Missing You

Hi there friends, I know two days in a row--LOL!

I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today using the Tranquility Layers dies and the new Brush Sentiments stamp set. These cards are perfect to send to someone you have been missing during the pandemic.

I began by cutting two each of the Tranquility Layers die set using white heavyweight cardstock. I usually save this cardstock for my card bases. However when I want the main die cut image or sentiment to really stand out I do use the heavier weight cardstock.

I cut one die from the Tranquility Layers die set through a 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" panel of white cardstock. Then I taped the panel to another panel of the same size with low tack tape. This creates a well for the die cuts for blending colour on to them.

I glued each layer together before I added colour to them, I usually do the gluing after but I am trying something different. Starting with Layer A, the one with the largest openings, I set the die cut into the well so that it doesn't move around while I blend colour on to it. I kept the centre in place when blending my colours. You could do the centres in a completely different colour but for today I am treating it as a whole. I started with a very light hand blending a rainbow of pink, red, peach, yellow and green on a diagonal. I used Distress Oxide inks.

Next I moved Layer B into the well and did the same colours this time putting more colour down but still not heavy handed.

Finally I put Layer C into the well, this is the die cut that has the smallest size of holes. I used the same colours but I put these on with a heavy hand to really show the depth of the colours.

This is what my stencil well looked like after blending. then after I removed the top panel! To pretty to toss away. Can you see that while I was blending over the layers that it created another image on the bottom panel under the well. We will get to that later on. I will set it aside for now.

To finish out this card I glued the three thick layers together and the results are gorgeous. The double thick die cuts add so much more dimension. Thanks Jennifer McGuire for the tip!

I cut a 5 1/4" x 4 1/4" panel using Radial Pinpoint cover die as a background for my mandala. Next I cut the Hello Honey Script die three times with heavyweight while cardstock and glued it together. I did not use the shadow, only the word. This will sit in the centre of the mandala. Before gluing everything down I stamped the sentiment "I miss seeing you' from the Brush Sentiments clear stamp set on the bottom right corner of the Radial Pinpoint cover die. I added a few Pastel Fairy Jewels to finish it off.

I didn't think I was going to use the panel that underneath my well, but it was too pretty not to use. what happened next was an embossing mistake I think all of us have made at one time or another. I had my plates mixed up in my sandwich and instead of embossing over the image I cut it with the Layer A die and all the teeny tiny pieces! I was too far into it now to back out, so I put a piece of double sided adhesive paper on to the back of the die cut to pick all the pieces up together. That worked great but now the front of my die cut was surrounded by adhesive. Out came the scissors and I fussy cut around the outside of the die to get rid of it. Then I put the mandala onto a panel of cardstock that was a bit smaller than the card base, added a sentiment also from the Brush Sentiments clear stamp set and added some Bright Fairy Jewels.

Thanks so much for stopping in today, have a fabulous weekend.

Rainbow Butterfly Mini Slimline

 

Today I am posting on the Birch Press Design blog with a mini slimline card using some of the newest products Birch Press Design. We are seeing slimline and mini slimline cards all the time these days and what is the CORRECT size? Well that varies when you start to do a bit of research. If you look at it as more of a range, which is what I am doing, a mini slimline card bases seem to be anything between 3 - 3 1/2" x 6 - 6 1/2". Really a card base can be whatever you want it to be! Today my card base is 3 1/2" x 6 1/2" which I made by cutting a 7" x 6 1/2" piece of cardstock and scoring it on the 7" side at 3 1/2". Okay done, and set aside.

I started with a panel of Bristol Smooth cardstock and I ink blended an 8 colour rainbow on an angle with Distress Oxide Inks. Once I was done I cut a solid butterfly from the panel using the newly released Butterfly Basics die set. I also cut a butterfly body from black cardstock. Then using the Eloquent Butterfly die set I cut Layer A only from black cardstock. I glued the black layer over the ink blended butterfly, added the butterfly body. I set this aside for now.

I cut all three layers of the Dazzle Mini Frame die set from white cardstock. The layers were glued together and  how beautiful is that? It is going to be the frame to set my colourful butterfly over.

The last element I needed was my sentiment. I used the Handwritten Thanks and Outline die. I cut the shadow from black and the script sentiment two times from white. All the pieces were glued together to form a dimensional sentiment. It would have been ever more dramatic if I had cut a third white sentiment but two seemed just enough to give my card a lift without being too in your face.

ry I assembled the card. White cardbase, Dazzle Mini Frame glued tot he top of the card base, the colourful butterfly adhered to the Dazzle frame with foam tape and the Thanks adhered to the bottom of the card.

To finish up I added a few rainbow bright fairy jewels to the butterfly body and wow I was so pleased with the end result!

Thank you so much for stopping in today and I hope you pop over to the Design Blog and say hello!

No Cardstock? Use a Gel Press to make your own!

Hi there I am up on the Birch Press Design blog today with a card using the new Arista Layer dies set.

I created my own paper to use on my project using the Gel Press.

After making my card I realized that a lot of people are unfamiliar with what a gel press is? It is literally a piece of gel that you can put ink on, then lay your paper down on it and when you lift it up it transfers the ink to the paper in unique ways! I made a quick little video to show you the process I used for my background.

I used using Kitsch Flamingo and Salvaged Patina Distress Oxide inks to create the background panel. The fun with using the gel press is that every single print you make will be 100% unique. I set the panel aside to work on the focal die cut.

I had already made a panel using pink and yellow Distress Oxide inks--Kitsch Flamingo and Scattered Straw . I cut the Arista medallion, using only Layer B to showcase the amazing embossed detail on the die. I die cut it once from the pink/yellow panel and then two more times in white. I glued the three layers together to give it a bit of dimension.

