I am back and excited to share my NEXTBirch Tree Series design using the Block Print Birch Tree dies!
**Check out my first design HERE– it was a Summer theme. **Check out my second design HERE– it was also a Fall theme. **Check out my third design HERE– it was also a Fall theme but a bit different!
I cannot even tell you how many ideas I have for the Block Print Birch Tree dies— it’s A LOT! And this idea makes the Birch Trees kind of spooky, which is PERFECT for Halloween🦇
You might be asking, “Does BPD have a BAT die/image?Or a Moon/Sun die/image?”
The answer is NO! I custom made this bat using a… CHRISTMAS ornament die piece! And I cut the moon using another Christmas ornament die piece! I highly recommend looking through your stamps/die stash to stretch your supplies🙃
Here’s how you can recreate this bat –> the technique is called partial die cutting.
The bat is created using a part of the Block Print Ribbed Ornament die set. You can see in this photo the original die cut image [top left] and how I partially die cut it [middle] and then drew and cut out the rest of the image, which creates the bat [bottom right]!
Partial die cutting allows you to extend your die cuts; I have been extending my shapes and frame dies for YEARS! However, I’ve recently started partial die cutting even small images to create a different image!
Once you have your die cut and plates in place for partial die cutting, run your plates through your die cutting machine like normal.
Here’s a comparison of the partial die cut image and the drawn bat image using the partial die cut design!
To finish this bat, all I did was cut it out and erase the pencil lines! OH— and I added a bit of silver shimmer ink to make it pop on the black Birch Tree forest background😉
I hope that you have been inspired by my Birch Tree Series and this Halloween design!
Please remember to share what you create using these tips, tricks, and techniques or if you were inspired by my creation- I’d love to see what you make with this idea!
Hello friends! Rosemary here on the blog today. While it might still be fall, Christmas is fast approaching. With that in mind I created a Christmas card to share today using the gorgeous Dancing Deer, Block Print Alpine Trees and an old favorite: Wavy Hillside. Let’s see what I created.
I went a little overboard on this card, but I’m totally okay with that, lol! I started by pulling out two darker green cardstocks from a Memory Box 6×6 Greenery cardstock pad to die cut the trees. After layering on the top parts of the trees you don’t really see the lighter green color, but it can be seen peeking out here and there. Don’t these trees remind you of the trees from the original animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas? That is what I kept thinking as I made them, lol! After adhering the pieces together I set them aside to dry.
For the dancing deer I used kraft colored cardstock and medium brown ink that I ink blended on to certain parts of the deer’s body, legs, tail and ear. The antler were die cut from a matte gold cardstock to provide a little bit of elegance to my deer.
For the rest of the card I die cut the Wavy Hillside die from white cardstock and then adhering the pieces together. You can’t really see it, but I adhered them together in a way that reduced the height of the hillside. Then I pulled out my collage medium, applied it to the edges, poured on Rock Candy glitter and set it aside to dry.
I made a white cardstock base and then using the residual ink from the blender brush I use for blue ink I added the soft blue sky. By this time the hillside piece was dry and so I adhered it to the cardstock base using double sided tape. When I added the glitter to the hillside I also added it to the trees to give them that frosty look. Once everything was dry it was time to finish the card. I added the trees using glue and thin foam squares. The deer was added with just glue. I used a Memory Box Greetings Tab for the sentiment and placed it in the sky to look like a winter sun. At that point I thought I was done, but I decided to add more glittery “snow” around the bottom of the deer’s feet and the tree trunks.
I hope you enjoyed today’s card. I had a lot of fun making it! Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today.
I am super excited to be back on the BPD blog sharing some creations I made recently using the two mushroom die sets by Birch Press Design.
I will be honest- #SAVfact: I am NOT a fan of eating mushrooms. I’m not even sure I’ve had one! I just know I don’t like them😉 However, the BPD mushroom die sets are tooooooo cute, and paper mushrooms are definitely a FAVORITE of mine now!
I had two different designs in my mind for these mushroom die cut images- one masculine and with a deep, fall color; and the other was full of color and whimsy. Let’s check out my masculine card first.
I love how this card turned out! I think it leans towards a masculine feel but honestly it could be for just about anyone!
To achieve a more masculine look, I chose a darker green cardstock and added more highlights/shading and dimension on the mushrooms.
Here are a few tips on how to add highlights/shading and dimension like I did:
TIP: I like to use black ink for highlights and shading if I don’t have a darker matching ink for my cardstock. I think dark ink adds that extra layer of shading that makes the die cut image pop!
TIP: I like to layer several hues of the same ink color when adding highlights or shading. I kind of think about adding ink like I’m coloring (I’m a newbie at coloring with alcohol inks, but essentially you add layers for more depth. I find that works for ink blending as well!).
