Author: birch press

  • Floral Star Helloby Jeanne Jachna

    Floral Star Hello
    by Jeanne Jachna

    Hello my crafty friends! I hope you’re having a great day! It’s Jeanne here and I’m sharing a rainbow color block card made with the new Floral Star layered die set.

    I love using color block technique when using die cuts. The repeated crisp clean lines of the background and the die cuts themselves are a match made in heaven.

    I determined a good size for the base would be 4 1/2″ . I split the panel down the center and then marked where the petal tips would be on the graph paper. I cut the red, yellow, purple and green squares 2 1/4″ square and adhered them together on their reverse side. I used the graph paper as a template to cut the blue and orange pieces.

    I cut all three layers of the Floral Star Layer Set from white card stock. I inked the “B” layer with distress ink masking off each section with sticky tape. I applied the ink with a mini cosmetic brush that I found on Amazon.

    I assembled the three Floral Star Layers and adhered them to the card base aligning the colors on the die cut with the colors on the background panel.

    A Big Sugar Script Hello cut from gold glitter paper adds some sparkle and shine! The “Thinking of You” stamped sentiment is from the You Are Awesome stamp set.

    I can never resist a rainbow! It includes ALL my favorite colors!

    Finished Size 4.75″ Square

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  • Dad you rock! | by Kimberly Wiener

    Dad you rock! | by Kimberly Wiener

    Hello Birch Press Design fans! How about this for a great modern masculine card? The Prismatic Triangle Layers Set is perfect for any Father’s Day card. Which, I might add is currently on a great sale!

    The sentiment that I used for this card is the Big Birthday Sugar Script. I ran the die six times cutting and piecing, making the word dad, and then layered it three times.

    The stacked word was added to a 1/2 inch black card stock strip that was embossed in white with the “You Rock” sentiment from the Best Friend Clear Stamp Set.

    I used Layer C for the brilliant blue bottom layer. The coloring medium is Brusho Color Crystal Inks in Turquoise and Ultramarine spritzed with water onto Open Studio Watercolor Paper. This layer was cut in half and splatters were added with a white gel pen.

    I ran the Layer A die onto white card stock and once again onto the gorgeous yellow Jewel Glitter Paper. I cut this layer in half. Two triangles were cut from the glitter paper and added to the white layer for a subtle sparkle of color.

    Once the white and yellow glitter layer are affixed to the blue layer, I added double foam tape on both pieces as well as the sentiment strip that I nestled in between them. I sure hope that you will experiment with this fun and versatile die set.


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  • You Mean The World To Me | by Crystal Komara

    You Mean The World To Me | by Crystal Komara

    Hello readers! Who else struggles with making masculine cards? I know that I sure do! Cutesy pink dancing pigs and glittery pop-up mermaids just aren’t going to cut it for my dad! With Father’s Day soon approaching I know that we are all looking for some inspiration to create cards for the special men in our lives. I have found that simply by using certain colors, it is easier to achieve a more masculine look. For today’s two cards, I used the Lumina Layering Plates (A, B & C) and a darker color palette of black, gold and green. I think this same card in navy blues and golds would also be an excellent masculine inspired combination.

    Here is the first card I created using the “leftover” cutout circle pieces from the Lumina Layering Plate. I could have added this cut-out back in to the original card design, but I like the idea of creating two cards from one die!

    Here is the second card I created using the Lumina Layering Plates:

    I have created a step-by-step YouTube video tutorial sharing how I made both of these cards. I like to keep my videos short and sweet, so it under 7 minutes long!

    Thank you for visiting and I hope you have a wonderfully creative day!

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  • Friend, You Are Awesome | By Amanda Wilcox

    Friend, You Are Awesome | By Amanda Wilcox

    Thanks for stopping by today. This is Amanda from Twiddler’s Nook visiting with this fun card and a new way to look at some of your full cover plate dies.

    I started with all 3 Grace cover plates and a stack of 2 1/4 inch square pieces of cardstock in teal, gold and black. I used them to die cut just the center circle from each layer. I cut each layer out of each color one time. This gives me 3 completed circles.

    I arranged the completed circles on my card front and used the sugar script big friends die to help my decide on placement.

    I die cut the shadow from vellum and the word friend from each of the 3 colors I used on the circles.

    I glued the black word to the vellum and then followed it by the gold shifted just a bit and finally the teal on top shifted just a bit more so you can see all of the colors. I love this look! I also stamped and heat embossed a sentiment from Awesome Ticker Tape Messages and cut it out. I ran this strip through my Xyron sticker maker. Coating the back of vellum with adhesive makes so the adhesive doesn’t show because it’s all the same.

