Category: Craft Dies

I hope you’re having a great day!  Tuesdays are dedicated to the craft section of the Birch Press Design Store!  Have you had a chance to see the new Peony Bloom and Fiori Plate Layer Dies?  Today I’m sharing a card made with the Fiori set!

There are three stackable dies for each collection that you can use individually or together as a set.   It’s fun mixing paper colors for unique designs.  I love to add a layer of glitter paper for some sparkle and shine.

Today I wanted to share some of my favorite things to have on hand when working with these intricate dies.   First I would recommend a steel shim / adapter plate for your die cut machine.  You can find them where you purchased your machine under “accessories” .  Several die manufactures also carry them like Memory Box.

There’s lots of ways to add adhesive to the back of your designs – my favorite is a precision needle tip applicator that reduces glue mishaps.  A large acrylic stamping block provides just the right amount of weight to keep your design flat while each layer dries.

I always cut the final panel (in this case the orange) that’s attached to my white card stock base slightly smaller than the die cut background so it doesn’t peek out the edges.

The layered backgrounds are all so beautiful that you will want to keep your sentiment’s simple so those intricate background patterns steal the show.   This sentiment is from the Make A Statement Stamp Set.

If you visited during our giveaway last week I want to thank you for all your wonderful comments!  You make us all so happy!  There are three winners to announce – all selected with random number generator.  Congratulations!

June 1, 2017	Tracey’s Post	Amanda Dellamano
June 2, 2017	Angel’s Post	Sue LD
June 3, 2017	Laurie’s Post	Amy Cooley

All winners have been contacted by email!

Hi all!  Angel here with a card using some newly released goodies!  I love these new Peony Bloom layered dies!  And guess what!?  I’m giving away the Peony Bloom Layer B!!!  Be sure to leave a comment on this post and we’ll announce a winner in a few days! 

To start my card, I watercolored my background, keeping the color where the die (Peony Bloom layer A) would cut out the flower petals.

As you see here, the watercoloring lines up with the die.  I used the same watercoloring technique for the leaves, which you’ll see on the finished card.

I then used the die to cut out plain white card stock and also the watercolored paper.  I adhered the plain white die cut paper to a scrap piece of paper, then began the task of filling in the petals with the watercolored pieces.  Try it some time, it’s quite therapeutic.  🙂

I used the new Make a Statement stamp set and dies for the sentiment.  I used washi tape to adhere the dies to some scrap paper, then sponged ink onto the middle of the sentiments.  Once I cut out the word dies, I then used black ink to stamp the actual words onto what I had previously sponged.

I adhered the leaves to the back of the sentiments then layered them with foam adhesive onto the card.

Thanks for stopping by!  Don’t forget to comment for your chance to win a Peony Bloom Layer B die!

We are back again celebrating the May release with a Blog Blitz. Today I am using a few of the newly released products for a card.

The base layer of my card was created with the new Fiori Plate B which is part of another fabulous trio of stackable plates. These incredible plates can be used on their own or layered on top of one another. I started out by preparing an A2 sized card panel using watercolour paper and Distress Oxide inks.

I smooshed the two colours of ink on to a craft mat and then generously spritzed it with water. Then the watercolour panel was dropped onto the ink puddle and then lifted up. The panel was dried with a heat gun and then I dipped the panel back into the ink where I felt it needed a bit more colour and then dried once again. The key to layering the Distress Oxide inks without getting a muddied look is to dry the panel in between each layer. Once dry I die cut the panel using the Fiori Plate B.


Next a couple of dragonflies from the newly released Dragonfly Greetings clear stamp set were stamped and clear embossed using Versamark first, then Versafine inks and then die cut with the Dragonfly Greetings Die Set on watercolour paper. These were coloured with watercolour markers. The ‘sending a happy’ sentiment from Make a Statement clear stamp set was stamped and heat embossed in white on black cardstock. The  ‘hello’ sentiment from Make a Statement was stamped and die cut with the Make a Statement Die Set.

The Fiori panel was adhered with spray adhesive as described in teammate Laurie Schmidlin’s tutorial last week. The black sentiment was adhered directed to the panel and pieces of foam tape were added to the backs of the dragonfly bodies and the hello die cuts before being adhered to the panel.

Another look at the card.

Now would you like a chance to win the Fiori Plate B die? We use random number generator to select winners from comments. You have until midnight US EST June 4th to leave a comment, a winner will announced on this blog on June 6. Good Luck! The lucky winner from last week’s giveaway on Jeanne Jachna’s post is Teresa Doyle–congratulations!

Oh happy day!  We’re celebrating the new May release with a give away! We’ve added two new stamp sets with coordinating dies as well as two sets of stackable dies to the store!

