July--a month to die for!

Welcome to July...the month to DIE for! Yep. All of this month, the Dream Team are featuring our newest toys...our DIES! You'd be surprised at how many we have, and what fun things you can do with them...especially when used in conjunction with many of their stencil counterparts. They are such a simple way to create an effective card. Here's mine for this week:

 

 



I really tried to create something "gender neutral" here.  I used the die DL3029 Dog. The stencils I used were Dog Stencil 3029, Swirl Stencil LJ 863,  Snow Splatter Stencil LJ 878,  Houndstooth LJ 913, Herringbone LJ 914, and Dog Words LG 749.  I used the Rubber Embossing Mat with a manual die cut machine (specifically a Cuttlebug for me, but you can use whatever you want.)  I also used the Matte Black Embossing Paste, Palette Knife, Removable Tape, and Color Coated Aluminum in Brown, Black, Red and Medium Blue.  Finally, I needed sandpaper, white and black card stock, adhesive and scissors.

 The mechanics behind the project were very simple.  I ran the metal through the machine with the rubber embossing mat and stencils: swirls with brown, snow splatter with black, the words and herringbone with red, and the houndstooth with medium blue.  Each time, I sanded the metal before removing it from the stencil.  Then, I placed the metal I wanted to use for the dog on the die.  I had to do one color at a time.  Also, I removed the rubber embossing mat and set up the cover mats to cut thin dies.  I also used a little card stock "shim" to make the die cut properly through the metal. 
Next, I taped the dog stencil to the white card stock and pasted it with the Matte Black Embossing Paste.  You could use Glossy Black just as easily.  It might even work better.  While the paste was still dry, I placed the metal into it.  You can see by the close up below that the stencils are slightly larger than the metal.  They create a slight "outline" that way, which is a very pretty effect.

 



Also, my black paste bled a little under the stencil, but that worked out well, too.  It created a very cute "smile" on my dog!
After the paste dried, I used the scissors to cut around the dog.  I then assembled the card!  Simple as that!

I'm sure that our "A" team is just DIE-ing to show you their creations, as well as our Guest Designers for the month of July, so stop by and take a look....

Dream It Up!

Leadonna Kimmel

Louise Healy

Laura Drahozal

Lynn Mercurio

Pam Hornschu

Jamie Martin

and

Terri Sproul (GD)