Birch Press Design

Author: birch press

  • You Are the Best | by Tracey McNeely

    You Are the Best | by Tracey McNeely

    Hi there, it’s Tracey back today with an ink blended thank you card created with the new Bold Stripes stencil. I also have a process video to share how I created this bright and cheery card.

    I placed the stencil over a panel of Bristol Smooth cardstock and then blended a rainbow of Distress Oxide inks–Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, More Mustard, Mowed Lawn and Peacock Feathers. Once the stencil was removed I splattered some clean water onto the panel and lifted some of the colour with a paper towel.

    The blended panel was trimmed down to 5 1/4″ x 4″ and then attached to the card base with foam tape for dimension. The large sentiment was cut from the new Honey Script Thanks dies. Thanks was cut from white cardstock for the base and black cardstock for the actual word. It was adhered to the card front with foam tape to make it really pop.

    The second line of the sentiment is from the You Are Awesome stamp set. I stamped and white embossed the phrase ‘You are the Best’ on a thin strip of black cardstock that was adhered directly to the card front underneath the word thanks.

    The black and white sentiments have a really big impact against the bright rainbow background!

    Thanks so much for stopping in today and I hope that you mind is spinning with all the colour combinations that you could create with the Bold Stripes stencil.

    Supplies

    42029 Bold Stripes Stencil

    57302 Thanks Honey Script

    CL8151 You Are Awesome clear stamp set

  • Golden Thanks | by Crystal Komara

    Golden Thanks | by Crystal Komara

    Hello readers! This is Crystal here today sharing another way to use the beautiful Butterfly Garden Layering dies. If you recall, just last week I shared these two cards created using these same exact layering dies, yet they look vastly different when they are done in a completely different color scheme! I can’t decide which one I like better, can you?!

    I have created this fairly short video for you to watch to see how I put this A2 sized card together. This will guide you though step-by-step each process of this card – and it’s all under five minutes long! I’m a fan of keeping things short and sweet!

    There is also a list of supplies used (with clickable links) conveniently located at the end of this post.

    I hope you have enjoyed this card and video tutorial. Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative weekend!

    Supplies

    Butterfly Garden Plate Layer Set

    CL8143 Lingo Thanks

    58143 Lingo Thanks die set

    Supplies

    Butterfly Garden Plate Layer Set

    58143 Lingo Thanks die set

    CL8143 Lingo Thanks

  • Floral Star Layering | By Seeka

    Floral Star Layering | By Seeka

    Hello, crafty friends! Seeka here, and today I’m sharing a card that features the beautiful three-layer Floral Star Layer die set.

    I don’t own a lot of color cardstock so when I play with layering dies, I like to ink up the layers with watercolor, markers, or ink blending. For this card, I used just two colors of Distress Ink: Tattered Rose and Victorian Velvet.

    I started by die cutting the three layers of the Floral Star out of white cardstock. I decided to keep the top and bottom layers white and to ink up only the middle layer. I used a direct-to-paper method, rubbing my Victorian Velvet ink cube directly onto the die cut to quickly color it.

    Next, I adhered the bottom two layers of the Floral Star together. I curled each petal of the top layer by wrapping it around the handle of a tool I had handy.

    I adhered this top layer using just a few Zots Bling adhesive ots. I placed one dot at the center and a couple more very close to the center, allowing the tips of the petals to stand away from the rest of the die cut.

    For the background, I used foam blending tools to blend both ink colors onto an A2-sized piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock. I concentrated Victorian Velvet at the center, and covered the rest of the card with Tattered Rose. Because I planned to adhere the Floral Star to the center of the background, I didn’t worry much about getting a perfectly smooth blend.

    To assemble the card, I adhered a stamped sentiment from the You Are Awesome stamp set to the center of the Floral Star and then adhered the star to the background. Finally, I adhered the card front to an A2-sized card base.

    Thank you so much for visiting!


    Supplies


    56118 Floral Star Layer Set
    CL8151 You Are Awesome clear stamp set
  • Vellum Shaker Cards! | By Desiree Kuemmerle

    Vellum Shaker Cards! | By Desiree Kuemmerle

    Hello Everyone and Welcome Back!

    For today let’s make some shaker cards using vellum and only one of the layers from the Calen Layering Die Set!

