Category: Mixed Media

  • Merry Christmas | by Rosemary Dennis

    Merry Christmas | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today. Can you believe it is already September? I can’t. Today I have a Christmas card to share with you that I made with several new Birch Press Design products. Let’s have a look at what I made.

    I love the Birch Press Design Poinsettia Contour Layer dies and the new Classic Poinsettia Contour Layers die set is no exception. It is so beautiful! I started by die cutting the layers from three shades of red Memory Box cardstock and one shade of green Memory Box cardstock. I then took the the top layer of each layer of the poinsettia and sprayed them with either Tart Cranberry or Peppermint Stick distress mica sprays. The top layer of the leaf was sprayed with Tree Lot distress mica spray.

    Once the layers were dry I adhered them together with liquid adhesive. The center of the flower was die cut from yellow Memory Box cardstock and layered together with liquid adhesive. I did the same with the leaves. All the layers of the flower were then adhered together with liquid adhesive, as well as the leaves.

    I die cut the pieces from the Tiny Berries and Leaves Contour Layers die from dark green and brown cardstock. The berries were die cut from dark red Memory Box cardstock and sprayed with Tart Cranberry mica spray. I cut down the berry stems to fit my design and then adhered the little berries to the stems with liquid adhesive.

    In the close up photos you can see some of the pretty shimmer from the mica sprays. I arranged the leafy stems and the berry stems and then glued them together with liquid adhesive. I did have to trim off a bit of the bottom before apply liquid adhesive to the piece and adding the flower on top as you see in the photos. The sentiment is the new Merry Christmas Confection Script die set and it was die cut from the same cardstock used for the poinsettia and leaves. I adhered the two pieces with liquid glue and let it dry.

    For the background I die cut some cream woodgrain Memory Box cardstock with a rectangle die and then sprayed the piece with Frozen Fog distress mica spray. Once the panel was dry I adhered two additional die cut rectangles behind it for a bit of dimension and then adhered it to my kraft cardstock base with double sided tape. The flower cluster and the sentiment were added to finish the card. Now I have another Christmas card to add to my stash!

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

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  • Holiday ATC’s | By, Natasha Vacca

    Holiday ATC’s | By, Natasha Vacca

    Hello Birch Press friends, it is Natasha here today sharing a couple of ATC’s (Artist Trading Cards) using the Holly Sprig and Pine Needle Twigs die sets. I had a lot of fun creating these, let’s get started!

    I started by die cutting both the Holy Sprig and Pine Needle Twigs die sets using paper pads from Memory Box. I used the following pads: Blush, Greenery, Earth Neutral, and the Festive Glitter Pad. For each of the die cuts I used a combination of dye inks, sprays, as well as embossing powder to add texture to each of the die cuts. Once everything was completed, I adhered all the layers together using liquid glue.

    Next I chose a gelli print background from my stash. The background was made on my gelli plate using the Geometric Crystals embossing folder. I dry embossed the folder, then used the dry embossed panel to create prints on my gelli plate. I also kept the dry embossed panel as an extra piece for additional layers. I trimmed the panel down into 2 ATC’s. I then inked the edges using Distress Ink.

    Next I determined the layout for each ATC. I added additional texture to each ATC with a piece of cheesecloth, as well as pieces of the Geometric Embossing folder. I adhered everything using liquid glue and foam tape.

    I completed the project with 2 small sentiment strips from my stash. I had a lot of fun creating these and I hope you enjoyed them!


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  • A Blue Hibiscus Summer | by Crystal Komara

    A Blue Hibiscus Summer | by Crystal Komara

    Hello crafty readers! This is Design Team member Crystal Komara here sharing a very detailed card using the beautiful Tropical Hibiscus Contour Layers. Now, contour layering dies have been around for a while now, but in all honesty, it’s taken them a little while to grow on me. I go through my love ’em and hate ’em phases. Well, I am currently in my die cutting era right now! I can’t stop, because each card comes out so elegant and gorgeous, it just makes all that die cutting and piece work worth it!

    Card details:

    The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. I then cut a 5 1/4″ x 4″ piece of royal blue cardstock and adhered it directly to the card base.

    Next, I went to town just die cutting all those hibiscus layers (from three different colors of blue) and then the leaves in two shades of green. Really, I don’t measure or count anything as I’m doing all that die cutting, I just keep cutting and then put it all together in the end. Yes, I always have leftover and mismatched pieces, but I just add a couple of the “extras” to the inside of the card and any leftover pieces go in my scrap bin for another time.

