Birch Press Design

Category: Rosemary Dennis

  • Jingle Bell Poinsettia | by Rosemary Dennis

    Jingle Bell Poinsettia | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello, friends! Rosemary here on the blog today sharing a Christmas card I created using the new Splendid Poinsettia Contour Layers die set. I love poinsettias both real and paper crafted varieties! One of my favorite varieties of poinsettia is the one my local nursery calls “Jingle Bell”. The bright red leaves of this variety are splashed with white. Sometimes you get lots of white on the leaves and sometimes a little less. In case you are wondering why I am referring to them as leaves it is because that is in fact what they are… leaves or the more correct term bracts. The actual flowers on the poinsettia are very tiny and yellow. For my yellow “flowers” I used yellow Fairy Jewels.

    I die cut all the pieces from smooth bristol cardstock and then ink blended the red leaves with Lumberjack Plaid and Aged Mahogany distress oxides and the green leaves with Pine Needles distress oxide. I went with a heavier hand when applying the Pine Needles to the bottom layer of the leaf and a lighter hand for the top to get the variation I wanted.

    I let the red pieces dry for a little bit and then I placed them in my splatter box and splattered them with white gouache that I watered down a little bit. I think I should have used white acrylic paint because my white splatters turned a little pink, but that is okay as it still provides the look I was going for.

    Once everything was dry I adhered all the pieces together using liquid adhesive. I did not glue the pieces together completely, but only at the base of each leaf so I could get a bit of extra dimension. Liquid adhesive was used to adhere all the layers together, as well. When the adhesive was set I used my fingers to give all the leaves a slight curve for even more dimension. Now it was time to create a background. I looked through my layering dies as I had thought I would use one for my background, but then I saw the Pinpoint Snowflake die set and thought that using the die portion that embosses the pinpoint snowflake would be perfect.

    I die cut a piece of white cardstock with a Memory Box rectangle die and then placed the pinpoint snowflake on the left handside and ran it through my die cutting machine. I was going to stop there, but decided to add the snowflake in other areas. Before doing that I did stop to stamp the sentiment from the Glad Tiding stamp set on the white panel with black ink. I then added the additional embossing. I adhered the poinsettia to the panel, added the three fairy jewels and adhered the panel to my white card base with double sided tape.

    I hope you enjoyed today’s card and learned a little something about poinsettias. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

    Supplies

    57385 Pinpoint Snowflake

    57517 Splendid Poinsettia Contour Layers

    cl8164 Glad Tidings clear stamp set

  • Fall Leaves | by Rosemary Dennis

    Fall Leaves | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello! Rosemary here on the blog today. Hard to believe that there are just a fews days left in October. Where has this year gone?! Today I’m sharing a fall inspired sympathy card although that was not my original idea. Originally I had started working on something that would be a small mixed media decor piece. Unfortunately, I went a little overboard and did not like what I had created. Thankfully, I was able to used all of these pretty leaves I had created with mica sprays on today’s card.

    As indicated above I used lots of distress mica sprays to achieve the colors you see in the various leaves. I used the Forest Leaf and Berries Contour Layers and Oval Leaf Branches Contour Layers dies to cut the leaves. I used one of the dies from the Memory Box Curved Cap Pinpoint Layers die set to die cut the arch from kraft cardstock and then stamp it with the sentiment from the Kind Hearts stamp set using VersaFine CLAIR Acorn ink. I inked around the edges of the die cut panel with Aged Mahogany distress ink. I die cut another panel of kraft cardstock with a rectangle die from the Memory Box A2 Rectangle Frames die set and adhered it to an off white cardstock base with double sided adhesive.

    I layered the arched panel on to the card front using foam tape and then built up my swag with the various different leaves. When I originally laid out the pieces for the swag it included the two smaller leaves in the lower corner. However when I started to put everything together they didn’t quite fit and so I added them to the corner instead. I used liquid adhesive to secure all the pieces in place.

    I finished off the card with some autumn fairy jewels on each cluster of leaves. I think they added the perfect little something the card needed.

    I hope you enjoyed today’s card and it inspires you to create something for fall. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

    Supplies

    cl8163 Kind Hearts clear stamp set

    57514 Forest Leaf and Berries Contour Layers

    57525 Oval Leaf Branches Contour Layers

  • Christmas Ornament | by Rosemary

    Christmas Ornament | by Rosemary

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today sharing a card that I had a lot of fun creating using some new and old Birch Press Design products. Take a look at what I created.

