Category: Contour Layers

  • Tropical Hummingbird | By Christina Rannow

    Tropical Hummingbird | By Christina Rannow


    Hello! Christina here to share a sunny tropical card perfect for sending a quick note of happiness to someone. For this card I paired the beautiful new Block Print Hummingbird with the Tropical Hibiscus Contour Layers and added a fun polka dot patterned paper as the backdrop. Keep reading to get all the details for this sunny notecard!

    I started by die cutting all the hummingbird and hibiscus elements for my design from brightly colored cardstock. I used yellows, oranges, and teals, with a pop of fuchsia on the hummingbird. All of the die cuts layered together beautifully, plus the Tropical Hibiscus flowers come with a layering guide to make assembly super easy too.


    After I assembled and secured my die cut elements with liquid adhesive, I created a simple background. I trimmed a piece of yellow polka dot patterned paper to approximately 4 x 5 ¼ inches and then used a large circle die to round the corners. A corner rounder paper punch would work great for this step if you have one! Then I adhered this rounded panel to an A2 top-fold card base.

    Next, I attached the flowers to the card base with foam squares and tucked the leaves under them, securing the leaves with liquid adhesive. I attached the hummingbird with thin foam squares, giving my design multiple levels of dimension. The last step was to die cut the sentiment, the Handwritten Just a Note, from a dark gray cardstock and secure it to my card.


    And that completes this sunny tropical card using the Block Print Hummingbird and the Tropical Hibiscus sets. See you again soon!


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  • Perched Bird Hello | by Rosemary Dennis

    Perched Bird Hello | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello, hello! Rosemary here today and I am back with a card featuring another super sweet Block Print die set. This time I’m using the Block Print Perched Bird. Let’s have a look at what I made.

    I knew I wanted to perch my little bird on one of the big Sugar Script die sets and settled on the Big Hello die set. I die cut the word from white cardstock and the shadow from a light gray. I did this because I wanted the focus to be on my little bird.

    I decided to go with a blue/purple/green color combo because I thought it would be fun to add some flowers around the word and little bird. Since spring is on the way I decided to use the Sprouting Crocus Contour Layers dies.

    I pulled out the colors of cardstock I wanted to use and then die cut all the pieces. To add some depth to the diecuts I did a little bit of inking to each piece with an ink color that was about two shades darker than the cardstock. Once everything was inked up I let the pieces dry a bit before adhering them together with liquid adhesive.

    I wanted to add more interest to the background that my little scene would be sitting on. I initially had a different idea, but as I was looking through my products I saw the Memory Box/Open Studio embossing folders and decided to use one of them. I went with the Gracious Floral embossing folder. I embossed the white cardstock and then die cut it with a rectangle die. I did this because I wanted the embossing to be flattened just a little bit.

    Now it was time to put it all together. I adhered the embossed panel to a white cardstock base and then arranged all my elements as you see. I used a combination of liquid adhesive and thin foam squares to adhere everything.

    Well, that is it for me. I hope you enjoyed today’s project. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!


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  • Bright Birthday Bird | by Toni M Maddox

    Bright Birthday Bird | by Toni M Maddox

    Hello, Birch Press fans! Toni here and ever so glad to have the blog back. Let’s jump right in!

    I cut out the Block Print Tufted Bird from Memory Box Lavender Bloom and Golden Wheat cardstock which I then sponged using bright inks.

    Assembling the bird was very straightforward–whew!

    I cut out the Rosebud Arch Contour Layer using Memory Box Key Lime cardstock and sponged that as well.

    I placed that on the card front along with the bird and one of the sentiments from Vintage Everyday Greetings, spattering the lot.

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


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  • Birthday Wren | by Rosemary Dennis

    Birthday Wren | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today with a birthday card featuring the new Block Print Little Bird. Let’s have a look at what I created.

    When I saw the new collection of Block Print birds I was so excited! I just love them and can see so many possibilities. For today’s card I decided to create a little wren. Besides papercrafting I enjoy cross-stitching and one of my favorite fabrics to stitch on is 32 count Lugana in the color Wren. So that was my starting point for my little “wren”. I die cut water color cardstock using the Little Bird die, as well as the Hillside Branch and Bramble Contour Layers die set. I then colored each of the pieces with various watercolors.

    My coloring is very simple, but I did spend more time on the bird in an effort to achieve variation in the colors on the bird. Once I was done I set everything aside to dry.

