Category: Friendship

  • 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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  • Thanks | by Rosemary Dennis

    Thanks | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today. I have a card today that I made using the new Floral Arch Contour Layers die set. When I pulled the package for this die set out of the box I gasped at how beautiful it is! I couldn’t wait to make a card with it.

    On the packaging the image is shown in shades of pink and that is what I went with initially. As I was making the card I decided to throw a little red into the mix since there is red in the patterned paper I used.

    I decided to die cut the pieces from colored cardstock and then to blend on some additional ink for more color. The green cardstock I used to die cut the top stems was a lot lighter when I started out, but I love the deeper green color I acheived!

    After die cutting and inking all the pieces I adhered everything together using liquid adhesive. I thought that the second largest dies from Memory Box Curved Cap Pinpoint Layers die set would be perfect for the floral arch. I die cut it from a sheet of paper from the Gladiola Plaid 6×6 paper pad and then embossed it with the Open Studio Gracious Floral embossing folder. When I embossed the paper I actually embossed the wrong side, but decided that I liked the debossed side as it was a bit subtler. I adhered the panel to a white cardstock base with strong double sided tape.

    I adhered the floral arches with liquid adhesive and then added the sentiment from the Sugar Script Sentiments 2 hot foil set. I’m almost out of these sentiments so time to foil some more! The foiled sentiment worked perfectly since as you can see there are little touches of foiling in the plaid paper.

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

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  • Purple Rose | by Rosemary Dennis

    Purple Rose | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today with a card that was a bit of an experiment for me, lol! Let’s have a look at what I made.

    I started my card by going through the stack of contour layering dies I have pulled out in order to use to make cards and settled on the Dainty Rose and Leaves set. I have had this set for awhile, but I don’t think I have used it yet. I die cut all the pieces from white cardstock and then decided what ink colors I wanted to use. I don’t often use purple so I settled on that and pulled out coordinating purple inks to ink up all the layers of the rose. Two shades of green were used for the leaves. The I assembled all the pieces.

    Since I have been into adding texture the background of my cards I pulled out the Grace Layer A plate and embossed a rectangle of white cardstock I had die cut with the die. I wanted to try something a little different so I pulled out the Gilded Grace Outside Stencil set. This set of stencils was designed to coordinate with the Gilded Grace hot foil plate, but it also works with the Grace Layer A plate.

    I used a grip mat to hold the stencils and cardstock in place as I did the stenciling. I only stenciled a portion of the background as I wasn’t sure how things would turn out. I’m actually pretty pleased with the end result. The interesting and unique thing about the Grace Layering dies is that the centers of each die cut out allowing three different looks. I decided to die cut the center portion of the layer A die and layer the larger circle on top of the embossing. I adhered flower to the center of the smaller circle and popped it up in the center using thin foam squares.

    Here are the different products I used to make the card. I finished things off with a sentiment from the Crystal Lingo stamp set.

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

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  • Hugs & Roses | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hugs & Roses | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello friends! Rosemary here on the blog today with another card full of layers and texture. This time I used multiple tried and true Birch Press Design dies and one hot foil plate set for my card. Let’s have a look at what I created.

    Quite sometime ago I pulled out multiple Birch Press Design floral die sets that I had not used in awhile (or never!) to use on future cards. I went to this pile and pulled out the Rose Bunch Contour Layers die set as I had actually never used it on a project before. I then pulled out my Memory Box 6×6 cardstock pads and chose the Greenery and Blush pads to use for the flowers. Three darker shades of red and three shades of green were pulled from the pads to use for all the die cutting.

    Once I had those items selected I selected the die set I wanted to use for the foliage to go with the roses. I decided to go with the Oval Leaf Branches Contour Layers die set because of the variety of little leafy branches in the set. I used the lightest shade of green for the smaller branches and then the two darker colors for the larger branches. I die cut everything and then assembled all the various pieces.

    As I indicated I’m kind of into adding more texture to my projects and one way is with embossing. Birch Press has so many different dies that can be use for embossing on cardstock. For this card I decided to use the Wiegela Leaf Contour Layer die set. I used the main die to emboss my off white cardstock panel. I then layered on the roses and all the little branches. Layering the branches did require me to cut some of the branches apart to get the look I wanted, but that is one of the things I like about die cuts. The ability to modify them as needed!