    Once I adhered all the flowers and leaves together and situated them on the card in a visual appealing way, I added the sentiment. I used the Big Hello Vintage Sentiment die. I die cut the bottom layer from white cardstock and the top layer from royal blue cardstock. I adhered both layers together with a fine-tip liquid adhesive. Lastly I adhered the entire sentiment to the card using 3M foam for added dimension.

    Now, is this card “perfect” – goodness NO! I bet you didn’t realize that I splattered silver ink all over the card when I intended on splattering gold. Do I love it? No. But there was already so much work done that I wasn’t about to start all over. And, let’s be real, no one would ever know but me! Shhhh. . .

    Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

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  • Just a Little Something | by Crystal Komara

    Just a Little Something | by Crystal Komara

    Hello crafty friends and happy August! Where did the summer go already!? This is Design Team member Crystal Komara here today sharing a vibrant alcohol ink card featuring the Floral Star Layer set. Because this background has so much intense color, you might not even notice that I used just three layers of white on that Floral Star.

    Card details:

    This A2 card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock. I pulled a scrap piece of a previously made alcohol ink background from my stash and splattered some white and gold ink all over the alcohol ink. I cut it down to 5 1/4″ x 4″ and adhered it directly to the white cards base.

    Next, I die cut all three layers – Layer A, Layer B and Layer C of the Floral Star Layering set from white cardstock. I adhered the three layers together using a fine-tip liquid glue. Then I adhered the full die to the center of the alcohol ink background.

    Using the Contempo Greetings stamp set, I stamped the sentiment in Versamark ink on black cardstock. I heat embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder and used the coordinating die to die cut the sentiment out. I adhered the sentiment to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.

    I LOVE using alcohol inks on my cards, they are a great way to add visual interest and unique designs. Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

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  • Adornment Dove Tag | by Rosemary Dennis

    Adornment Dove Tag | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello! Rosemary here on the blog today. Today is July 25th and so I decided to make a “Christmas in July” project. I used several older products and one newly released product for today’s project. Let’s have a look at what I made.

    Today’s project is a large tag that can be used as a deco piece at Christmas time. I really enjoy making these kinds of projects to share. I started with a Tim Holtz thickboard tag. I pulled out a piece of plaid paper from the Poinsettia Plaid 6×6 pad that had various shades of red in it and trimmed it down to fit the tag. The top of the paper has a hole in it so that the pad can be hung and I used that to my advantage. I aligned the hole in the paper with the hole on the tag, trace around the tag and then trimmed out the paper. There was a little bit of the tag not covered at the very top, but in the end you don’t really notice it.

    I then adhered the paper tag to the thickboard tag using distress collage medium and let it dry. I then decided to add another layer of texture to the tag by adding the large Pinpoint Snowflake that I die cut from the reverse side of the paper used for the tag. I adhered the snowflake to the tag using the collage medium, as well, and once things were dry trimmed off the one side. Once I had the base of my tag put together I worked on the focal point of the tag. For this I used the pretty Adornment Dove die set. Initially I die cut solid layer of the dove from three different papers from the Poinsettia Garland 6×6 pad and determined which one I wanted to use. As you can see I went with the lightest paper dove.

    I then die cut the top layer from gold foil cardstock from the Vintage Pastel Mirror 6×6 pad. To give the base layer of the dove a little more stability I adhered the other two doves I wasn’t using behind the main one. The Vintage Merry Christmas sentiment was also die cut from the same papers and adhered together. I used liquid adhesive for both. Then I got out distress crayons in festive berries and ground espresso to blend onto the edges of the dove, the tag and around the snowflake. Once I had done that the small gap at the top of the tag almost completely disappeared!

    As I was working on my tag the newest release from Birch Press Design landed in my mailbox. It is absolutely gorgeous! So I decided to make sure to incorporate one of the new products from the release into my project. I made the decision to use the Pine Needle Twigs Contour Layers dies. I die cut them from scraps of the paper I used, as well as the gold foil cardstock and then layered them together using liquid adhesive.

    Once they were dry I began layering the elements on to my tag. I started with the Pine Needle Twigs using liquid adhesive to attach them. I used a combination of liquid adhesive and foam squares to attach the dove. Foam squares were also used to attach the sentiment. I finished off my tag with some ribbon looped through the hole in the top and then tied with some red twine.

