cut florals that would match the background so I used the same Vibrant Violet cardstock pack and chose three shades of violet that were light, medium and dark to cut the flowers from so I could add some dimension to the die cuts. I cut the leaves from green cardstock pulled from the Memory Box Lush Green cardstock pad

    Fun tip: For layering flowers, starting with a light base and then working your way to the darker base on top is always a tried a true formula.

    For my florals I realized that I wanted a prominent flower so I used the Dainty Rose & Leaves layering die set to die cut the lavender roses. Later, after adhering the roses and leaves to the card I realized that I had a lot of open space so I decided to fill it in with smaller flowers and leaves from the Tiny Tuft Flowers & Leaves die set.

    Both of these sets are easy to use and I will usually die cut all of my pieces and then assemble them all at once to save time.

    After cutting out my flower layering pieces I took a piece of heavy weight vellum and die cut a small sized oval to use as the base for the sentiment on my card. For my sentiment I chose the Honey Script ‘Hello’ die set. Using the same violet paper pad as I did for the flowers, I die cut the sentiment from a medium toned purple and the shadow from a lighter, lavender color. I also cut the sentiment a few times from white cardstock and layered it all together using liquid glue for extra dimension.

    Now, here is one of my tricks for gluing down vellum to a card, since it’s very see-through. Remember that vellum oval I cut earlier? I took that oval, adhered the stacked ‘hello’ die to it, and arraned all of the flowers and leaves I had assembled around the edge of the oval. I did all of this with the oval on top of my card base so I wouldn’t accidentally go too far over the edge of the card.

    Once I had all of the florals arranged how I wanted to them I glued them down to the oval with either liquid glue or foam dots, then flipped the entire arrangement over to the back. I then only put adhesive on the parts of the vellum that were covered with the florals and leaves so the glue wouldn’t show through on the front. I turned the arrangement back over and adhered the entire thing to the front of the card.

    I added some Memory Box clear jewels as a finshing touch and the card was done!

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    For the second card I created, I used the same design but used a different color scheme and sentiment. The new layering dies are so versatile and work in a rainbow of colors.

    I used pink cardstock from the Memory Box Berry Red cardstock pad, as well as the shadow layer from the Honey Script ‘Hello’ die set. I die cut the ‘Hello’ a few times from white cardstock and once from pink cardstock, and layered it all together. One other change I made is to use an oval cut from white cardstock, instead of vellum, as the mat for my sentiment.

    I finished off the card with Memory Box clear fairy drops.

    That is all for today! Thank you so much for stopping by and I really hope you will give the new layering floral dies a try. They are fun to use and can help you create some amazing card designs.

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  • Dainty Rose and Leaves with a Starburst! | By Desiree Kuemmerle

    Dainty Rose and Leaves with a Starburst! | By Desiree Kuemmerle

    Hello Everyone and Welcome Back!

    Today let’s see how we can use our layering die cuts as both a focal and background element in our card making!

    For today’s project we will be featuring the Dainty Rose and Leaves Contour Layers and the Starburst Layering Die Sets!

    As always, let’s get our die cutting done and out of the way and then start putting our card together.

    I chose a solid white for the starburst and made sure I had two of them layered using liquid adhesive. For the Dainty Rose and Leave I chose the Vintage Pastel Mirror Card Stock to add some shimmer to our focal point.

    My card base is a Standard A2 size (4 ¼ in x 5 ½ inc) with a cream panel cut to 4 in x 5 ¼ in. I placed my Starbust die cuts on an angle across the front of the card panel and trimmed off the edges once it was adhered to my card base.

    I set my sentiment in place and set the Dainty Rose of the bottom right hand corner.

    In no time we created a card to bring a simile to anyone!

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


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