Author: birch press

  • Birthday Balloons | by Rosemary Dennis

    Birthday Balloons | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today sharing three birthday cards that I created with the Floral Balloon Layering die set, the new Happy Birthday Vintage Sentiment die set and pretty patterned papers.

    I have been wanting to make a card (or cards) with the Floral Balloon Layer dies for along time. When the new Birch Press Word dies landed in my mailbox and one of them was the Happy Birthday Vintage Sentiment die I knew that time had finally arrived! Along with the dies I also received the new Memory Box Gladiola Plaid 6×6 pad. The papers in that pad are just gorgeous and so I used them for two of the cards. For the third card I used the Anemone Plaid 6×6 pad.

    My mom is the proud great gramma of three great granddaughters and one great grand son and about 2 years ago I started making the birthday cards that my mom gives the little ones. So, these cards will be going to three of the four. I will be making something a little bit different for the oldest great granddaughter. For the card for the great grandson, I omitted the balloon layer that cuts out the flowers to create a balloon with little dots. I pulled colors from the plaid for the background cardstock as well as the back layer of the balloon. All three cards are mini slimline in size.

    For the cards for the great granddaughters the bottom layer was die cut from glitter cardstock that coordinated with the patterned paper and cardstock used for the balloons. You don’t see alot of the glitter cardstock, but I think it adds a fun touch. All the balloons were adhered together using liquid adhesive.

    To finish off the cards I die cut the Happy Birthday Vintage Sentiment die from gold mirror cardstock for the top layer and then the same cardstock I used for the middle layer (or in the case of the first card, the bottom layer) for the bottom layer. Liquid adhesive was used to adhere everything together. Coordinating baker’s twine was tied around the bottom of each balloon, gathered together and tied in a knot so I could glue them to the card front once the balloons were attached using liquid adhesive.

    That’s it for me today. I hope you enjoyed my idea for using the Floral Balloon Layers dies and patterned paper. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

    Supplies

    Supplies

  • Butterfly Mixed Media Journal | By, Natasha Vacca

    Butterfly Mixed Media Journal | By, Natasha Vacca

    Hello Birch Press friends, it is Natasha here today on the blog! Today I am sharing a mixed media page in my journal! I love using dies in my journal! Today I am using 2 die sets from Birch Press Designs: Butterfly Basics and Rose Leaves Contour Layers die sets! Let’s get started!

    I started by die cutting the Butterfly using the Butterfly Basics die set. I die cut the background using a premade panel from my stash. Next I die cut the top layer using the Memory Box Rainbow Reflections paper pad. Once the top layer was die cut I added embossing ink to the top layer, then added embossing powder. Once the embossing powder was completely dry, I added a paper glaze to sections of the butterfly. I allowed this to dry a bit, then added foil to sections for added texture. I die cut the antennae for the butterfly using the same background panel. I then adhered the layers together using liquid glue.

    Next I created a background panel using a gelli print from my stash. On the gelli print I added a few pieces of handmade tissue in various sections. I applied this with glue. Once this was dry, I ran the gelli print background through my die cutting machine using the Memory Box Ringadings embossing folder. I then added dye ink to some sections of the dry embossed background. Next I die cut the panel using the Rose Leaves Contour Layers die set. Once the leaves were die cut, I distressed the edges using Distress Ink. I allowed this to dry, then added embossing powder to sections of the leaves. I then added additional texture using paper glaze and foil again.

    Next I started to work on my background in my journal. I used Lindy’s Magical Powders to create a colorful background. You can create a colorful background using inks, watercolors, distress inks, as well as pigment powders! I encourage you to look through your stash! I work in layers when creating a background. I allow each layer to dry (I also use my heat tool to speed up the process), spritz the panel with water, pick up color with a paper towel, then I repeat the process until I have the color and texture I am looking for.

    I completed my journal page by adhering the leaves with foam tape. I added a piece of cheesecloth, then adhered the butterfly with liquid glue. I added a sentiment from my stash, as well as gems from the Pastel Jewels collection.

