Technique – die cutting

Featuring die cutting

Puffed up

Hi there!

I’m back with another Crafts-U-Love DT card.

Earlier this month I shared how I used the Studio Light stamp and die set to create a paper-pieced card. Today I’m using one of the dies from the set plus another item I received in my DT pack – the intriguingly-named ‘white fluffy stuff’ by Cosmic Shimmer.

It has been YEARS since I played with this sort of product. I recall buying something similar the first Christmas that I was crafting and used it on Santa beards! The Cosmic Shimmer version is very similar… but my style had changed and I was concerned that the Fluffy Stuff might be a little too…. heavy… for the countryside scene that I was originally planning to make as my second card using the Studio Light set.

In the end, I settled on a masked ink blended background to showcase the Fluffy Stuff. I used just one die from the set and cut it several times before masking off a section of my base card and then adding the trees on top.

I gently blended four shades of distress ink (Antique Linen, Victorian Velvet, Seedless Preserves and Dusty Concord) and then removed the masks to reveal my white trees! Then I die cut the Creative Expressions Merry Christmas die a few times from card, adhered the layers together and then onto my card. I planned to add a top layer cut from gold glitter card but as I would be using a heat tool for the Fluffy Stuff, I thought it may be safer to add the glitter layer after heating the Fluffy Stuff.

Once my sentiment was in place, I started to play with the Fluffy Stuff. I wanted to create smaller dots of snow, so I tested the dot size on a piece of spare card. A little goes a LONG way.

In the end, I added very small dots to my base card – I needed quite a steady hand as the Fluffy Stuff flows freely from the bottle and I didn’t want to apply too much by accident!

 

 

Then I got to work heating the Fluffy Stuff! Once this stuff gets hot it certainly puffs up – and actually puffs up a lot more than I expected! And that is where I made a mistake! I was convinced that the two small dots in the bottom left should puff a little more… so I went back to heat them a little more. Result = burnt Fluffy Stuff.

 

 

 

Well I guess this would be ok if I was creating an image of a Baked Alaska but this is not the look I was going for on this particular card!Luckily, once cool, the Fluffy Stuff comes off really easily! Phew!

 

 

 

 

Actually, I managed to knock off a couple of my fluffed up dots when I was adding the top layer of the sentiment. So to prevent this from happening when I added some shimmer to the trees, I positioned a couple of clear blocks on the card to ensure my hand was away from the paper.

In hindsight, I would use the Fluffy Stuff as my very last element to reduce the risk of losing some dots.

 

 

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.

Studio Light tree stamps and dies*

Cosmic Shimmer Fluffy Stuff*

Distress inks

Creative Expressions Merry Christmas die

Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Midas Touch

Day 26 – 25 Days of Christmas Tags 2018

Hi everyone!

I’m playing along with Tracey McNeely’s 25 Days of Christmas Tags event again this year.

Day 26 is a bonus day with A Jillian Vance Designs as sponsor. As usual, the designers had come up with some amazing inspiration and I was particularly taken by two tags using a deer head with glasses! So quirky! Now, unfortunately I don’t have any glasses dies, but I decided to create my own take on Rosemary Dennis’s tag.

I used an old Tim Holtz/Sizzix die that I have had for AGES, but rarely use nowadays as it’s one of those thick BIGZ dies and has been banished to the depths of a cupboard. So glad I came across it by chance on Saturday and that I can use it so quickly after!

I added glitter ornaments from my beloved Pretty Pink Posh Festive tree die set and adhered the whole image to a tag cut from Basic Grey. Ah, I still miss Basic Grey! Just as well I have a small mountain of it still!

I’ve loved this challenge even more this year! It’s been such fun stepping outside my comfort zone from time to time and using a variety of my festive supplies – old and new alike!

Thanks to Tracey and all the designers who made this such a fun event!

And thanks to you, of course, for stopping by!

LucieG.

Spiralling around

Happy Sunday everyone!

It’s time for a new challenge over at AAA Cards and this fortnight we want to see CAS cards that are mostly white. Our sponsor is Stamplorations.

I love white on white and don’t use it enough! As we like to keep layering to a minimum over at AAA cards, I started by dry embossing a frame in the centre of my base card to support the focal point – the beautiful Dixi Craft Christmas Spiral Tree die which I cut from white glitter card. I added a silver die cut star and a sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp Holiday Words on a Line set.

My teammates have shared some gorgeous CAS cards on the AAA Cards blog and we are also joined by our wonderful sponsor, Shery, plus the super talented Sandie from London Days. She has some fabulous creations on her site!

Thanks for stopping by – I do hope you play along with us!

LucieG.

Day 23 – 25 Days of Christmas Tags 2018

Hi everyone!

I’m playing along with Tracey McNeely’s 25 Days of Christmas Tags event again this year.

The sponsor for Day 23 was Lil Inker Designs. I loved seeing Tracey use the circle wreath die, which I have, but I decided to use the Baubled Tree die. Kim Heggins’s colour palette provided the colour inspiration!

I created a smooshed background using Dusty Concord and Worn Lipstick distress inks and then added the Lil Inker Designs Tree which I’d cut from white glitter card. The sentiment is by Ellen Hutson.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Day 22 – 25 Days of Christmas Tags 2018

Hi everyone!

I’m playing along with Tracey McNeely’s 25 Days of Christmas Tags event again this year.

The sponsor for Day 22 was Waffle Flower and the team had many colourful tags – such great inspiration. I decided to base my tag on Channin Pelletier’s fun tree tags.

I used my new Pretty Pink Posh Festive Tree dies again and got to work! I loved the soft aqua tree that Channin created and it looks like she either inked the edges in white or only coloured part of the tree. I reckon she did the former!

I actually coloured each layer of the tree using an Altenew Alcohol marker and then added a few Nuvo Jewel drops and a glitter star to complete my tag.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Day 18 – 25 Days of Christmas Tags 2018

Hi everyone!

I’m playing along with Tracey McNeely’s 25 Days of Christmas Tags event again this year.

The sponsor for Day 18 was Neat & Tangled. I absolutely loved how Miriam Pranter used felt for her tag and decided to give it a go. As I was thinking about my felt, I thought I would have to colour some white felt as I didn’t think I had a green felt…. then when I actually looked at my felt pile, I found an amazing green glitter felt that I reckon I bought about 10 years ago. Perfect! This is the reason why I find it so hard to part with my crafty stuff, people. Ultimately I will find a use for it!!

Like Miriam, I used the Neat & Tangled Scandinavian Prints dies for the tree and a couple of dies to create the background and base. The base is actually a lovely shade of dark purple, but I just couldn’t capture it on my camera!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.