Technique of the Week: Nesting Die Valentine by Pam Nelson

How many times have you planned out a card and then when it was finished, the card looked much different than the original plan?  That’s what happened to me with this week’s card but, I had a lot of fun creating it!  I was going through my Valentine supplies and came across a die set that I totally forgot about buying so I decided I needed to use it. 

Memory Box Glorious Hearts Die set (#30006) is a set of five nested hearts, designed to be used individually, with each other or with other Memory Box hearts.

Several blogs have shown cards with a rainbow of distress colors – one color blending into the next one and then blending to the next color and so forth to create a beautiful palette of color.  I've really wanted to try this so I selected six Distress colors:  Mowed Lawn, Mermaid Lagoon, Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry, Carved Pumpkin and Mustard Seed. 

Cut a piece of white 80# cardstock to 4 ¼” x 11” and laid the five dies, in descending size, on the paper.  All five dies won’t fit on the width of the paper; you will need to stagger the last one a bit. 

Beginning with Mowed Lawn and a round sponge applicator, apply the ink to the paper and cover an area not quite as wide as the largest heart die.  Next use Mermaid Lagoon – overlap the Mowed Lawn a bit to blend it and cover an area not quite as wide as the second heart. 

Next move to Wilted Violet, overlapping it on the Mermaid Lagoon. 

Continue this until you have used all six colors ending with Mustard Seed. 

 

The next step is to cut out the hearts.  Align each die over the blended color – arrange the largest die over the Mowed Lawn that is blended with Mermaid Lagoon and die cut.  Next arrange the next second heart over the section that is Mermaid Lagoon blended into Wilted Violet, etc. until you have cut all five hearts.  Lay the heart die cuts on the work surface in descending size order.  Next, put the second largest die onto the largest heart die cut; put the third largest die onto the second heart die cut, then put the fourth die onto the third heart and the fifth die onto the 4^th heart. 

Die cut each of the four hearts which creates four heart frames.  Use the largest heart die to cut another heart from white cardstock and use cut another heart the same size from craft foam.

Cover the white cardstock heart with adhesive and begin by putting the largest heart frame on the white heart.  Follow with the second heart frame, the third and fourth frame and last, the center heart that was cut from the smallest die. (Note you could also put Stick-it on your white cardstock and foam before die cutting.)  Adhere your nested hearts die cut to the craft foam heart. 

Cut a piece of white card stock to 4 1/4” x 5 ½”.  Use a foam applicator to apply Distress Picked Raspberry ink in a strip about ½” wide along both long edges.  Adhere this piece to the front of a white A2 card. 

Cut another piece of white card stock to 4” x 5 1/2” and use a round foam applicator to cover the entire surface with a light application of Distress Spun Sugar ink.  Put the Hero Arts Crossing Waves Stencil (SA080) on top and tape down the edges.  Using a round foam applicator lightly apply Distress Picked Raspberry ink over the entire piece.  Remove the stencil.

Cut a piece of vellum to 1 ¾” x 8 ½”.  Use a powder tool on the paper then stamp the Magenta “Be My Valentine” stamp (07.608.J) using VersaMark Ink.  Apply gold detail embossing powder and heat set.   Align the vellum with the bottom edge of the stenciled layer.  Apply a bit of adhesive to the back of the cardstock and the fold the vellum edges to the back.  Adhere this layer to the card, then adhere the heart to the top section of the card.  Apply sequins or tiny heart accents.

I hope you will stop by the store to check out this card in person.  There are a few other samples, too.  This technique works well with any set of nested die and any color scheme so try it out and let us know if you had fun with it.

This card uses Memory Box Stitched Rectangle Dies (30009), and IO Wishes stamp set (MC657) and die set (DIE 364F) and the same Distress colors as the sample card.

This piece uses the My Favorite Things Inside and Outside Stitched Rectangle set and the same Distress colors.  Notice how the rectangles are cut at an angle (on purpose) for some extra fun.

This piece uses Memory Box Stitched Squares (30038), again cut at an angle, with Distress inks of Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon, Wilted Violet and Cracked Pistachio.  Wouldn't a Rosie's Roadshow stamp look great in the center?

While you are at the store, also check out the dies from Memory Box and Poppy - their January release had lots of beautiful dies!