Category: Mixed Media

  • Boho Butterfly Birthday by Rosemary Dennis

    Boho Butterfly Birthday
    by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here with a sweet birthday card and tag made with the Linear Boho Butterflies dies and pretty papers from the Memory Box Anemone Grove 6×6 pad. Let’s look at what I created:

    As I started thinking about how I wanted to use the Linear Boho Butterflies dies I thought it would be fun to use some patterned paper. I looked through my Memory Box 6×6 pads and settled on the Anenome Grove pad. I went with papers that both had a light purple hue to them and a subtle pattern.

    I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to use the butterflies so I decided to die cut multiples from each piece of patterned paper. The bodies of the butterflies were also die cut from the same papers. As I played around with ideas I thought it would be fun to use the Pinpoint Contour Plate to provide some movement on the background. The panel was die cut from white cardstock and set aside.

    There are three large butterflies and two tiny butterflies in the die set. I decided to layer all three of the larger butterflies together by alternating the different patterned papers. The look is very subtle, but pretty. I also layered the two tiny butterflies in the same manner. To finish off the butterflies I added clear Memory Box fairy jewels to the bodies of all the butterflies. To keep the subtle purple going I ink blended a light purple ink around the edges of the background panel and then added the butterflies and sentiment to the card.

    After I finished the card I still had one large layered butterfly and two tiny layered butterflies left. So I thought it would be fun to make a little tag. I used a scrap of white cardstock and die cut it with the Pinpoint Contour Plate and then die cut it further with a Memory Box Curved Cap Pinpoint Layers die. I added the same light purple ink around the edges and stamped the sentiment. Both sentiments are from the Plain and Simple Birthday Greetings. I finished with a little bow made with purple twine.

    I love how both the card and the tag turned out. I hope you enjoyed today’s project. I had a lot of fun creating them.

    Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day.

  • Thinking of You by Rosemary Dennis

    Thinking of You
    by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today sharing a card created with the Block Print Wise Fox, Block Print Starry Night Scene and Thinking of You Vintage Sentiment die set. Let’s have a look at what I made.

    I started off my card by making all the pieces for my fox. I had been doing another rummage through my supplies and found my Distress watercolor pencils. I hadn’t really used them before so thought this would be a good time to give them a try.

    I cut down a piece of watercolor cardstock and then scribbled on a combination of Gathered Twigs and Ripe Persimmon and then blended with water. The first generation of color was pretty light so I let the area dry and then scribbled on more color to get a slightly darker patch. To get an even darker value I got heavy handed with my scribbling and was able to get a nice darker tan color.

    Once my panel was dry I die cut all the parts of the fox from different areas on the sheet to get the varying shades. I used the white parts were cut from the sheet of watercolor cardstock that wasn’t colored. I assembled my fox with liquid adhesive. Now it was time for the background. For this I used a Tonic Studios aqua flow pen in a dark blue on another piece of watercolor cardstock. I love the variation in the color that I was able to achieve.

    I let it dry and then worked on the top panel that features the arched opening for the background piece. I die cut cream Memory Box woodgrain cardstock down with a rectangle die and then die cut the Starry Night Scene from the panel. I then die cut the trees and the star from scraps of cardstock that I had left over from the card I posted earlier this month. I trimmed out the trees and adhered them on top of the die cut panel.

    The larger trees were also die cut from scraps. The background panel was dry and so I tried adding some “stars” to the background. I discovered that the blue is so deep and intense that the white just disappeared into the background. So I added drops of Nuvo jewel drops in a clear glitter. Once the panel was dry I adhered it to the top panel using thin foam squares.

    I then adhered the fox and the large trees using thin foam squares. I finished with the sentiment that I die cut from a strip of watercolor cardstock that I colored with the same blue Aqua Flow pen and the woodgrain cardstock. I adhered them together and added to the card front with thin foam squares.

    That’s it for me! I hope you enjoyed today’s project. Thanks for coming by and have a lovely day.

  • Happy Birthday by Rosemary Dennis

    Happy Birthday
    by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello, hello! Rosemary here on the blog today share a fun mixed media card that I made with the new Block Print Tropical Perched Bird and Handwritten Happy Birthday and Outline dies. I also used the Honeycomb Stencil for the project. Let’s take a look at what I made.

    When I started the card I used just going to use some colored cardstock to create my bird. Then I started going through my supplies and I found containers of some Ken Oliver color burst medium that I had purchased long ago. So I decided to grab a sheet of watercolor cardstock and see what happened. Below is what happened, lol.