    As always let’s start by cutting our cardstock, shaker back panels (4 in x 5 ¼ in), shaker front panel (4 in x 5 ¼ in) and vellum panels (3 7/8 in x 5 1/8 in) and set those pieces aside while we set up our shaker panels…

    Using my liquid adhesive, I place my vellum piece and add my double-sided foam tape double layered…

    For your shaker component you can chose any elements or bits to have in your opening and spread them around so they are flat in this area. Remove your release paper from your foam tape carefully and then add your back panel and shake away! Be careful you may do this for a while… LOL

    Now it is time to add our die cut! By only using one layer we get to see the full beauty of the shaker element on our card!

    I grabbed my standard A2 size top folding card base and placed my shaker panel using my liquid adhesive. And there we go 4 shaker cards in no time!

    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


    56086 Calen Layer Set
  • Creating Custom Backgrounds with Stencils | by Tracey McNeely

    Creating Custom Backgrounds with Stencils | by Tracey McNeely

    Hi there, it’s Tracey back today with a little more inspiration using the Folk Art Heart Layer dies set. When I was planning my card I was thinking spring, but as I finished up my card a big snow storm was blowing in.

    To create my custom background I used the Circle Burst stencil to ink blend over a panel of Bristol Smooth cardstock using only one colour of Distress Oxide ink (Tumbled Glass). Using a geometric shaped stencil allow you to customize your results. I randomly moved the stencil over the panel and ink blended until the entire panel was covered. I flicked some watered down Perfect Pearls with a paintbrush to the panel to add a little bit more interest. Some areas ended up darker and some areas more white but the result was a pretty backdrop for the layered tulips.

    I cut the Folk Art Heart Layers from dark pink (Layer C), light pink (Layer A) and the light pink from the Delicate Pastel Glitter Pad. I glued the layers together with liquid glue.

    The hello is from the Hello Topper die and it was cut once from black and once from white. The two pieces were glued together slightly offset to create a shadow so it would stand out on the card front.

    The stenciled panel was trimmed down to 4″ x 5 1/4″ and adhered to a top folding white card base. To finish the card off I attached the layered tulips and the sentiment to the card front.

    Thank so much for stopping in today to create with me and I hope you try using your stencils in a different way to create a custom background. Stop by tomorrow for some more inspiration here on the blog.

    Supplies

    56119 Folk Art Heart Layer Set

    44024 Circle Burst

    57313 Helllo Topper

    GP1001 Delicate Pastel Glitter Pad

  • Butterflies in Blue | by Crystal Komara

    Butterflies in Blue | by Crystal Komara

    Hello friends and happy Wednesday! This is Crystal here today sharing two cards created from one layered die! I’m always trying to find the best way to get more “bang” for my buck, whether it’s recycling or repurposing products or making my craft supplies stretch just a little bit further. Who else has one of those “bits and pieces” bins filled with little odds & ends just waiting to be made into a card!?

    Today I have used the Butterfly Garden Layering Dies and the Lingo Thanks stamp set and coordinating dies. I feel like this is one of those cards that you could make in ANY color! I do that quite frequently, especially if I need to replenish my card supply. Perhaps someone really likes pinks or purples, then this design would also accommodate other colors too. Plus, by the time you are done die-cutting all those butterflies, you will have lots of extra ones to add to your “bits & pieces” bin!

    I have created a short step-by-step instructional video for you to see how this card came together. I do hope you will find it helpful!

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

    Supplies

    Butterfly Garden Plate Layer Set

    CL8143 Lingo Thanks

    58143 Lingo Thanks die set

  • Petal Burst Rainbow Cards | by Ardyth Percy-Robb

    Petal Burst Rainbow Cards | by Ardyth Percy-Robb

    Good morning! It’s Ardyth here with my first post and today I have two rainbow-blended cards using the Petal Burst stencil.

    I love the classic shape of the petals on this stencil, but it’s really too big to use the whole thing on an A2 card front, so I got a little inventive.

    I started by isolating one of the petals with masks and blending ink through it.

    Then I moved the stencil 1/2 inch to the side and blending the next colour. I used the markings on my grid work surface to make the measuring easy!

    I blended the inks heavier on the pointy ends and lighter in the centres. And when I had worked my way to the left edge, I lifted the stencil (used new masks to avoid ink contamination) and worked to the right. I spritzed the panel with shimmer spray when it was finished.

    For my sentiment, I used the centre portion of the Big Thanks Sugar Script die, and I cut it in black cardstock and also from the centre of my panel (and I kept the letter centres!)

    I adhered the panel to a black 4.25×4.25 inch cardbase and inlaid the black sentiment along with the letter centres. I finished it with some black jewels for sparkle!

    I love the ‘glow’ around my sentiment, that resulted by keeping the centres of the panels lighter in colour.

    Next, I lined the centre of the stencil up with the lower left corner of my panel. I blended ink through the 12:00 and 3:00 petals.

