You Are Gold!

Are you all singing Spandau Ballet now?  Love that song!

Anyhow, in case you didn't guess, today's post is all about gold and I've made 2 cards at the same time using the bits I didn't want on one on the other and vice-versa.  Let me explain.....

I used the superb new Fine Bouquet Die from Altenew which gives you a beautiful delicate floral outline as well as all the petals so you can use them individually or together so 3 looks from one die.  For these two cards I went for the both together look die cutting it once from foiled card and once from white and inking up the petals on white to piece into the foiled frame and the foiled petals then went into the uninked white frame. 

If you find piecing dies back together a little fiddly, then I have a trick to share - a roll of Press 'n Seal from Glad opens up a world of possibilities with die cutting (we don't stock it as I can't find a UK distributor but you can now find it easily on Amazon and a roll will last yonks).   Here's a little photo montage that shows you how it works.

First I started with the foiling - this is another SUPER EASY way to get a foiled look on your projects without the need for any fancy heat tools.   Simply cover the card with a layer of stick-it sheet glue (image top left) and then lay your foil sheet (image top middle) on top.  For this project I also put stick-it on the back (image top right) so it makes sticking the fine frame onto your project fuss free.

Now for the white version and this is where the press 'n seal comes in handy.  I ran the die through my machine and before taking the die off my cutting plate I put a piece of it all over the back (image middle left).   Press 'n seal is basically like a thin plastic with a very light adhesive on the back, similar to that on a post it, so it won't permanently stick but it works brilliantly to hold all your "bits" in place.  Then you can flip it over and remove the white frame (image middle-middle) and see that all the pieces are still where they need to be for the image.  It also means that you can ink up the petals without having to hold on to them (image middle right) and I used the new gold inks from Altenew blending all over with the Antique colour and then used the Enchanted colour to blend some depth of colour to the edges.  Then I removed the foiled frame outline from the other die cut (image bottom left) and pieced that around the petals (image bottom middle).  [Note - I forgot to peel the foil release from the foiled card before I die cut, not the end of the world as you can still peel off each bit individually but it is much more fiddly (you can see in the image which bits still have the plastic on)  To remove it the easy way, just rub over the foil with a bone folder and peel the plastic away and THEN die cut it!]   The final step is to get another piece of press 'n seal and apply that gently to the front (image bottom right) and then turn it over and remove the piece from the back.  Your pieces are then still all held together and you can just apply glue and flip the whole flower onto card, press it down, remove the waste card and press 'n seal all in go and bingo, easy peasy die cut piecing.

I placed mine onto black card and then used Gold String and Gold Trim Washi tapes from Altenew to cover the rest of my square base card for classy colour combo and timeless look.

For my second card, as the foiled pieces had the stick-it on the back, I did it the old fashioned way and just stuck each piece into the white frame directly onto the sand base card individually.

To complete the card I added a foiled border - I just used a ball-point glue pen and a ruler to draw a fine line, waited til the glue went tacky and pressed the foil on - another easy way to use the foils.

The sentiment is Colorado Craft Company's Lovely Legs Anniversary set and was stamped using the Enchanted Pigment Ink from Altenew.


Hope that all makes sense and you're ready to give die piecing a crack.

Tara