Inlaid Die-Cutting Technique

This months blog hop motto is "Inlaid Die-Cutting". Sounds complicated you think? Oh no, this is really easy and a lot of fun to try.

What do you need for this technique. Beside different colored cardstock and/or design papers and some dies or punches. 

If you are a beginner you might ask, what are dies? Dies are flat metal cutting forms which are used in conjunction with a die cutting machine such as a Cuttlebug, a BigShot etc. There are many die cutting machines on the market and it doesn't really matter which one you have since the result will be the same. (Comment down below if you are interested about a comparison between machines!)

If you don't own a die cutting machine yet, you can use different punches as well. You will be a little limited on the placement and the design, but it will work as well. 

So what is this technique all about? 
It simply means you ad a die cut/ punch within another die/ punch. For example this circle here: I first created my design paper (you can use cardstock or regular design paper, but it is a nice chance to put your stamping skills to a good us ;) ). Next I used my 2" circle punch and punched a circle in the lower bottom. The punch limits you on how fare you can punch, but this will due it. Keep the punched out piece for the next project. 
I then punched another 2" circle from colored cardstock and placed it inside the design paper...Voila... your first inlaid die cutting is done. To make sure the pieces are not falling apart I used some tape (washi or similar) on the backside to secure them.

I happen to have some word dies for "Happy Birthday" which I used for the second die cutting part. I laid them out on the design paper and the inlaid circle, fastened them lightly with some removable tape so they wouldn't move on me while I cranked them through my die cutting machine. I removed the dies and the cutouts. I used the same two dies to cut out another set of "Happy Birthday" from some glitter paper. 

Now comes the tricky part... place the glitter words back into the openings of the main design piece. I turned the design paper with the circle around and added a piece of cardstock covered in adhesive to the back. This will help me in two ways, first when I turn the piece around, I already have adhesive in the word openings and don't have to try to get it in from the front. Second it gives me a base to place my words on with out them falling through (Especially for the little filler pieces).

Well, now all that is left is to place the glitter words into the design paper and put the little cardstock fillers back between the letters. Since I placed the cardstock on the backside I don't have to worry of loosing parts while adding it to my card base. This way you can actually place the piece with foam dots onto your base as well.

Hope this gave you a little inside of the "Inlaid Die-Cutting" technique and you are going to try it on your own. Please check out the Saturday Blog Hop post and hop along to see more inspirations on this technique. I will have a few more cards too and each will be explained in detail following the hop date. One card will be made just with the punches!

If you have questions, please feel free to contact me and/ or leave a comment. I would love to hear from you!   

March - Stamp of the Month "Sunshine Birdies"

The Stamp of the Month "Sunshine Birdies" (S1603) is a cute little set and would be a perfect addition to your stamp collection. 

If you take advantage of the Stampaganza this month and get three stamp sets for the price of two, you might also be able to get the "Sunshine Birdies" for only $5! 

Just spend $50 in your March order and add this special set for just $5. Only available in March ....Check here for more details!

A Special Greeting - Happy Wedding Day

Here is card No# 2 from my February card class. Looking familiar? Well, I had a similar version of this card on the blog awhile ago. This started as a project for the monthly blog hop I attend and I liked the result so much I thought I can tweak it for my class too.

The original was for a technique called "Ink Layering" and you can find it HERE on the blog. 

For my class I skipped the part stamping the outline flower in white ink. The white ink simply takes to long to dry and therefore would not work for a 2 hour class ;-). But the card still looks very pretty without this step, don't you think?

So how did we make this card? I used a piece of daisy white cardstock from Close to My Heart for the stamping base. This piece measures 3 3/4" x 5" and is backed by a piece of slate cardstock measuring 4" x 5 1/4". First I stamped the full flower background in "Pixie" ink before I stamped the outline in "Pomegranate" ink on top. The clear stamps make it really easy to line the images up. 

Next I stamped the outline on a couple of post-it notes, so that each outline as some of the post-it note adhesive included. I cut these flowers out and placed them on top of my already stamped roses. This technique is called "Masking". You place a "mask" on top of a stamped image to cover it and protect it from getting stamped on in the next step.

