Category: Uncategorized

  • Dimensional Butterfly Card | By Leigh Houston

    Dimensional Butterfly Card | By Leigh Houston

    Hello, friends! I’m so happy to be here today to share this dimensional butterfly card I made with Birch Press Designs’s Lovely Butterflies stamp set. This set is perfect if you’re a butterfly lover like me!

    I started this card with a panel of dark blue cardstock. I used white pigment ink to blend a halo in the center of the card where my butterfly would be. I then embossed my sentiment from the Lovely Butterflies set with white embossing powder and added white splatters to give the card a night sky look.

    I always keep my leftover negative die cuts from my Birch Press dies, so I chose some foliage and stars from the Avalon Layer A die. I colored the pieces with alcohol markers and accented them with layers of gouache on top.

    For my butterfly, I stamped the image on white 110# cardstock. I then used gouache paint to paint the butterfly’s wings. I decided I wanted to make the butterfly look like it is flying, so I stamped the image once again and colored it with markers matching the gouache paints I had selected (this was a time-saver over painting a second butterfly).

    To assemble my card, I adhered the marker-colored butterfly and my foliage onto my card base. I then folded my painted butterfly up the middle and adhered it to the bottom butterfly along the crease. This creates such a beautiful effect of the butterfly’s wings rising up from the card.

    I hope you enjoyed this project! Links to the products I used are below. Thank you for stopping by today, and I’ll see you again soon with another card project!


    Supplies


    8150 Lovely Butterflies clear stamp and die set
    CL8150 Lovely Butterflies clear stamp set
    57095 Avalon Frame Layer A
  • Stretching Dies! | by Jennifer Svare

    Stretching Dies! | by Jennifer Svare

    Hello! Today I am celebrating the birth of my beautiful niece, Ava Rose! In honor of her, I have made some festive cards using the Grandiose Bevel Plate Set and a banner using the Lumina Set. I love being able to come up with whatever word fits the occasion, and I used the dies from the Mod Alphabet Stamp and die set. Each letter in this set has two dies; one for the top layer, and one for the base. I used black for the base, with a color for the top.

    Notice in the above photo, there are two sizes of cards shown. The one on the left is a standard A2 size using the die set as it is. The cards on the right utilize the repeating pattern of the same die to make a larger card than the die! These cards are not quite as large as slimline cards, but very close and would fit in the slimline envelopes.

    To accomplish this, I needed to do some partial die cutting. I know that when I first heard of this technique, I was intimidated and it seemed complicated. Please try this! It’s easy, fast, and opens up so many possibilities to die cutting. Here are some photos of the process.

    Notice the top cutting plate does not cover the bottom of the die. To extend this die cut pattern, we don’t want the end to be cut out. Anything under the top cutting plate will cut, anything not under the top cutting plate will not cut. Here’s what we get below:

    Next, we need to just line up die. This is done by overlapping the pattern a little with the die, so the die can “click” into the cut piece, thus lining everything up perfectly for extending. If you don’t feel it “lock” into place, sometimes it is helpful to line it up from the back, as shown below.

    Next, place the top cutting plate over the die, but remember we don’t want the end of the die to cut our pattern so we partially cut once again, as shown below on the cutting plates.

    Here is the result:

    The finished piece measures 3.25 inches by 7.5 inches. To leave a small border around the design, I cut the card base slightly larger. Note: the dies, when stacked, have a bevel effect on one edge as shown in the “Yay!” card. I cut that bevel off with my trimmer (after gluing the layers together) so it did not have a bevel, as shown below:

    The banner was so much fun to make, and super easy! I used the Lumina Layer Set in various colors. Even though the die cuts a full 4.25 x 5.5 design, I simply used scraps over the part I wanted to cut, as shown below:

    Once the layers were cut and glued together, I glued that piece to a circle that closely matched the size of the design.

    The circle creates a base to be folded over twine or ribbon. This is a one-sided banner, but to make the pattern visible from both front and back, simply glue another design onto the back… or use a different full circle design from Birch Press Design and fold in half. I love dies that have so much versatility!

    I embellished each center with some Fairy Sugar glitter glue in matching colors, along with some heart-shaped sequins.

    Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope these projects inspire your next celebration!


    Supplies


    56102 Grandiose Bevel Plate Layer Set
    56097 Lumina Layer Set
    8139 Mod Alphabet clear stamp and die set
  • Red, White & Blue | by Crystal Komara

    Red, White & Blue | by Crystal Komara

    Hello readers! This is Crystal here with you today sharing a patriotic inspired card. I don’t know if anyone actually sends 4th of July cards or not, but this idea would also work well for members of the military or law enforcement. The first time I saw the Mini Dazzle Bevel Layering Plates, I knew immediately that I wanted to create a flag in strips of red, white and blue.

    In order to fit all three strips of the Mini Dazzle Bevel Layering Plates on this card, I had to size the card’s dimensions to 5 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ square.

    Here is a step-by-step YouTube video tutorial showing how I created this card:

    I hope you have enjoyed seeing a patriotic spin on this card! Thank you for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day.

