Category: Craft Dies

  • Merry Patina(mas) } by Crystal Komara

    Merry Patina(mas) } by Crystal Komara

    Hello Birch Press Design fans and followers! This is design team member Crystal Komara here today with some non-traditional and rustic holiday inspiration using the Twinkle Ornament Layer Set.

    Now before we get to the card details, I know you’re going to first inquire about that background! So, in full disclosure, I recently attended a gelli plate class and this was one of the backgrounds I created from that class. I’m no expert and I couldn’t tell you all the professional gelli plate terms, but I’ll describe what we did as best I can.

    On the gelli plate we dropped acrylic inks in gold and amber and swirled it around the plate with a brayer. When it was almost dry, we took a patina blue paint and dotted it onto bubble wrap. Then we dipped the bubble wrap into the ink. Lastly, I took a 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ sheet of mixed media cardstock and smooshed it into the gelli plate. Easy peasy, right? Just kidding. And you know with gelli plates even if I tried to recreate this background, it would never look exactly the same!

    Card details:

    The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. kraft cardstock. I added the dried gelli plate background directly to the card base.

    Using the Twinkle Ornament Layer Set, I die cut Layer C (the bottom layer) from a teal cardstock. Layer B from a gold glitter cardstock and Layer A (the top layer) from the same teal cardstock. I layered the three together using a fine tip liquid glue. Then I adhered the ornament to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.

    I die cut the ornament topper from gold glitter cardstock. I die cut the “merry” sentiment from the Handwritten Merry Christmas and Outline die. I die cut the top thinner layer from the same teal cardstock and the bottom outline layer from gold glitter cardstock. I decided to cut off the “Christmas” portion of the die, so it just reads “merry.” I adhered the sentiment to the card using foam adhesive.

    This card is SOooo far outside of my comfort zone, but I guess that’s why I like it. Sometimes taking a creative risk is worth it! Try it for yourself and you just might be surprised! Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day.


    Supplies

  • Ho Ho Holidays | by April Antonio

    Ho Ho Holidays | by April Antonio

    Happy Saturday! With Christmas less than 10 days away, I think many of us are in full swing with holiday themed cards. I had a lot of fun creating a Santa card using the Adornment Santa die set. Read on to find out how I pulled this card together!

    I started with the Santa Adornment die set and die cut each piece from white cardstock. I also cut the hat from a beautiful red glitter cardstock piece from the Memory Box Glitzy Glitter Pad.

    I used ink and blending brushes to color my Santa brown, and used red on the circle shape for his nose.

    Next I assembled Santa together, starting with his face and, beard, and hat pieces. Then I added his mustache and nose, and also made sure to layer the thin outline cut out pieces (I did leave the outline pieces off of his hat by choice). I used a shiny black gel pen to add eyes to his face 🙂

    For the card base I cut the outline from the Adornment Snowflake out of silver cardstock I grabbed from the Vintage Pastel Mirror Pad (which is one of my favorites!). I cut the snowflake background from white cardstock and layered the white and silver pieces together. I then glued the assembled snowflakes to my A2 card background, and trimmed off the pieces that were hanging over.

    I then glued my Santa on top of this background, and added red Christmas Fairy Crystals around him for some extra shine.

    That is it! The Adornment Santa is super cute and perfect for the holidays!

    Supplies

    Supplies

  • Simple Ornaments | by Rosemary Dennis

    Simple Ornaments | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today. With Christmas right around the corner I thought it would be fun to make a couple of simple ornaments using the Pinpoint Snowflake die set. Let’s take a look at what I created.

    The first ornament I created is a 3d one. I started by covering some heavy weight white cardstock with a distress spray stain and several different distress mica sprays in icy blues and grays.

    When the panels were dry I die cut them with the Pinpoint Snowflake die, scored them down the middle of each snowflake (which was really pretty easy) and then folded them in half.

    Then I glued them together using liquid adhesive. I did each side one at a time and after adhering each side together placed an acrylic block on the finished side to allow the glue to set. Before adhering the final snowflake I cut a length of silver thread, knotted it at one end and then laid it down the center of the snowflake. The final snowflake was adhered securing the hanger inside the snowflake.

    I finished off the ornament with lots of fairy jewels in an icy blue and milky white. There you have it a three-sided dimensional snowflake to hang on your tree! The second ornament was even easier to create and can be used as a tag for a gift before hanging it on the tree.

    For this one I pulled out some plaid papers from the Memory Box Christmas Jolly 6×6 pad to die cut the snowflake. I had some thin chipboard that I used to die cut the snowflake from and that was sandwiched between the patterned paper snowflakes. When I die cut the patterned paper snowflakes I made sure to position the die in approximately the same spot on the paper to that the back and front would match fairly well.

    After adhering all the pieces together I used a pointed tool I have to help place gems, etc on my projects to pierce a hole through the top of the snowflake. Then I stamped a sentiment from the Contempo Christmas Greetings stamp and die set on white cardstock with dark red ink. I die cut with the matching die and pierced a whole through it. Gold thread was used as a hanger for this ornament and was threaded through the ornament and little tag, then tied in a knot.

