Category: Craft Dies

Cozy Florals | by April Antonio

Welcome back to the blog! Today I’m bringing you a cozy Autumn themed card using some beautiful floral images, and emboss resist inking.

To start todays card I used the large floral image stamp from the Gracious Floral stamp and die set and heat embossed it with white powder onto a piece of white cardstock.

I then used my mini blending brushes and a few different ink colors to blend all the flowers and leaves, making sure to use darker colors towards the bottom of center of flowers and lighter colors towards the top.

TIP: color blending like this can be very forgiving. I was not worried about the colors overlapping each other, because once it’s all blended out it looks cohesive.

Once I was satisfied with the color blending, I took a clean paper towel and wiped it across my image to remove any residual ink from the white embossed part. Then I used the coordinating die to cut the image out.

To add some extra interest and shine to my flower I sprinkled a few drops of water so the ink would lift in those places, and also rubbed some shine powder across the image so it would sparkle a bit.

Separately, I took the Pinpoint Contour Plate die and cut it from a piece of white cardstock, and glued it to an A2 card base. I then arranged the floral image into the center of the card and adhered it using foam dots.

Next I took the ‘Just Because’ that is in the same Gracious Floral set and stamped it in black ink and heat embossed it with clear powder. I used the matching die to cut it out, and cut it out two more times from white cardstock. I glued all the layers together to add some dimension to the sentiment, and then added it to my card front.

Lastly, I had to add some bling of course! I used jewels from the Autumn Fairy Jewels set to bling out the flowers. Some I filled in the center with jewels, and others I just did a few or filled in petals.

That is it! I hope you enjoyed reading through my process to create this colorful, fall themed card and see you next time!

Supplies

CL5280d Gracious Floral Clear Stamp and Die Set

JWL004 Autumn Fairy Jewels

Supplies

57511 Pinpoint Contour Plate

October 7, 2023
Think Outside the Wreath | by Allison Frazier

Hello, Birch Press friends! Today, I am stretching my supplies. I love the new Adornment Wreath die set, but I felt like doing something different with it. So, I used both dies to create the rays of the sun! Fun, right?

I started my card by making the background. I really wanted a blue background to mimic the sky but also didn’t want to be too literal. I took a medium shade of blue card stock and foiled the Gilded Grace hot foil plate with Cobalt foil. I love using tone on tone when it comes to foil backgrounds. I then took two shades of blue ink that are darker than the card stock and ink blended the corners and edges in order to create that glow in the center.

I used the solid die from the Adornment Wreath set and cut it from a piece of orange card stock. I then used the outline die from the set and cut it from a piece of yellow card stock. I used a circle die from my stash and cut it from a yellow piece of card stock. I heat embossed the sentiment from the Colorful Life stamp set with orange Distress Oxide and clear embossing powder. I then ink blended the edges of that circle with orange Distress Ink.

I stacked my center circle with two more circles in order to create a little dimension, and then I glued that to the yellow outline of the Adornment Wreath first. Next, I glued that onto the orange solid part of the Adornment Wreath, slightly offsetting it so that the two layers weren’t perfectly matched up. Finally, I glued my “sun” into the center of the circle of the Gilded Grace pattern.

I hope this card puts a smile on your face and inspires you to think “outside the box/wreath” with your dies, as well! Thank you so much for joining us today.

Supplies

57485 Adornment Wreath
bpf512 Gilded Grace Hot Foil Plate and Die Set
sp1005 Ocean Blue 6×6 pack
sp1002 Sunny Orange 6×6 pack

Supplies

cl509 Colorful Life clear stamp set

October 4, 2023
Poinsettia Blues | by Toni M Maddox

Hello, Birch Press fans! Toni here with you today with a glorious holiday card. Isn’t the Splendid Poinsettia die set absolutely stunning?!

It was so easy to create this detailed bloom using Distress Oxide Salvaged Patina, Peacock Feathers and Uncharted Mariner with just a touch of Mustard Seed on the stamen. Gor-ge-ous!