Tip: Add splatters for even MORE dimension! BONUS: I like to mask my die cut images to help the splatter go only on certainparts of my image. For these mushrooms, I made an organic curve using a post-it note and scissors:)
You can see that the highlighting/shading and dimension really helps these mushrooms pop on this cardbase in the next photo!!!
If I liked eating mushrooms, I would say these look good enough to eat 🙃
For my second card, I wanted to use the other mushroom die set, and I wanted to make this card design very colorful! I pulled out my Memory Box cardstock and created a beautiful rainbow mushroom garden!
For these mushrooms, I only used the splatter technique. I wanted to keep this card whimsical and fun!
You might notice that I also used a few extra dies from other sets to finish the mushroom garden- I like to mix and match my dies (big and small) to make a custom design. I added leaves and flowers from two other die sets to finish this mushroom garden.
I hope that you have been inspired by my two mushroom card designs, as well as my tips!
Please remember to share what you create using these tips, tricks, and techniques or if you were inspired by my creation- I’d love to see what you make with this idea!
Greetings, friends! Toni here with a simple holiday card featuring one of my favorite birds, the cardinal.
To recreate a snowy woodland, I diecut the Block Print Birch Trees and sponged them lightly with Catherine Pooler Slate ink. I mounted them using targeted foam tape on a Memory Box SH44001 White Woodgrain Paper card panel.
I added a snow bank from scrap paper sponged with just a touch of blue.
Next, I assembled the Block Print Cardinal Duo using a couple of different shades of red cardstock.
The Merry Christmas Festive Serif utilizes the same red and black combo for a bold flare.
I hope you enjoyed today’s card and have a great rest of your week!
Feel free to visit my blog, Frankie Helps Craft, for a full list of supplies used and to check out my other creations.
Hello friends! Rosemary here on the blog today. Can’t believe it is already the middle of October! We are on the downward slide toward Christmas and today I have a Christmas card to share! This one uses the Block Print Birch Trees, Block Print Cardinal Duo, Merry Christmas Festive Serif and Bokeh Stencil set. Let’s see what I made.
I started this card off by ink blending a piece of white cardstock with Tumbled Glass distress oxide ink. I went heavier at the top and lighter at the bottom. Then I took the Bokeh stencils and added soft circles around the panel using additional Tumbled Glass. When I got the look I wanted I die cut the panel down with a rectangle die and set it aside.
Then I die cut the trees from additional white cardstock. I was going to die cut another set of trees without the interior inset pieces in a light gray, but decided to just let the ink blended background peek through. I adhered the trees to the panel with glue and let everything dry.
Now it was time to put together my cardinal duo. I used my favorite dark red cardstock, as well as little bits of yellow and black to complete the birds. All the pieces were adhered with glue and left to dry.
I also used the dark red for the Merry Christmas. Heavy weight vellum was used for the shadow layer. Everything was adhered together with glue and now it was time to fully assemble the card. I added the birds using glue and thin foam squares and the sentiment with glue. The finished panel was added to a white cardstock base.
I hope you enjoyed today’s project. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!
I am super excited to share my NEXTBirch Tree Series design using the Block Print Birch Tree dies! I know I already did a Fall design… but I couldn’t help myself with this one!
**Check out my first design HERE– it was a Summer theme. **Check out my second design HERE– it was also a Fall theme but a bit different.
I guess you would say this third design is more Fall themed than my second design; however, I love both as the first Fall design is more when the leaves are changing and this one is more of when the leaves are gone. Both are Fall themed for sure!
I was inspired by a card from Pinterest- it was also watercolored, similar colors, and had leaves and birch trees. I wanted to make mine MORE vibrant so I used water gem colors (these shimmer in the light! This background is GORGEOUS!). I also wanted to make my design MORE modern, clean and simple. I love when I can recreate something but make it my own!
This background was SUPER easy to make- just follow these quick steps:
Gather watercolor supplies- you can literally use ANY watercolor paints you have! Just make sure you have good quality watercolor papers!
This step is important if you want clean colors! If you don’t mind your colors mixing, then just skip this step!
TIP: When using a heat gun, I like to make sure that I apply heat to the BACK of the cardbase as well. This ensures the entire watercolor paper is dry- front, back, and core.
Now you repeat this process as many times as you want with different colors!
To help the card look cohesive, use the same watercolor mediums to make the Birch Trees. For example, I used watercolor paper for the top Birch Tree die cut piece, and I used a brown watercolored paper for the inset of the tree die. This helps tie everything together!
EASY, right!? You can actually recreate this card in less than 5 steps:
Watercolor your base panel and any extra pieces for die cutting
Die cut your images
Adhere the DRY watercolored panel to cardbase
Assemble and adhere DRY die cut images to cardbase
Optional- add a sentiment
That’s it! SUPER SUPER easy! The hardest part of this card was waiting for the watercolors to dry😂
I hope that you have been inspired by my Birch Tree Series and this second take on a Fall design!
