Hi friends, welcome to this crafty space. Today’s cards show how you can use any of the smaller dies you have on hand to make a big impact. The idea is to create clusters of smaller shapes and use them repeatedly. You can go for flower clusters, or words or even numbers. You can make the die cuts colorful or opt for monochromatic ones. You can make these have different textures or bling or more. Let’s explore this idea in the two cards below, shall we?
Card 1
For the first one, I used the flowers from Spellbinders Large Die of the Month kit to create a whole panel. Well, I had several left over flowers from previous projects and I made a few more. I created several clusters of them using colors from one of the patterned papers (from an old Spellbinders Card kit) as inspiration. To add a little extra interest, I stamped several different sentiments from Simon Says Stamp Delicate Flowers stamp set near each cluster using Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide Ink.
To bring in the inspiration piece, I added a stripe of it one side and divided the two panels with thin stripes of black and silver cardstock. Finally I added some sequins from Simon Says Stamp Rainbow Confetti mix and called this card done.
I did try to capture it in another angle so you can see all the dimension these little flowers are adding.
Card 2:
This card is proof that I got seriously addicted to this kit :-)
By now you must have seen all the various ways you can assemble the cake layers from this kit. For the cake on this one though, I did something a little bit different. I adhered several strips of sparkly brown washi tape (that came in an older Spellbinders Card kit) onto a piece of scrap cardstock and die cut it with only the outer die for the small cake layer. Next I used another piece of cardstock from my stash (that almost looks like lemon / vanilla flavor) and cut that one with the outer as well as inner cake layer die. I trimmed the sides of the first die cut and adhered these two together with liquid adhesive such that the sparkly tape shows through the die cut holes (like chocolate showing through).
I used the same tape + cardstock idea to cut out two sticks, a banner, the #, the 1 and the cake stand. This cake stand is from another Spellbinders Die set – Celebrate with Cake. (Here’s another card I made with it.) To give this cake stand some dimension, I die cut it from some fun foam and adhered it under the actual die cut.
For the background area, I embossed my cardbase with Love Stripes embossing folder from Fun Stampers Journey. On lower right corner, I added patterned paper. I also used the leftover piece of washi tape covered paper to die cut just one side of the Fancy Stitched die and added that to the diagonal side of patterned paper. I saw Nichol Spohr do it on her cards and loved it, so I decided to implement it here. BTW, you should check out her Instagram. She creates really stunning cards and there’s a lot to learn from her designs.
At this point I went ahead and assembled the card. But I kinda felt like it was just another card, with no ‘je ne sais quoi’. That’s when I thought of doing the same “repeated small die cut” technique and sprinkled around a bunch of numbers / digits (except for the ‘1’, so that it could be special) – all die cut from the lemon/vanilla cardstock. I also die cut just a couple more flowers + leaves and dressed up my cake a little bit.
So, what do you think? Do give this idea a try. I would love to see how you put a spin on this. :-)
SUPPLIES LIST
For your convenience, I am sharing links to the supplies I’ve used or the ones you can use for making similar cards – click on the picture or link to go directly to the product. Wherever available, I have used affiliate links, which means when you make a purchase, I receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) which I use to run this blog. I truly appreciate your support!
Thanks! ~Varada
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