    Bit of a mess, right? But I knew I could make something out of it once I cut all the pieces. I cut both dies multiple times so that I would have enough pieces to come up with the right combination.

    Here are the majority of the pieces.

    And here is the combination that I decided upon. Originally I was going to have more red in the bird, but in the end decided to limit that color to just the wing.

    I adhered the bird with liquid glue and then set him aside to dry. I used a sketch layout for my card and decided to use the Honeycomb stencil for the background. I thought I would just do some ink blending, but then decided to take a look at some of the stencil butters that I had. I decided to combine a bright yellow and bright green and came up with this darker green that you see. I die cut white heavystock cardstock and then applied my stencil butter mix.

    Once the panel was dry I got to work putting the card together. I adhered the bird with glue and then added the sentiment (which I had already had die cut and ready to go) with rolled up glue dots and glue

    I hope you enjoyed today’s project. I had a lot of fun creating it using supplies that to be honest I had forgotten I had! Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

  • Sweet Bird Duo by Rosemary Dennis

    Sweet Bird Duo
    by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello and happy March everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today with a sweet birthday card that I think just says “spring”! I used the new Block Print Bird Duo, Block Print Mod Branches and Elegant Birthday Sentiments for my card. Let’s have a look at what I made.

    This card is similar to the card I posted at the end of February in that I die cut white cardstock and then blended on the ink. But this time I decided to use Memory Box white woodgrain cardstock for all my die cutting to give the the birds and branch a little bit more interest.

    To do the blending on these small pieces I love to use my Waffle Flower 0+ blending brushes. You can see them in the photo. Inking tiny pieces with them is a breeze!

    I decided to keep a relatively cohesive color scheme to keep things simple and allow me to complete the card rather quickly. I used two shades of green ink for the leaves, stem and parts of the bird. Then I threw blue, yellow and a little bit of red for the berries into the mix.

    Here I have the branch mostly completed. Below are all the pieces of the birds inked up and ready to be assembled.

    I love dimension on my cards, but with the cost of postage being so high now days I often refrain from using foam squares. In order to obtain some dimension without adding thickness I will often not completely glue down pieces. For example, the leaves are only glued down at the base of the stem and the wings of the birds at the top. That way I can lift up the pieces and give the illusion of dimension.

    Once everything was assembled I die cut another piece of white woodgrain cardstock with a medium sized rectangle and adhered that to a bright green cardstock base with double sided tape. I then adhered the branch (which was a little tricky, lol) and the birds using glue. I finished with the sentiment that was stamped and die cut with the matching die.

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

  • Birthday Greetingsby Rosemary Dennis

    Birthday Greetings
    by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! February is winding down and I am starting to think of spring even though we really haven’t had much of a winter here in the Pacific Northwest. While there are lots of pretty dies in the newest Birch Press Design release the beautiful Soaring Hummingbird and Daisy Flower dies from the Block Print line caught my eye and I just had to use them first. Let’s look at what I created.

    I love the other hummingbird die set from Birch Press Design (Block Print Hummingbird) and so was delighted to see this new hummingbird die. I started by die cutting all the hummingbird pieces from white cardstock. Initially I was just going to use them to help me determine how the bird went together, but then I decided to use distress oxide ink color the pieces instead of diecutting from colored cardstock which was my original idea. I used small blending brushes to color all the pieces.

    In the photo you can see some of the inks I used as well as the inkblended pieces.

    I die cut the daisies and centers from white cardstock as well. You will need two die cuts per flower to create the daisies on my card. I think it would be fun to die cut a third flower to create an even fuller daisy – like a gerber daisiy. In this photo you can see the small blending brush I used to color the die cuts. My blending isn’t perfect because in real life flowers are perfect, either!

    The bird and the flowers were assembled using liquid adhesive and then set aside to dry.

    Then I die cut the stems and leaves added the inkblending and added the leaves to the tall stem. I die cut white cardstock using a Memory Box Curved Cap Pinpoint Layers die and then layered that onto light gray cardstock that I die cut with a rectangle die.

    Now it was time to layer on all elements. I used liquid adhesive to adhere everything to the card front except for the hummingbird. For him I used a combination of liquid adhesive and foam squares. I stamped the greeting from the Elegant Birthday Sentiments stamp set with black ink and die cut it with the matching die. The die was used to die cut two more layers that were adhered behind the stamped sentiment and then adhered to the card with liquid adhesive.

