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Quick and Easy Die Cut Duplicates

Posted on by Lynn Hill

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! As an Irish-blooded lassie I couldn’t welcome you to my blog post any other way today. My mother’s maiden name was O’Neil and her mother’s maiden name was McStravick. A few years back my brother and I were looking through some old pictures and papers of Mama’s and we found my great-great grandfather’s naturalization papers from 1916 and the U.S. Passport he received six years later. He was born in 1855 in Ireland and arrived in America via Ellis Island. The O’Neil side came to America by way of Belfast and Ellis Island as well. Yep, official Irish here – and family proud.

I pray the luck of the Irish is with you today!

For my project this week I thought it would be fun to make cards for several of my mini friends for the Easter season. While doing so, I realized I should share my easy way to cut multiple pennants (from Taylored Expressions Pennant Parade) without having to line up and tape each die before cutting over and over again. We’ll get to that as we come to it.

I wanted these cards to be in primary colors so I chose card bases and scalloped backgrounds using the TE Bold paper pack. I selected coordinating Buffalo Plaid Brights 6×6 paper from My Favorite Things to provide the visual background for each card.

Each child’s name was cut from bold colors using the Taylored Expressions Cap It Off Alpha set. They were cut a second time using white cardstock to provide the outlines. I selected one letter in each name to be replaced with a Bunch O’ Bunnies silhouette and a puffy pom-pom tail. 

I am constantly writing notes to myself so I am always searching for a great paper desk pad. I generally use My Favorite Things’s grid pads but they have recently discontinued them. I ordered both Simon Says Stamp and Taylored Expressions grid paper pads to test them out. The Taylored Expressions pad is officially my favorite now because it not only has a grid for measuring and aligning, but it also has alignment windows to help line up and center A2 cards (horizontally and vertically) and a 6-inch square alignment window, too.

I cut each buffalo plaid sheet with a stitched rectangle die then aligned them on the grid paper using the A2 lines. I used a piece of vellum folded in half to help create a straight line for my lettering. The vellum was aligned and taped across the plaid paper ¼ inch from the bottom. I didn’t have to measure it, I lined it up with one of the grid lines that just happened to be ¼ inch from the bottom of the paper. 

Each letter was assembled with a white outline and then fed them through the Xyron Create-a-Sticker 150 machine. I actually used glue on two of the cards but decided the mess was more than I was interested in dealing with so I thought I would give the Xyron a try. Whew! That made my job ten times easier and much quicker too. I didn’t have any trouble with the letters coming apart after the adhesive was applied. 

After attaching the letters and bunny I tied a bow at both ends of a piece of 1mm burlap string. I used trial and error to decide my string length. I tied the bow on the loose end and then tied the second bow on the spool end of the string…retying until the length was not too long or too short to create a banner for my pennants.

I needed at least 25 pennant pieces because I wanted to make five cards with five pennants each. I almost dreaded the repetition until I realized I could make a template to make my project much easier.

I will explain the process I used to stamp and cut the templates but if you want to scroll down to the video you can actually see the process and maybe understand it a little better.

I used the Misti stamping platform to align five pennant stamps in a row. Using similar bold colors as those used for the names, I applied ink to the stamps in one color, adjusted the cardstock in the Misti, and repeated the process with another color until I had six rows of pennants in six different colors (Catherine Pooler Premium Dye Ink – Rockin Red, Orange Twist, Limoncello, Grass Skirt, Fiesta Blue, and Queen For A Day).

I then stamped one more row of the pennants on a separate card to create my cutting template. The Pennant Parade pennant dies come in a set of three so I aligned the three dies on the first three pennant stamps, cut them out, and then aligned two dies on the remaining pennants and cut them. 

Having a template really sped my cutting process. I was able to align the template on a stamped row of images and tape it in place. I then slid the dies on top of the template where they locked in place once they were in proper alignment. I cut three of the pennants at a time in each color and then repeated the process with the final two pennants in each color.

Sometimes a visual makes things easier so I have attached a video I made while stamping the pennants, making the template, and then cutting the pennants from cardstock.