Now I used the little branch stamp included in this set and more of my Close to My Heart "Slate" ink. I randomly stamped the branches around the flowers and since I covered my roses I didn't had to worry about stamping the branches right over them. You want to stamp over your mask so the branches appear behind your flowers. Once the bottom and some of the sides are filled remove your masks. Voila .... stunning results right?

I used the same technique to decorate the envelope and the inside of my card. The phrases are stamped in black ink. I added a piece of white ribbon around the finished stamped image and added a little bow and rhinestone to it. 

Now adhere the stamped cardstock to the grey and to the card base measuring 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" with a fold on the top.

Masking is a great technique when you try to get dimension to your stamped images without adding layer over layer of cardstock. Try it with some flower images and create a bunch of them.

Leave a comment what you like about this technique or if you have tried it yourself. Let me know if you would like to join my monthly class and have some fun. No matter what it is, I would love to hear from you.

Stay tuned for more.... 

A Giraffes Birthday

Here is the first of our three cards we made during my February Card Making Classes. Do you remember the dancing Hippo? Well, this is her ballerina friend the giraffe. Isn't she cute?

The stamp set is from Close to My Heart and is called "Safari Ballet" (A1180).

First the little giraffe ballerina was stamped in Memento Black ink and colored in with some Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. Next we cut her out. We also placed a cut right underneath her arms and placed the top part in the frame, while the bottom part was adhered under the word "Happy".

The frame, the word "Happy" and the blue rectangle with the cut out stars and swirls were all cut with the Cricut and Close to My Hearts exclusive Cricut cartridges.


















To make giraffe inside the frame a bit more interesting, I cut just a bit alongside the arms so they can hang over the frame. 

A few strips of green glitter paper along the sides and the center piece added with foam dots finishes the card... 

Well, and we can't waist anything, right? So I stamped my "Happy Birthday" phrase on the inside and adhered all the little cut our pieces from the front to it. Stars and swirls along with a little glitter pen and this card is done...

Stay tuned for more to come....

March - Constant Campaign "Stampaganza 2016"

The wait is over! Who is ready for Stampaganza 2016? 

Buy any two My Acrylix stamp sets at full retail price and get the third stamp set of equal or lesser Value FREE! You can save up to $29.95! 

This offer is only available during March, so order as soon as possible. Check back on my website tomorrow to get this awesome 3=2 deal!

Make sure to check the Seasonal Expressions Book 1 since all stamp sets featured in this book will only be available until April 30th. All other stamps form the current Idea Book will be available until July 31st! So make sure to check your stamp wish list before they are gone for good. Happy shopping :-)

Splatter Spray Background Stencil

Last but not least, this was the last card made for this months blog hop. Does splattered dots were so much fun to make. I have a stencils called "Splattered Dots" that I used for the ink layering in this card.

Really simple, you take a piece of "Desert Sand" cardstock, place the stencil on top and secure both. I used a sponge dauber and white ink to place the first layer of ink down. The dauber is perfect for getting into the little dots of the stencil. Once the ink was dry I placed the stencil back and off set the design just a bit. Next I used Chocolate brown ink and repeated the procedure. Last I moved the stencil one more time by a little bit and added Cocoa brown ink (all Close to My Heart) to it.

For the card itself I used a cream colored card base and some cocoa cardstock, 1/4" smaller than the base. I cut my stenciled cardstock down and divided it into four strips. I placed the two outer ones right on the cardstock and raised the two middle ones with foam dots. A few paper flowers, a piece of brown glitter paper and a banner with my phrase adhered to the bottom of the card and this last example of this months "Ink Layering Technique" blog hop was done.

















If you like to know more about this technique or if you like to try out one of my classes, please feel free to contact me for more information. Leave a comment about the hop and the cards you have seen so far. I would love to hear from you.

Keep coming back for more inspiration and many more projects to come each week...

Masculine Birthday Card

Here is another version of a masculine card using some of the same elements I used in a card a few days ago except for a few little tweaks.

Let's see what is different? Naturally the background is different. Here I started with a piece of blue cardstock from Close to My Heart. I used two background stamps: one is striped and the other one has a chevron design. I alternated the stamps. 

The stripes were first stamped in white ink. I offset the stamp (this is great when your stamps are clear, so you can see through them while stamping) and stamped a second image in light blue next to the white.


I did the same with the chevron stamp using the matching ink color for the cardstock and a darker blue. Once everything was dry I used some of the word stamps that came with the old timer set and stamped them all over the background in a light grey color. This piece of background measured 3 3/4"x 5" and was adhered to a piece of 4"x 5 1/4" black cardstock. Center the combo on a 4 1/4"x 5 1/2" white card base and you are almost done.

I used the same black cardstock tag stamped with white ink, just this time I didn't cut out the inner portion of it. I also stamped both old timers again, one in blue and one in lagoon. I cut both cars out and adhered one flat to the card and the other one with foam dots. A few pearls, a piece of twine, some decoration on the inside of the card and the envelope and this card is done.

Two cards with the same colors, the same elements, but still different after all. Leave me a comment and let me know which one is your favorite and what you like best about them. Love to hear from you! 

If you are interested to learn new techniques contact me to see what classes are coming up. Come join us for some fun time...

Thank You Card - Faux Decoupage

Flowers are always a wonderful way to say "Thank You". This wonderful flower stamp set was the Close to My Heart "Stamp of the Month" set for January. I really love this set since it contains a big and a small flower, these cute branches and some sentiments. 

I started this card with a white card base, topped with a piece of Slate cardstock from Close to My Heart. The grey piece is cut at 4"x 5 1/4". 
Now to the stamping part. You need a piece of 3 3/4"x 5" white cardstock. 
I used a lighter grey ink called "Whisper" for the branches. The flowers were stamped in "Daisy White", "Pixie" and "Pomegranate" ink.

First I used the flower detail stamp and white ink to stamp the three flowers. After the ink dried over night I stamped the full flower image over the white detail in the "Pixie" ink. Next I used the detailed flower stamp and the darker ink "Pomegranate" and lined it up with the image. I stamped three extra flower outlines on a post-it note and cut the out. This is called a mask. You take the three cut outs and place them on the stamped flowers. 
Now you can use your branch image and fill in the bottom part of your image without stamping on your flowers. These are protected by the masks. Once you are satisfied with the background simply remove the masks and you created a pretty 3-D like image. 


I used black ink to stamp my "Thank You" and some clear embossing powder to make it look more finished.
Place a piece of ribbon around the stamped cardstock and glue it tied on the back. Now add some strong adhesive to the whole cardstock and adhere it to the grey portion. A little bow and a rhinestone will finish off this card.

Oh and don't forget to decorate the inside of your card and the envelope!

Like to learn how to make this and other cards seen here on the blog? 

Contact me for more information about classes and schedules. Come join me for some fun time....all supplies will be included in the class.

Stay tuned for more creations to come...

Old-timer Car with a Modern Twist

Why are masculine cards always so difficult to design you ask? Honestly? I don't know. 
Maybe it's because we can't use the usual bling embellishments or glitter. Flowers don't really work either...So what would work for a masculine card? I think color wise I would pick black, browns, greens, blues or reds. Graphic designs are great as design elements too. Cars, tools and sport items are perfect addition to those cards as well.


I love this old timer stamp I own. I make it more interesting I simply stamped it twice. One in a pacific blue and second in lagoon ink. I cut them out and used three parts of the lagoon image while I left the blue one intact. I added the parts with foam dots to the blue image.

The frame was stamped in white ink on black cardstock. The inside was cut with a craft knife and decorated with some rhinestones. 

The graphic background is a two step stencil technique. I placed my bubble stencil on a piece of Desert Sand Close to My Heart cardstock. Make sure to secure the paper and the stencil. I used a sponge dauber to apply the white ink on the stencil. Let it dry overnight! 
The next day I placed the stencil back on the white design and moved it over just a bit. Now secure the stencil again and apply a layer of blue ink on top of the white. Remove the stencil and you are left with a 3-D background. Since we moved the stencil just a bit of the original white image we created, you can see small white outlines along the blue. Make sure to always clean your stencil with warm water and a little bit of soap in between applications.

To finish the card, place you new created background on a piece of blue cardstock. Raise the frame and the car with foam dots of the background. Add a "Happy Birthday" sentiment and decorate the inside and the envelope and your card is done. Leave a comment and let me know what kind of masculine cards you create or what you think about this one.