    I had a lot of fun creating today’s project! I will be back soon with more inspiration!


    Supplies



    Supplies


  • Vibrant and Perky Bloom | by Crystal Komara

    Vibrant and Perky Bloom | by Crystal Komara

    Hello friends! Today I have a very bold and vibrant card to share with you using the new Perky Bloom Contour dies. I love mixing the Birch Press Design products with alcohol inks and I have frequently done so in the past. For other unique alcohol ink ideas, please check out my posts here, here and here. And, today, I have another one to add to my ever growing list!

    Card details:

    The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. For the background of this card, I used a pre-created piece of alcohol ink art that I keep stored in a bin for easy pull-out and use to create “quick cards” with. This background was mostly a gold honey color, but I did splatter it with black ink for extra interest.

    I used the new Perky Bloom Layering dies to create the two flowers. I cut each layer of the die from pink, peach and yellow cardstock and then continued to layer them together until I had a color combination that appealed to my eye and seemingly worked with the busy background and well! I adhered the flowers to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.

    Lastly, I added one of the new foil greeting black tabs from Memory Box Company (a sister company to Birch Press Design). These new foiled tabs are beautifully made and are made of a nice thick chipboard. What a quick way to add an elegant sentiment!

    Sure, today’s card is very bold and vibrant, but doesn’t it also make you so happy and cheerful!? I hope you have enjoyed this card. Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

    Supplies

  • Patterned Wiegela Leaves | by Allison Frazier

    Patterned Wiegela Leaves | by Allison Frazier

    Hello, Birch Press friends! I am excited to be back on the blog today sharing the new Wiegela Leaf Contour Layers set. My card also features some new goodies from Memory Box!

    I started my card by choosing some dark green paper for my card panel. I blended some black ink around the edges and corners of the panel and glued it to an A2 card base. I used the same color paper for the top layer of the Wiegela leaves. For the bottom layer of the leaves, I used a patterned paper from the new Anemone Grove paper pack from Memory Box. I cut the leaves out twice, assembled them and adhered them to the card with liquid glue. I cut the excess off of the leaves on the right side of the card.

    I pulled the Simple Dragonfly Contour Layers set from my stash and created two dragonflies, one in pink and one in yellow. I used glitter paper for the top layer of each dragonfly. I also used black glitter paper for the bodies.

    For the sentiment I used one of the new greeting tabs from Memory Box. These are so fun, and you won’t find an easier and faster way to add a sentiment to your cards! These are gold foiled and they’re rather thick, kind of like chip board.

    To finish the card, I added some fairy drops around the design. I hope this card brings a smile to your face! Thank you so much for joining us today.


    Supplies



    Supplies


  • Hello | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today. Hope your April is off to a great start. It is a little bit of a cold start to April here in the Pacific Northwest, but that is the PNW for you, lol! Today I’m sharing a card created using the sweet Prime Peony Duo Contour Layers dies and a foiled sentiment from the new Sugar Script Sentiments 2 set. Let’s have a look at what I created.

    I started off my card by deciding that I wanted to use some pretty patterned papers and do a little bit of inking on the papers once I had them die cut. I pulled out the lovely Memory Box Anemone Plaid and Anemone Grove 6×6 pads and went with a purply-blue plaid for the flowers and a dark green plaid for the stems. I die cut all the pieces and then added some distress ink in Milled Lavendar to some of the pieces.

    I didn’t add any additional color to the stems as they were dark enough already. I then adhered all the pieces together. For the flowers I used a combination of liquid adhesive and thin foam squares to provide lift to some of the petals. Liquid adhesive was used soley on the leaves. I also decided to use the green flower centers that were die cut when I die cut the stems as I liked the look. In the close up photo above you can see the shading on flowers that was added with the distress ink.

    After the glue had set on the flower for a little bit I adhered the stems with additional liquid adhesive. I die cut a piece of the Anemone Grove paper with a rectangle die and adhered that to a white cardstock base. I then die cut Memory Box white woodgrain cardstock with a Curved Capped Pinpoint Layers die and added some Milled Lavendar distress ink to the top portion of the die cut and then lightly around the edges. I adhered that piece with thin foam squares.

