Technique – die cutting

Featuring die cutting

Oh Alstroemeria

Hello everyone!

What did you do last weekend? Me? I stamped a gazillion alstroemeria and leaves using the gorgeous Japanese Lily layering stamp set from Altenew. I wasn’t going to buy it at first as I thought it’s a lot of stamping (10 stamps) for one flower. But then I saw Jennifer McGuire’s video using the stamps and I was SOLD! The stamps were quite easy to line up and I think the end result is definitely worth all that stamping! Mind you, once I had the stamps positioned correctly, I decided to make lots of flowers using them. Be warned crafty friends, if you get a card from me this month, there’s a high probability that it’ll contain an alstroemeria or three! I used Altenew inks for the images and the die cut sentiments are from Simon Says Stamp.

For the first card I did, I followed Jennifer’s stamped see-through card technique. I must say using the press n seal to create the front was GENIUS! Once I had the whole front assembled, I couldn’t bring myself to create a hinge on my stamped images as I was sure I would mess it up. So, I made a separate hinge which I then attached to the back panel. Same effect as Jennifer’s card as the back panel still created a small border around the front panel, but this was far less nerve-wracking!

 

I created a hinge for my second card as well, but this time, I just scored and folded my base card/back panel as I didn’t want to have a border like I had on the first card.

My third card was the easiest to create. I lined up and glued the images using Jennifer’s press n seal technique but then I simple attached the whole image panel to the front of a card, added a sentiment and called it done!

I had such fun creating these cards. I love alstroemerias and these images are just so life-like. And thanks, Jennifer McGuire, for the inspiration!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

 

 

Feeling Grateful

Hello everyone!

I am so honoured to be the August guest designer over at the CAS Colours & Sketches challenges blog.

I’ve been experimenting with the challenges I play in and this was one that I discovered more recently. I love that it’s still a weekly challenge and the team alternates between colour palette and sketch-based challenges. The first challenge this month is a colour palette challenge.

The colours were quite a challenge for me but they did feel quite autumnal so I pulled out my foliage and floral dies and got to work.

The team uses Stampin Up! colour names as a reference but I was able to match up the colours quite well using distress inks. To create the background, I smooshed some Blueprint Sketch distress ink onto my base card and when it was dry, I blended another layer on top. I cut an oval from a square piece of white card and layered that on top of my base.

To create the die cut image, I blended a mix of Fired Brick (in oxide format) and Rusty Hinge to create a shade which I felt was close to Cajun Craze and on a separate piece of card I blended Peeled Paint and Forest Moss. I cut the panels using a couple of older Poppystamps dies and positioned them on the blue oval. To finish off the card, I added an embossed sentiment from My Favorite Things.

I am totally grateful to the team for inviting me as GD this month. Check out their amazing inspiration on the CAS Colours & Sketches challenges blog.

I hope you can play along too!

Have a great day

LucieG

 

Copper butterflies

Hello everyone!

Today I’m playing along with a couple of my favourite challenges – the Color Throwdown and Freshly Made Sketches.

The Color Throwdown’s palette this week is very neutral – black, white and copper and so I spent quite a while pondering how I would use it. I remembered my Bellina Butterfly Triptych dies which I hadn’t used for a while and thought they’d be perfect as I have so many butterflies in my garden at the moment. And of course, they would work well with the Freshly Made Sketches challenge. For the fourth square, I decided to use the largest butterfly from the Devyn Butterfly Trio set. Funny story, as I was making the card, I was struck by how similar the butterflies were and congratulated myself for using them all together. When I was putting my supplies away, I realised they are all Poppystamp dies and the packaging actually suggests using them all together! Honestly!

Anyway, to finish off my card, I added a stamped sentiment from Clearly Bestotted.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

 

One in a million

Good morning everyone!

It’s time for my next project for the Crafts-U-Love design team and I decided to do something a bit different for today!

I received some pretty Prima Marketing 12×12 paper and the Marianne Designs Rosettes & Labels Collectables dies. Although I have MOUNTAINS of patterned paper, I rarely use it nowadays as I prefer to make my own backgrounds, but I was determined to include it in my DT card for today!

I decided that an ‘impossible card’ would be a great way to show off that pretty paper.

An impossible card is made from one piece of cardstock which is cut and folded in a couple of places. There are loads of tutorials online, but I thought I’d run through my process today. I haven’t included measurements as you can vary them according to the size of your project.  The size of my card was driven by the rosette die which I knew I wanted to use on the bit that stands up

Step 1 – set up and cut your base card

 (Click to enlarge image)

I started by drawing the cut and fold lines on my base card in pencil and then cut it in the three places as indicated by the unbroken line. The key with this project is to make sure that the three vertical cuts reach the horizontal centre (dotted) line.

 

Step 2 – twist/fold the right side of the card

Firmly hold the left side of the card and then twist the right side of the card up and then back. Fold along the centre – use a bone folder to smooth down the fold/crease.

Step 3 – lift up the centre flap

 

Lift up the centre rectangle and fold backwards. Use the bone folder to ‘sharpen’ the fold.  The centre flap should stand up of its own accord.

Step 4 – decorate the creation!

And there you have it, the impossible card, ready for decoration! I erased the visible pencil lines and adhered patterned paper. I added the rosette which I had made with the Marianne Design dies and a Penny Black stamp.

 

 

 To finish off the card, I added a few die cut stars.

 

This is what the card looks like from the reverse and underneath (obviously I’d erase my pencil marks before using the card!). I still can’t believe how this can be created from one sheet with a couple of cuts and folds! The card can be flattened and popped in a regular envelope.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Supply List

Here are the links to the products I used on my card. Products marked with an asterisk (*) were kindly sent to me to use.

Marianne Designs Rosettes & Labels Collectables dies *

Prima Cherry Blossom 12″ x 12″ Paper – Transformation *

Penny Black Clear Stamp Set – Grateful Heart

Core’dinations Silver Mist 12″ x 12″ Glitter Cardstock

Distress Oxide ink 

 

 

Sea you soon

Happy Sunday everyone!

There’s a nautical/beach theme for the current Memory Box challenge which gave me the perfect opportunity to finally open up the Under the Sea Collage die – I’ve had it for a while but for some reason I had never used it!

I started by creating an ocean background with distress oxide inks on glossy paper. I mounted the Under the Sea Collage die on top of the background using funky foam and then added a few seaweed stalks on the background and on the frame. Finally I added a sentiment from a Paper Smooches set.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Glittery holly berries

 

Hi everyone!

I’ve been playing with more Christmas supplies that I bought in the January sales. I’ve really enjoyed Christmas in July and plan to continue it into August!

For this card I used a holly die from Penny Black and a Tim Holtz stencil. The sentiment is by Clearly Besotted.

I coloured the leaves and berries using regular distress ink and used distress oxide to create the stencilled panel. To finish off the card, I added some Nuvo red gliiter drops. I really love how these dry in a beautiful dome! I’ve finally found a way of creating dots and easily adding them to my project when dry – I use waxy paper! I had previously used acetate and a clear block but it was so difficult to remove the dried dots! They comeoff the waxy paper very easily indeed!

I’m entering this into the current Color Throwdown challenge (red, green and grey), Freshly Made Sketches challenge and the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge (Christmas in July).

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.