Category: Mixed Media

  • Under the Sea | by Rosemary Dennis

    Under the Sea | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello! Hope your September is off to a great start. Today I’m sharing a card that was inspired by a seahorse exhibit that used to be at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium located in Tacoma, Washington where I live. I used the new Block Print Proud Seahorse die set, as well as two other sets from the current release.

    The exhibit had several tanks with different species of seahorses with the final and biggest tank exhibiting one of the largest species. It was so fun to watch them swimming around in the water or clinging to strands of kelp. I started by die cutting all the pieces for my seahorse and the fish that would be inside my “aquarium”. I used just a few colors of distress oxide ink to color the seahorse and fish. I did alot of mixing and matching to create colors.

    Once I had all the pieces inked up and they were dry I assembled my seahorse and fish. The Sea Kelp and Mini Fish die set is fast becoming one of my most used set from the release. It is so versatile! I thought I needed a little bit bigger fish for my scene so I used the Block Prink Ocean Fish because it was just the right size. Then it was time to play around with the layout. Once I had that figured out I took a photo so I could recreate it.

    Now it was time to create my background. I inked up the bottom with Antique Linen distress oxide ink for my “sand” and Tumbled Glass and Mermaid Lagoon distress oxide inks for the water. I also used the Light Ray Stencil set to create the filter sunlight look. Now it was time to put together my scene.

    Using the photo as my guide I adhered everything in place using liquid adhesive. When I was done with adhereing everything to my background I added the panel to a white cardstock base using strong double sided adhesive. Small dot of Nuvo jewel drops in black were added to the fish and seahorse for the eyes. The sentiment is from the older Rainbow Days Lingo stamp set. I stamped it on white cardstock with black ink, die cut it with a label die and then inked it up with ink left on my blending brush.

    I hope you enjoyed today’s card. I had so much fun creating it! I also wanted to let you know that Birch Press Design is sponsoring the Die Cut Divas challenge this month. You can find all the details on the challenge and how to win here. Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day.

  • Here for You | by Rosemary Dennis

    Here for You | by Rosemary Dennis

    Happy end of August everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today with a card inspired by one of my favorite movies: Finding Nemo! Let’s take a look at what I created.

    One of my favorite scenes in Finding Nemo is at the end of the movie when Dorie is asking if the crabs have seen Marlin and they ignore her so she grabs one and sticks it up above the waves to where a group of seagulls are sitting on a buoy. When I saw the new Block Print Dancing Crabs die set I immediately knew I wanted to recreate that scene. I used the new Waterfront Pilings dies, Block Print Happy Seaqull and Corner Waves dies to complete the card.

    I started by inking up my panel with Tumbled Glass distress oxide ink. I used Tumbled Glass and Broken China on a piece of white cardstock that I die cut the corner waves from so there would be some contrast between the “waves” and the ocean/sky. The main panel was die cut to fit a card front and the sentiment from an Open Studio stamp set was stamped in black ink.

    The I die cut the rest of the pieces that I needed to complete the card. I die cut the seagull from white, gray and yellow cardstock. A little bit of gray ink was added to the seagull’s tummy and then everything was adhered together with liquid adhesive and set aside to dry. It is hard to tell, but I did use two different red cardstocks for my little crab. There are two crabs in the set and I used the smallest one for my card. The pilings were die cut from kraft cardstock and then some brown ink was blended on to darken the bases. The tops were left un-inked. The bands around the pilings were die cut from gray cardstock and also got a little bit of inking.

    The fin is from the new Block Print Majestic Whale. I die cut it from gray cardstock and then blended on blue in to change the color. Now it was time to assemble the card. I used liquid adhesive to attach everything. It was a bit tricky getting the “waves and the pilings adhered as I wanted them to be. I attached the bottom “wave” and then placed the pilings behind it, tilting the smaller piling. Then I added the second wave, tucking the fin into that one and working it behind the smaller piling. The final two waves were added behind the pilings and then the pilings were fully glued in place. I finished by attaching the seagull and the little crab.