Please remember to share what you create using these tips, tricks, and techniques or if you were inspired by my creation- I’d love to see what you make with this idea!
Hello Crafty Friends!! Nora, from A Creative Touch here with you today sharing a fun card using the Birch Press Design Block Print Round Mushrooms, Big Hello Vintage Sentiment and the Loop Stitch Frames.
I started off my card by dragging a Distress Ink across a panel of white cardstock vertically and horizontally. The panel was just a touch smaller than A2 size. The panel was then adhered to an A2 top folding white card base.
Next I die cut a Loop Stitch Frame (57688) from white cardstock. I adhered this over the inked card front.
I set the card aside and cut the bottom of my mushrooms using the Block Print Mushrooms (57610) die out of cream cardstock. I cut the tops of my mushrooms from three different ranges of red cardstock.
I then used some Distress Ink to shade in both the top and bottom of the mushrooms. I added some white gel pen on each of the three mushroom caps.
I adhered all three of the mushrooms over the top of the Loop Stitch Frame. I use foam adhesive to adhere two of the mushroom caps and glue to adhere the third.
To finish my card, I used foam adhesive to adhere Big Hello Vintage Sentiment (57549) that I die cut from black and a dark red cardstock. I added some little gel print doodles to my sentiment to give it some pizzazz.
I love how this came out. Mushrooms are so in right now and this simple design was really fun to use.
I am super excited to share my next Birch Tree Series design using Block Print Birch Tree dies! **You can read about my first Birch Tree design HERE– it was a summer theme.
This second design is more fall themed because it’s almost October! I went with a misty, shadowy background and orange ink blended leaves.
Here are a few tips and tricks when creating this design:
TIP: You can use multiple hues of the same color or multiple ink colors for the leaves. You can also different cardstock types for extra dimension.
I used three different hues of orange inks, as well as thick white cardstock, thin white cardstock, and vellum paper, for my leaves.
TIP: There are two different ways to fill in/cover the holes of the birch tree die image.You can attach just strips [scraps] of darker paper or die cut a second tree using the darker cardstock to layer your tree image.
TIP: Create a stencil by die cutting a tree image.
You can die cut both sizes of trees for your stencil(s) or use just one tree image like I did. BONUS TIP: I would only one image per stencil piece this way you can cleanly add ink for your stenciled image. I also used the same ink as the background as the stenciled trees- this helped create a layer of interest but also helped the trees blend in and not stick out too much. Once the background was completed I added some darker ink blending to the left side of the cardbase.
Join me as I continue this Birch Tree series- which type of card design or theme with the Birch Tree die do you think I will make next? Should I do winter? Or a fun design? I’ll keep you posted 🙂
**Don’t forget to see my first Birch Tree Series designs HERE.
I hope that you are inspired and will join me in making different Birch Tree designs and cards!
I’ll be back with MORE soon!
Please remember to share what you create using these tips, tricks, and techniques or if you were inspired by my creation- I’d love to see what you make with this idea!
Hello friends! Rosemary here on the blog today. Summer is gone, but I wanted to share one more design with a summer feel to it. In fact, I made this card earlier in the summer but had to put it on the backburner for other projects. I have been itching for a chance to share it and now is the time. It features the gorgeous Block Print Roundel Butterfly. Let’s see what I made.
The card is very simple in design, but I think the bright colors make it very impactful. I started by pulling out some yummy bright cardstocks from my Memory Box cardstock collection. Specifically a bright green and a bright blue.
At first I thought I would die cut all the pieces from those colors, but instead decided that I would use Copic markers to color all the pieces in order to get varying shades of the base colors. So I die cut everything from white cardstock.
Once I had all the pieces colored I assembled the butterfly using liquid adhesive. I used the Ornamental Branch die to create a butterfly “trail” for my butterfly. It was die cut from Memory Box white woodgrain cardstock and then colored with a Copic marker that was very close in color to the bright aqua blue I was using for the background so that it would blend in a bit more.
I die cut the bright aqua blue cardstock with a rectangle die and adhered it to the bright green cardstock base using double sided tape. I then arranged the butterfly “trail” and the butterfly on the card front.
When I adhere die cut pieces that have the appearance of movement like the Ornamental Branch I like to only apply the adhesive to certain portions like the stems in order to allow the unglued parts to pop up slightly. This allows for the appearance of more movement on the card. The butterfly was adhered in the same way. I finished with the simple sentiment stamped on the same bright green cardstock as the base. Because I didn’t glue the entire branch down I was able to slip the sentiment slightly under it and then adhere it down.
I hope you enjoyed my last “breath of summer” card. Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!
