Author: birch press

  • Sprayed Midnight Mandalas | by Tracey McNeely

    Sprayed Midnight Mandalas | by Tracey McNeely

    Hi there, it’s Tracey back again today. You’re getting a double dose of me this week. I am a big fan of adding colour to my projects with Distress Oxide Inks and today I have a special treat for you. I have five cards that were created with the Birch Press Design Midnight Mandala Stencil and Distress Oxide Spray Inks!

    I used only two colours and one stencil and no two cards are the same. The process can be a bit messy so I use a homemade spray box. It is a 12 x 12 x 5 1/2″ priority mail box that I use whenever I splatter, flick or spray ink or watercolours inside the house. NOTE: I NEVER spray anything toxic inside the house such as spray paints or adhesive

    The first two cards are very simple, I put a piece of white cardstock inside the box and laid the Midnight Mandala Stencil over top. The first card uses Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide Spray. The bottle was primed and just sprayed a few times over the stencil. Then I lifted the stencil to reveal to design on the white cardstock panel. The stencil got a quick wipe off with a baby wipe and then the process was repeated with Peacock Feather Distress Oxide Spray. I set the two panels aside to dry.

    For the next two cards I sprayed the entire background of the white cardstock panels with each colour of Distress Oxide Ink. One card was sprayed pink first and the other blue first. Once they were dry I laid the stencil over top of the coloured panel and then sprayed the other colour over top.

    The last card was a combination of both colours of Distress Oxide Spray Ink. The difference with this card is that I did not wait for the first colour to dry before spraying the second colour. I sprayed the pink at the top of the card front and the blue at the bottom. What ended up happening as they met in the middle was a beautiful shade of purple. TIP: Do a bit of trial and error with the colours you choose when wet colour mixing. You don’t want to end up with a muddied panel.

    All the panels were trimmed down to 5 1/4″ x 4″ and adhered to a white card base. The Honey Script Hello, Honey Script Thanks and Honey Script Hugs dies were used for the sentiments. All the shadows were cut from vellum and all the words were cut from white cardstock and glued together. They were attached to the card fronts with foam tape.

    This was a fun project to put together, really easy and I ended up with five unique cards.

    Thank you so much for stopping in today and I hope you are staying well. See you next time here at Birch Press Design.

    Supplies

    42031 Midnight Mandala Stencil

    57310 Hello Honey Script

    57302 Thanks Honey Script

    57300 Hugs Honey Script

  • Inspired by Pinterest | by Crystal Komara

    Inspired by Pinterest | by Crystal Komara

    Hello readers! This is Crystal here with you today and before we get to today’s cards, I’m going to share with you the Pinterest photo I found that became my source of inspiration! Never in a million years would I have paired these colors together, yet when I saw this image, I was captivated by how stunning these colors were. Now, granted, I would not choose these colors for any room in my house, but I was determined to bring these colors to life on paper, and I couldn’t be more in love with the results!

    I have created a step-by-step YouTube video tutorial showing how both of these cards were made. I hope you will find this helpful!

    We can find inspiration in so many places. Thank you for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

    Supplies

    56097 Lumina Layer Set

    GP1003 Twinkling Jewel Glitter Pad

    57201 Big Hello Sugar Script

    Thanks Sugar Script

  • Stretch Your Holiday Dies | By Amanda Wilcox

    Stretch Your Holiday Dies | By Amanda Wilcox

    Happy Tuesday everyone! It’s Amanda from Twiddler’s Nook joining you for a bright and summery card using some holiday dies, but you’d never know because of the paper colors and sentiment I chose.

    I started by die cutting all 3 layers to the Nobilia Ornament set from different cardstocks – black, yellow glitter and melon.

    I used liquid glue to adhere all of the layers and put an acrylic block on them all to help them dry flat.

    While those were drying I cut my cardstock layers. I have an A2 size white card base, then a black layer that measures 5 3/8×4 1/8 and finally a white layer that measures 5 1/4×4. I adhered all of these together with tape runner and set it aside.

    For my sentiment I pulled out the Thanks Sugar Script set. I cut the shadow from white and the word from black and the same yellow glitter. I layered these together with liquid glue and put an acrylic block on them while they dried as well.

    Finally, I adhered all of my layers to the card front with liquid glue and then the sentiment on top of that.

    I didn’t do much for finishing touches because I didn’t want to detract from the awesome glittler layer. So I added one simply gem to the center of the ornament portion.

    I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!