    I pulled out the watercolor panels I had created months ago using the Crystal Lingo stamp set. I had two different blue panels, one dark and one light. I went with the lighter version and die cut it down with a Memory Box A2 Rectangle Frames die. I found a complimentary piece of blue cardstock in the Memory Box Lagoon solid core cardstock pack and die cut it with a larger A2 Rectangle Frames die. The two rectangled were then layered together.

    With all my pieces dry I adhered everything together using liquid adhesive and then determined how I would arrange all the pieces on my panels. I used liquid adhesive to adhere everything and then added my panels to a light gray cardstock card base.

    I finished the card with a Memory Box Birthday Greetings Tab. I really love how my sweet little “wren” turned out. I can see creating other types of birds with the Block Print Little Bird die set. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful day!

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  • Forever Grateful | by Crystal Komara

    Forever Grateful | by Crystal Komara

    Hello crafty friends! This is Design Team member Crystal Komara here with you today sharing the first of a few fall themed pumpkin cards that I have made featuring the Adornment Pumpkin Set.

    The Adornment Pumpkin Layer Set is one of my go-to products for fall cards. I love the large size of the layering pumpkin. Plus, it comes together easily with only two dies – a solid inside layer and a thin outline layer. For this card, I combined it with a variety of other products from Birch Press Design to include:

    ~Phlox Blooms and Leaves Contour Layers

    ~Tiny Tuft Flowers and Leaves

    Card details:

    There is a lot to this card, so let’s break it down:

    1. To create the pumpkin, using the Adornment Pumpkin die, I die cut the large solid pumpkin from the 6″ x 6″ Gladiola paper pack from Memory Box Company. I die cut the outline layer from white cardstock. I adhered the two together with a fine tip liquid glue.
    2. Using the Phlox Blooms and Leaves contour layer set, I die cut a bunch of flowers from a mustard orange and rust colored cardstock. I also cut the inside of the flowers from chocolate brown cardstock and the center of of the flowers from gold glitter cardstock. For each flower, I layered the three colors togethers with a fine-tip liquid glue.
    3. Next I simply die cut a bunch of orange, yellow, mustard, gold and brown leaves from the Tiny Tufts Flowers and Leaves contour die and tucked them in and around the pumpkin.
    4. I splattered gold paint all over the card for some “distressing” or a “mixed media” look.
    5. Lastly, I stamped the sentiment “forever grateful” using the Brush Sentiment stamp set. I stamped the sentiment in Versamark ink and heat embossed it with white embossing powder. I used an oval punch to punch the sentiment out and adhered it to the card using foam adhesive for added dimension.

    I know at first glance that a lot of these intricate layered cards can seem intimating, but all it really entails is a LOT of die cutting. My little tip* – I don’t even count or measure as I’m die cutting, I just keep cutting until it seems like I have a lot. Any extra pieces can be used on the inside or saved for another card!

    Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

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  • Peace Love Joy | by Rosemary Dennis

    Peace Love Joy | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello, hello! Rosemary here on the blog today with a snowy scene card that was so much fun to make! Let’s have a look.

    For my card I used the new Littletown Home, Wavy Hillside, and Peace Love Joy word die sets. The next few photos will show a little bit of my process for creating the card. I try to remember to take these kinds of photos, but sometimes get so involved in the process that I forget. This time I remembered!

    I started by cutting piece of light blue cardstock from the Lagoon 6×6 cardstock pad to 5 1/2 by 4 1/4. I pulled out several distress oxide inks in shades of blue and blended them onto the top of the cardstock. I knew I would be covering up the bottom so no need to waste time and ink there! Once I had the blues blended to my liking I added in some black using Black Soot distress oxide. I used Blueprint Sketch, Prized Ribbon and Chipped Sapphire for the blues (could only fit the Chipped Sapphire in the photo).

    Once the ink blending was done I put the panel into my splatter box and liberally splatted the panel with white acrylic paint. I let the panel dry and moved on to the next step in my card process: creating the wintry hills for my little houses!

    I used Glossy Accents to cover the hill pieces, but I didn’t cover the cardstock pieces completely as you can see in the above photo. I did this because I wanted a more realistic snow look to each piece. Giving it the look of high and low areas in the snow that are there in real life. I then covered each piece with Rock Candy glitter and let them dry.

    Now it was time to make the little houses, trees and sentiments. I die cut the houses from white, grey and yellow cardstocks and then adhered them together. Glossy Accents was added to the roofs and then Rock Candy glitter for that icy, snowy look. For the trees I simply added some liquid adhesive and then sprinkled on the Rock Candy Glitter. I had a scrap of the light blue cardstock so I ink blended that with the blue distress inks I used and die cut the shadow layer of each word from that. The words were die cut from white and then adhered to the shadow layer with liquid adhesive.