    I finished off both the front and the back of the ornament with two little gold snowflakes in the center and red fairy gems on the points of the snowflake. The dies I used for the little snowflakes are the Felicity Snowflakes.

    I hope I inspired you to think outside the box and create an ornament or two with your snowflake dies! Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

    Supplies

  • Holiday Hugs | by Allison Frazier

    Holiday Hugs | by Allison Frazier

    Hello, Birch Press friends! I am still in full holiday mode and was in the mood for a bit of sparkle. I reached for the Adornment Dove and the new Starlight Snow stencil from Memory Box to make this card.

    I started with a red panel of card stock and some silver paste. I took a sponge applicator and pounced the silver paste through the stencil. If you ever want to apply paste without adding too much dimension, I highly recommend this method! Pouncing also helps ensure that the paste doesn’t go underneath the stencil. Once I was finished with the paste, I set my panel aside to dry.

    I cut the base layer of the dove from white card stock (twice) and the detail layer from silver glitter card stock. I then adhered the layers together. This dove is so beautiful! I did decide to add some small black fairy jewels to part of the wing. I also used one to make an eye. I prepared my sentiment, using the new Holiday Hugs Vintage Sentiment. The top detail layer is black glossy card stock.

    Before adhering my red, stenciled panel to my A2 card base, I inked up the edges with some black ink in order to create a bit of a glow in the middle. I adhered my dove and sentiment on top, and that is it for this card! I hope it puts a smile on your face. Thank you so much for joining us today.


    Supplies



    Supplies


  • Holiday Kisses | by Toni M Maddox

    Holiday Kisses | by Toni M Maddox

    Hello, Birch Press fans! Toni here with you today sharing another holiday card–my favorite!

    As I was working with the Oval Leaf Branches dies for another card, I realized they reminded me of mistletoe so I ran with it. 

    I prepared the card base by cutting out the Epiphany Plate Layer A and adhering two of the three sections to it.

    Then I cut out a few sprigs of the Oval Leaf Branches out of a pale green and sponged the darker parts with Distress Oxide Mowed Lawn.

    I cut out the Forest Leaf branch out of kraft cardstock but used the individual berries from Forest Canopy Layer A sponged in Distress Oxide Lumberjack Plaid. I topped off the mistletoe bundle with a peppermint twine bow.

    I finished off the card using a Glad Tidings sentiment on a simple banner.

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

    Supplies

  • Purple Poinsettias | by Crystal Komara

    Purple Poinsettias | by Crystal Komara

    Hello friends! This is design team member Crystal Komara here with you today and I’m very happy to be sharing this card I created using the Splendid Poinsettia Contour Layer Dies.

    I love creating a holiday card in what can only be described as more “non-traditional” colors. I think dark jewel toned colors make for very elegant and yet still festive cards. I hope you will agree after seeing my card:

    Card details:

    The base of this A2 sized card uses an eggplant colored cardstock. I cut a 5 1/4 x 4″ piece of white cardstock and then used a distress tool to “rough up the edges a bit.” Then I splattered this white cardstock with an eggplant ink. Using the Splendid Poinsettia Contour Layer Dies, I die cut the layers from three different colored purple cardstock and then spent a while assembling the different layers on top of each other using a fine tip liquid adhesive.

    Once I had the poinsettia’s assembled, I splatted the beautiful flowers with white acrylic paint (to resemble snow). Using the Contempo Christmas Greetings stamp set, I stamped the sentiment in a magenta pink ink and used the coordinating dies to cut the sentiment out. I adhered the sentiment to the card also using 3M foam adhesive.

    I hope you have enjoyed today’s card as much as I do! Thank you for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day.

    Supplies

  • Holly Jolly Holidays | by April Antonio

    Holly Jolly Holidays | by April Antonio

    Happy Tuesday! So happy to be back on the blog sharing a fun card using the Holly Jolly Contour Layers set to get in the mood for the holidays. I had a lot of fun creating this card and it was really simple to pull together. Read on to find out how I pulled this together.

    I used both of the leaf dies from the Jolly Holly Contour Layers die set and dry embossed them across my A2 card base. Dry embossing is the process of creating an impression of a die onto cardstock without cutting all the way through. To achieve this effect I used a rubber embossing mat with my die cut machine.

    Once I had completed the dry embossing I grabbed red and green cardstocks from the Lush Green, Berry Red, and Glitzy Glitter cardstock pads. I cut the holly leaves and berries multiple times from the different colors and glued them together, alternating the use of glitter and plain cardstock.

    I adhered the berries and leaves in the lower right hand corner, creating a sort of visual triangle. Lastly, I used the Warm Wishes Vintage Sentiment die to die cut ‘warm wishes’ from glitter cardstock and the shadow/background from white cardstock. I adhered this to the middle of the holly leaves and berries.

    That is it! This card was very straightforward and yet turned out so wonderfully colorful and crip. I hope you found some inspiration from this project and have a wonderful rest of your week.