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

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  • ATC (Artist Trading Cards) Thank You Notes | By, Natasha Vacca

    ATC (Artist Trading Cards) Thank You Notes | By, Natasha Vacca

    Hello Birch Press friends, I am excited to be back on the blog today sharing an Artist Trading Card idea with you! Today’s project is using 3 die sets: Budding Twigs Contour Layers, Sylvan Berries and Leaves Contour Layers, and the Simple Dragonfly. Let’s get started!

    I started by die cutting all 3 sets: Budding Twigs Contour Layers, Sylvan Berries and Leaves Contour Layers, and the Simple Dragonfly onto Canson XL watercolor paper. I die cut 2 sets of the Budding Twigs. Next I used pigment powders to color each of the die cut layers. I place all the die cuts on my glass work surface, add the pigment powder to the die cuts with a fan brush, then spritz the pieces with water. I move the color around with my paintbrush. I set all the layers aside to dry.

    Once all the layers were dry, I added more texture to the layers using dye ink. I applied the ink to the edges of each layer and then adhered the layers together using liquid glue. Next I chose a background from my stash and trimmed the panel into 2 Artist Trading Cards (2.5 x 3.5).

    I then added texture to each of the ATC backgrounds using crackle paint. Once the paint dried, I added distress crayon over the crackled paint. Next I added washi tape from my stash, as well as applied distress ink and acrylic paint with a sponge. I then distressed the edges of each ATC.

    Once the background was complete, I chose a piece of coordinating cardstock from the Magnolia Plaid paper pad from Memory Box. I tore the paper and distressed the edges. Next I determined the placement for my twigs and berries and then adhered them with my tiny stapler to my torn piece of cardstock, with a piece of lace on the back. I adhered the dragonfly, as well as a thank you sentiment strip from the Foil Greeting Black Tabs set.

    I had a lot of fun creating these ATC’s today! I hope you enjoyed them! I’ll be back soon!


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  • Happy Birthday Vintage Sentiments with Florals |By, Natasha Vacca

    Happy Birthday Vintage Sentiments with Florals |By, Natasha Vacca

    Hello Crafty friends, it is Design Team Member Natasha Vacca here today. Today I am sharing the beautiful new Happy Birthday Vintage Sentiment die set. I paired this with the beautiful Anemone Bunches 3D embossing folder from Memory Box. So let’s get started!

    I started by creating the floral card panel using the beautiful Anemone Bunches 3D embossing folder. I ran the folder with a piece of Hammermill cardstock through my die cutting machine. Once the paper was dry embossed I started to ink the floral background card panel. I used a combination of Distress Oxide Inks, as well as some Dye Inks to color the florals, leaves, as well as the background.

    I continued to color the dry embossed background, until I had the colors and texture I was looking for. Once the background was complete, I trimmed the panel using my deckle trimmer. I then added more distressing using my distress tool and then inked the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

    Next I added splatters to the card panel using gouache from my stash. Once the splatters were dry, I adhered the panel to a top folding card base. Next I die the the sentiment – Happy Birthday Vintage Sentiment. I die cut the shadow layer using white cardstock. I then inked the shadow layer using Distress Oxide Ink. Next I die cut the Happy Birthday sentiment 3 times using a green cardstock from my stash. Before I die cut the 3rd layer, I heat embossed the panel, then die cut the sentiment from the embossed panel. I then adhered the letters together from the Happy Birthday sentiment and added the sentiment to my card front.

    I had a lot of fun creating today’s card and I hope you enjoyed it! I will be back soon!


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  • Let’s Create ATC’s |By, Natasha Vacca

    Let’s Create ATC’s |By, Natasha Vacca

    Hello Birch Press Friends, it is Design Team member Natasha here today! Today I am sharing ATC’s – Artist Trading Cards! I had a lot of fun creating these, so let’s get started!

    For today’s project I started by creating the background for my ATC’s using the Anenome Bunches Embossing Folder. I used the folder on my gelli plate to create the background. The background was created using acrylic paint and a dry embossed panel using the embossing folder. I just love the texture this provides and it gives you another idea and way to use your folders!

    I trimmed down the panel I created into 2 ATC size pieces. Next I took a piece of scrap paper I had saved from the Magnolia Grove Paper pad. I used my fingers to tear the paper. I love the distressed look this gives! I then adhered this to my ATC panel and added splatters to the background using black and gold ink. I then inked the edges of each panel with a dye ink. I then set these aside.