    I adhered everything to a white panel that measured 4×5.25 and added some black flat-back baubles for a little extra interest. I trimmed anything hanging off the side and popped the panel up with foam tape on a white card base.

    This fabulous card is all finished. I hope you enjoyed it and found some inspiration to look at your dies a little differently and create something beautiful.

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

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  • Elegant Clip | by Jennifer Svare

    Elegant Clip | by Jennifer Svare

    Hello! Today I’m sharing how I made a magnetized clip or book mark using the gorgeous Frilly Triangle Layer Set.

    I started off with a 3-1/8″ x 3-1/8″ square piece of kraft card stock, and scored it down the middle. The extra 1/8″ accounts for the 1/8″ score line.

    I then used the die set to cut each layer. The middle layer and solid base layer (cut from outlining the triangle) was made using distress oxide inks.

    I then adhered the assembled triangle to one of the kraft base halves. Next, I put the magnets on the other side, leaving enough room to comfortably glue the magnets in, so they were not placed directly at the top. It’s easy to line up the magnets by placing them back-to-back before adhering. This way, the magnets are stuck together and so placement is perfect alignment.

    The next step was to place a blank piece of kraft triangle over the backing to hide the magnet. I cut a 3″ x 3″ piece of kraft card stock and cut it down the middle. I didn’t need the extra eighth of an inch here because I didn’t need to fold anything.

    I then flipped the clip over to reveal the inside. The magnet showing in the photo below is on the backside of the decorated piece. The magnets I have are very thin, which is what I wanted for a bookmark-type clip. Because of this, the strength of the magnet would not work through all the layers. The magnet will be shown from the inside when opened up so I was careful to only glue the center to adhere it. Once I glued it, I closed the clip to let it all dry in place. The second magnet is hidden in the plain kraft layer and both magnets are stuck to each other through the sheet of paper in the photo below.

    I made sure to let the glue dry completely before opening the clip. This is such an easy, beautiful gift that would be great for Father’s Day! Have a wonderful day and thank you for stopping by the blog today!


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  • 6 card ideas for Epiphany Layered Dies set | by Ardyth Percy-Robb

    6 card ideas for Epiphany Layered Dies set | by Ardyth Percy-Robb

    Let’s face it. Big layered die sets like Epiphany are an investment in your craft room. And when you make an investment, you want to be sure to get value, right?

    Each plate is really 3 in 1 – you get a circle, a ‘wreath’ and the rectangle outline. Multiply that by 3 plates and that’s like getting 9 dies. You can mix and match, stack or use single layers.

    Start adding in different colours and specialty cardstocks like glitter or mirror and the possibilities are really endless.

    Sometimes, you don’t have to have the die cuts on your card at all! I used die cuts as stencils to create a layered look on a flat piece of cardstock. Check out that ‘dimension’!

    And by inkblending over the die cuts, I ended up with more pieces to use on cards:

    Using black instead of white gives an intense, dramatic contrast!

    For a completely different look I used the top layer of the smallest piece to create the look of stained glass.

    Here’s a video showing how I used Epiphany to make 6 different cards.

    I hope you’re inspired to try some of these, or find other looks of your own!

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  • Dimension and Texture – String Art Frame Die! | By Desiree Kuemmerle

    Dimension and Texture – String Art Frame Die! | By Desiree Kuemmerle

    Hello Everyone and Welcome Back!

    For today’s project, I used the String Art Frame Die to add dimension and texture to our card’s backgrounds!

    As before we start out by getting our die cuts ready and cutting our pattern paper down to the size of our card front which is 4 ¼ in x 5 ½ in!

    We will then trace a line from the center of the die cut to our pattern paper and use a slightly larger circle die to cut out our shape from our pattern paper.

    Let the gluing begin, using our liquid adhesive we will attached out die cut front to our pattern paper. By the way we cut our circle shapes from our paper we will create different focal areas for our sentiments!

    Our sentiment is stamped on the center cut out from our die plate and then placed onto our circle cut out from the pattern paper earlier!

    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!


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  • Masculine Encouragement Card

    Masculine Encouragement Card

    Hello everyone. Creative Team Member Amanda with you today sharing a fun card that’s got a bit of a masculine feel. Those cards can be very difficult to create so I am excited to share this with you.

    I started with an A2 size panel and my bold stripes stencil. I used peacock feathers distress oxide ink and a blending brush and spritzed it with water.

