Technique – die cutting

Featuring die cutting

Spring Pebbles

Hello friends!

Easter may be over, but the rain showers we just had are a clear indicator that spring definitely isn’t over just yet!

Today I’m playing along with the Case This Sketch challenge and used the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge mood board as inspiration.

I’ve had the Simon Says Stamp Pebbles die on my wish list for a LONG time and snapped it up in their Christmas sale. Of course, it’s taken me AGES to actually use it!

Anyway, I loved Lisa Addesa’s inspiration and decided to use here technique of colouring an embossed version of the die. Rather than use pens, I chose my under-used Nuvo Jewel Drops which provide the prefect spring palette!

To finish of the card, I added a few Nuvo drops and a die from Mama Elephant.

I’m also entering this into the current Simon Says Stamp Flickr challenge – die cutting.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Layered dahlia

Hi friends!

I am back with my entry into the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge!

I used the Birch Press Design Dahlia Mini Frame Layer Set to cut into three panels that I’d coloured with Distress Oxide Inks. I layered them onto a background panel and inlaid the centres of the petals which I had cut from glitter cardstock.

I added a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp to finish off my card.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Framed Bunny

Happy Good Friday!

I don’t really create many cutesy cards… except at Easter time it seems! I guess I just can’t resist those sweet bunnies!

Today’s card uses dies from three companies – Memory Box (bunny), Lawn Fawn (eggs) and Simon Says Stamp (frame).

I’m entering this into the current Simon Says Stamp Flickr challenge – die cutting.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

More Easter Cuties

Hello everyone!

I just can’t get enough of the Simon Says Stamp Peeking Bunny and Peeking Chick dies!

Here’s another quick Easter card that I created using the dies with a Clearly Besotted sentiment stamp.

Thanks to Shari Carroll for the inspiration!

I’m entering this into the current Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge – die cutting.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Semi Shadow box card

Good morning friends!

It’s time for a new Crafts-U-Love Design Team post! This month I received the amazingly intricate Organic Tim Holtz background die *  and a pack of paper by the Paper Boutique *.

I immediately started pondering a way of showcasing the beautiful die with the papers… and here’s what I came up with – I’m calling this my semi shadow box card! I knew I wanted to raise the die cut background and while I probably could have used a couple of layers of foam tape, I decided to adapt a pop-up shadow box card. There are tons of tutorials online – Jennifer McGuire has a super video here,  but I decided to create a quick step-by-step too!

Step 1 – Die cut the background die on watercolour paper

As this die is incredibly intricate, I used a metal shim when I ran this through my cutting machine. . You can see that this background die doesn’t create a frame, so you can easily create a bigger die cut panel if you want one.

 

 

 

Step 2 – Colour the image using distress inks

I chose a few distress inks which I smooshed onto a craft sheet, diluted with water and started to colour. So relaxing!

You can see that I didn’t poke through all the waste pieces at this stage as I prefer to colour with those in situ. At the end of the process, I removed all the spare pieces and coloured any bits that I had missed (there’s always the odd branch here and there!).

Step 3 Create a frame and prepare a card back

I chose a piece of paper from the Paper Boutique pack and cut a frame for the die cut piece from it. I used this frame as a guide to create the back of my card which I cut to the same height. I added 3cms to the width of the frame for the base as the two sides would be folded twice.

I then made four scoring marks on the card base – 1cm and 2cms from the left and right side.

 

Step 4 Score along card back twice on each side

Although I do have a scoring board somewhere, I find it easier to use my trimmer to score card stock.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 5 Fold in the sides of the card

I then folded along the score lines to create a ‘Z’ on each side. I folded inwards at the 2cms score line and then the other way for the 1cm score line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 6 Attach the die cut panel to card back

Before attaching the panel, I added some more paper to the back of my card to provide even more of a contrast for the die cut.

I added some strong adhesive to the sides of the panel – I always reach for Scor-tape which is super strong and has stood the test of time for my cards!

 

I then added the frame on top of the card and finally adhered the Thank You die cut from Creative Expressions to finish off my card.

Although it is only half a box card, it really is amazing stable and I didn’t need to used anything to prop it up!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Products marked with a ‘*’ were sent to me by Crafts-U-Love for this DT assignment.