The background was trimmed down to 5 1/4" x 4" and adhered to a white top folding card base for foam tape for even more dimension. Trimming the panel down leaves a nice 1/8" border around it. A simple detail that really steps up your overall clean and simple card design.

A sentiment from the new Classic Sentimental Wreath stamp set was stamped on the front of the card, leaving room above for the Arista medallion.

The medallion was attached using foam tape which gives it even more fabulous dimension. I added a few of the pink Open Studio Fairy Jewels to the medallion for just a bit of sparkle! These self adhesive jewels are a great addition to your craft supplies.

Thank you for stopping by today!

Rainbow Butterfly

Hi there and Happy Mother's Day to all the mother's visiting here today. I am on the Birch Press Designs blog today sharing a project using a couple of newly released products from Birch Press Design!

The new Rainbow Days Lingo Notes stamp set was starting point for my card. I stamped the rainbow off the card on the left side with embossing ink and white heat embossed it.

I stamped the rainbow on to a full adhesive Post-it Note and trimmed it use as a mask. I masked off the rainbow and then ink blended a sky with Broken China and Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide inks. Once the blend was done I splattered some diluted white acrylic paint on to the panel. When that was dry I smooshed some Broken China Distress Oxide ink on to an acrylic block with a bit of water and then splattered that on to the panel.

Once the mask was removed I coloured the bands of the rainbow using my ZIG Clean Color Real Brush watercolor markers blending the colours out with a water brush and set aside to dry.

I blended a panel of Bristol Smooth cardstock about the size of the butterfly in the Eloquent Butterly Layer die set. I blended on an angle a rainbow of Festive Berries, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Mowed Lawn and Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide inks. I cut Layer A of the Eloquent Butterfly from Vellum. Layer A has beautiful embossed details on it that look stunning on the vellum. It was glued to the centre of the Layer C ink blended butterfly and set aside.

Now that all the pieces were completed I white embossed a sentiment from the Rainbow Days Lingo Notes stamp set on the top centre of the sky. Then the butterfly was attached to the end of the rainbow on a slight angle.

The panel was attached to a white top folding card base with foam tape for some life and the final touch was to add to pearls to the body of the butterfly.

This was such a fun card to make, a few different techniques with such a pretty end result.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Birthday Tulips

Happy Friday! I hope that you are seeing the tulips blooming in your garden. There is lots of green popping up in my garden but living in the woods I never know exactly what it is, until it blooms! Spring came a bit early this year so maybe they will all bloom at once.

For today's card I used Layers A and C of the Birch Press Design Field of Blooms die set. I started out by dry embossing Layer C on into an A2 sized piece of white cardstock. Dry embossing gives a similar effect as using an embossing folder, but usually it's not as sharp of an image. For all intents and purposes this works out just fine.

Using Copic markers I coloured over the image that was embossed so that the colours would show through Layer A which is on top. I didn't worry about colouring perfectly, in fact my colouring is quite messy, but because it is being covered with Layer A there is no need for perfection. The picture below was my practice piece so that you can see what I mean by messy. I changed the colour scheme on a new embossed panel and realized I didn't snap a picture until I had glued all the layers together, but this gives you an idea of what I did.

After I finished colouring I set the panel aside. I die cut two of Layer A from white cardstock and then glued the two layers over Layer C. The whole panel was then glued to a top to an A2 top folding card base. 

The sentiment is made up of the Big Lingo Type Happy. I cut three of the shadow using white cardstock and glued them together to make the word chunkier then I cut the detail layer from black cardstock. The second line of the sentiment is from the Crystal Lingo clear stamp set. It was white heat embossed on black cardstock and trimmed down.

Happy was glued directly to the card front and the second line was popped up using foam tape. Now the card has both positive and negative dimension. Positive because both lines of the sentiment protrude and negative because the two top layers add negative perspective of the tulips!

Thanks so much for stopping in today and crafting with me.  Take another look at your layered cover die sets and think of ways you can mix and match the dies. Whether you are adding more layers or using less, or even cutting multiples of the same layer--one change can create a completely different look!

This is also colouring for Kathy Racoosin's Daily Marker Mini 30 Day Coloring Challenge and well as for the current Seize the Birthday #212 Spring Flowers.

Spread Kindness this Easter

Time is zooming along again and here it is Easter! I have a fun slimline Easter card on the Birch Press Design blog to share today using some fun new products.

The faceted rectangle from the Crystal Lingo stamp set was white heat embossed on to a 8 1/2" x 3 1/2" panel of Bristol Smooth cardstock. I ink blended over the panel in a rainbow using Distress Oxide inks. The colours are Kitsch Flamingo, Carved Pumpkin, and Twisted Citron Distress Oxide inks and Mustard Seed, Tumbled Glass and Shaded Lilac Distress ink.

The panel was trimmed down to 8 1/4" x 3 1/4" and it was attached to an 8 1/2" x 3 1/2" white card base with foam tape to add a bit of dimension.

I wanted to use the pretty background along with the Petal Layers die set in a way that one wouldn't overpower the other. I cut all three layers from heavyweight white cardstock. I adhered the layers together with liquid adhesive and once dry. 

I decided to use pinks and oranges as my egg colour from the background. You can place your egg anywhere on the card depending on the colours that appeal to you or your recipient.  I chose to place the dimensional egg on a angle. I placed small pieces of foam tape behind the egg to pop it off the  background.

The sentiment from the Blooming Spring clear stamp set was heat embossed and trimmed down and added to he panel with foam tape.

I love the idea of sending someone a landscape, slimline card. So easy to be displayed without tipping over.

Thanks so much for stopping in today!