Technique – die cutting

Featuring die cutting

Double Frame Berry Tree

Hello there!

Today I’m using products kindly sent to me by Penny Black to play along in this week’s Color Throwdown challenge which has a beautiful combo – teal, purple and green.

I really wanted to use the new Double Frames die set (51-825) last week when I was playing with the little chubby tree, so I knew that I would be using them for today’s card. I cut the inner die cut from vellum and the outer frame from white card which I covered with a VERY light layer of Villainous Potion distress ink. I lightly blended Broken China distress ink on the centre of my card base and stamped the branch from the Fragile set (31-087) a few times (third generation stamping to get that light tone-on-tone effect). I layered on the frames using foam tape.

Next up, my focal point… today it’s the turn of the tree from the Berry Basket set (51-796) which I got last year but which was seriously neglected…. it’s such a fun, delicate design and worthy of as much attention as the little chubby tree really! Anyway, I cut it from green and white glitter card and also green mirror card and then layered the images together, adhering them along the stem only. After sticking it to my card base, I added a few mini pom-poms. Once they were firmly adhered, I fluffed up each of the stems and leaves… this card has a LOT of depth!

To complete my card, I used a sentiment from the Nature’s Rubies mini stamp set (31-937).

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Dear Little Chubby Tree

Hello everyone!

Do you ever see one particular product and KNOW how much you could do with it? I do, but I often don’t get round to turning all my ideas into reality.. or they don’t turn out quite how I had intended! But today I’m sharing cards I made with the new Trim A Tree die set (51-795) as well as other products kindly sent to me by Penny Black from their new ‘Christmas 2024 – Round 1’ release (and a few older products too!). This is such a fabulous release with some amazing products that I was excited to create with, but the stand out product for me was the little chubby tree die that was included in the Trim A Tree set.

You know I love a lot of the tree dies that I see but this one in particular looked like it was the perfect size and style to use in so many ways….

So here goes… warning this is a LONG post, although I would say I actually restricted myself to nine cards as that is what would fit nicely into a square collage!

The Shaker One

I rarely make shaker cards but the chubby tree’s outline makes for an easy shaker card. Here I used it with the following products: background – Masterpieces Made Simple Card Toppers Snowfall Serenity (50-002); sentiment – Hello Deer mini stamp set (30-766); golden deer die cut – Moonlit die set (51-663).

The Stamped One

For this card, I traced the outline of the tree onto watercolour card, stamped the cardinal/branch image a couple of times and coloured it with distress reinkers. Once dry, I die cut it using the partial die cutting technique so part of the branches extended beyond the outline of the tree. All products used for this card are from this new release: cardinal/branch image and sentiment – Messenger stamp set (31-085); Melody embossing folder (65-006).

The Small Die Cut One

I cased one of my own cards for this design and made use of a LOT of different small dies – including some from a tropical flower set which were the perfect size for my little chubby tree! The garland from the Trim A Tree set is slightly curved, but easy to bend, especially when using glitter paper so I used that to edge the tree. The sentiment is from the new Jolly Builder stamp set (31-066) and the dies are from the following sets: Berry Basket (trimmed branches) (51-796); Nestlings (birds) (51-755); Decorated (trimmed holly) (51-661); Stocking Stuffers (trimmed pine branch) (51-747); Joy of Giving (trimmed bow) (51-748); Tropical Paradise (flower elements used as berries) (51-643).

The Dry Embossed One

Would you believe that this was the most challenging card for me to finish? The tree itself was easy to emboss using some matt mirror card and a wonderful folder from an earlier release but I struggled with a card design that wouldn’t detract from the fabulous embossing. In the end I chose a very simple tag-based design with some wired ribbon and silver thread. The products used for this card are: Dots and Dashes embossing folder (65-020); Tagged die set (51-007); Holiday Snippets stamp set(30-307).

The Heat Embossed One

I have some fabulous kraft/foiled cardstock which served as the inspiration for this tree. I heat-embossed a background stamp and part of a sentiment for this card and used the following products: Verdure cling stamp (40-472); sentiment – Festive and Feathery mini stamp set (30-926); Framed die set (51-622).

The Stencilled One

This was so much fun! I used regular distress inks with the stencil and then applied a layer of distress sparkle texture paste on top. The sparkle is amazing! Once dry, I die cut the tree and added it to a dry-embossed circle. I used the following products for this card: Stencil – Dotlets (25-007); embossing folder – Encircle (65-009); sentiment – Festive and Feathery mini stamp set (30-926).

