Inlaid Die-Cut Birthday Card using the New Beginnings set from Altenew

 Hey there!

I’m excited to share my card design for my Easy Die Cutting Techniques class taught by Yana Smakula. This is one of the courses required for AECP Level 1. Listening to Yana’s beautiful accent is a definite bonus of this course! 😊

Do you ever find yourself unsatisfied with a “basic” technique? I wanted to step it up a bit to incorporate multiple pieces of inspiration from the class. I decided to inlay a flower into the leaves in order to make the two appear to be one nested piece.

Here’s how I made this card using the New Beginnings Stamp, Die, and Mask bundle:

First, I used the coordinating stencil to blend two shades of pink with a concentration toward the centre of the flower. I waited to stamp the outline of the flower until afterward, embossing with a fine white embossing powder as this seemed easier than removing ink from the embossing afterward.  

I then did the same with the leaves and cut everything out using the coordinating dies. 

To create the flower/leaf inlay, I then layered my die-cut pieces to see where I wanted the leaves to ‘nest’ against the edges of the flower. Then, I die-cut in the following order:

1. Flower

2. Leaves (from the edges of the flower space)

3. Inlaid the leaves, re-added the flower die to make space for the flower, die cut and inlaid the flower

4. Used a circle die to cut out the inlaid flower and leaves

5. Used the circle die to cut from the green panel so that I could inlay the white circle

I used some tape to hold things together across the back, then added a sentiment on a velum strip that I wrapped around the back of the panel so I could hide my adhesive. 

I added some dots with a gel pen to give some brightness and texture to my panel before mounting the whole thing on a top-folding card base and adding a few iridescent sequins to catch the light. 

This card has me wanting to try more inlaid designs! Thanks for the inspiration, Yana! 

Until next time, take care!

Teri

Let It Shine! - A shimmery, shiny floral birthday card

This birthday card for my dear friend Adrienne was the perfect project for the Let It Shine class with Carissa Wiley.

I tried to get some shine in using as many variations as I could.  I started out by heat embossing some flowers and leaves from Altenew's Flower Garden stamp set on some watercolour paper using Altenew Platinum Crisp Embossing Powder.  I then added Nuvo Shimmer Powders in Catherine Wheel, Green Parade, and Solar Flare to the dry images.

I then misted the panel with water and used a small water-brush to break up any clumps of powder that didn't disperse.  

I just love the way this allows different colours to pool in every segment of the images!

I then fussy-cut out all of the pieces and arranged them in a sort of "triangle" fashion, creating one triangle with the flowers and another with the leaves.  I used some low-tack tape to keep this arrangement together, flipped over the whole stack of arranged images, and used the fine tip of my adhesive to sneak in some adhesive between each of the layers.  Once that was dry, I removed the tape and adhered it all down onto my card panel.

That panel, by the way, is another little nod to the idea of 'shine'!  That's the Kaleidoscope Texture Fades 3D Embossing Folder from Tim Holtz, and the repeated circular images with sharp angles remind me of crystals or diamonds.  The shadows they create help to enliven the highlighted facets.  It's not real shine, but I feel like it adds a similar sort of effect without making this over-the-top glitzy.

I then added a few sequins, again in a triangle.  These are Pure Sheen Sequins in Pink Tutu by Nuvo.  

Check out that shimmer! 

My sentiment is from a pre-printed toner sheet by Simon Says Stamp.  Adrienne is one of my favourite sassy friends, so I knew I needed a sassy sentiment for her!  I used my laminator to foil the sentiment, and then embossed "Happy Birthday" with that same Platinum Embossing Powder on the inside.

I'm really happy with how this card turned out.  Carissa's explanation of using varying triangles and how to place embellishments led to a card that I'm really happy with!  This is one of the elements of cardmaking that has been challenging for me, so I was excited to get some insight into the design theory behind cards that look cohesive.

Thanks for stopping by!