    I absolutely love how this card turned out! I was a little tricky, but so worth the effort. Let me know what you think and if it reminds you of Finding Nemo! Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

  • Elegant Koi | by Rosemary Dennis

    Elegant Koi | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today sharing a card I made using the gorgeous new Elegant Koi die, as well as the new Honeycomb Cut Out die and the older Floral Cross layering die set. Let’s have a look at what I made.

    When I first saw the Elegant Koi die set (and the Koi Duo die set) I almost immediately thought of Kubota Garden located in the Rainier Beach neighborhood of Seattle. The garden is spectacular and has several ponds with numerous koi slowly swimming about. It is fun and relaxing to watch them swim by.

    I started by die cutting my koi from cardstock. I die cut the main body of the koi from orange cardstock from the Memory Box Sunrise cardstock pack. The rest of the koi was die cut from off white and gray. I then added some ink to the gray and off white pieces to give them more depth. I used what distress oxide ink was left on my blending brush to add the color.

    I set the piece aside to dry. Because I wanted my elegant koi to have an elegant pond to be swimming around in I decided to use the Honeycomb Cut Out die to create some tiles for the bottom of my pond. I used Memory Box glossy black cardstock for the tiles. I also die cut a template with the Honeycomb die so that I could layout and adhered my tile background perfectly.

    Once I had the background created I added some light inking using distress oxide inks in Tumbled Glass and Salty Ocean to the panel. I kept the color mainly at the edges, but did add some in the center of the panel. Once done with the ink blending I made sure to wipe off the ink that got on my black tiles.

    To provide even more of a look of an elegant pond I used the leafy stems and flowers from the Floral Cross layering die set to create some waterlily type flowers. Light inking was used on these pieces as well. Now it was time to complete the pond. I adhered everything using liquid adhesive.

    My sentiment is from the Crystal Lingo stamp set which is unfortunately no longer available. I did ink up the sentiment strip with the same inks used for the background so it blended in a bit more. I finished with small drop of Nuve Jewel drops in Limoncello.

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

  • Bold Butterfly | by Rosemary Dennis

    Bold Butterfly | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here and today I am here to say that I LOVE the Block Print butterflies! They are sooo cool. Today’s card features the amazing Block Print Radiant Butterfly. Let’s have a look.

    Many times when I start making my card I don’t think about taking photos of my process. That is the case with this card. I’m always trying to come up with new ideas or mediums that I can use when creating my cards. With this card I decided to die cut the pieces of my butterfly from watercolor cardstock and then color them with watercolor pens.

    I thought that this bold butterfy needed to be paired up with something equally as bold and so I went with the Wiegela Leaf Contour Layers die. That was also die cut from watercolor cardstock and the pieces colored with watercolor pens.

    For the butterfly I went with a bright yellow and red combo. The watercolor pens I have are limited in colors so I achieved the variants by mixing colors. Wished I had taken photos, but I was so caught up in the process that I forgot. Once all the pieces were dry I assembled them using liquid adhesive.

    With the bold butterfly and leaf cluster I thought a simple white background with just a touch a light blue inking was the best. After inking up the background I adhered the panel to a light gray cardstock base. I arranged my leaf cluster and butterfly, adhering both with liquid adhesive. The sentiment is from the Vintage Everyday Greetings stamp and die set. I stamped it in black and die cut it with the matching die. I did die cut several additional layers that I adhered to the sentiment to give it some depth. The sentiment was also adhered with liquid adhesive.

    I just love the graphic look of the butterfly mixed with the more natural look of the leaf cluster. I hope you enjoyed today’s project. Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

    Supplies

    cl8168 Vintage Everyday Greetings

    57515 Wiegela Leaf Contour Layers

    57600 Block Print Radiant Butterfly

  • The Butterflies & The Bees | by Crystal Komara

    The Butterflies & The Bees | by Crystal Komara

    Hello friends and happy Tuesday! This is Design Team member Crystal Komara here with you today sharing a vibrant card made with some of the latest products from Birch Press Design – the Honeycomb Plate, the Block Print Buzzing Bumblebee and the previously released Butterfly Basics.