    The embossed panel shown with the card was my first impression. It turned out okay with a little bit of cracking, but I decided to do a second one and this time I spritzed the panel with a little water before embossing it. The second one turned out perfect! Unfortunately I covered up most of the embossing, but the embossing was more there to just add another element.

    I finished off the card with a foiled sentiment from the Sugar Script Sentiments 1 hot foil plate and die set. I love the little touch of gold that it adds to the card. Well, that’s it for me. I hope you enjoyed today’s project. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

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  • Monochromatic Hugs | by Rosemary Dennis

    Monochromatic Hugs | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here today with a sweet monochromatic card that I had so much fun creating! I used lots and lots of different Birch Press Design products, as well as some products from Birch Press Design’s companion company, Memory Box. Let’s have a look at what I made.

    I recently did a little bit of organizing of my Birch Press Design products and as I went through them several items I hadn’t used in a while (or maybe I hadn’t even used them yet!) kind of popped to the forefront as items I could use to make the card for today’s post. I started with the Big Hugs Sugar Script die set and the Perky Bloom Contour Layers die set. Then I started looking through all my Memory Box cardstock pads and realized that I had not used the pad called Blush. Now that I had my starting point things really got going!

    I went with a light coral pink and a dark coral pink from the Blush pad. I die cut all the pieces from the Perky Bloom from both sheets and then alternated the colors. This resulted in two flowers. I decided to go with the one that has the light coral pink bottom layer for this card. I had a previously die cut stamen piece that I had cut from yellow cardstock. I like the little pop of yellow. I also die cut the Big Hugs from the sheets. Since I had used the light coral pink for the first layer of the flower I decided to use the dark coral pink for the shadow layer of my sentiment.

    When I layered the flower I used a combination of liquid adhesive and thin foam squares to give the various petals additional lift. Once I had the flower finished my creative juices really got flowing! I decided to die cut a piece of paper from the Memory Box Gladiola Plaid 6×6 pad to cover the front of my card base. I went with a piece that has a hint of yellow in it to tie in the yellow stamen in the flower. Then I die cut white cardstock using a Curved Cap Pinpoint Layers die. At this point I decided that I wanted to add some texture to the white panel so I looked through my background layering dies and landed on the Arista Layer B die. I love the detailing in this layer of the die set. So I embossed it using my die cutting maching. I offset the die to the right side of the panel for additional interest.

    I layered this panel on the card front using thin foam squares. I liked the look of the flower on top of the embossed image, but I wanted even more texture! So I pulled out the Fuddle Leaf Branches die set and die cut the smaller branch and layering pieces from thick vellum. The layering pieces were adhered with liquid adhesive. Then I arranged the flower and the little branches on the white embossed panel.

    At this point I thought I was finished, but nope, lol! I wanted to add one more thing! A sweet little vellum dragonfly! I used the smaller dragonfly from the Simple Dragonfly Contour Layers die set and cut all the pieces from the heavy weight vellum I used for the little leafy branches. A tiny coral jewel was added to the body for the final touch!

    I absolutely love how this card turned out. I started with a simple idea and just let my creativity go! It is so fun to do that and something I need to do more often. I hope you enjoyed today’s card. Thanks for stopping by!

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  • Hello | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today. Hope your April is off to a great start. It is a little bit of a cold start to April here in the Pacific Northwest, but that is the PNW for you, lol! Today I’m sharing a card created using the sweet Prime Peony Duo Contour Layers dies and a foiled sentiment from the new Sugar Script Sentiments 2 set. Let’s have a look at what I created.

    I started off my card by deciding that I wanted to use some pretty patterned papers and do a little bit of inking on the papers once I had them die cut. I pulled out the lovely Memory Box Anemone Plaid and Anemone Grove 6×6 pads and went with a purply-blue plaid for the flowers and a dark green plaid for the stems. I die cut all the pieces and then added some distress ink in Milled Lavendar to some of the pieces.

