Hi, Diana here again with more butterfly cards. What can I say? I really really like them and there is no limit on color combos for them. Today I have 3 cards using the same large butterfly die.
White die cuts on distress oxide background
For my first card, I was playing with Distress Oxides and made a background with the blues and greens. I remove some of the ink by splattering water and blotting dry with a paper towel. The butterfly and Smiles was die-cut from white cardstock. I used a Xacto knife to cut out the ‘s’ from Smiles.
For my second card, I used the die and 2 tan embossing folders to emboss the butterfly onto white cardstock. This is so I would know where to color the butterflies into a monarch butterfly. I left the ovals near the edge white and the red was colored with Copics from dark orange to yellow.
After coloring, trim the butterfly out and die cut another butterfly out of black cardstock. I adhered all this to a 5×5 card base and die cut “Miss You” 3 times out of white card stock.
Miss you with a Monarch butterfly
For the last card, I made another blue/green distress ink background. From that, I die cut the butterfly. I made another half with a solid teal card stock – I was trying to go for a butterfly with folded wings.
Soar with folded wings butterfly
The Soar was also cut out of the same teal card stock. I hope you enjoyed seeing the same die used different ways – and how versatile the A Way With Words dies are – they go with everything!
Diana Nguyen
Other products used: Distress Oxide inks, teal and orange card stock.
Diana here! Today I’m sharing a blank note card that can be sent for any occasion or no occasion at all –– which is always a pleasant surprise. I combined several different word dies from Suzanne’s A Way With Words collection. It’s always a fun challenge for me to see how many ways I can combine what she has lettered.
1. I started with a 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ sheet of cardstock completely sponged in Distress Oxide ink. I was going to use it as a background but then decided to die cut butterflies out of it instead.
2. I die cut 3 of the butterflies from the Butterfly Flourish set making sure that the cut butterfly’s colors would be symmetrical. It doesn’t have to be but I was feeling that it needed to be. 🙂
3. On a white card base, I used the same inks to create a splatter. Squish the ink pad onto an acrylic block and a wet brush to pick up the ink color and tap on a finger to add droplets.
Repeat this process for the colors used on the butterflies.
4. Die cut “a,” “Notes,” and “for you” from the various dies. I trimmed off the “s” on “Notes” by following the curve of the “e” and sanding down the edges to make it look smooth.
5. Adhere all the die cuts on the splattered card base. The card looked a bit unfinished so I used the Copic Multiliner Pen to draw a frame around the card. I didn’t bother making it perfectly straight (because we all know how that would turn out!) but I think a freehand box works well with the ink splatters.
Hope you like it! What other word combos can you think of from the A Way With Words collection?
I love orchids and I always have a several in the house. My husband has made it a point to give me one every Mother’s Day because he loves how long the blooms last. Phalaenopsis are the most common and easiest to get to re-bloom, but my favorite is the Cymbidium and I have never gotten that to re-bloom… until now! Haha –– I can make them any color I like, at any time, with dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs!
I started with a 5×7 black shadow box frame. I wanted my orchid to really pop, so I also started with a black 5×7 base.
Die cut 5 ‘Welcome’ out of white card stock and adhered them together. Because the orchid is so dimensional, a stacked word die cut works much better for the overall look.
The slight white edges of the orchid makes it really pop against the black background.
3. Susan has a great video on how to make these orchids, so I won’t go through the process here. To make the buds on the top though, I used the 3 petal die and curled each of the petal. Cut them apart and stack them as seen to make a bud. The top bud uses the 2 petal die cut the same way.
Final piece before placing it inside the shadow box frame.
4. After adhering all flower stem and ‘Welcome’ onto the black card stock as shown above, I added some moss to the bottom as most orchid plants will come with a bit of moss on the pot to retain moisture.
There’s quite a glare when taking pictures with a glass frame but it looks very polished in a shadow box!
I loved how quickly this came together but looks so “put together”. Having it framed inside a shadow box also keeps it safe from dust and will fit on a little nook in the entry way perfectly.
Do you make more cards than you can send out? I certainly do –– especially now that I am trying to make more than one card at time when I try a new layout or product.
I normally make a little box or just tie a ribbon around a few as a gift but I’ve discovered that the Leaf Pocket die is PERFECT to make a small tote! The front side is a bit bigger than 4.5″ x 6″ so it can perfectly fit as many A2 cards as you want – just change the thickness of the side base. This will make more sense in the instructions below.
These 4 pieces will make up the foundation of your tote
Start with 2 strips of white card stock 2″ x 10 5/8″ and diecutting 2 leaf pockets. Score the two strips at 4 1/2″.
These are the sides of the tote.
2. Fold along the score lines of the leaf pockets and the strips of paper. The shorter piece of the strips of paper are glue together as above.
Glue the pieces together to finish the tote.