    I started off my card by creating my ornament. I used the new Revello Ornament Layer dies to cut my layers from Memory Box Glitzy Glitter cardstock in red and white cardstock. I used the layering ornament from the Christmas Ornament Pop Up Easel die set to die cut the backer from additional red glitter cardstock. I adhered all the pieces with liquid adhesive and then placed an acrylic block on top while it dried. I die cut the bow from green cardstock and the ornament top from white and adhered those with liquid adhesive, as well.

    The I set about creating my holly and berry cluster using the new Jolly Holly Contour Layers die set. As I die cut the two green cardstocks I used I wasn’t sure I would like how they looked layered together, but I really like the contrast that was created. I die cut the berries from red cardstock and the top layer from the same red glitter cardstock. I layered everything with liquid glue and set aside to dry.

    For the background panel I decided to die cut some white woodgrain cardstock with a Memory Box Rectangle Frames die. I wanted a little more texture in the panel so I used the Layer A from the Herbarium Plate layering set to emboss the panel. The look is very subtle, but I like how it turned out. I then inked up the edges of the panel with Old Paper distress ink. I tried to capture the additional texture that was added in the photo below. If you look at the top corner you can see the embossing.

    I needed a branch for my ornament to hang from so I used the leafy branch from the Hillside Branch and Bramble Contour Layers die set. I die cut the branch from kraft woodgrain cardstock and the leaves from the same light green cardstock I used for the holly and the berries from the red glitter cardstock. I layered up everything and then got to building up my card. I finished with a sentiment from the new Glad Tidings stamp set. I stamped the sentiment with black in on a piece of the white woodgrain cardstock that I flipped to the smooth side, die cut the piece and then inked the edges with Old Paper distress ink. I adhered the branch with liquid adhesive and then popped up the ornament and sentiment with foam tape.

    I hope my card inspires you to pull out your Birch Press Design Christmas/holiday products and create some cards! Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day.

    Supplies

    CL8164 Glad Tidings clear stamp set

    57458 Herbarium Plate Layer Set

    57524 Hillside Branch and Bramble Contour Layers

    57512 Jolly Holly Contour Layers

    57455 Christmas Ornament Pop Up Easel

    57464 Revello Ornament Layer Set

    94672 A2 Rectangle Frames Die Set

    GP1007 Glitzy Glitter Pad

  • Hoping Today | by Rosemary Dennis

    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

  • warm wishes | by Rosemary Dennis

    warm wishes | by Rosemary Dennis

    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.

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

    Supplies

    57539 Warm Wishes Vintage Sentiment

    57481 Adornment Pumpkin

    57524 Hillside Branch and Bramble Contour Layers

    56128 Viola Plate Layer Set

    gp1008 Majestic Hues Glitter Pad

  • forever grateful | by Rosemary Dennis

    forever grateful | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hi everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today. August is almost gone and that means that fall is right around the corner! I love fall in the Pacific Northwest. We can have beautiful clear blue-sky days that are slightly crisp, soggy wet ones and things in-between! Today I’m sharing a card that invokes the beautiful fall colors of oak leaves that are so fun to walk through on a crisp fall morning. Take a look.

    If you don’t know yet, Birch Press has a new release in the shop and it is full of beautiful dies that will help you create lovely fall and Christmas inspired projects. Today I’m using the new Adornment Oak Leaf and Hillside Branch and Bramble Contour Layers dies from the release along with a sentiment from the Brushed Sentiments set. A few weeks ago I created a few mixed media type panels using Memory Box mirror cardstock and alcohol inks. One of the panels I created used a piece of orange mirror cardstock from the Rainbow Reflections 6×6 pad. The resulting panel had a very subtle look to it. I was able to die cut something else from it and then used what was left over to die cut the outline of the Adornment Oak Leaf.

    The solid oak leaf was die cut from a piece of watercolor cardstock I had sprayed with several different distress mica sprays in fall colors. I also die cut the bare branches from the Hillside Branch and Bramble Contour Layers die set from the same piece. I adhered the outline leaf to the solid leaf and then arranged and adhered the bare branches. The photo below shows some of the shine and layering of colors from the distress sprays and the alcohol inks.