The Be-pearled One

I actually let go of my perfectionist tendencies for this super simple card! I die cut a tree from coloured cardstock and added a little distress ink to darken the edges. I then dropped lots of pearls onto it and just stuck them where they fell… OK I turned them the right side up and filled in two gaps – but only two gaps!! The other products used here are: sentiment – Nature’s Rubies mini stamp set (30- 937); background – All in One Oval die (51-815).

The Foiled One

I used new Stick & Shine snowflakes and coordinating dies for this card together with Stick & Shine snowflakes that Penny Black released last year. It’s so shimmery in real life!! I also found that I got a crisper image with my foiling if I used my finger to gently apply the foil rather than using the applicator (which I used to transfer the snowflake design to the card). I originally stamped the sentiment in the same ink that I used for the blending behind the tree, but it was too light and seemed to disappear when I tried to photograph it so I heat embossed it instead using some silver powder.

I used the following products: Snowflakes Stick & Shine (15-020) and coordinating dies (51-834); Snow Shimmer Stick & Shine (15-009); Blooming Stick & Shine foil (21-003); Classics Stick & Shine foil (21-002); Stick & Shine applicator tool (21-001); die cut snowflakes from Snow Family die set (51-395) and Dancing Snowflakes die set (51-708); sentiment – Fragile stamp set (31-087); embossing folder – Blizzard (61-013).

The Simple One

Last but not least (for today) is a card made with trimming from the tree die set and one of the additional new die sets included in this release. It was fun to use some glittery felt and mini pom-poms that I’ve had for a while now. Mind you, it was very difficult to get a decent photo of the card – the tree is too dark in my first photo and then the coloured cardstock has completely faded away in the second shot. I will try to take some more photos in natural daylight I think… Anyway, the other products used here are: Classy Frames die set (51-826); sentiment – Fragile stamp set (31-087).

And that’s it (for now). If you’ve made it this far through the epic blog post, well done and thank you! I absolutely adore this tree and I’m sure it will be popping up again very soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Pinkfresh Studio Create and Connect August 2024

Hi everyone!

This past weekend, I took part in my first Pinkfresh Studio Create and Connect event. I signed up for this event back in March after much dithering as it’s a lot of money, especially with the taxes and shipping for those of us outside the US! Plus we didn’t get to see what we were buying (that is changing for 2025).

When my kit arrived in July, I knew I had made the right decision! Inside my box was a fabulous collection of stamps, dies, stencils and washi tape, all carefully kitted into separate bags for each of our classes. I immediately signed up for the next event which is in October with Simon Says Stamp as the guest manufacturer.

So on to the cards!

Class 1 with Kim Kesti of Spellbinders which was the guest manufacturer. Some cardstock was also included in their kit, but I chose to switch up some colours so they were closer to my preferred colour combos. The third card was a Make & Take by Heather Hoffman which I made with pearlescent card.

I was really looking forward to Class 2 with Dawn Woleslagle. She did a watercolour class at Simon Says Create 2018 which was amazing and I was really looking forward to trying the Washi tape. I’ve had my eye on some PFS Washi tape/dies for a while but this was a great way to see whether I liked working with it! And I do! So I immediately ordered the tape and dies but I’m hoping that the stamps and stencils come back into a UK store as I really enjoy choosing my own colours to create with. I also did Kristina Werner’s Make & Take cards – I loved that they were narrower cards as I have a lot of card bases that are narrow like that… although I did cheat and used Craft Consortium paper rather than the ink pad dragging technique demonstrated by Kristina.

Class 3 was the last one on Day 1 and it finished at midnight so it was a late night! Heather Hoffman created two fun cards with dies and stencils. I switched up the colours again and although I wasn’t sure about the stencilled mountains, that card keeps catching my eye!

Day 2 started at 3pm my time with Class 4 led by Lea Lawson. I don’t recall embossing through stencils before but I was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out. I also cheated here and used Craft Consortium paper instead of an ink blended background behind that fun background die. I did Jennifer Maguire’s Make & Take with the flower image from the set – she also used Spellbinders products with an amazing double embossing technique!

Class 5 with Kristina Werner was great fun. We used a cling stamp that stamped multiple flowers and then coloured them with three stencils and die cut them all in one go. Super easy and the dies lined up perfectly. And Kristina’s layered flowery card design was so cleverly designed! I loved this class and the set we used, I can’t wait to play with it again! I also did Dawn’s Make & Take – such a pretty design with multiple frames!

