Taylored Expressions May Release Day: Birch Tree Cutting Plate

Happy Father's Day by Jen ShultsWooHoo! It’s the day you’ve been waiting for – Taylored Expressions Release Day!!! Everything we’ve been showing off the last few days is now available for you to snatch up!! And today we have a special bit of inspiration for you. All of the Baker’s Dozen is showing off the gorgeous dies in the May collection and we have been charged with showing you two different ways to use them. Today I’m using the Birch Tree Cutting Plate!!

In my first card I die cut the plate using white paper and then colored the birch trees with Copic Markers (N0, N1, N3) to pop them up just a bit. I have to say the idea of coloring on die cuts is a new one for me and I LOVE it! I’m sure you’ll see a lot more of it in the future! The paper I used is Authentique Hope which I thought was prefect for a nice subtle Father’s Day card. I used the new Greetings for Him stamp set for the sentiment and the wonderful new Band It dies to die cut the sentiment. Everything is distressed slightly and sponged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

Happy Birthday to You by Jen ShultsFor my second card(s) I used the Birch Tree Cutting Plate die as a silhouette by cutting it out of black paper and mounting it over a bit of paper watercolored to look like a sunset. Here’s a peek at the process I used for making the sunset…

First I cut a piece of Choice Watercolor paper to 4″x5.25″. Then I went through my Distress Markers and picked the ones I thought would be perfect for a sunset.

Sunset distress markersOnce they were all picked out I started adding the colors to the watercolor paper working from yellow up. I used horizontal strokes and didn’t really worry to much about filling the space completely… I just tried to get a nice sunset shape.

Distress Markers Sunset

Next I used a Mini-Mister filled with water and a little bit of pearlescent liquid watercolor to activate the marker ink and run the colors together. You could also use Ink Potion No. 9.

photo (1)

After letting this sit for a bit I used a heat gun to speed up the drying and reverse the curling of the paper. Tip: if your paper doesn’t uncurl when you hit it with the heat gun try spritzing the back of the paper slightly and heating it from the back. If that doesn’t work sandwich it between a few heavy books for a couple of hours.

Here’s what it looked like dry:

photo (2)It has a very subtle shimmer that looks great with the sunset. 🙂

JEN_birchtreecuttingplate_ThursOnce the sunset was done the rest of the card was a breeze. I glued the Birch Tree Die cut to the watercolor paper, wrapped a bit of twine thread around the bottom and attached the sentiment from Greetings For Him that was die cut using the smallest Tag Stacklet 1 Die. Done!

That’s it for me today but be sure to hop over to the Fresh Out of the Oven department to see the new goodies and visit the rest of the Baker’s Dozen to see their FABULOUS projects!!

Carole Burrage
Charmaine Ikach
Jen Shults
Joan Ervin
Kerri Michaud
Lynnette Kauffman
Sankari Wegman
Shannon White
Shelly Mercado
Stephanie Kraft
Tammie Edgerton
Taylor VanBruggen
Wanda Guess

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