    Supplies

    57302 Thanks Honey Script

    56112 Nobilia Ornament Plate Layer Set

  • Many Thanks | by Kimberly Wiener

    Many Thanks | by Kimberly Wiener

    Hello Birch Press Design fans! Today I am featuring the same design in variations of color. This is a great design to make multiple cards.

    On watercolor paper I created several water colored backgrounds using two shades of Brusho color crystals. Once I created several backgrounds, I cut them down to 4 x 5.25. In coordinating colored inks, I chose a medium shade as well as a dark shade of ink to use for the Ring Tile Stencil layer. Ink was brushed onto the stencil from light to dark in an ombre effect, and only onto the card in certain areas creating a lovely fading effect.

    The sentiments I chose are the Big Thanks Sugar Script. I adore this font! The outline layer of the word dies was also ink blended in a light to dark and faded effect that really makes the inner die layer stand out quite nicely.

    The inner die was adhered with glue and the outline layer was affixed to the base with double sided foam mount tape and the entire card front panel was added to a standard A2 (4.25 x 5.5) card base.

    I had a lot of fun creating a total of four cards in striking blue, red, green, and yellow.

    I just love the washed out and faded effect that the water color layer gives the to the stencil layer.

    I sure hope that you are encouraged and inspired to create some wonderful backgrounds of your own and experiment with stencils!


    Supplies


    42030 Ring Tike Stencil
    Big Thanks Sugar Script
    WP101 Watercolor Paper
  • Party Balloons | by Tracey McNeely

    Party Balloons | by Tracey McNeely

    Hi there it’s Tracey here today and I have a card and video for a bright and fun birthday card using the Party Balloon die set along with the Modern Alphabet die set.

    I used the two largest balloons from the Party Balloon die set and I cut them with Bristol Smooth cardstock. I ink blended Distress Oxide inks on to each balloon. Once done I flicked some watered down Perfect Pearls on to the balloons for some extra interest and shine. I added the balloons to my card front with tape runner and the large pink balloon intentionally hangs over the edge of the card front. I drew the balloon strings on to the card front with a ruler and fine tip black marker.

    The Mod Alphabet die set was used to cut the word ‘happy’. I cut both the shadow and the smaller letters with white cardstock. I coloured the smaller letters with Copic markers to match the colours of the balloons. I glued the alphas together, added foam tape to the back of each letter and set them aside. The word ‘birthday’ from the Best Friend stamp set was stamped in the bottom right of the card. Then I trimmed where the balloon was overhanging the card with scissors.

    I lined up the word ‘happy’ and finished the card off by drawing a line across the neck of the balloons.

    Thank you so much for joining me today and I hope I I’ve inspired you to make something pretty today. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and we’ll see you next time!

    Supplies

    57073 Party Balloon

    8139 Mod Alphabet clear stamp and die set

    CL8132 Best Friend clear stamp set

  • Red, White & Blue | by Crystal Komara

    Red, White & Blue | by Crystal Komara

    Hello readers! This is Crystal here with you today sharing a patriotic inspired card. I don’t know if anyone actually sends 4th of July cards or not, but this idea would also work well for members of the military or law enforcement. The first time I saw the Mini Dazzle Bevel Layering Plates, I knew immediately that I wanted to create a flag in strips of red, white and blue.

    In order to fit all three strips of the Mini Dazzle Bevel Layering Plates on this card, I had to size the card’s dimensions to 5 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ square.

    Here is a step-by-step YouTube video tutorial showing how I created this card:

    I hope you have enjoyed seeing a patriotic spin on this card! Thank you for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day.

    Supplies

    56105 Mini Dazzle Bevel Plate Layer Set

    GP1003 Twinkling Jewel Glitter Pad

  • Summer Stripes | By Seeka

    Summer Stripes | By Seeka

    Hello! Seeka here, and today I’ve got some fun striped cards for you. It was so fun and satisfying to make these, I hope you’ll give it a try!

    I started by using purple tape to temporarily secure the Bold Stripes stencil to a piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock. Then I laid two strips of scrap paper on either side of the center stripe so that I could eaisly blend color over that single stripe without accidentally getting ink onto the neighboring stripe.

    Using foam blending tools, I blended stripes of Picked Raspberry, Abandoned Coral, Worn Lipstick, and Carved Pumpkin Distress Oxide inks onto the panel. For my blue cards, I used Broken China, Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio, and Twisted Citron.