    The flowers were then adhered to the panel using liquid adhesive. I finished the card with the sentiment that I foiled in matte gold and a few purply blue fairy gems.

    I hope you enjoyed today’s project. Thank you for stopping by and have a lovely day!

    Supplies

    Supplies

  • Foiling Fun with Alcohol Inks | By Sandhya Iyer

    Foiling Fun with Alcohol Inks | By Sandhya Iyer

    Hello, friends! This is Design Team member, Sandhya Iyer. I welcome you to check out a set of cards featuring the latest sentiment hot foil plates and dies. After I created a bunch of gorgeous golden foiled sentiments, I was inspired to create a rich alcohol ink background with gold details.

    I used gold foil and my Glimmer machine to foil the Hello, thanks for your Kindness and Celebrate Today sentiments on white cardstock. I like to use Hammermill smooth cover stock for the best foiling results. Next, I used coordinating dies to cut out the sentiments and set them aside.

    Next, I used alcohol inks from my stash to create my colorful panels. While the alcohol ink brand doesn’t really matter, the gold lines work best only with Pinata Brass. I trimmed glossy photo paper to create my panels. Then I used a tiny fine-tipped bottle filled with 90% Isopropyl alcohol to drop alcohol diagonally across the panel. Next, I added 1-2 drops of alcohol ink and a drop of Brass on the little river of alcohol. Finally, I moved a hair dryer set to low heat gradually across the length of the alcohol pool. I went back and forth to create the ripple effect. For the final panel, I added few drops of alcohol inks on a piece of bubble wrap and spritzed it with isopropyl alcohol. I then gently stamped the pattern on the next panel.

    Finally, I attached the alcohol ink art panels to A2 card bases using foam tape. Then I finished off by popping on the foiled sentiments with more foam tape. This brings us to the end of today’s post. Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you have fun crafting today!

    Supplies:

  • Hello Butterfly | by Crystal Komara

    Hello Butterfly | by Crystal Komara

    Hello friends and happy April! I feel like the days are finally getting warmer and we’re seeing the sun more here in New England. Spring has officially arrived! This is DT member Crystal Komara and I’m sharing a card using multiple products from Birch Press Design to include the Eloquent Butterfly and Field of Blooms Layering Dies.

    Card details:

    The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. This is my go-to cardstock for e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. I use it in all aspects of card making from stamping, die cutting, ink blending and Copic coloring. To create the background of this card, I used the Field of Blooms Layering die set. I die cut Layer A (the top layer) from white cardstock, Layer B (the leaves layer) from mint green cardstock, Layer C (the tulip layer) from dark pink cardstock and then put a sheet of light pink cardstock behind the entire die to create a second layer of tulips. Then I cut the background down from a full sheet into one measuring 4 1/4″ x 3 1/2.

    I adhere the background to the lower 1/3 of the card leaving room for the “hello” at the top of the card. For the hello I used the Jumbo Lingo word die. I die cut the bottom shadow layer from dark pink cardstock and the top layer from white cardstock. I adhere both layers together with a fine tip liquid adhesive. I then adhered the sentiment to the top of the card.

    To create the butterfly I die cut Layer A (the top layer) from the Eloquent Butterfly layering dies. Then I took a pre-created piece of alcohol ink art and used Layer C to die cut the butterfly shape out. I adhered the alcohol ink background behind Layer A. I adhered the butterfly to the card using 3M foam for added dimension.

    I hope you have enjoyed today’s spring-y card! Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

    Supplies

  • Easter Cross | by April Antonio

    Easter Cross | by April Antonio

    Happy Good Friday! As we enter what is an important weekend for so many, I wanted to create a card that honored the purity of this season. I used the beautifully layered Floral Cross Layer die set. Read on to find out how I pulled together this elegant, clean and simple card.