Before I took the stamps from the Misti door I stamped a few more rows of various colors of pennants and placed them in an envelope with my template. Once you have removed the stamps from the Misti door it would be nearly impossible to replace the stamps in the same pattern. By going ahead and inking the extra stamps makes it possible for me to reuse my cutting template in the future.

Once the pennants were cut I was able to adhere them to the card using 3D Foam squares. I tucked the string behind the pennants and assembled the cards. My mini friends always enjoy getting mail and I know they will love these bright and cheerful cards when they arrive.

Supplies:

I do not receive compensation for listing the items I have used in this post; however, I like for you to be able to easily click links to order any items you might find interesting. When Possible I have included two links in case items are out of stock on one site.

As usual, I would love for you to share this post with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. If you liked what you saw today and would like to be sure to catch all of my posts, scroll to the bottom of this page and subscribe to my blog via email. I also try to post regularly to Instagram (@LynnHillIsACraftyMess) and occasionally on Facebook (@LynnHillIsACraftyMess). 

Last week I was lamenting about not being able to find any purple tape in the “old” style. I asked around this week and hear that the new style is not currently available either. I hope that means they are reformulating it back to the original style!! Today’s question has to do with the Pennant Parade dies. Does anyone else wonder why the dies don’t come in a five pack since all of the Pennant Parade stamps come in sets of five? I guess I’ll just have to order a second set of the dies to that I can get the best use out of the templates I make. Thanks for stopping by today, and Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to you!

Hello Spring – Hop To It!

Posted on by Lynn Hill

Spring has sprung! I know some people still have snow, but since spring begins March 1, I guess that makes my comment accurate. That and the fact that little green things are popping up in my flowerbed and all over town.

Wait, did I say spring begins March 1? Where in the world did I get that idea? Well, before you click the comment button to correct me, I want to clarify that the meteorological start to spring is March 1. The astronomical start is the date we are most familiar with and that is March 20.

I read that we are in for a slow start to severe weather season this year. That’s a positive for me because I love spring but truly dislike the tornadic events that come through Oklahoma this time of year. The negative part of that good news is that forecasters are also saying we could have an above-normal season of wicked weather in April and May.

In last week’s post I promised to bring a little spring to life. So, we are going to put the ideas of anything more than pleasant weather and bunnies on the back burner for now.

Speaking of bunnies, I have the  cutest new stencil from Taylored Expressions. The 6×6 Oh Hoppy Day stencil comes ready to put little bunny silhouettes all over your paper. Or, as in my case, they are ready to line up in a row across my card.

I don’t know if you’re like me, but I have tried about every brand of white ink pad and have never been happy with the coverage I get. The ink is always blobby and blotchy and I end up using embossing powder instead. Truth be told, I usually end up ditching the white idea and just stamp with black ink.

That all changed when I purchased the Taylored Expressions Sugar Cube white pigment ink pad. This white ink stamps just as clearly and smoothly as any other color ink pad. I love it. To test it out, I stamped the Playful Plaid Background stamp onto several sheets of pastel green cardstock with the Sugar Cube ink. 

To get repeated and even coverage, I took the black foam sheet from my Misti and placed the red rubber stamp face up on the base of the stamping platform. I laid the first piece of cardstock on top of the clean stamp. Once I was confident I had the paper straight and aligned, I rolled a piece of purple tape and placed it on top of the cardstock then closed the Misti door (This held my paper in place so that I could ink, lift the paper, and reink my rubber stamp if I didn’t get good coverage the first time. (I am almost out of purple tape in the old style and I really don’t like the new style with the white pinwheels on it. It’s just not sticky enough. What do you use? Have you found the old style of purple tape available anywhere?)

I lifted the Misti door, added ink to the background stamp, then closed the door and rubbed a clean cloth over the top of the platform door to transfer the ink to my cardstock. Luckily the first application of ink gave me a uniform pattern. However, if I had needed to, I could have reinked the stamp, closed the door, and applied pressure to the lid again to transfer the ink to my perfectly aligned paper.

Before I removed the inked card, I made a note of the placement of the cardstock so that I could place my second, third, and fourth pieces of paper on the window in the same location and get uniform placement of the stamped image on each piece of paper. Every stamp I did turned out just as perfectly as the previous one.