The last class was with Jennifer Maguire who had created two interactive/pop up cards – not usually favoured by this CAS crafter! But they were interesting to create and I loved how I could mix things up a bit! I chose to use Craft Consortium paper again instead of the ink pad swiping technique and also decorated the pull-up panel that Jennifer had left white – it was very quick to pop the die cut images on the panel. I used more of the washi tape on the pop up card.

So, what did I discover through this event?

Organisation is key – do all the homework in advance and have a few pieces of cardstock to hand for any mishaps on the day.
The time zone differences meant that I had to be super focussed with my hour break between classes to eat, do chores etc as the event finished at midnight for me on both days. I did appreciate having the whole morning beforehand though!
Being an at-home event, I could choose my own colour combos – I know I have disregarded some cards I have made at events in the past because of the colours used – and of course I never got round to making them in different colours.
When the instructions say blending brushes, they mean brushes! No relying on my trusty blending foams! Luckily I do have a lot of brushes which were well-used over the weekend!
Not all ultra-smooth paper is actually ultra-smooth! My stencilling highlighted that my new ‘ultra smooth’ card is actually quite textured so I won’t be using that for stencilled images again!
I love the double embossing technique where you dry emboss both sides of a panel (slightly offsetting the folder on the second side) and I will try it again with suitable embossing folders!
Pinkfresh Studio products are high quality (well I already knew that of course!) and the stamp and die sets stamp/line up beautifully!
I’m glad I signed up to the next event – not long to go!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Color Throwdown Guest Spot

Good morning everyone!

This week, I have the honour of being the Guest Designer over at one of my favourite challenges – the Color Throwdown Challenge. Funny story – I was last the GD for their challenge a year ago today!

The palette for this challenge is light blue, cream and kraft, a fab combo! I was originally going to create a bouquet/vase combo but then I changed my mind!

Instead, I pulled out The Greetery’s Wheat botanicuts set and cut it from white regular card and cream pearlescent card. I coloured the white card with Antique Linen distress oxide ink and I dusted the pearlescent card with the same ink for extra depth of colour. I mixed the two types of card when assembling the heads of the wheat stems.

I arranged the wheat into a bundle and added a blue glittery bow from the Fit to be Tied die set. I then smooshed some Frayed Burlap distress ink onto a white card base and adhered the bundle on top.

I felt that the card needed a little more blue so I added some birds from the Simon Says Stamp Layered Bird Bunch set. They are coloured with Stormy Sky, Frayed Burlap and Pumice Stone distress inks.

There’s some amazing inspiration from the Color Throwdown DT over on the challenge blog – I do hope you can play along this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Tulip Happy Thoughts

Hello everyone!

Today I’m playing along in this week’s Color Throwdown challenge using products kindly sent to me by Penny Black.

The combo this week is red, yellow and green – which I thought would be perfect for a little bouquet! To start, I embossed a white card panel with the Diagonals folder (65-019) and added some gold splatters.

Then I got stamping! The tulips are from the Overflowing set (31-062), coloured with distress reinkers and then cut with the coordinating die (51-822). They turned out a lot darker than I usually colour but I decided to go with that rather than try to lift off a lot of colour.

I embossed a cup from the Brew-Tea-Ful stamp set (31-063) using distress oxide ink and clear powder. I coloured it with distress reinkers and used the coordinating die (51-823) to cut the image.

As I was playing around with a layout, I felt that the teacup needed something to ground it so I rummaged through my die collection and unearthed the Floral Strip die (51-530) – it’s such a beautiful die, I can’t believe I haven’t used it for a VERY long time! Anyway, I used it twice on this card to compensate for that oversight!

The sentiment is from the Happy builder set (30-973).

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Kitty Family Portraits

Hello everyone!

I took a few days away from my craft room after the cardmaking frenzy that was Christmas in July. I was very happy to get back in there this weekend. Yesterday wasn’t too successful and I didn’t like what I was creating, so today I turned to the fabulous Freshly Made Sketches challenge!

I was originally going to use the small embroidery hoops by The Greetery with flowers or birds, but then I decided on kitties! These mischievous felines are from the Sneaky Kitties die by Simon Says Stamp. I coloured them with distress inks and added some Craft Consortium paper to create walls for them to peek over.