    The base of this A2 sized card is made from 110 lb. Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock. I created an alcohol ink background using Butterscotch Ranger Adirondack alcohol ink on Yupo paper. Once that alcohol ink dried, I used the new Honeycomb Stencil and sponged Versamark ink over the alcohol ink. I then applied gold embossing powder and heated that with a heat tool being careful not to burn the synthetic Yupo paper.

    Using the Butterfly Basics, I die cut the first layer of the two butterflies from a piece of the alcohol ink background. I then die cut the second layer from white cardstock and adhered the two layers together with a fine tip liquid glue. Using the Block Print Buzzing Bumblebee, I die cut the bumblebee from yellow cardstock and then used a fine tip sharpie to “color” the black body. I die cut the wings from vellum cardstock.

    I adhered everything to the card and then splattered the entire image with an espresso (dark brown) ink.

    The “thank you” sentiment is a foil greeting from sister company Memory Box. You can find those sentiment strips here.

    I hope you have enjoyed this vibrant butterflies and bees card. Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day.

  • Oh Happy Day | by Rosemary Dennis

    Oh Happy Day | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello Birch Press Design friends! Rosemary here on the blog today with a fun design I created using more new dies from the Block Print line. Let’s get started!

    I don’t know about you, but I’m loving the new Block Print line of dies from Birch Press Design. They just keep getting better and better with each release! The butterflies in this release are amazing! For this card I used the Block Print Brilliant Butterfly and the super fun Block Print Stems and Berries.

    Here you can see the products that I used. I started by diecutting everything from white cardstock and then placing the pieces on a sticky mat so I could apply the distress oxide ink. Once the inking was done I set everything aside to dry.

    Once I had all my pieces assembled I needed to figure out my layout. It was at this point I decided to throw the new Linear Stripes Stencil into the mix. I used the purple ink that was left on my brush to add the stripes. I just wanted them in the area where I would be putting the stem. After I did my stenciling I left the panel on the sticky mat so I could determine final placement of the pieces.

    With placement determined I removed the panel from the sticky mat and placed it in my MISTI stamping tool to stamp the sentiment from the Vintage Everyday Greetings stamp set. The sentiment was stamped in black ink and then I adhered all the pieces using liquid adhesive.

    I just love the fun graphic look that the Block Print Stems and Berries and the stenciled stripes provide. The beautiful Brilliant Butterfly provides a little softness to the design. Well, that’s it for me. I hope you enjoyed today’s card. Thanks for stopping by!


    Supplies


    CL8168 Vintage Everyday Greetings
    42041 Linear Stripes
    57599 Block Print Stems and Berries
    57596 Block Print Brilliant Butterfly
  • Congratulations | by Rosemary Dennis

    Congratulations | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog. I hope your April is off to a good start. We have been having some wild weather here in the Pacific Northwest! Rain and high winds one day, sun the next. Today I’m sharing a card that I created with the gorgeous Abundant Branch die set. Let’s get started.

    My niece recently graduated from the University of Washington-Tacoma and so I actually made this card for her. UW’s colors are purple and gold, so I went in that direction for my color scheme. I die cut the Abundant Branch pieces from white cardstock and then colored everything with distress oxide inks.

    I let everything dry for a little bit before putting the branch together. I pulled a piece of patterned paper from the Memory Box Gladiola Plaid 6×6 pad and trimmed it down into a strip. I had previously die cut a pierced arch from cream woodgrain cardstock (Memory Box) so I added that to the mix.

    I die cut white cardstock with a rectangle die and then layered on the plaid paper strip and the cream woodgrain die cut. I used double sided tape and liquid adhesive to adhere the layers to a white cardstock base.

    Liquid adhesive was used to put the Abundant Branch together and then adhered to the wood grain panel. I made sure to not put the adhesive on the end of the branch and one of the flowers so I could slip the sentiment underneath. The sentiment from the Vintage Everyday Greetings stamp set was stamped in black and then die cut with a label die. I finished with tiny dots of yellow Nuvo drops to the centers of the flower.