    Next I used shadow die of the Hello Topper die set to cut along the edge of a scrap piece of bristol smooth cardstock. I left a margin at the bottom that was the same height as the spaces between the stripes on my panel.

    Next I used the sentiment die from the set to cut four “hellos” and then stacked and adhered them together before adhering them to the shadow layer. Using foam tape, I adhered the sentiment piece to the background.

    For the blue cards, I used the Big Hugs Sugar Script die set, cutting the shadow layer from vellum and using the same stacked sentiment technique.

    Thank you so much for visiting!


    Supplies


  • No-line Watercolor with Magnificent Sunflower Embossing Folder | by Ardyth Percy-Robb

    No-line Watercolor with Magnificent Sunflower Embossing Folder | by Ardyth Percy-Robb

    Good morning! Ardyth here with a kind of accidental discovery. I was playing with this Memory Box Open Source Magnificent Sunflower embossing folder, wondering what to do with it. So often our embossing folders make amazing backgrounds, but this sunflower was crying out for centre stage!

    First, here’s a look at the sandwich I used in my Gemini Junior – embossing folder with Bristol Smooth cardstock inside, rubber embossing mat and bottom/cutting plate. That’s it. Nothing on top. If you don’t have an embossing mat, you could use some cardstock as a shim to get the desired pressure to give you a crisp impression:

    The rest was really quite simple. I used some watercolour markers and an aqua brush to colour the sunflower, building up layers of colour for visual interest:

    The ink kind of settles into the details of the flower and leaves so it was really easy to get a no-line look with minimal effort! And it looks dimensional because, well, it is!

    To finish it off, I stamped a sentiment from Lingo Thanks clear stamp set.


    Supplies


    EF1008 Magnificent Sunflower
    CL8143 Lingo Thanks
  • Highlighting Sentiments | By Leigh Houston

    Highlighting Sentiments | By Leigh Houston

    Hello, friends! I am so happy to be here today to share this card I made featuring my favorite Birch Press Designs sentiments. I really wanted the sentiments to take center stage on this clean and simple card!

    To start my card, I made a card base using the Birch Press Designs Amour Layering Set. I cut the base using Amour Layer A, then layered smaller hearts mounted with foam tape from Amour Layers B and C. I colored in the smallest hearts using an aqua alcohol marker. This provided the perfect simple but pretty card base for the sentiments.

    I then die cut my sentiments from heavy 110# cardstock. I used small sponge daubers and my favorite shades of Distress Oxide Inks to ink blend a rainbow gradient onto the sentiments. I stamped the “and” from Birch Press’s You Are Awesome stamp set, which has such a wonderful array of sentiments (this one definitely makes my “most used” list of stamp sets!) A few sparkly sequins and this clean and simple card was finished!

    I hope you enjoyed this project! Products used are listed below. I’ll see you soon with another card project. Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!


    Supplies


    56042 Amour Layer Set
    57042 Amour Layer A
    57043 Amour Layer B
    57044 Amour Layer C
    Sending Sugar Script
    Love Sugar Script
    Hugs Sugar Script
    Thanks Sugar Script
    CL8151 You Are Awesome clear stamp set

  • Grateful Leaf Frames – Slim Line Card! | By Desiree Kuemmerle

    Grateful Leaf Frames – Slim Line Card! | By Desiree Kuemmerle

    Hello Everyone and Welcome Back!

    For today’s project, I just had to revisit the Grateful Leaf Frames Stamp Set! I thought one of the images was perfect for a Slim Line Card and I just had to use my colored pencils.

    Let’s gather our cardstock and ink we will need to get our project started! First let’s cut a piece of Bristol cardstock to 2 ½ in x 6 in and a mat cut to 2 ¾ in x 6 1/4in and set them aside. Now since we are making a slim line card, we need a special size for our card base. I cut mine to 6 in x 6 ¼ in and scored this panel at 3 in along the 6 in length.

    I went back to my piece of Bristol Card stock and stamped my imaged using a very pale ink so I could use the no-line coloring technique with my colored pencils. Also at this time I stamped my sentiment using a pale grey ink.

    After all my coloring was completed and layered my card stocks together using my liquid adhesive!

    Added a few drops for embellishment and there we have it, a simple slim card design!

    As always, I hope you enjoyed today’s project… and if you want to see more details just click on the video below and see how these projects come together step by step!

    Make sure you stay tuned for more wonderful projects coming soon! Have a great day and always remember… Be Creative!


    Supplies


    CL8147 Grateful Leaf Frames clear stamp set