Since my experiment had produced several sheets of beautifully stamped cardstock I decided it would provide the perfect base for my bunny card. I guess I should have made a plan in advance because once I looked at the stamped background I wasn’t sure how hard it would be to color over the white ink. 

That wasn’t actually a problem because I recalled a technique I had seen Taylor (of Taylored Expressions) demonstrate during February when she was coloring her shamrock cards. This was the perfect project to give it a try.

I placed a blob (a very technical term) of Nuvo Glimmer Paste on my palette and then placed a single drop of coral Copic ink refill (YR14 – Caramel) on top of the blob. I mixed the Nuvo Glimmer Paste with my spatula to create a very pale coral color. This was a perfect mix since I wanted to use greens and corals on my bunny card!

To spread the glimmer paste, I first taped the green cardstock to my work surface and then laid the stencil on top. I had a wooden bunny to add to my card so I aligned the stencil with four bunnies on the right, leaving enough space for the wooden bunny to be added later on the left side of the card.

If you are a very careful and slow worker you might go ahead and start applying the glimmer paste. However, I often (make that always) think I am going to be neat but later find that I have smeared ink or glue or some other application all over an otherwise perfect card. To keep this from happening I tore a strip of Post-It Removable Labeling Tape and placed it over the row of bunnies just above the set that I wished to apply to my card.

I then scooped the hand-colored Nuvo paste onto my spatula and scraped it across my stencil. I was very careful to rub the paste in only one direction and to smooth it level with the top of the stencil. After I had a smooth and even coat of the glimmer paste applied I gently removed the stencil. The cutest line of four bunnies was lined up and ready to dry.

While the bunnies dried I quickly headed to the kitchen sink where I rinsed my stencil, spatula, and palette. I will warn you not to let the glimmer paste dry on your stencil or tools because once it dries it’s solid. And, I mean solid. You can add liquid soap and run water over the stencil gently rubbing it with your fingers, but I found that my efficient kitchen spray nozzle was strong enough to remove all of the paste and glitter. I then used a paper towel to dry the stencil, palette, and my spatula.

Once my stencil and tools were clean and dry I returned to my work table and created a sentiment strip. I stamped several sentiments on coral cardstock using a VersaMark stamp pad. I used white embossing powder to make the sentiments stand out. I thought something “hoppy” would work well but after trying several options on my card I chose Hello, Spring.

By this time the glimmer paste had dried. I don’t know about you, but I love making mini slimline cards. They have a certain look I love and most of the cards I have made lately are this size (3 1/2 x 6). I thought the bunnies in a row would fit the mini slim format perfectly so I used the largest Taylored Expressions Stitched Mini Slim Stacklet to cut a slim rectangle. I then glued the wooden bunny to the face of my card, added a little pom pom bunny tail, and affixed the sentiment.

I chose a candy corn cardstock base but decided the color was a bit harsh for the pastel green and coral I had already used. Rather than use another color, I cut the largest Taylored Expressions Petite Scallop Mini Slim Stacklet to create a white border and I was really happy with the look I was getting. 

I used 3D foam strips to add the scalloped edges to the card base and my card was ready to be placed in the mailbox to spread a little Easter cheer.

This card was quick and really pretty simple. Not only does the wooden bunny stand out, I love the glittery row of bunnies I created with the self-colored glimmer paste. 

Next week I plan to stick with the Easter theme but want to move away from pastel colors and try something more on the bold side. If you want to make several similar cards you won’t want to miss next week’s post because I will be creating something that is easily duplicated. I hope you’ll click in to see it.

Supplies:

I do not receive compensation for listing the items I have used in this post; however, I like for you to be able to easily click links to order any items you might find interesting. When Possible I have included two links in case items are out of stock on one site.

As usual, I would love for you to share this post with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. If you liked what you saw today and would like to be sure to catch all of my posts, scroll to the bottom of this page and subscribe to my blog via email. I also try to post regularly to Instagram (@LynnHillIsACraftyMess) and occasionally on Facebook (@LynnHillIsACraftyMess). 

If you have any suggestions for a replacement for my “old” style purple tape I would love to hear from you in the comments. Thanks for stopping by!