    I cut layers A, B, and C from heavyweight white cardstock, and cut layer B a second time from green cardstock I pulled from the Memory Box Greenery 6×6 cardstock pack. I glued all the layers together using liquid glue.

    I took the leaves and florals from each layer and angled them around the cross and glued the touch points with liquid glue. I glued the entire cross with florals to an A2 card front, and added some white leaves around it.

    I glued silver jewels to the flower centers using the Memory Box Pastel jewel set.

    I used “Easter” for the sentiment from the Blooming Spring stamp set to finish the card off. That is it! This was a very simple, but elegant card. I hope you have a relaxing and peaceful weekend!

    Supplies

    Supplies

  • Happy Easter | by Rosemary Dennis

    Happy Easter | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today. Can you believe that Easter is just days away?! Time is just flying by, lol. With Easter in mind I created a card using the beautiful new Floral Cross Layering die set.

    I used several new products on this card, including the new Lush Layer Contour Layers die set and a new set of products from Open Studio/Memory Box: Cheerful Floral 3d embossing folder and cutting die and Cheerful Floral stencil set. My original idea for this card was to have the beautiful Floral Cross layering dies layered on top of the embossed Cheerful Floral background. Unfortunately, I have a problem with my die cutting machine when it comes to 3d embossing folders. Sometimes with beautifully detailed ones like the Cheerful Floral my cardstock shifts in the folder and the bottom of the image is blurred. That happened this time. I tried multiple times and could not get a good image. In the end I decided to die cut the center flower from each attempt and use those instead. Nice save, I think!

    It was pretty easy to pop the die cuts into the stencil and color them up with a combination of pretty yellow inks. Below is a photo showing how it looks when you use the stencil with the die cut.

    For the stenciling I colored the first flower and then moved it to the next spot. I then placed the second flower in the stencil and colored it. Then I grabbed the next color, added it to the first flower, then moved everything to their next spot. I continued with that until the flowers were fully colored. I used a piece of cardstock from Greenery 6×6 cardstock pad. This particular piece was one shade of green on one side and a slightly different shade of green on the other side so I was able to use only one piece of cardstock for the leaf.

    The cross was die cut from white cardstock, pale yellow glitter cardstock and light yellow cardstock, then adhered together with liquid adhesive. I also used one of the flower dies from the Floral Cross set and die cut the layers from the pale yellow glitter cardstock. The pieces were layered. a light yellow rhinestone added to the center and then adhered to the center of the cross. I then began arranging all the elements on a panel of white cardstock. I used a combination of liquid adhesive and foam squares to adhere everything. The sentiment is a Memory Box die. I die cut it from white cardstock and adhered it with liquid adhesive.

    Supplies

  • Spring Birthday Card | By Sandhya Iyer

    Spring Birthday Card | By Sandhya Iyer

    Hello, friends! This is Design Team member Sandhya Iyer and today I am sharing a spring-themed birthday card where I mix up a bunch of fun products. The star of the show is the foiled sentiment from the Sugar Script Sentiments 2 hot foiled plate and die set. I also used the Wiegela Leaf Contour Layers Die Set and the Gentle Flower and Leaves Contour Layers for the flowers and leaves.

    I started by using Distress Mica Stain and Distress Spray stains in different shades of green to create a few ink-smooshed panels. Then, I used the Wiegela Leaf die to cut out several leaves to build my wreath. Next, I used Saltwater Taffy Distress Oxide to ink blend an ombre background. I traced a circle on this panel and adhered the leaves to form a wreath.

    Next, I grabbed the Sunrise and Blush solid core cardstock packs and die cut a couple of flowers using the Gentle Flower die set. I colored in the center with a brown copic marker for additional contrast. I also kept the extra pieces of colorful centers to tuck under the leaves. I used gold foil and my Glimmer machine to create my birthday sentiment and added it to the center of the wreath using some foam tape.

    Finally, tucked in the flowers and little centres that look like buds/berries. I attached the completed panel to a white card base and finished with a few clear drop embellishments. This brings us to the end of today’s post. Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you have fun crafting today!

    Supplies: