How to Make Die Cut Coneflowers Pop with Ink Blending | Cascading Coneflowers

Hello there, Michelle Short here to share a step-by-step tutorial with you using the Simon Hurley Cascading Coneflowers collection. My focus today is sharing how to add interest to die cuts in an easy way, whether that be adding ink blending, layering, or simply by adding interest to the background of a clean and simple card. These easy steps really help to make die cuts pop!

DIE CUTTING THE DIES

Die cut the dies from Wild Coneflowers Etched Dies (please add permalink):

PLEASE NOTE: The dies are shown in the photo facing upwards, so that you can see which die is cut from which cardstock. When die cutting, you need to have the cut side facing down onto the cardstock.

1. Place two sets of flower petal dies onto Seaside ColorWheel Cardstock and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
2. Place flower centre dies onto Beeswax ColorWheel Cardstock and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
3. Place two stems and two leaves dies onto Peridot ColorWheel Cardstock and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.

4. Run through Platinum Six Die Cutting Machine using the following sandwich (bottom to top):

• A Platform Base
• B Platform Top
• C Cutting Plate
• Cardstock with die on top
• C Cutting Plate

TIP: Holding dies to cardstock using low-tack tape helps to prevent them from shifting when running through the die cutting machine. If the dies shift, you can end up with double cut lines on the die cuts.

ADDING INK BLENDING TO DIE CUTS

1. Place flower petals onto Sticky Mat to hold in place while adding ink blending on top.
2. Take a blending brush and press into Bermuda Core Ink to pick up the ink.
3. Using circular motions, blend the ink onto the die cuts. Focus the ink where the shadows would be (at the base of the petals).
4. Remove die cuts and clean mat (please note these inks will stain the mat, but this does not affect the performance of the mat).

5. Place stems and leaves onto Sticky Mat.
6. Add ink blending to the top and bottom of the stems, and base of the leaves, using Green Hills Core Ink.
7. Remove die cuts and clean mat.

8. Place flower centres onto Sticky Mat.
9. Add first layer of ink blending to the base of the centres using Butter Bar Core Ink.
10. Add second layer of ink blending to the base of the centres using Papaya Core Ink and a Mini Blending Brush.

TIP: Whilst the die cuts look great without it, adding ink blending to them helps to make them look more rounded and not flat.

DIE CUT ASSEMBLY

1. Add Bearly Art Glue onto the back of the top layer of the large flower, in the centre.

2. Adhere to base layer.

3. Apply glue onto the back of the flower centre.
4. Adhere to flower.

5. Apply glue onto the back of the base of flower centre.
6. Adhere at the bottom of the flower centre.

7. Repeat process for the smaller flower.

TIP: Tweezers are really helpful to pick and place die cuts down. You can hover the die cut above where you want to place it before adhering down to get the correct placement.

BASE PANEL

1. Take 4.25” x 5.5” panel of Cosmic Sky ColorWheel Cardstock and temporarily adhere to scrap paper or Sticky Mat.
2. Using a Large Blending Brush, apply Nautical Core Ink to the bottom of the panel. As there is less ink on the brush, bring the brush upwards to fade the ink to the colour of the cardstock.
3. Repeat the process to add as many layers as needed to make the bottom of the panel darker than the top (note: as the ink dries, it will lighten up slightly).

4. Using a brush, add a small amount of Splatter White Opaque Watercolor onto a non-stick mat.
5. Spray a little water on top and mix together with brush to make the consistency thinner and easier to splatter.

6. Place cardstock panel inside Splat Box (or other box to protect work surface from excess splatter).
7. Load up brush with paint. Position brush above but slightly downwards where you want the splatter to fall and tap brush to release the paint onto the panel.
8. Set aside to dry.

SENTIMENT

1. Die cut ‘hello’ word die from Big & Bold Sentiments Etched Dies (please add permalink) three times from Classic White ColorWheel Cardstock using the same die cutting sandwich as step 1.
2. Use Precision Tool to poke out the inside pieces of the letters.

3. Add small dabs of glue onto the back of one of the die cuts and adhere on top of the other.
4. Repeat the process for the other die cut, so that the hello is three die cut layers high.

TIP: Stacking die cuts is an easy to way for the die cut to have more impact. This die cut would be impossible to adhere with foam tape, so by adding the layers of cardstock, it adds the dimension.

CARD ASSEMBLY

1. Apply Tape Runner adhesive to the back of the now dry splattered panel.

2. Create an A2-sized card base (4.25” x 5.5”) from Cosmic Sky ColorWheel Cardstock.
3. Adhere panel on top.

4. Add small dabs of Bearly Art Glue onto the back of the stem that is leaning towards to the left.

5. Adhere to card but before sticking down the bottom of the stem, tuck base of leaf underneath.

6. Repeat process for the other stem and leaf.

7. Flip card over and cut off excess stems from the bottom of the card using Shears.

8. Apply Foam Squares to the back of the flower heads. You may need to cut some smaller to fit.

9. Remove backings from foam squares.
10. Adhere flowers to card.

11. Add small dabs of glue on the back of the ‘hello’.
12. Adhere to card.

TIP: If you add too much glue onto the back of die cuts, dab off the excess onto scrap paper. This prevents it from oozing out the sides.

13. To finish, embellish with Denim Color Essentials Gems.

As you can see, the card is simple in design but by adding ink blending onto the flowers it makes them pop from the background, the sentiment has more impact because it is dimensional, and adding the splatter and subtle ink blending to the background helps to add interest. Thank you so much for stopping by the blog today, I hope you have a wonderful day!

Other Supplies

AF684 Bermuda Core Ink, AF662 Green Hills Core Ink, AF651 Butter Bar Core Ink, AF640 Papaya Core Ink, AF706 Nautical Core Ink, Tim Holtz Splat Box