Easy Die-Cutting Techniques - AECP Level 1

Good evening!  I hope that you have had a great weekend and managed to find time to do something you love.  Tonight, I am sharing a few projects that I completed for the next course in my AECP journey - Easy Die-Cutting Techniques with Yana  Smakula.  If you are not familiar with her work, you need to be!  Seriously! 

I really enjoyed this course.  I learned several new techniques and had a lot of fun experimenting with them. Some of these techniques blew my mind - I learned several new ways to use the supplies I have on hand that I never would have thought of.

In Lesson 1, we focused on using stamps and coordinating dies in the traditional manner.  I took my inspiration from Yana’s sample, using vellum for the die-cut images, rather than card stock. 

I began by heat Embossing the single flower and a few leaves from Altenew’s Vintage Garden stamp set in white on vellum.  I added Bamboo and Dew Drops ink to the vellum on the back using my ink-blending tool and set them aside to dry.  I cut a 4.25” x 5.5” panel of pale blue card stock that I had on hand.  Using the coordinating dies, I die-cut my embossed images and set them aside.

I cut a 1” x 5.5” strip of brushed silver metallic card stock and another white panel that was 3.25” x 5.5”.  I smooshed (I just love that word) some Teal Cave ink onto an acrylic block and picked the ink up with a wet paint brush, which I used to splatter onto the smallest white panel. Once my splatters were dry, I heat embossed my sentiments from the Altenew Fresh Cut Roses stamp set in silver. 

To complete my card, I adhered the blue panel to my card base, and adhered my silver strip followed by the sentiment panel.  I added a small amount of Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue to the backside of the vellum images where it would be hidden by the embossing and attached them to my card front. To add some dimension, I added some Honey Bee Stamps Clear Dew Drops.  Lastly, I trimmed my vellum flowers along the edges with scissors.

In Lesson 4, we learned how to emboss with our dies.  I didn’t even know that was a thing!  I am so excited about the avenues that this will open up, as I love embossed images, but don’t always have just the right embossing folder.  That is no longer a concern.

For this lesson, I made a small note card.  I wanted to use a watercolor panel, so I pulled out my liquid watercolors from Pink Fresh Studios and created a watercolor wash on a piece of watercolor paper.  Once it was dry, I embossed the panel using the Altenew Dog Rose Panel A Die.  I trimmed it down and adhered it to a 3” x 4.25” card base.

I did-cut a “hello” sentiment in black from the Altenew Signature Words Dies and glued it to my card front and finished with a few Black enamel dots,  This was a really quick and easy note card to whip up.

My last card is from Lesson 5 - Inlaid Die-Cutting.  Again, this is a technique that I had never tried, but I really enjoyed it. 

For this card, I began with a 4.25” x 5.5” white panel.  I stamped the outline of the leaf image from the Altenew Crown Bloom stamp set in black ink.  I stamped the solid image in Frayed Leaf and the two detail images in Forest Glade and Evergreen,  I filled in some of the white space with the littlest stamp. On a scrap piece of card stock, I stamped the outline of the flower, the solid image in Pink Pearl, the next image in Coral Bliss, and the center images in Arctic and Iceberg.

I die-cut the flower using the coordinating dies and set it aside. I then die-cut two of the leaves from the stamped panel and set the leaves aside. 

I adhered the stamped panel (minus the leaves that I die-cut out) to the card front.  I then added some foam squares to the leaves and placed them back into the same spot that I cut them from. I embossed the Happy Birthday sentiments from The Greetery’s Opposites Attract stamp set and die-cut the “happy” using the coordinating dies.   I adhered my sentiment strip and added foam squares to the back of the flower image and the “happy” sentiment and popped them up.

Key Learnings:

• Pay attention to the supplies you have on hand.  They can be used in so many different ways!
• When stamping and die-cutting, don’t limit yourself to just card stock.  There are all sorts of different surfaces that can be used.

Products Used:

• Recollections 110# White Cardstock
• Recollections 65# Black Card Stock
• Recollections Brushed Silver Metallic Card Stock
• Neenah 80# White Card Stock
• Arches 300g/140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Paper
• Vellum
• Altenew Vintage Garden Stamps and Dies
• Altenew Crown Bloom Stamps and Dies
• Altenew Fresh Cut Roses Stamp Set
• The Greetery Opposites Attract Stamps and Dies
• Altenew Signature Words Dies
• Altenew Dog Rose Panel A Die
• Altenew Crisp Dye Ink:  Permanent Black, Bamboo, Dew Drops, Teal Cave, Frayed Leaf, Forest Glade, Evergreen, Pink Pearl, Coral Bliss, Arctic, Iceberg
• PinkFresh Studio Liquid Watercolor: Bubblegum and Lavender
• Stampin’ Up Black Enamel Dots
• Honey Bee Stamps Clear Dew Drops
• Foam Squares
• Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue

As always, thanks for dropping by!  Happy stamping!