Today I’m playing with the Peony Bloom Layer A die.  This is just one of the three Peony Bloom layer dies that are stackable.   You can use them individually like I did here today, or together for lots of added dimension!

I’m so happy that the leaves are separate from the flower so you can cut them from a different color card stock if you like.  For my design today I cut everything from white card stock.

Next I adhered the die cut to a panel covered in double sided tape.

I carefully added glitter to the sheet.  Just press the glitter into the sticky tape.  I used three shades of red for the flowers starting with light in the center and adding a slightly darker shade as I moved further away from the flower center.  You want to be careful along the edges so the red doesn’t spill into areas where you don’t want it. If some accidentally spills over you can use a pick or needle to scrape out the color.  This is a quick fix for small areas, I would start over for a large spill.  If you don’t want to work with colorful ink you can color the background panel with markers or distress ink, adhere the double sided tape, and then sprinkle on crystal glitter.

I adhered the leaves to a separate panel covered in double sided tape, glittered them  and then fussy cut them before adding them to my card.  Dave Brethauer, the creator of these beautiful designs made a video for this technique that you can watch here on You Tube.

The sentiment is from the new Make A Statement stamp set.  I used the coordinating die set to cleanly cut the “thanks” sentiment.
Now the part you’ve been waiting for ..  the prize!  Want a chance to win the Peony Bloom Layer A?   Just leave me a comment!

We use random number generator to select winners from comments. You have until midnight US EST May 30 to leave a comment, a winner will announced on this blog on June 1. Good Luck!
 

Hi there!  I’m excited to be back here sharing some more Birch Press Design craft projects with you!

One of my favorite things to do, is to sit down and spend some quality time creating handmade cards!  It is absolutely therapeutic for me!  There are times, though, that time is very short and I am in need of several cards (birthdays, thank you cards etc).  The end of the school year is inevitably one of those times for me.  Today, I thought that I would share with you how I mass produce cards as well as share a few time saving tips!

First, I like to start with a die or stamp that has lots of detail.  When only adding one layer to a card, I have found that I really like to use Cover Plates.  You get a lot of coverage with minimal amount of time and or work.  So when I saw the new Fiori Cover Plates I literally clapped my hands with joy!  Each one of them (there are three) are amazingly detailed!  For my one layer cards, I chose to use the one with the most open spaces so as to create more contrast between the die cut and the card base.

I always start my quick card making sessions by gathering all of my supplies.  Above you can see a few of the essential tools I used for my card set.  Spray adhesive (this will save a lot of time when adhering your die cut panel to your card base), the Fiori Plate C, and a piercing tool.  I have found the assembly line technique to be the easiest for me, so I cut all of my card bases, scored and folded them, and then set them aside.

Next, I die cut all of my card front panels.  After that, I lightly tap it against my trash bin which dislodges some of the negative die cut parts.  I then take my piercing tool and quickly poke the remaining bits so all of the negative die cut parts have been removed.  This really doesn’t take that long to do and can be done almost anywhere (watching a movie, a car trip, etc).  For this particular crafting session, I die cut seven panels using different colors.

Working one at a time, I will then spray the back side of the die cut panels and adhere it to a card base.  Make sure that if you are using spray adhesive (which I do recommend for large pieces of cardstock like the above cover plate) that you are in a well ventilated area.

I will then repeat the above step with the remaining die cut panels.  I like to leave my cards blank so that I can add the appropriate sentiment when the need arises.

To save even more time, I will stamp and die cut many different sentiments ahead of time so that when I need a card I can just choose the sentiment and adhere it to the inside.  I like to store all of the sentiments in a small baggie with my finished cards.

This is how I like to quickly mass produce sentiments.  I start by creating a die cut “template” of all the sentiments.  Here I have used the new Make a Statement Die Set.  I did not cut these dies apart (they come wired together) but ran them through my die machine while they were still connected.  I then put it in my stamp positioner.  To keep it from moving, I cut apart a sticky mat (this one is a Cricut mat that I cut into fourths) and just inserted into my positioner.  I then add the die cut sentiment.

I then placed the coordinating stamp (from the Make a Statement Clear Stamp Set) on top of the die cut.

Next, I closed the top of the positioner, securing the stamp to the top.  I then opened the lid again, inked my stamp while it was still attached to the lid, and then closed it again.

I’m left with a perfectly aligned stamped image.  I will stamp several of each sentiment so I did not remove the stamp from the lid.  I inserted another die cut thank you sentiment and then re stamped it.  That way I don’t have to line up the stamp each time.  By inserting the die cut into the “template” I created with the negative die cut paper ensures that each additional die cut will be placed in the same spot each time.  It is possible to stamp  dozens of sentiments in just a matter of minutes this way!

