Hi friends and happy Thursday! Today I’m happy to be part of the Altenew Dynamic Die Cutting Blog Hop. (If you came from Sveta Fotinia’s blog, you’re in the right place!)
One of my favorite things about cutting dies? While I love to use them as embellishments, I also like how you can use the negative space left over from your cutting as well.
Today I want to share two easy Christmas card ideas featuring the Altenew Bold Alphabet Die Set. Not strictly for Christmas, these dies work hard all year round. The letters measure between 1 1/2”- 1 3/4” tall, so they’re great for cards as well as scrapbooking and much more.
After you check out the details on the card projects, please be sure to leave a comment. (You might win a $20 gift certificate from Altenew!) As usual, I have a question for you: What do you like most about cutting dies? Tell me in the comments!
Plus, Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to five lucky winners! Just leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog by Wednesday, October 31st for a chance to win.
And for all kinds of die-cutting fun (plus savings!), be sure to check out the Altenew Dies collection page.
Okay, let’s have a look—
Reinker Noel Die-Cut Card
This design is a fun and easy one that’s also easy to replicate, great if you’re making Christmas cards in batches.
Place the letter dies onto red cardstock. Tip: I use a ruler as a guide if I want all my letters to be even and read straight across.
Secure with masking tape, then run through your die-cutting machine.
For this card, I inked the edges with embossing ink and then dipped them into Golden Peach embossing powder for a bit of shine. Then the piece is matted onto lime cardstock, then wrapped with baker’s twine. Three gemstones add a bit of sparkle to the design.
The background is made with my favorite Pressed Backgrounds technique.
Squeeze a few lines and drops of Parrot and Coral Bliss dye re-inkers randomly onto a craft sheet. Mist with water. Press a piece of white cardstock into the ink, then lift. Repeat to color the white cardstock, leaving some areas white.
Let dry, then ink the edges with embossing ink and cover with gold embossing powder. Heat set, then mat on red and lime cardstock and glue to the card front.
Simple Noel Die-Cut Card
Sometimes it’s fun to have the die-cut letters be stylishly uneven! Here, I’ve die cut the letters N, O, E and L from red cardstock, placing them in a cluster.
Tear the bottom edge of the red cardstock for extra interest. The sentiment at the bottom right is from the Happy Holidays stamp set, stamped with Jet Black ink. Mat again on black cardstock and wrap with baker’s twine.
Die cut the E and O from black cardstock. Add the E to the card front with foam tape. For visual balance, I used the black innie from the O to fill in the center of the O at the top. Clear sequins add texture.
Thanks so much for stopping by! Don’t forget to leave a comment, answering this question: What I like most about cutting dies is __________.” I’m curious!
And don’t forget to keep hopping to see even more fun techniques:
Great cards! I love the graphic style,
Loved these Christmas cards. Very nice!
Super fun and festive cards! Wonderfully graphic and happy. I love the dimension die cuts add to a card.
Fun, fun cards. I can’t seem to make a card anymore without die cutting. Love the process and how many ways die cutting enhances my cards.
Thanks for sharing this lovely card.
What I love best about cutting with dies is the ease of it. And I can cut a bunch at one time and save some for other projects. It cuts down on the time it takes to fussy cut. I love both of your cards.
Endless variations. Love the card and the background. What do I like about cutting dies? I like that they are a embossable, easy to use, and work with a variety of cutting material.
…they come out perfect every time! Great cards, ty for sharing!
Simple and fun. I love to create with dies; anything from dainty to bold. It is all fun.
Love your cards! I enjoy seeing the same die used in such different ways. I love the versatility and ease of using dies.
Thanks so much for sharing!! very simple, yet very elegant looking cards!! I LOVE them!! Great hop.. and hey, what’s not to like about cutting dies?? no fussy cutting=happy maker!! 😉
marty
Nice cards! I am very into making Christmas cards right now.
What great inspiration from you creating a simple but powerful statement. Love watching you on Facebook!
Great cards and I love the Christmas colors you used as well as how you used this fun die.