    I really love how this card turned out. It will be going to my sweet mom who will be turning 89 at the end of April. I hope she loves it too!

  • Happy Christmas Ornaments | by Rosemary Dennis

    Happy Christmas Ornaments | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello BPD friends! Rosemary here on the blog today! Christmas is just two weeks away and I’m still making Christmas cards! This card was made with several new Birch Press Design products as well as two “oldies but goodies”. Let’s see what I created.

    For my card I used the following new products: Block Print Petal Ornament, Block Print Wave Ornament, Block Print Drop Ornaments and Simple Pine Needles. The two older products I used are Contempo Christmas Greetings and Herbarium Layer A.

    I decided to go with a simple color palette of light pink, silver and green. I die cut all my pieces and assembled the ornaments. I added glossy accents to the pine needles and then covered them with Rock Candy chunky glitter for sparkly, icy look.

    I decided that I wanted a neutral background with a little bit of interest. I pulled out a favorite BPD layering die set called Herbarium and I used layer A to emboss a panel of off white cardstock. I love the subtle interest it provides while still keeping things simple.

    I arranged my icy pine needles on the embossed panel using liquid adhesive and then layered the largest ornament on top and tucked the two smaller ones in beneath the larger one using liquid adhesive. I finished with the “Happy Christmas” sentiment from the Contempo Christmas Greetings set that I heat embossed with silver embossing powder after stamping with watermark ink. The sentiment was then die cut with a matching die and adhered to the card front.

    Well, that’s it for me! I hope you enjoyed today’s project and that I provided you with inspiration to create with your new and old Birch Press Design products! Have a wonderful day and Merry Christmas!


    Supplies


  • Majestic Whale | by Rosemary Dennis

    Majestic Whale | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello, Rosemary here on the blog today sharing a birthday card that I created using the Majestic Whale die set. Let’s have a look at what I made.

    Ever start making a project and then decide halfway through that you don’t like it and go in a completely different direction? Well, that was me, lol! I had a completely different color scheme/idea for my card using different dies and for whatever reason I couldn’t make it work.

    As I was working on the first idea I decided to create an alcohol ink background to see if that would help my initial idea work. Loved the background I created, but it didn’t go with the other colors and fish I was using. Then I thought of the Majestic Whale die set. I hadn’t used that set yet so set aside the other fish and idea to start fresh.

    I die cut the whale from a light blue Memory Box cardstock and then added distress oxide ink in Chipped Sapphire ink to darken up tail and top portion of the whale. I added a little bit to the belly and fin, as well. Then I adhered everything together. Before the alcohol ink had completely dried I added a little touch of gold using a foil sheet in rose gold. Then I die cut the background using a Memory Box arched rectangle die.

    I adhered everything to the card front using glue and then added the sentiment that I hot foiled using the Sugar Script Sentiments 2 hot foil set. I added a little bit of ink to the edges so that it blended in with the background. Well, that is it for me. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

  • Sending Hugs & Smiles | by Crystal Komara

    Sending Hugs & Smiles | by Crystal Komara

    Hello Birch Press Design friends and fans! This is Design Team member Crystal Komara here with you today sharing another card that I created using products from the Block Print Ocean Inspired collection. What a beautiful collection this is!

    The base of this A2 sized card is made from 110 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. This is my go-to cardstock for everything! I use it to make cards, card bases, die cutting, stamping and Copic coloring. It’s a great quality paper and one that I highly recommend.

    For the first layer of this card I used one of my pre-made alcohol ink backgrounds. I keep a stash of pre-made alcohol ink background in a drawer, because they are so easy to pull from, rather than pulling out all that ink and making a mess on the fly.

    On a 2″ circle of white cardstock, I stamped the sentiment “sending hugs and smiles” in teal ink. Unfortunately I did not realize it at the time, but this sentiment is from a now-retired set. Sorry! But, you could use ANY saying of your choosing and that would work just fine for this card.

    Using the Block Print Proud Seahorse and the Block Print Floating Jellyfish, I die cut the pieces from white, blue and green cardstock. I then assembled the small pieces using a fine tip liquid adhesive. I adhered the seahorse and the jellyfish to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.

    The Block Print Ocean inspiration collection is available to shop now online at Birch Press Design. Thank you for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

  • 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!