    Next I started to work on my flowers using the Prime Peony Duo Contour Layers die. I die cut the flowers and stems using the Greenery and Blush Paper Pads from Memory Box. Once these were die cut I used dye inks in my stash to add more depth to each die cut. On the center of the flower I heat embossed this piece using gold embossing powder. Once everything was inked, I adhered all the layers together using liquid glue. I completed the ATC’s with Birthday Sentiments from the Happy Birthday Foil Greetings Black Tabs set. I love these foiled sentiment strips!

    Thank you so much for stopping by today! I will be back soon with more crafty inspiration!


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  • Eloquent Alcohol Ink Butterflies | by Crystal Komara

    Eloquent Alcohol Ink Butterflies | by Crystal Komara

    Hello Birch Press Design readers! This is DT Member Crystal Komara here today and I’m so excited at how today’s card turned out. I’m going to kind of toot my own horn here, for just a second, but it currently is my absolute favorite card! I know, I know, this changes over time and with each new card that I make, but for today, I’m gonna let this card have its moment and shine as my “favorite!”

    I have long used alcohol inks in my card making. I think they make for beautiful background and accent pieces. If you’d like to see more examples, please click on any of the following descriptive links:

    ~Alcohol Ink Leaves

    ~ Alcohol Ink Easter Eggs

    ~Alcohol Ink Birthday Balloons

    ~Alcohol Inks Hearts and Butterflies

    ~Alcohol Ink String Art

    When I have the time, I sit down and make a ton of alcohol ink art pieces, I’m talking like anywhere between 50-100 pieces at a time and then I put them in a bin and tuck them away. When I need to make a “quick card,” I simply pull from the pre-made bin and finish my card. Many of the alcohol ink backgrounds I create often feature rainbow colors, similar to today’s.

    Card details:

    The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. I then cut one of the pre-made alcohol ink pieces down to 5 1/4″ x 4″ and adhered it directly to the card base. Next I created two butterflies using the Eloquent Butterfly Layering set. The first butterfly was made from pink cardstock and the second butterfly was made from orange/peach cardstock. For both of the butterflies, I die cut Layer A (the top layer) from white cardstock. I adhered the butterflies to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. Lastly I added a couple clear rhinestones on the body of the butterfly for even more sparkle.

    I hope you will enjoy this card as much as I do! Now excuse me while I go make twenty more of this one to send to friends!! Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day.

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  • Lush Leaves with a Gelli Print | By, Natasha Vacca

    Lush Leaves with a Gelli Print | By, Natasha Vacca

    Hello Birch Press Friends, it is Natasha here and I am excited to be back on the blog today! Today’s card was inspired by a fellow design team member, Seeka! She shared a creative way to use embossing folders on a gelli plate and I had so much fun giving this a try! So let’s get started!

    For today’s card I started with the beautiful Lush Leaves Contour Layers die set! I die cut 2 leaves using an alcohol ink background from my stash. Once the leaves were die cut, I added Distress Ink to the edges and then adhered foam tape on the back of each leaf and set them aside. Next I die cut 2 more leaves using the Twilight Purple paper pack from Memory Box.

    Next I created a gelli print background using the Geometric Crystals embossing folder. I added paint to my gelli plate and then added a piece of paper with a dry embossed background using the embossing folder. I pressed the paper lightly onto my gelli plate, then I removed the background. My gelli plate now had small squares from the folder. I added a bit more paint, then pressed a new piece of paper onto my gelli plate. This was such a cool background and such a fun way to use my gelli plate!

    Next I trimmed the gelli plate panel using my deckle trimmer. I distressed the edges, then applied Distress Ink to each of the sides. I then adhered this onto a green panel and then added this to an A2 card base. Next I adhered the purple leaves, as well as my alcohol ink printed leaves to the card front. I used both liquid glue and foam tape.

    Next I die cut the new Big Hugs Vintage Sentiment using white card stock. I die cut this 2 times, then adhered each letter together with liquid glue. I then heat embossed a piece of white cardstock with a green/gold embossing powder. Once this was dry I die cut the hugs sentiment one more time. I then adhered the embossed letters on the top with liquid glue. On the shadow layer I added distress oxides, as well as distress ink to the edges. I adhered my sentiment, as well as a few gems from the Treasure Chest Fairy Gemstones collection.

    I had a lot of fun creating today’s card! I will be back soon with more inspiration!


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