I hope you have found some of these time saving tips helpful!  Remember, you don’t have to spend a lot of time to create a beautiful and thoughtful card!

 

 

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Springtime is full of wildlife and beautiful butterflies. For today’s Tuesday feature I am going to be showing you how to use a single cover plate die and some watercolour to create a beautiful inlaid die cut butterfly scene. I have created a short video to show you how I created my watercolour panel that I am pulling the inlaid die cut pieces from.

I will be using the Birch Press Design Flutter Plate C for my design. I use a small board to do my watercolouring on. Start off by taping a piece of watercolour paper down to the board using some painter’s tape. Use a flat brush to wet the paper with clean water. Then use a round brush, I used a #2, to add red, bright pink and purple to the panel concentrating the colours to the three areas where the butterflies on the cover plate are located. I added a first layer and then dried the panel with a heat tool, then added more colour to the areas that needed a bit more and then dried the panel again.


Cut the Flutter Plate C from black cardstock and adhere the black die cut to a white card base securely.

Use Flutter Plate C to cut the dried watercolor panel. Before removing the watercoloured panel  from the die, flip it over and run adhesive tape over the back of the butterflies right on the die. This will make it easier when inlaying the pieces so they will stick to the card base.

Now one butterfly at a time and working either from top to bottom or bottom to top, which ever you find easier. Piece the watercoloured butterfly into the black butterfly on the card base. I use a poker to help free the pieces from the die cut.

The butterfly body and antennae were cut from silver sparkle cardstock. A sentiment from the Birch Press Design Close to the Heart stamp set was added to finish the card off. In the end you have a card with of great texture and interest!

Make another quick and easy card by using the negative die. Pop it on to a white or coloured card base and you have another beautiful butterfly card!

I hope that you enjoyed today’s post and you are inspired to try your hand at inlaid die cut design. Remember that we always post here on Tuesdays, see you next time!

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Do you love to color?   I’ve been addicted to coloring since I was old enough to hold a crayon!    I came from a family with four kids so my mom was pretty thrifty when buying school supplies.  We were lucky if we got the 24 pack of assorted colors, but my dream was to own the big box with the sharpener!!  Coloring is my great escape.   It’s therapeutic and so popular that you can find adult coloring books almost anywhere.  Have you ever thought about making some of your own pages to color?   It’s easy to do with a stamp set.

I used a stamping tool that allowed me to arrange several stamps and ink them all at the same time, but you don’t have to. You can use a simple acrylic block and ink.  Another benefit of a stamping tool is that you can stamp several sheets quickly.

I stamped several background panels as well as individual butterfly images from the Close To The Heart set.  I colored lots of the butterflies to experiment with shading and to decide what colors to use for my background panel.  I’ll die cut all the single stamped butterflies and use them on a different project.

This is what my finished card looks like.     I started with a white A2 card base (4.25 x 5.5″) and cut a slightly smaller panel from black card stock.  Next I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder.

I trimmed the stamped background to allow the sentiment to peek through.  This panel is attached with adhesive foam tape so it’s slightly raised.

If you’re new to coloring stamped images you need to be careful selecting the appropriate ink for your coloring media.  I colored these butterflies with Copic (alcohol based) markers so I stamped the images with Memento (dye based) ink.  If you color with water based markers you should stamp with a solvent based ink like Versafine.    You can also stamp in watercolor paper and paint these pretty butterflies from Birch Press Design.

The butterfly bodies and antennae are separate stamp images in the Close to the Heart clear stamp set.  I stamped them after I colored all the butterflies using a Stamp A Ma Jig for perfect alignment.

Maybe you know someone who loves to color too!  I bet they’d be thrilled with a few uncolored panels of their own to play with!
What will you make today?

Hi all!  I’m here with a birthday card using the Close to the Heart stamp set and matching dies.  This is such a beautiful set, I can’t stop using it!

I created sort of a stencil by cutting some acetate using the two smaller butterfly dies.

I then chose several pink, red and orange inks to sponge the butterflies onto some white card stock.  I lightly inked the sponge then worked from the edges in.

I only worked around the edges, swiping in just enough to see the outline, but also keeping the inner-most part of the butterfly ink-free.

I used one of Birch Press Design Notecards for my card base.

I used a separate matching note card and cut out two strips for my sentiment.

I inked one word at a time and stamped them onto each strip.

I used the Genevieve Butterfly Layer A die to add a little extra embellishment near the sentiment.  And in case you’re wondering, the sentiments strips are covering ink boo-boo’s!  😉

Thank you for stopping by!