For the card base I added a layer of double-sided tape then carefully positioned the Herbarium Plate Layer A on top. I then burnished Doodlebug Design Lily White Glitter into the openings with my finger. It’s messy to apply but the tape secures the glitter really well.

I glued down the poinsettia next (love it so much!), tucking in a few Oval Leaf Branches Contour Layer sprigs among the leaves.

I added the rather retro Holiday Hugs sentiment, opting to use only the outline so some of the glitter would show throught. You can’t have too much glitter!

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

Supplies

57517 Splendid Poinsettia Contour Layers

57525 Oval Leaf Branches Contour Layers

57540 Holiday Hugs Vintage Sentiment

57458 Herbarium Plate Layer Set

October 3, 2023
Hoping Today | by Rosemary Dennis

Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today. Can’t believe it is the end of September! But the weather here in the Pacific Northwest is telling me that yes, fall has arrived! Today I have a fall inspired project to share that I made using the new Budding Twigs Contour Layers dies.

I had created a different card for today’s post, but decided to save that for a later date because I have had this idea for the Budding Twigs dies in the back of my mind for a few weeks now. Had to get it out, lol! The design is super simple, but I think very impactful.

The die is one piece and so I only had to die cut the die twice to get all the pieces I needed to complete my little twig frame. I die cut the pieces from smooth bristol cardstock and then used some Tonic Studios Aqua Flow pens to color them in red, orange and brown. Aqua Flow pens are similar to ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers in that they have concentrated watercolor in them. You apply the color and then blend it out with with water. The die cuts are very delicate and it was a bit of a task to color them, but I think it was worth the challenge!

Once I had the pieces colored I let them dry and then adhered them together with liquid adhesive. While the pieces were drying I used a Memory Box Rectangle Frames die to die cut a piece of white cardstock that I had stamped with the sentiment from the Kind Hearts stamp set using VersaFine CLAIR Acorn ink. I then inked up the edge of the rectangle with Old Paper distress ink. The twigs were then adhered to the rectangle using liquid adhesive. I die cut a panel of kraft cardstock with the Pinpoint Contour plate and adhered that to my card base with tape runner. I then attached the rectangle to the center of the panel with foam tape. I finished with a few Open Studio autumn Fairy Jewels.

I love the sweet little frame the Budding Twigs created and think it would be fun to create one for spring. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Supplies

57529 Budding Twigs Contour Layers

57511 Pinpoint Contour Plate

cl8163 Kind Hearts clear stamp set

94672 A2 Rectangle Frames Die Set

jwl004 Autumn Fairy Jewels

September 28, 2023
Alcohol Ink Adornment Leaves | by Crystal Komara

Hello friends and happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful (and hopefully creative) weekend. This is Design Team member Crystal Komara here today sharing two cards I made using the new Adornment Oak Leaf dies and some alcohol ink backgrounds. I love creating backgrounds with alcohol inks, they add so much visual contrast and color to cards. For more alcohol ink inspiration that I’ve created using Birch Press Design products, please check out this vibrant pink pumpkin or these blue balloons.

Card details:

The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White cardstock. This is my go-to cardstock for everything from die cutting, Copic coloring, card bases, ink blending, all of it. I create my alcohol ink backgrounds on high quality photo paper (in lieu of the more pricey Yupo paper). I promise it works just as well and it will save you money. For this first card I used violet alcohol ink, salmon alcohol ink and Valencia alcohol ink (all by Ranger Adirondack).

I die cut the Adornment Oak Leaf dies from purple cardstock, rust colored cardstock and then gold glitter cardstock. I then layered the more detailed gold leaf layer over the solid colored cardstock using a fine tip glue. I adhered the leaves to the card and then stamped the sentiment “forever grateful” in Versamark ink and then heat embossed it with gold embossing powder. This sentiment is from the Brush Sentiments clear stamp set. I used an oval punch to punch out the sentiment and adhered it to the card with some linen thread behind it for added texture.