    Well, that’s it for me. I hope you enjoyed today’s card. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

    Supplies

    cl8168 Vintage Everyday Greetings

    57575 Abundant Branch

  • Just a Note | by Rosemary Dennis

    Just a Note | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today. Have you seen the all the new Block Print products that have been added to the Birch Press Design website? They are absolutely AMAZING and I can’t wait to create some projects with them! Today I’m sharing a card I made with the Block Print Tufted Bird die set. Let’s have a look.

    For this card I went with a softer approach using some Tim Holtz woodless distress watercolor pencils to color the pieces of my bird.

    In the above photo you can see the watercolor pencils that I used and the pieces prior to assembling my little bird.

    Once all the piece were dry I adhered everything together using liquid adhesive. Once I had the bird together I worked on the rest of the card. I decided to use some plaid patterned paper from the Memory Box Anemone Plaid 6×6 pad for the background for my little bird. Diecutting the paper with a rectangle die. I also diecut pine branches using Pine Needle Twig Contour Layers die set from watercolor cardstock and then sprayed them with distress spray stain in Rustic Wilderness.

    I decided to create a frame around my plaid background by using a die from the Memory Box Curved Cap Pinpoint layers die set. I die cut cream Memory Box woodgrain cardstock with the same rectangle die I used for the plaid paper and then die cut the Curved Cap die from the center. The frame was then adhered to the plaid paper with liquid glue. I die cut the Just A Note Scripted die from watercolor cardstock twice and adhered them together.

    Now all my pieces are ready to adhere to my card front. I adhered the pine branches and the sentiment first using liquid glue. To finish off the card I added the bird with a combination of thin foam squares and liquid adhesive.

    Well, that’s it for me. I hope you enjoyed by project today. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

    Supplies

    57544 Just A Note Scripted

    57583 Block Print Tufted Bird

    57519 Pine Needle Twigs Contour Layers

  • Birthday Wren | by Rosemary Dennis

    Birthday Wren | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today with a birthday card featuring the new Block Print Little Bird. Let’s have a look at what I created.

    When I saw the new collection of Block Print birds I was so excited! I just love them and can see so many possibilities. For today’s card I decided to create a little wren. Besides papercrafting I enjoy cross-stitching and one of my favorite fabrics to stitch on is 32 count Lugana in the color Wren. So that was my starting point for my little “wren”. I die cut water color cardstock using the Little Bird die, as well as the Hillside Branch and Bramble Contour Layers die set. I then colored each of the pieces with various watercolors.

    My coloring is very simple, but I did spend more time on the bird in an effort to achieve variation in the colors on the bird. Once I was done I set everything aside to dry.

    I pulled out the watercolor panels I had created months ago using the Crystal Lingo stamp set. I had two different blue panels, one dark and one light. I went with the lighter version and die cut it down with a Memory Box A2 Rectangle Frames die. I found a complimentary piece of blue cardstock in the Memory Box Lagoon solid core cardstock pack and die cut it with a larger A2 Rectangle Frames die. The two rectangled were then layered together.

    With all my pieces dry I adhered everything together using liquid adhesive and then determined how I would arrange all the pieces on my panels. I used liquid adhesive to adhere everything and then added my panels to a light gray cardstock card base.

    I finished the card with a Memory Box Birthday Greetings Tab. I really love how my sweet little “wren” turned out. I can see creating other types of birds with the Block Print Little Bird die set. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful day!

    Supplies

    57577 Block Print Little Bird

    57524 Hillside Branch and Bramble Contour Layers

    cl8155 Crystal Lingo clear stamp set

  • Purple Pumpkin | by Crystal Komara

    Purple Pumpkin | by Crystal Komara

    Hello friends!

    Supplies

    57481 Adornment Pumpkin

    57507 Phlox Blooms and Leaves Contour Layers

    57426 Eloquent Butterfly Layer Set

    57501 Tiny Tuft Flowers and Leaves Contour Layers

    SP1002 Sunny Orange 6×6 pack

    GP1006 Festive Glitter Pad

    SP1001 Berry Red 6×6 pack

    57525 Oval Leaf Branches Contour Layers

    SP1008 Twilight Purple 6×6 pack