    Then I isolated one petal with masks and filled in the rest of the petals, again using the markings on my worksurface for guidance.

    I finished this one in the same way as the first – but this time with the Hello Sugar Script die.

    I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing how easy it was to create these two bright, happy cards!

    Supplies

    44023 Petal Burst

    Big Thanks Sugar Script

    Hello Sugar Script

  • String Art Frame in Pinks and Jewel Tones | by Kimberly

    String Art Frame in Pinks and Jewel Tones | by Kimberly

    Hello Birch Press fans! Today I bring you two cards using the amazing String Art Frame Die.

    I love the radiating lines. I have selected some wonderful sparkle colors to match the jewel tones in the glitter papers. I water brushed blended them for my background onto the watercolor paper that is now available in the shop.

    I cut the String Art Frame in a light shade of the lovely delicate pastel glitter paper for both cards.

    Some gorgeous purple glitter paper from the Twinking Jewel pad was perfection for the butterflies.

    For the Love you card I die cut the heart sprinkles die directly onto the background and added the word dies.

    The purple glitter papers, as well as all of the jewel paper pad colors are divine!

    I am loving all of the newest release this Spring, and I hope you are enjoying it as well!


    Supplies


    GP1003 Twinkling Jewel Glitter Pad
    GP1001 Delicate Pastel Glitter Pad
    94112 Heart Sprinkles
    WP101 Watercolor Paper
    Thanks Sugar Script
    57327 String Art Frame
    57335 Handwritten Love You and Outline
    94385 Dreamy Butterfly
    Love Sugar Script
  • Vivid Bloom Frames | by Jennifer Svare

    Vivid Bloom Frames | by Jennifer Svare

    Hello! Today I’m excited to introduce the new Vivid Bloom Stitched Layer Set available now at Birch Press Design! So many wonderful things can be done with nested dies, and this set has 6 sizes to offer endless possibilities!

    The video (linked below) shows how I created frames using the dies, and also put a subtle texture into the background using the Leafy Jumble stencil and transparent texture paste.

    The new Hello and Hugs Honey Script dies each come with the letters and a background die. For today’s project, I used the letters without the background. Several were stacked on top of each other for extra depth to the letters. I went over it with a shimmer pen, topped off with glossy accents. I love, love, love this script!

    Creating frames from nested dies is just one way to use them – really, the possibilities are endless and I can’t wait to share more ideas! Enjoy the video and have a great day!


    Supplies


    57332 Vivid Bloom Stitched Layer Set
    57310 Hello Honey Script
    57300 Hugs Honey Script
    88613 Leafy Jumble Stencil
  • Love You | By Seeka

    Love You | By Seeka

    Hello there, I hope you’re having a lovely day! Seeka here and I’m so very excited to share my first post on the Birch Press Design blog!

    I started by die cutting the three layers of the Folk Art Heart Layer Die set out of white cardstock. Because I planned to color each heart, rather than letting all of the pieces fall out I left them in their negative space and backed each piece of cardstock with Post-it tape to hold everything in place.

    Next, I used red and green Copic markers to quickly and loosely color the die cuts. The only place I took a bit of care was on the die cut with the darkest red tulips. On that die cut, I made sure not to color over the white frame of the heart, and ensured that the green stems didn’t blend into the red flowers.

    Then, I moved on to the negative space around the tulips. I decided to use Aqua Ranger Alcohol Ink to create a blue sky with a bit of color variation. I added a few drops of alcohol ink to a small piece of Yupo paper, and then added a few drops of Blending Solution. When I’d covered a large enough area, and when the panel was dry, I used the die cut with the largest tulip (Layer C) to cut the piece of Yupo. Using the same Aqua alcohol ink, I also colored two narrow strips of Yupo.

    I stacked and adhered the layers of the heart together and then pieced in the blue sky, backing the entire piece with paper tape to hold it all together.

    Next, I used the Handwritten Love You and Outline die set to die cut white cardstock. I used the same technique of leaving the die cut in the negative space of my cardstock and backing it with Post-it tape to make it really easy to color with a red marker. Then I adhered the sentiment to the shadow layer.

    To assemble the card, I adhered the blue strips of Yupo to the left and right edges of an A2-sized card base. Then I adhered a 4″ x 5.5″ inch piece of white cardstock in the center of the cardbase. To finish, I used foam tape to adhere the heart and the sentiment to card front.

    Thank you so much for visiting!


    Supplies

    56119 Folk Art Heart Layer Set
    57335 Handwritten Love You and Outline