For the second card, I used the exact same alcohol ink background and card measurements, except I used just cranberry alcohol ink. I die cut the Adornment Oak Leaf from cranberry cardstock and gold glitter cardstock. I layered the two together before adhering them to the card with 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. I used the same sentiment and again added linen thread beneath the sentiment for texture.

I hope you have enjoyed today’s cards! Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

Supplies

57484 Adornment Oak Leaf

SP1001 Berry Red 6×6 pack

SP1008 Twilight Purple 6×6 pack

GP1007 Glitzy Glitter Pad

CL8158 Brush Sentiments clear stamp set

September 25, 2023
Fall Leaves for the First Day of Autumn | by April Antonio

Fall is a beautiful time of year, and what better way to celebrate than with a handmade card? I’m excited to be back on the blog today to show you how to create a simple yet stunning fall card using some of the Fall themed supplies from the Birch Press Design store.

I chose a piece of woodgrain paper and cut it to size for my card front. I used the cream woodgrain to match the Fall theme, and cut the size to A2.

I die cut the leaves and veins using the Adornment Oak Leaf die in five different warm, Fall colors. I used the same color to cut the leaf and the vein, layering them on top of one another for added dimension.

TIP: the veins are delicate to handle. I put them upside down on a nonstick mat, and ran my tape runner over the back to get adhesive on them. It’s less messy than liquid glue and the nonstick mat insures the tape runner adhesive doesn’t get tape everywhere.

Next I die cut the warm wishes vintage sentiment from brown cardstock, and the background from the same cream woodgrain paper. I layered those on top of each other and added foam squares to the back for dimension.

To pull my card together I added my sentiment to the lower left of the card, and layered the leaves all around it, letting them hang off the edge. Once I was happy with their placement I glued them down with liquid glue, and used heavy duty scissors to trim off the excess.

I hope you enjoyed today’s card and Happy Fall!

Supplies

57484 Adornment Oak Leaf
57539 Warm Wishes Vintage Sentiment

September 23, 2023

Hello everyone, Rosemary here today on the blog. Fall is almost here and that has my thoughts turning to pumpkins! I love pumpkins and when I saw the Adornment Pumpkin die set in the new release I was over the moon excited. I couldn’t wait to create something with this beautiful die set. I actually created a different pumpkin using the die set, mirror cardstock and alcohol inks, but decided that I wanted something a little more elegant. Like Cinderella’s pumpkin coach. So I pulled out some pretty gold glitter cardstock from the Memory Box Majestic Hues 6×6 pad, white cardstock and got to work.

Once I had my pumpkin completed I moved on to creating a background and for this I used the Viola Plate C to emboss white cardstock that I then spritzed with two of the new Tim Holtz distress mica sprays, Fallen Acorn and Unravelled. The Unravelled mica spray has a lovely light gold look to it and the Fallen Acorn has a beautiful bronze look to it. Both were perfect with the gold glitter pumpkin.

I used scraps leftover from completing the background to die cut the bare branches from the Hillside Branch and Bramble Contour Layers die set. I die cut the new Warm Wishes Vintage word die set from white cardstock and as you can see in the photo, the gold glitter cardstock. When I started editing my photos, I realized that there was just too much glitter too close together, so I die cut the words layer from white cardstock, adhered it on top of the glitter and retook my photos!

I adhered the pumpkin to my background using strong double sided tape and then used liquid adhesive to glue all the branches into place. I struggled a bit with where to put the sentiment and finally decided to place it at the bottom of the pumpkin. I was going to spritz the white sentiment with more mica spray, but decided that because I used white cardstock that I did not spritz with mica spray to create my solid layer for the glitter pieces of the pumpkin the sentiment would be the same to provide additional contrast between the spritzed and non-spritzed elements.