3. Add glue to the flaps of the leaf pocket and adhere them to the inside of the pieces from the previous step. I found it helpful to lay the pocket flat and secure the bottom flap first. By keeping the leaf pocket flat, the sides of the tote will be flushed to the front of the tote.
Tote before embellishments and additional layers.
4. Now you can embellish the tote as is, but I decided here that I wanted a liner against the leaf side to strengthen the tote and to better see the die cut. In hindsight, it would be have been easier to add a liner first before gluing all the pieces together. However, the process is the same before or after.
These are the liners before adding them to the tote.This is a second tote I made and this is adding the lining before gluing the pockets on.
5. To add the liner, cut two sheets of cardstock 4.5″ x 6″. I penciled in where I needed to cut out a half circle out. As it happens, the circle die in the Love Live tag is the perfect size for this step. You can also use a punch or any other circle die you have.
Much studier with the liner.
6. I nestled two circle dies together to make an open circle as a handle for the tote. Die cut 4 of these and glue them on the inside and outside of the tote for a finished look.
All embellished!
7. I used the Love, Life Tag as a simple embellishment for this bag. The A Way With Words “for you” was die cut 3 times and glued together. You can be done here, or add something to the other side like I did. I had just received the bougainvillea die so I was itching to use it!
Love this color combo!
8. The bougainvillea was made with pink and green cardstock. I touched the center of the tiny flowers with an yellow-orange Zig markers before adhering them the the stamens. I couldn’t help but add a butterfly to the side where the tag wrapped around in the same pink cardstock.
Side view of tote
Thank you for indulging in a long blog post! I hope you are inspired to think outside the box with the dies you have. I’m off to make some more of these totes!
Diana here today! One of my favorite things about my garden is remembering where each plant came from. I always buy some annuals every year but the perennials hold a special place in my heart. I remember which one came from my mom’s garden, my sister’s, and even co-workers from over a decade ago. My hydrangeas and azalea actually come from our first home as well as some others.
Long intro but my card is inspired by the idea of sharing your garden. Wouldn’t it be thoughtful to have a few pots of small plants from your garden, some seeds, and a card to a neighbor or friend?
To make this card, I started with watercolor paper and white card stock.
Make a white frame by nesting two rectangle dies. I like to use watercolor paper for the frame because it is stiffer.
The inside of the frame is aslo a die cut from water color paper using the larger of the two dies above. I used blue and green water colors to color the opposite corners of the background.
Make a rainbow wash on watercolor paper to cut out the butterfly spray as well as the Garden and Bliss word dies. The tiny flowers for the center of the Shasta Daisy is also cut out from it also so make sure it is a large enough sheet/scrap.
The Shasta Daisy is cut from white card stock.
Pop up the frame on the green and blue watercolor paper.
Adhere to a white tent card base.
Adhere all the die cuts as show in the picture below.
I can’t wait for spring to come – my garden is so dead right now but I look forward to splitting and sharing my perennials.
Now that the presents are all opened (but decorations are still up!) we need to get out our thank you cards before we move on too far! Today I’m sharing how I mass produce thank you cards that are all a bit different but more quickly made than one design.
Hi, it’s Diana with the penguins *again.* I just think they are so adorable and this particular die set just won’t go back in the packaging. It’s a good thing that dies don’t get worn out! For my card today I stacked the penguins to form a Christmas tree while holding onto the words “Merry Christmas.” How cute are they? Read on to see how I created this card:
Babies – ah, I love them! And I love celebrating the arrival of a new bundle of hope, possibility and dreams. Now that I am out of the baby stage myself, I would actually have time to put together a cute little shower for a mom-to-be. There are so many designs you could make for a baby shower with the A Way With Words die sets. I went with the onesies because I just love those – especially since I love squeezing those baby thunder thighs! This set showcases an example of a card for the mom-to-be, the invitations and then also a little gift box. Read on how you can quickly put together a set yourself.
The best thing about winter for me is layering up! I love sweaters and cozy flannels…
Though I am too old for mittens, I’d take them if they were offered to me by someone as adorable as this penguin. I keep using this die set because it is just so cute and so easy to use. Today the penguin is holding a pair of mittens made with a die set from the new A Way With Words release. Did you know that Elizabeth Craft Designs also sells self-adhesive velvet sheets?! It’s a perfect match! This card came together very quickly. In addition to being a fun card to mail, it would be an extra special way to hint at the contents of a gift box containing gloves or mittens!
The number one item on my bucket list is to see the northern lights or the aurora borealis. It’s just too bad that I have to be somewhere really cold to do so. Until then, I attempted to make a sky inspired by the northern lights using alcohol inks. I couldn’t get it quite soft enough but it does have a cold nighttime vibe. I’ll have to play some more but it’s definitely something worth exploring – those penguins are too cute to not keep going. I think they pair quite well with the sentiment. Please read on for the instructions to replicate the card you see below.
