Inlaid Die-Cutting - "Happy Birthday"

Like in the past few month I give you a more detailed look at the projects I created for our monthly blog hop.

Here is the first card with this months inlaid die-cutting technique. But before I talk about the technique used here, let's check out some other details:

The background for this card was created with a stencil from the SOA box from Catherine Pooler. I placed a piece of Daisy white cardstock on my craft mat and secured the stencil right over it with some washi tape. Next I got my Close to My Heart Inks Pomegranate and Pixie and a couple of small sponges. I started sponging the one color in the first row and the other color in the second. Continuing to alternate the colors. To make the background even more interesting, I added a small star-shaped stamp with silver ink in the middle of each white oval.
 
Limited with dies that would work for this technique, I turned to my punches and piked a circle punch for the first inlaid die-cutting. Once I punched my background paper I also punched a circle from a colored cardstock and placed this piece back inside the background paper. I secured the circle with tape (washi etc) on the back side.

Next I placed my "Happy Birthday" dies on top of the background and the new circle insert and ran it through my Sizzix machine. Keep the cutout "Happy Birthday" for another project! I cut a second "Happy Birthday" from glitter paper. Before I could adhere the glitter words back in the background I had to cover the openings so my words wouldn't fall through. I cut a piece of white scrap paper, covered it on one side with my tape runner adhesive and placed it right over the "Happy Birthday" opening on the back of my background paper. This makes it easy to place the letters back on the front. No extra adhesive needed, since my back piece was covering the open spaces for the words. Press the words firmly back in the cut out and your second inlaid is done.

I adhered a small strip of black cardstock to my card base, flush with the left side, next I added the background with foam dots to my card base, flush with the right side of my card. A few sequins and a little twine bow finishing the front of this card.

Like I always do... I added a few phrases and some extra embellishing to the inside and my card is done.

Inlaid die-cutting is a great technique and you don't have to own a stack of die-cuts to get things going. A few simple punches will do at the beginning, just as I did in my next card you will see here on the blog. So stay tuned for more inspiration to come....

Interested in learning new techniques and making some beautiful cards on top of it? Well, contact me and see which classes are available. Small groups and lots of fun. Email me for more information!