    Supplies

    Supplies

  • Snowy Crochet Snowflake | By Seeka

    Snowy Crochet Snowflake | By Seeka

    Hello and welcome! Seeka here and today I’m sharing a quick and easy card featuring the Crochet Snowflake Layer die set.

    I cut the three beautiful layers of the snowflake from white, turquoise, and holographic cardstock and then glued the centers of the three layers together. I left the six tips of the snowflake unglued to let the layers separate and be more dimensional.

    Next, I splattered a 4.25″ x 5.5″ panel of navy blue cardstock with white acrylic paint. When the paint was dry, I used foam tape to adhere the snowflake and a small sentiment from my stash. To finish, I glued the card front to a card base.

    Thank you so much for visiting!


    Supplies


  • Merry Christmas Wreath | by Colleen Balija

    Merry Christmas Wreath | by Colleen Balija

    Hi there friends! I’m back this month sharing another holiday card using the new Splendid Poinsettia Contour Layers! This is a lovely poinsettia that you’ll want in your stash for your holiday cards! You could say I’m getting a head start on my holiday cards! I’ll also be using Memory Box Glad Tidings Stamp and Fairy Crystals, and Memory Box RingaDings embossing folder! All of the links to supplies I’ve used will be shared at the end of my post!

    I started with a colorful background, choosing a pre-made colored card panel, and embossing over it using RingaDings embossing folder. This is a favorite embossing folder of mine! Then I applied dark blue ink over the raised areas on the card panel to add depth and interest, trimmed it down, and set it aside. Below you can see a good visual of that bold and busy background!

    TIMESAVER TIP: I like to take a craft day and just create background card panels with different ink medias such as acrylic paint, distress oxides or sprays, or dye inks. That way I can just grab a background panel when I need it and just add more details to coordinate with my focal point!

    Next, I focused on the lovely poinsettia and leaves! The Poinsettia has a few layers, so I die cut each layer onto heavy white cardstock (or you could use watercolor paper) and then sprayed the layers with shades of red. The bottom layers are darker than the top layers (I find that doing this adds more depth). I also splattered the same dark blue ink from the background over the poinsettia to bring the blue from the background to the foreground. I repeated this process for the leaves, only in shades of teal. Then I adhered the layers together. I placed the poinsettia in the upper 3rd of the card panel and tucked the leaves in behind it. Then I splattered the entire panel with gold ink. You can see a close up of all those glorious details in that beautiful poinsettia! Birch Press Designs does an amazing job with the details in their dies!

    When the splatters were dried, I adhered the card panel to a 5.5×4.25 white card base and then finished with a red Fairy Crystal on the poinsettia and the sentiment Merry Christmas from Glad Tidings stamp by Memory Box. This card was so easy to put together!

    I’m so glad you joined me today, and I hope that you’re getting some great ideas for your holiday cards!

    Supplies

  • A Card and a Tag | by Rosemary Dennis

    A Card and a Tag | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello friends! Hope everyone here in the United States had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends! Christmas will soon be upon us and I am here for it. I love Christmas! As my blog title indicates, I am sharing a card and a tag. Let’s have a look.

    You can just see the tag tucked down in the right corner of this photo. When I originally started my card I wasn’t going to make a tag, but decided to create one with the center pieces that were left over when I die cut the Tranquility Layer dies for my wreath.

    I wanted a wreath to layer the Forest Leaf and Berries Contour Layers die cuts on, but thought it would be fun to use something other than one of the stem and berry die sets. I settled on the Tranquility set because the center piece is separate from the outer more wreath like piece. My color scheme came from the patterned paper that I pulled from the Memory Box Jolly Christmas 6×6 pad. I die cut the plaid piece with a rectangle die and adhered it to the card front. The wreath was die cut from burgundy, dark green and gold metallic cardstocks and adhered together with liquid glue. I used the dark green and the burgundy to die cut the leaves and berries for the little swag I added to the wreath. Some distress collage medium was added to parts of the leaves and berries and then I added distress rock candy glitter. Everything was set aside to dry.

    Initially I hadn’t intended to use the center pieces that resulted when I die cut the Tranquility layers, but decided I couldn’t let them go to waste. I created my little tag using a small arched rectangle die and cut the same plaid paper. I also die cut a piece of the burgundy cardstock with the same die and then adhered it to the back of the patterned paper one with liquid glue. A whole was die cut in the top to add the ribbon and gold twine. I used the Holiday Hugs Vintage die set to die cut the sentiment from the patterned paper and gold metallic cardstock. They were adhered together and attached to the tag along with the center medallion. I finished with a red fairy jewel to the center of the medallion and the dark green ribbon/twine combo.

    For the card I die cut the Merry Christmas Vintage die set from the patterned paper and gold metallic cardstock and layered them together with liquid glue. All the other pieces were dry so it was time to layer everything on the card front. Everything was adhered in place with liquid glue. Because of where I placed the sentiment I did have to use some small foam squares on the back of the sentiment so everything would be the same height. Before adding the sentiment I did create a bow from the gold twine and adhered that with a dot a glue.

    I hope you enjoyed today’s projects and that I gave you some inspiration to use your Birch Press Design Layering dies in a new or different way. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

    Supplies