    I didn’t add any additional color to the stems as they were dark enough already. I then adhered all the pieces together. For the flowers I used a combination of liquid adhesive and thin foam squares to provide lift to some of the petals. Liquid adhesive was used soley on the leaves. I also decided to use the green flower centers that were die cut when I die cut the stems as I liked the look. In the close up photo above you can see the shading on flowers that was added with the distress ink.

    After the glue had set on the flower for a little bit I adhered the stems with additional liquid adhesive. I die cut a piece of the Anemone Grove paper with a rectangle die and adhered that to a white cardstock base. I then die cut Memory Box white woodgrain cardstock with a Curved Capped Pinpoint Layers die and added some Milled Lavendar distress ink to the top portion of the die cut and then lightly around the edges. I adhered that piece with thin foam squares.

    The flowers were then adhered to the panel using liquid adhesive. I finished the card with the sentiment that I foiled in matte gold and a few purply blue fairy gems.

    I hope you enjoyed today’s project. Thank you for stopping by and have a lovely day!

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  • You Are The Best | by Rosemary Dennis

    You Are The Best | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today with a bright and sunny card I made using the new Perky Bloom Contour Layers, Wiegela Leaf Contour Layers and Sugar Script Sentiments 2 products. I also used the Pinpoint Contour Plate and papers from the new Memory Box Sunrise and Greenery 6×6 cardstock pads.

    I don’t often use yellow cardstock as I don’t have alot of it and most of the shades I have don’t really coordinate. That is a thing of the past with the Sunrise cardstock pad! The yellows in the pad coordinate perfectly! I went through the pad and pulled out the ones I wanted to work with and die cut the various layers from each. The Perky Bloom die is one piece so after diecutting I did have a few extra pieces that I didn’t need for my flower. I just simply tucked those inside the packaging the die comes in for future use! I used a combination of liquid adhesive and thin foam squares when I put together my flower. The leaves were simply adhered together using liquid adhesive.

    I used a Memory Box arched die to cut the white panel. The arch is only on one side of the side so to create the second arch I simply flipped the arch to the other side and die cut that portion of the panel. I then laid the panel on the Pinpoint Contour plate and ran it through my die cutter. This panel was adhered to a panel of yellow cardstock that I die cut with a rectangle using foam tape for dimension. I like how the arched panel fits perfectly inside with just the ends showing the yellow peeking out!

    Now it was time to add the flower and leaves to the panel. I glued down the leaves and then added the flower I made sure to only add glue to the center of the flower so I could slip in the thin foam squares when I wanted to to provide dimension and lift to the flower petals. The last thing to do was foil the sentiment. I used matte gold foil and my hot foil machine. I foiled all the sentiments in the Sugar Script Sentiments 2 set as I wasn’t sure which one I wanted to use. I settled on “you are the best”. I used the die for the sentiment to cut additional layers from scrap cardstock and adhered them to the sentiment with liquid adhesive. The sentiment was then added to the card also using liquid adhesive. I had some yellow nuvo drops that I added to the tips of the stamen for a little more dimension.

    I hope you enjoyed today’s card. I had a lot of fun creating it! Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

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  • Mixed Media Tag | by Rosemary Dennis

    Mixed Media Tag | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today. Hope everyone had a lovely Valentine’s day. I did as I got several things that I love! Today I’m sharing a tag that I created using several different techinques. I used the new Early Blossom Contour Layers dies, as well as the Simple Dragonfly Contour Layers dies and the layer A of the Herbarium layering die set. I had a lot of fun creating this tag!

    I started off by spraying my premade cream colored tag with the spray stains that you see in the photo: Speckled Egg, Antique Linen and Lost Shadow. I sprayed on each stain individually and then spritzed the tag with a little bit of water. I didn’t want too much movement of the colors. I did dry the tag a bit with my heat tool in between each layer of color. Once I had the background to my liking I set it aside to fully dry.

    As the tag dried I got to work on my flowers and dragonflies. I die cut them from white cardstock and used a grip mat to hold all the pieces in place while I blended on the inks in a color family that moves from the light pink to a more reddish color for the flowers and dragonflies. The leaves were inked in two shades of green. I used liquid glue to adhere all the pieces together. While they were drying I moved onto the next layer for the tag.