    I used Memory Box woodgrain cardstock in kraft for the background and die cut it with the second largest die from the Memory Box Curved Cap Pinpoint layers die set. A piece of off white cardstock was die cut with a rectangle die, adhered to my card base and then I layered on the woodgrain panel. I adhered the oak leaf with thin foam squares and added the little twine bow.

    I stamped the sentiment from Brushed Sentiments using a brown ink on off white cardstock, die cut it with the smallest Curved Cap Pinpoint die and adhered it to the panel. I finished off the card with some fall colored fairy jewels from the Autumn pack. I placed three under the sentiment and then scattered a few on the bare branches.

    I hope my card inspired you to get out your fall themed Birch Press Design dies and get going on those fall themed cards! Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

    Supplies

    57524 Hillside Branch and Bramble Contour Layers

    57484 Adornment Oak Leaf

    CL8158 Brush Sentiments clear stamp set

    FP1003 Rainbow Reflections Mirror Pad

    94646 Curved Cap Pinpoint Layers

    jwl004 Autumn Fairy Jewels

    sh44003 Kraft Woodgrain Paper Pack

  • hugs | by Rosemary Dennis

    hugs | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here today sharing a card made with the pretty new Adornment Wreath die from the latest release.

    As I thought about what I wanted to make with products from the new release I started to wonder if I could use cardstock from the Vintage Pastel Mirror with alcohol inks. The cardstock does have a slick finish just like glossy cardstock or Yupo paper. So I decided to give it a try and it worked! I used a bluish-green piece of cardstock from the pad along with several green and one blue alcohol ink. I used my Tim Holtz puffer tool (I don’t know if that it what it is called, lol, but it works for me) to move the ink around until I had it to my liking. Once dry I die cut the solid wreath from that panel.

    As you can see I still have some left over to die cut smaller pieces from or maybe add more alcohol ink. There are two sheets of each color in the pad so I decided to use the second one to die cut the top layer from and adhered that with liquid adhesive.

    For the sentiment I used one of the circle sentiments from the Contempo Greetings stamp and die set. I stamped the sentiment on a corner of the panel I die cut the adornment layer from using watermark ink and then heat embossed in white. I used the circle die from the set to die cut the sentiment. As I have said before the Memory Box woodgrain cardstock is great for adding just a little bit of interest and texture to your background. I think the wreath looks lovely layered on top!

    One of the alcohol inks I used is a pearlescent one. I tried to capture some of the shine it creates with the above photo. Not sure if it worked or not! I used thin foam squares to pop up the wreath and then thicker foam squares doubled up on the circular sentiment. I added the panel to a white cardstock base and then finished with tiny clear Memory Box fairy drops.

    I hope you enjoyed today’s card. If you have some Memory Box mirror cardstock try out your alcohol inks on it. You just might like how things turn out! Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

    Supplies

    CL8160 Contempo Greetings clear stamp set

    57485 Adornment Wreath

    FP1002 Vintage Pastel Mirror Pad

    SH44001 White Woodgrain Paper Pack

    CLD101 Clear Fairy Drops

  • just for you | by Rosemary Dennis

    just for you | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today and I’m sharing another mixed media type card that I created using the new Forest Canopy Layer die set along with a sentiment from the Memory Box Open Studio Gracious Florals stamp and die bundle.

    The new Forest Canopy Layers die set is just gorgeous and there are so many ways that it can be used. I guess I went with a little more of a fallish feel for my card. I used lots and lots of distress sprays and mica sprays for the different layers. You can see all the sprays I used in the next photo.

    After I created all my panels with the different sprays I let them dry. Once dry there were die cut with the different layering dies. I also created the blue background panel and then die cut that with a rectangle die that fits exactly behind the Forest Canopy layers!

    There are dies in the Forest Canopy Layers set that die cut all the little berries and layering leaf pieces. I used liquid adhesive to adhere those to the layer “A” die cut that I had cut from a panel that was sprayed with a walnut stain and Burning Embers distress mica spray to give the look of the branches. Adhering all the layers together can be a bit tricky, but I have a tip to share that will make it much easier. I use my scoring tool to help with alignment.

    I placed the blue background panel in the corner of my scoring tool, apply liquid adhesive to the back of each layer and then carefully place each layer on top. Using liquid adhesive is also helpful in these instances as it gives you a little bit of time to make sure that you have everything lined up. Once I had all my layers adhered I used the scoring tool to add the piece to my card base, as well.

