New supplies always inspire me to create and try new ideas. I'm absolutely head over heals in love with the latest Essentials by Ellen release designed by Julie Ebersole! The ideas just keep coming and today I'm sharing a fun die cutting window idea that works so well with these dies.
I'm sure I'm probably not the first person to come up with this die-cutting idea but it popped into my head to create a frame using layers of die cut shapes and then create a window. I've called it the Die-Cut Framed Window Tutorial and I'm pretty excited with how it turned out! I'm always a huge fan of white on white and with these beautiful die cuts, keeping the color to a tone on tone look really shows off their lovely detail.
To start off I've folded my card to form a top-hinged 4.25" x 5.5" card base. For some reason I just always love to cut them this way instead of with a side hinge and it really works well for a window design when open and standing.
The first step of the actual technique is to die cut a heart shape using the die you want to cut your window out with. I've chosen the 2nd largest heart die from the Folk Hearts die set and die cut a heart from a piece of scrap paper. This heart won't be used in the final product and is mostly used for a placement guide. When you're finished, either keep it to recreate this project or use it to create an entirely new one. Using a little removable adhesive on the middle of the reverse side of the heart, adhere it to your card front.
Next step is to die cut the shapes you want to "frame" your window opening with. I've die cut the Bold Blossom Stand Alone die set twice and then arranged it around my heart placement guide. You want a portion of each of the die layers to sit under the guide as that will be the line that forms the window cut at the end. Once you have them arranged, carefully adhere them one by one with Glossy Accents or other liquid adhesive, sliding them under the heart placement guide.
Mark where the heart placement guide is with a pencil and then place the same sized heart die over the area to be die cut into a window. Adhere the die in place with some washi tape to prevent slippage in the die cut machine. OPEN up your card so that you DON'T die cut through both layers of the card. Then run the die through your die cutter to create the window.
The remaining die cut areas form a frame around your window for a beautiful effect!
To finish off the card, I die cut a smaller heart shape and placed it with dimensional foam squares on the inside of the card. The window means that you can see it from both outside and inside the card design.
I also die cut two extra leaves as accents and adhered them to the right side of the window. A bow of jute twine and a pin accent finish off this accent area.
The inner heart has been stamped with two sentiments from the new Fancy Thanks stamp set. I love how unique this sentiment is when put together! The heart is also accented with beautiful gold sequin stickers. They are the most amazing sequins EVER as they come with adhesive on the backs!
I hope this tutorial inspires you to try out a new die cutting technique! Thanks so much for joining me in the CLASSroom today!
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