    Supplies

    56105 Mini Dazzle Bevel Plate Layer Set

    GP1003 Twinkling Jewel Glitter Pad

  • No-line Watercolor with Magnificent Sunflower Embossing Folder | by Ardyth Percy-Robb

    No-line Watercolor with Magnificent Sunflower Embossing Folder | by Ardyth Percy-Robb

    Good morning! Ardyth here with a kind of accidental discovery. I was playing with this Memory Box Open Source Magnificent Sunflower embossing folder, wondering what to do with it. So often our embossing folders make amazing backgrounds, but this sunflower was crying out for centre stage!

    First, here’s a look at the sandwich I used in my Gemini Junior – embossing folder with Bristol Smooth cardstock inside, rubber embossing mat and bottom/cutting plate. That’s it. Nothing on top. If you don’t have an embossing mat, you could use some cardstock as a shim to get the desired pressure to give you a crisp impression:

    The rest was really quite simple. I used some watercolour markers and an aqua brush to colour the sunflower, building up layers of colour for visual interest:

    The ink kind of settles into the details of the flower and leaves so it was really easy to get a no-line look with minimal effort! And it looks dimensional because, well, it is!

    To finish it off, I stamped a sentiment from Lingo Thanks clear stamp set.


    Supplies


    EF1008 Magnificent Sunflower
    CL8143 Lingo Thanks
  • Highlighting Sentiments | By Leigh Houston

    Highlighting Sentiments | By Leigh Houston

    Hello, friends! I am so happy to be here today to share this card I made featuring my favorite Birch Press Designs sentiments. I really wanted the sentiments to take center stage on this clean and simple card!

    To start my card, I made a card base using the Birch Press Designs Amour Layering Set. I cut the base using Amour Layer A, then layered smaller hearts mounted with foam tape from Amour Layers B and C. I colored in the smallest hearts using an aqua alcohol marker. This provided the perfect simple but pretty card base for the sentiments.

    I then die cut my sentiments from heavy 110# cardstock. I used small sponge daubers and my favorite shades of Distress Oxide Inks to ink blend a rainbow gradient onto the sentiments. I stamped the “and” from Birch Press’s You Are Awesome stamp set, which has such a wonderful array of sentiments (this one definitely makes my “most used” list of stamp sets!) A few sparkly sequins and this clean and simple card was finished!

    I hope you enjoyed this project! Products used are listed below. I’ll see you soon with another card project. Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!


    Supplies


    56042 Amour Layer Set
    57042 Amour Layer A
    57043 Amour Layer B
    57044 Amour Layer C
    Sending Sugar Script
    Love Sugar Script
    Hugs Sugar Script
    Thanks Sugar Script
    CL8151 You Are Awesome clear stamp set

  • Grateful Leaf Frames – Slim Line Card! | By Desiree Kuemmerle

    Grateful Leaf Frames – Slim Line Card! | By Desiree Kuemmerle

    Hello Everyone and Welcome Back!

    For today’s project, I just had to revisit the Grateful Leaf Frames Stamp Set! I thought one of the images was perfect for a Slim Line Card and I just had to use my colored pencils.

    Let’s gather our cardstock and ink we will need to get our project started! First let’s cut a piece of Bristol cardstock to 2 ½ in x 6 in and a mat cut to 2 ¾ in x 6 1/4in and set them aside. Now since we are making a slim line card, we need a special size for our card base. I cut mine to 6 in x 6 ¼ in and scored this panel at 3 in along the 6 in length.

    I went back to my piece of Bristol Card stock and stamped my imaged using a very pale ink so I could use the no-line coloring technique with my colored pencils. Also at this time I stamped my sentiment using a pale grey ink.

    After all my coloring was completed and layered my card stocks together using my liquid adhesive!

    Added a few drops for embellishment and there we have it, a simple slim card design!

    As always, I hope you enjoyed today’s project… and if you want to see more details just click on the video below and see how these projects come together step by step!

    Make sure you stay tuned for more wonderful projects coming soon! Have a great day and always remember… Be Creative!


    Supplies


    CL8147 Grateful Leaf Frames clear stamp set
  • Dad you rock! | by Kimberly Wiener

    Dad you rock! | by Kimberly Wiener

    Hello Birch Press Design fans! How about this for a great modern masculine card? The Prismatic Triangle Layers Set is perfect for any Father’s Day card. Which, I might add is currently on a great sale!

    The sentiment that I used for this card is the Big Birthday Sugar Script. I ran the die six times cutting and piecing, making the word dad, and then layered it three times.

    The stacked word was added to a 1/2 inch black card stock strip that was embossed in white with the “You Rock” sentiment from the Best Friend Clear Stamp Set.

    I used Layer C for the brilliant blue bottom layer. The coloring medium is Brusho Color Crystal Inks in Turquoise and Ultramarine spritzed with water onto Open Studio Watercolor Paper. This layer was cut in half and splatters were added with a white gel pen.