    I have a small jar of Solar Paste in the color Golden Hour and I thought it would look perfect with the background on the tag. I used the A plate from the Herbarium set to create a stencil and then added the embossing paste. I was right that the embossing paste would look nice with the background. I just love how it turned out. As the tag was drying I decided to custom color some chunky white twine I had using two of the spray stains. I used Speckled Egg and Antique Linen for the twine.

    Once the paste was dry I began adding all my elements to the tag. I must admit that I was a little worried that the pinks in the flowers wouldn’t play well with the background colors. But as I added the flowers to the tag I realized that the colors worked perfectly! I finished off the tag with the sentiment the Sugar Script Sentiments 1 set and the twine. I had previously hot foiled it on cream woodgrain cardstock and so it worked perfectly with the tag. The tag is large enough that in the future I can turn it into a card!

    I hope you enjoyed learning how I made my mixed media tag. Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

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  • Early Blossom | By Natasha Vacca

    Early Blossom | By Natasha Vacca

    Hello Crafty Friends! I hope you had a great weekend! I am excited to be up on the blog today sharing a new release from Birch Press Designs with you – the beautiful Early Blossom Contour Layers die set! I love florals and these dies make it so easy to create with! So let’s get started!

    I started by die cutting the florals using Hammermill white card stock. I then ink blended each of the layers using a combination of dye inks. Once all the inking was complete, I adhered each of the layers together using liquid glue.

    Next I started to work on the background tag for my floral die cuts. I started with a pre-made tag then added papers and collage paper to the tag. I used the Anemone Grove Paper pad, as well as collage paper from my stash. I ripped pieces of paper for a distress look, then adhered them with collage medium. I allowed this to dry, then inked up the background using Distress Oxide Inks. I used: Antique Linen, Pumice Stone, Peacocks Feathers, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, and Mustard Seed. I layered these on, as well as splattered with water droplets for added texture.

    Next I added Translucent Crackle Paint to sections of the tag, allowed this to dry, then applied Distress Crayons over the top of the crackle paint. I also added some paper glaze to sections for added texture. I then added splatters to the tag using black and gold. I then adhered all the layers together using liquid glue and foam tape. The wood grain paper paper in the center of the tag is from Memory Box and it is in the color cream. I applied ink and sponging to the paper for added texture.

    I chose a pre-made sentiment from my stash and adhered this to my tag as well. I darkened the edges of the tag using Distress Ink in Ground Espresso using a blending tool, as well as additional texture using a sea sponge. The tag was completed with twine for the top, as well as lace and a button.

    I had a lot of fun putting this together! I encourage you to use your pattern paper in new ways to add texture to your card bases and backgrounds too! Thanks so much for stopping by today! I will be back soon!


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  • White on White | by Rosemary Dennis

    White on White | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today sharing a white on white (with a little bit of gray) design using one of the January release dies, Rose Leaves Contour Layers. I paired the new die set up with the older Morning Rose and Triple Buds Contour Layers dies and layer A from the Dazzle layering dies. White one white always creates a clean and classic look.

    As you can see that Rose Leaves Contour dies are fairly large and I felt they needed a larger floral design to compliment them. That is why I went with the Morning Rose and Triple Buds Contour Layers die set.

    The bottom layer of the larger leaves die was cut from the glitter cardstock and the top layer from white cardstock. For the smaller leaf cluster I die cut the bottom from white cardstock and the top layer from the glitter cardstock. Since the large rose has four layers I die cut two from white cardstock and two from glitter cardstock. Two layers of the buds were cut from the glitter cardstock and one layer from the white cardstock. I used liquid adhesive to secure all the layers together.

    I die cut the Dazzle layer A from a light gray cardstock and a piece of thicker white cardstock. The two layers were secured with liquid adhesive, added to a white cardstock base using more liquid adhesive and then allowed to dry for a bit before I added the rose, buds and leaves with more liquid adhesive. I trimmed some of the leaves off the larger leaf cluster to better fit the flow of the design.

    I finished off the card with a sentiment from the Open Studio Gracious Floral stamp set. I heat embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder on vellum. The sentiment was secured with rolled up glue dot hidden behind the letters and liquid adhesive.

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

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