    After not falling in love with the stripes for this design, I turned my stencil and tried adding scattered straw distress ink of a plaid look. Not a good combo…so I added stormy sky over the top of the scattered straw and loved the look it gave. (Lesson here…if you don’t like something at first, keep trying and definitely walk away for a while before you trash it. This has saved me many a time!)

    Next, I put it in my splatter box and flicked some watered down black acrylic paint all over it.

    Next, I pulled out the hello topper set and die cut it from black and the words from a gray-ish blue that matches the inks I blended with. I did not like how dark the bottom of the card was so I tried switching it out for white.

    Ahhh, much better. Next, I die cut 3 more hellos and glued them all together. I pushed them into my embossing ink pad, covered the whole word with clear embossing powder and heated it up. I added 3 layers of that for a rounded glossy look and glued the words in place.

    Last, I stamped a small sentiment from the lovely butterflies stamp set below the hello die cuts.

    I think this card has great texture and awesome colors. It would be great for anyone and you could easily change the whole look with different colors of ink.

    I hope you found some inspiration to try create something wonderful. I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day.

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  • Birch Press Designs Stitched Dahlia Heart Cards | By Leigh Houston

    Birch Press Designs Stitched Dahlia Heart Cards | By Leigh Houston

    Hello, crafty friends! I am so happy to be here today sharing two stitched cards I created with Birch Press Designs’s Dahlia Heart die. I had so much fun making these cards!

    I created these cards using Dahlia Heart Layer A. I started my first card by die cutting the heart with a scrap piece of cardstock. I then used this scrap piece as a stencil, coloring in the segments with alcohol markers. I then cut a fresh piece of the heart shape with clean cardstock and affixed it over the colored base with strong liquid adhesive. After the glue dried, it was time to stitch! I poked holes along the inner edges of each segment then used a simple backstitch in coordinating thread.

    After the stitching was complete, I trimmed around the perimeter of the heart. I affixed it to a cardstock base I made with Birch Press’s Amour Layer A die. I die cut my sentiment from gold foil cardstock using Birch Press’s Hugs Sugar Script die.

    My second card takes the stitching to another level. I started my card in the exact same way as the first, coloring in the segments using the stencil then affixing a clean heart over top. I then filled in the flower segments using a brick stitch. This stitch is another simple backstitch in rows, with each row staggered. This was the perfect project for a night of watching bad TV! LOL To finish this card, I embossed a white cardstock base using Birch Press’s Ring Tile Stencil and added a stitched coral cardstock strip behind the heart. The gold Sugar Script Smile sentiment finished the card off perfectly!

    I hope you enjoyed these projects as much as I loved making them! Links to the products I used are below. I’ll see you soon with more card projects!


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  • Using Thick Embossing  Plates | by Tracey McNeely

    Using Thick Embossing Plates | by Tracey McNeely

    Hi there, it’s Tracey back this week with another post using fabulous Birch Press Design along with the fun 3D Embossing Folders from Memory Box Open Source.

    I started off by embossing a piece of Bristol Smooth cardstock using the Memory Box Open Source Crysanthemum Fields Embossing Folder. I have never used these thick embossing folders before and I was a big perplexed as to what sandwich to use in my Gemini Jr. die cutting machine. Through a bit of Internet research and a bit of trial and error I found a sandwich that worked in both my Gemini Jr. and my Big Shot! These amazing 3D Embossing Folders work with the same sandwich! Today I used the panel embossed with the Gemini Jr. die cutting machine using this sandwich:
    1. Bottom plate
    2. Magnetic sheet
    3. Embossing folder with paper inside (no top plate!)

    I ran it through the machine and got a gorgeous embossed/debossed impression.

    I chose to use the embossed side of the panel and used blending brushes to lightly add colour over the raised images. I set the panel aside while I worked on the other elements for my card. Using another piece of Bristol Smooth cardstock and I ink blended the Distress Oxide inks a little more heavily to create a solid panel to co-ordinate for the bottom of my card. I flicked some white gold pigment watercolor onto the bottom panel.

    I trimmed the embossed panel down to 5 1/4″ x 4″ and then adhered it to a white card base using tape runner. Once the other ink blended panel was dry I used the Hello Topper die to cut across the top. Then I cut the word die ‘hello’ from white cardstock and added in into place with liquid glue.

    The sentiment ‘crafty friend’ from the Just Because stamp set was white embossed direct to the panel underneath the word hello. The whole ink blended panel was trimmed down to 1 1/2″ high, not including the bump up for the word hello. I was added to the bottom of the card with with foam tape for dimension.

    Thank you so much for stopping in today to craft along with me. I hope you are staying well and that I have inspired you to make something beautiful today.

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