I love the versatility of using dies for my cards! The alphabet dies are so nice, because you can usually get two cards with one die cut. Your cards are very pretty!!
This is so unique! I love the colors you used! They are not traditional Christmas!
Awesome Christmas cards! Love the graphic look & bright colors. My favorite thing about dies is the ability to bring texture & dimension to a card quickly & have it look so awesome.
Super fun and cheerful cards Sara, they seem to be great for mass produce. Thanks for the inspiration!
Lovely contemporary cards. What I like most about cutting dies is being able to customize a design by using a variety of different colors and patterned papers.
Such fun creation!
Fun, modern holiday cards.
What I love about die cutting is making quick, easy cards that look complicated. It’s easier to just cut & glue, rather than ink, stamp, line up, cut, paste etc!
Cute! Those little bows are like the cherries on top . 🙂
Thanks for the tip to line the dies up. My favorite thing about dies is the dimension they give.
Love your cards! I especially love the playful one with the twine! I like die cutting when I need to make a quick card and I don’t necessarily want to pull my inks out. The Altenew 3D floral sets have been some of my favorites when I’m in a hurry.
Lovely cards! Thank you for sharing!
I love both of your cards… so festive!
Very beautiful cards. Love the bold dies used. The background on the first is gorgeous!
These are really cool and modern looking, I love the second design!
Your cards are awesome! I love that you can do so much ch with the dies. You can use the positive and negative, you can make shaped cards, you can emboss and de-boss with them, and the list goes on and on.
Those are fabulous holiday cards!
Fabulous cards! Love all the die cuts and colors. I like using die cuts because they are so quick and easy with a dramatic look.
Lovely work!! I like dies mainly because of the beautiful intricate designs that can be cut so easily 🙂
I love the 3D effect that can be produced with dies! Pretty cards!
Love these great quick holiday cards!
Fun Cmas cards bc of the colors!
Great cards. Love how die cutting allows us to make very detailed and dimensional designs on our cards.
Great cards the splattered background looking one almost looks like flowers and leaves! We
Love the clean design of your cards. What I like most about cutting dies is that I can move the die cut pieces around and see exactly how they will look before gluing them down.
Beautiful cards! I love using the positive and negative cuts!
I love using dies on my cards and I find I am using them a lot! What I like most about cutting dies is picking the papers to cut them from! I can get such different looks from the colors and patterns I choose!
Cutting dies cutting down on the
time spent fussy cutting (even
though I like to fussy cut). You
get an even cut, always the same,
and you can get more cuts in a
little time. Love your card.
thanks for sharing
txmlhl(at)yahoo(dot)com
Thanks for sharing inspiration on how to use the dies – gorgeous cards!
Wonderful cards, Sara. I’ve missed watching you create. Glad you’re designing for my favorite company, Altenew. Looking forward to more projects from you.
These are pretty cards! 🙂
These are so clever!!!
thanks for the tips on using the letter dies, Sara – very pretty card!
Your soooo right! Using the negative space from where you die cut looks amazing too! It’s always great to be able to use every part! I love all the different aspects that die cutting does for your crafting projects! Not to mention it saves your fingers from painful cutting too! LOL!!
How you can you everything from the die-the positive and the negative. It’s all useable. Plus, I love to layer the ones you can layer. They’re just so darn versatile!!
Wonderful Noel cards. I like how quickly I can make a card with die cuts.
I really like cutting dies because they leave a nice, smooth edge when used on a paper. The best ones made with a border inside and outside parallel to the cutting edge, so they also emboss the paper around both the cut out and the negative piece. This gives an elegant and professional look to any paper projects.
Lovely cards, thanks for sharing!
Some of my most favourite Altenew products are my layering dies. I love the Fantasy floral dies and the Rose flurries and the Peony Dream flowers that these dies make. Thanks for the fantastic Christmas inspiration!
Fab cards as usual. Always like your backgrounds.
What I like most about cutting dies is they take the yucky tedious parts of papercrafting out of the picture so I can enjoy the fun parts :). (mardy14@bellsouth.net)
one of the simple things about cutting dies is what I luv best about them…..the curved, finished edge they give. great designs!