    I finished off the card with a sentiment from the Gracious Floral stamp set that I heat embossed using good embossing powder on vellum cardstock. I wanted the sentiment to stand out against all the layers of berries and leaves, but also not take away from the layers! I thought using vellum cardstock worked perfectly!

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

    Supplies

    57534 Forest Canopy Layer Set

    Supplies

    CL5280D Gracious Floral Clear Stamp and Die Set

  • just a note | by Rosemary Dennis

    just a note | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello! Rosemary here on the blog today sharing a mixed media type card that I created using the gorgeous new Large Cosmos Contour Layer die set, along with Fuddled Leaf Branches Contour Layer die set and a sentiment from the Sugar Script Sentiments 1 set. Let’s have a look.

    My teammate, Natasha, creates the most amazing mixed media projects using her Birch Press products. I was inspired by her to create my card combining by clean and simple with mixed media. I used Tim Holtz distress mica sprays and distress sprays and watercolor cardstock to create my panels.

    I die cut all the pieces and them assembled them using liquid adhesive. After the pieces were dry I added Gilded Distress Foundry Wax to the edges of the petals and the leaves. I used only smallest leaf cluster from the Fuddled Leaf Branches for my card. You have to work quickly when applying the foundry wax since it dries fast. I used my ring finger to apply the wax and then heat set it with my heat tool. Heat setting serves two purposes, it gives the wax the gilded look and it permanently sets it on your project. If you don’t heat set the was, it will simply chip off.

    Once I had the gilding done, I created my background panel. I die cut cream Memory Box woodgrain cardstock and then splattered it with distress mica spray in Tart Cranberry. I had previously foiled the sentiment, so I simply had to die cut a few more blanks and then adhere them to the sentiment. I arranged the flower, leaves and sentiment to the panel with liquid adhesive. I then added my panel to an off-white cardstock base.

    Here is a close up of the flower and leaves showing all that pretty gilding and some of the mica that provides alot of shine in real life.

    I hope my card inspires you to try mixed media in a more clean and simple way. Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

    Supplies

    57500 Fuddled Leaf Branches Contour Layers

    BPF503 Sugar Script Sentiments 1 Hot Foil Plate and Die Sets

    57528 Large Cosmos Contour Layers

  • Simple Friendship Card | by Rosemary Dennis

    Simple Friendship Card | by Rosemary Dennis

    Birch Press has a new release out and today I’m sharing a simple friendship card that I made using the new Curved Leaf Branch Contour Layers die and some Memory Box patterned paper.

    Supplies

    sh44002 Cream Woodgrain Paper Pack

    pp1019 Christmas Jolly 6×6 pack

    Like alot of us I have many different pads of patterned paper, but I often forget to use them. I have a lovely pad of papers from Memory Box called Jolly Christmas. I thought it would be fun to look through the pad to see if there were any that would work for diecutting the Curved Leaf Branch and I found one that would. One side is a dark hunter green plaid and the other is a lighter more aqua green. I thought the extreme contrast between the two would create a fun look and I love how it turned out!

    After die cutting the main leaf from the dark hunter green paper and the layering pieces from the contrasting paper, I die cut the leaf, again, from black cardstock three times then adhered everything together using liquid adhesive. I once, again, turned to the Memory Box woodgrain cardstock to help me create a simple background for my leave. This time I used the cream woodgrain cardstock. I die cut a rectangle of the cardstock and then adhered my leaf with liquid adhesive.

    Now it was time to decide on a sentiment. I was going to stamp one, but then decided to do some hot foiling. So I pulled out the Sugar Script Sentiments 1 set and some matte gold foil. The backside of the woodgrain cardstock is actually rather smooth and since it obviously matched the color of the background perfectly I decided to try foiling on it. And it worked. Not perfectly, but I love the little bit of distressing that resulted. You can see it in the close up photo above. I die cut the sentiment and several “blanks” to adhere behind it so that the sentiment was a little more substantial. I adhered that to the card front with liquid adhesive, as well.

    To finish off the card I tied a simple bow using some gold twine from my stash and adhered it to the leaf with a dot of glue. I also used a dot of glue to adhere down tails of the bow.

    I hope you enjoyed my project today and that you will give hot foiling on the wrong side of woodgrain cardstock a try! Might just like it! Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

    Supplies

    BPF503 Sugar Script Sentiments 1 Hot Foil Plate and Die Sets

    57513 Curved Leaf Branch Contour Layers