    I ran the Layer A die onto white card stock and once again onto the gorgeous yellow Jewel Glitter Paper. I cut this layer in half. Two triangles were cut from the glitter paper and added to the white layer for a subtle sparkle of color.

    Once the white and yellow glitter layer are affixed to the blue layer, I added double foam tape on both pieces as well as the sentiment strip that I nestled in between them. I sure hope that you will experiment with this fun and versatile die set.


    Supplies


    GP1003 Twinkling Jewel Glitter Pad
    CL8132 Best Friend clear stamp set
    56091 Prismatic Triangle Layer Set
    57207 Big Birthday Sugar Script
    WP101 Watercolor Paper
  • 6 card ideas for Epiphany Layered Dies set | by Ardyth Percy-Robb

    6 card ideas for Epiphany Layered Dies set | by Ardyth Percy-Robb

    Let’s face it. Big layered die sets like Epiphany are an investment in your craft room. And when you make an investment, you want to be sure to get value, right?

    Each plate is really 3 in 1 – you get a circle, a ‘wreath’ and the rectangle outline. Multiply that by 3 plates and that’s like getting 9 dies. You can mix and match, stack or use single layers.

    Start adding in different colours and specialty cardstocks like glitter or mirror and the possibilities are really endless.

    Sometimes, you don’t have to have the die cuts on your card at all! I used die cuts as stencils to create a layered look on a flat piece of cardstock. Check out that ‘dimension’!

    And by inkblending over the die cuts, I ended up with more pieces to use on cards:

    Using black instead of white gives an intense, dramatic contrast!

    For a completely different look I used the top layer of the smallest piece to create the look of stained glass.

    Here’s a video showing how I used Epiphany to make 6 different cards.

    I hope you’re inspired to try some of these, or find other looks of your own!

    Supplies

    56098 Epiphany Plate Layer Set

    57250 Epiphany Plate Layer A

    57251 Epiphany Plate Layer B

    57252 Epiphany Plate Layer C

    CL8151 You Are Awesome clear stamp set

    57201 Big Hello Sugar Script

  • Dimension and Texture – String Art Frame Die! | By Desiree Kuemmerle

    Dimension and Texture – String Art Frame Die! | By Desiree Kuemmerle

    Hello Everyone and Welcome Back!

    For today’s project, I used the String Art Frame Die to add dimension and texture to our card’s backgrounds!

    As before we start out by getting our die cuts ready and cutting our pattern paper down to the size of our card front which is 4 ¼ in x 5 ½ in!

    We will then trace a line from the center of the die cut to our pattern paper and use a slightly larger circle die to cut out our shape from our pattern paper.

    Let the gluing begin, using our liquid adhesive we will attached out die cut front to our pattern paper. By the way we cut our circle shapes from our paper we will create different focal areas for our sentiments!

    Our sentiment is stamped on the center cut out from our die plate and then placed onto our circle cut out from the pattern paper earlier!

    As always, I hope you enjoyed today’s project… and if you want to see more details just click on the video below and see how these projects come together step by step!

    Make sure you stay tuned for more wonderful projects coming soon! Have a great day and always remember… Be Creative!


    Supplies


    57327 String Art Frame
    CL492 Friendship and Kindness
  • Birch Press Designs Stitched Dahlia Heart Cards | By Leigh Houston

    Birch Press Designs Stitched Dahlia Heart Cards | By Leigh Houston

    Hello, crafty friends! I am so happy to be here today sharing two stitched cards I created with Birch Press Designs’s Dahlia Heart die. I had so much fun making these cards!

    I created these cards using Dahlia Heart Layer A. I started my first card by die cutting the heart with a scrap piece of cardstock. I then used this scrap piece as a stencil, coloring in the segments with alcohol markers. I then cut a fresh piece of the heart shape with clean cardstock and affixed it over the colored base with strong liquid adhesive. After the glue dried, it was time to stitch! I poked holes along the inner edges of each segment then used a simple backstitch in coordinating thread.

    After the stitching was complete, I trimmed around the perimeter of the heart. I affixed it to a cardstock base I made with Birch Press’s Amour Layer A die. I die cut my sentiment from gold foil cardstock using Birch Press’s Hugs Sugar Script die.

    My second card takes the stitching to another level. I started my card in the exact same way as the first, coloring in the segments using the stencil then affixing a clean heart over top. I then filled in the flower segments using a brick stitch. This stitch is another simple backstitch in rows, with each row staggered. This was the perfect project for a night of watching bad TV! LOL To finish this card, I embossed a white cardstock base using Birch Press’s Ring Tile Stencil and added a stitched coral cardstock strip behind the heart. The gold Sugar Script Smile sentiment finished the card off perfectly!

    I hope you enjoyed these projects as much as I loved making them! Links to the products I used are below. I’ll see you soon with more card projects!


    Supplies


    57244 Dahlia Heart Layer A
    57042 Amour Layer A
    42030 Ring Tike Stencil
    Hugs Sugar Script
    Smile Sugar Script