A Year of Card Techniques ~ March Blog Hop ~ Inlaid Die-Cutting

Welcome to 

It's month three of our year long adventure into different card-making techniques, folds and paper crafting products. We hope you got the chance to hop with us in January for the emboss resist technique and in February for ink layering. It's not to late to hop and comment.
If you missed January's hop, you can still hop and comment by starting HERE.
If you missed February's hop, you can still hop and comment by starting HERE.

This month we will be focusing on inlaid die-cutting and you wont' want to miss the awesome cards we've got for you today. we really love feedback so please leave a comment on each of the blogs in today's hop. Each comment on the 12 hops throughout the year will be entered.

Now on with the projects...

Sometimes it is really interesting to join a blog hop like this one, simply because it makes you realize what tools you have or don't have...LOL. I know, we can't have enough right? But seriously, these different techniques are awesome to test your creativity with the items you find in your stock. It also gives me a very good idea on what to look for next time I go shopping...MegaMeet, Novi, MI in May, here I come!

So what did I found in my craft chaos, well how about starting with a circle punch and a set of "Happy Birthday" dies? 

My first project was to create the background for this card. (Details will be coming up on my blog in the upcoming weeks.) 

Once the background was done I thought about the placement of my inlaid die-cuts. A punch will limit you a little on where to place them, but the lower right corner did work for me. Once I punched the background paper I also punched a circle from a colored cardstock and placed this piece back inside the background paper. This is your first inlaid die-cut. 



I secured the circle with tape on the back side. 
Next I placed my "Happy Birthday" dies on top of the background and circle and ran it through my Sizzix machine. I cut a second "Happy Birthday" from glitter paper and adhered it back in the background paper. This is your second inlaid die-cut. 

My second project got started with the cut out circle from the previous one. (Yeah, can't wait anything!). I used the same circle punch and started with a punch in the upper right corner of my grey cardstock. 

I replaced this cut out with a burgundy circle, adhered on the back with some washi tape (or any other thin tape). Next I punched a second circle below the first one, punching a little into the first circle. I replaced this cut out with a pink circle (tape on the backside). Last I moved my circle punch to the left side and punched a circle overlapping both previous circle. Here I used my cut out from the first card. 

I used my "Happy Birthday" dies again and die-cut the grey cardstock first. Then I replaced the phrase with some glitter paper cut outs. 

As you can see, even with little tools you can archive some nice inlaid die-cuttings. 

The only tricky part is always to put pieces back into the cut outs and adhere them so they wont fall out. I found two way of adhering helpful in these projects:

First, washi tape or any thin tape. You can easily run the tape on the backside without adding bulk to it. It is also perfect to cut/ punch through again.

Second, if I have multiple items to place back inside the cut outs or if there are many little ones, I made my life easy. I took a scrap piece of white cardstock, a little bit bigger than the area I had to adhere things too and covered it with my tape runner. I placed the adhesive all over the cardstock and placed it on the back side of my project, right over the area where the cut outs are going back in. Now you can easily place all pieces back on the front side without trying to get adhesive in all the little spots. No mess!

This adhering technique came really in handy with the third project for this challenge. The wacky birthday cake.

I started with my background design again. I used the same stencil from the first card...can you tell ;). Then I used a scalloped rectangle die you bring the piece in shape. I placed my wacky cake pieces including the candle on the die cut and ran them through the machine again. I replaced the cut outs with some cardstock pieces and decorated them with a little glitter trim, also cut out with a die. 

The rest of the card is all about placement and you guessed it, I had to use the grey cardstock "Happy Birthday" to finish the card off. Like I said, don't let anything go to waste, especially all these delicate phrases. 

Last but not least, I had time for one more. I made this beautiful background for another project but didn't end up using it. Cutting it down, I was left with a missing strip on the right. What better way to fill it in with some leafy border. Once I cut the border (it is cut in two pieces) from black cardstock I thought, why not create an inlaid cutting? So, I placed the die halfway along my background piece and cut twice in a row. The die is only place halfway along the side so it would rank with the other half on the card base.

My dies must have moved a little when I placed them on the background paper which resulted in a little uneven line. But, there is a solution for everything, right? I simply cut a thin strip of the black cardstock and placed it on top of the black cut outs. This leads to an more even and finished look. 

Like always, all my cards shown here will be explained in more detail and with more individual pictures in the upcoming weeks on my blog. 

So, please don't forget to leave a comment here and along the hop. Denise will be waiting for you at the next stop.

Up next is the talented Denise with her blog "Craft Confectionery"...click HERE to hop over and see here creations.

Here's today's line-up in case you get lost along the way

Theresa ~ http://scrapsbygracie.blogspot.com
Lisa ~ http://lisaslittlerascals.blogspot.com
Jearise ~ http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com
Kim ~ http://katydidcards.com
Claudia...Your are here!
Denise ~ http://www.craftconfectionery.com
Debbie ~ http://pawstoscrap.blogspot.com 
Sharon ~ http://piece-ofheart.blogspot.com