    For the snowy hills I adhered the bottom one with foam tape. The middle layer was adhered with thin foam squares and the top layer with liquid adhesive. I layered the hills this way so that I could tuck the trees behind the bottom hill layer and the houses. The trees were adhered with a combination of liquid adhesive and thin foam squares. The houses were adhered in the same manner. The sentiments were adhered simply with liquid adhesive.

    I hope you enjoyed today’s card and seeing a little bit of the process I used to create the card. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

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  • Plaid Adornment Pumpkin | by Crystal Komara

    Plaid Adornment Pumpkin | by Crystal Komara

    Hello fall friends! This is Design Team member Crystal Komara here to inspire you today! I have been sharing a lot of detailed intricate die cut cards lately, so today I thought I would keep my card a little more simple. I know that those intricate contour dies can be intimidating to some (as they were to me at first), but Birch Press Design makes so many gorgeous products, that you can cater the level of detail to your own personal taste.

    Card details:

    The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock. I cut a 5 1/4 x 4″ piece of Kraft cardstock and adhered it directly to the card base. Then, using Layer Plate B of the Flora Plate Layer Set, I die cut that from Kraft cardstock and adhered it directly to the previous Kraft layer (so it’s kind of see through).

    I die cut the base of Adornment Pumpkin from plaid cardstock from the Gladiola paper pack by Memory Box Company (a sister company of Birch Press Design). I LOVE their paper packs, they are all stunning. I cut the outline of the Adornment pumpkin from white cardstock. I layered the two together using a fine-tip liquid glue before adhering the pumpkin to the card with 3M foam adhesive for dimension.

    I die cut a bunch of leaves using the Tiny Tufts Leaves and Flowers contour set. I die cut these leaves in both a dark brown and gold glitter cardstock. I adhered the leaves to the top stem of the pumpkin. Lastly, I stamped the sentiment “forever grateful” from the Brush Sentiment clear stamp set. I stamped the sentiment in Versamark ink on dark brown cardstock and heat embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder. I then used an oval punch to punch out the sentiment. I adhered the sentiment to the pumpkin using 3M foam adhesive.

    Fall is one of my favorite seasons to make cards for. I promise you will be seeing lots more ways to use this Adornment Pumpkin in the very near future!

    Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

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  • Merry Christmas | by Rosemary Dennis

    Merry Christmas | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today. Can you believe it is already September? I can’t. Today I have a Christmas card to share with you that I made with several new Birch Press Design products. Let’s have a look at what I made.

    I love the Birch Press Design Poinsettia Contour Layer dies and the new Classic Poinsettia Contour Layers die set is no exception. It is so beautiful! I started by die cutting the layers from three shades of red Memory Box cardstock and one shade of green Memory Box cardstock. I then took the the top layer of each layer of the poinsettia and sprayed them with either Tart Cranberry or Peppermint Stick distress mica sprays. The top layer of the leaf was sprayed with Tree Lot distress mica spray.

    Once the layers were dry I adhered them together with liquid adhesive. The center of the flower was die cut from yellow Memory Box cardstock and layered together with liquid adhesive. I did the same with the leaves. All the layers of the flower were then adhered together with liquid adhesive, as well as the leaves.

    I die cut the pieces from the Tiny Berries and Leaves Contour Layers die from dark green and brown cardstock. The berries were die cut from dark red Memory Box cardstock and sprayed with Tart Cranberry mica spray. I cut down the berry stems to fit my design and then adhered the little berries to the stems with liquid adhesive.

    In the close up photos you can see some of the pretty shimmer from the mica sprays. I arranged the leafy stems and the berry stems and then glued them together with liquid adhesive. I did have to trim off a bit of the bottom before apply liquid adhesive to the piece and adding the flower on top as you see in the photos. The sentiment is the new Merry Christmas Confection Script die set and it was die cut from the same cardstock used for the poinsettia and leaves. I adhered the two pieces with liquid glue and let it dry.

    For the background I die cut some cream woodgrain Memory Box cardstock with a rectangle die and then sprayed the piece with Frozen Fog distress mica spray. Once the panel was dry I adhered two additional die cut rectangles behind it for a bit of dimension and then adhered it to my kraft cardstock base with double sided tape. The flower cluster and the sentiment were added to finish the card. Now I have another Christmas card to add to my stash!

    I hope you enjoyed today’s card. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

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