Die Cutting – Page 4 – Taniesa Vlasak

Die-Namites September Sketch and Dare using the Love Heart die & the Wild and Free collection by Glitz Designs.

Published on September 5, 2013September 5, 2013 by TaniesaLeave a comment

Welcome to this months Sketch Challenge and Die~Namites Dare!

Every month a new sketch will be introduced….

the sketch can be interpreted as a card, layout or altered piece!

You need to use at least one

Die~Namites Die in your creation.

You have until the last day of the month to post your creation on your blog,

with mention of the

Die~Namites Die used and a link back to the Die~Namites Dies blog.

Link your blog post, using Inlinkz, to the Die~Namites Die blog.

A random winner will be chosen from eligible participant

for a $25 Gift Certificate to

Die~Namites Dies.

Here is this month’s sketch…..

Today I’m showing my take on this month’s sketch challenge and dare! Mine is just a little bit different from the sketch but I am sure you will see how it worked for me. I thought out of the box with this one and decided to incorporate the sketch into a project life title card.

The die I decided to use was an obvious choice given the sketch. I went with the Love Heart die.

For this particular project I didn’t want the word to show in the project so I overlapped it with the week title by tucking the strip of Glitz patterned paper in the loop of the L. I replaced the flower embellishment with a Glitz designs rhinestone and some enamel dots by My Minds Eye. For the ribbon dare portion I took some black ribbon and silver embroidery floss. I stitched a little arrow onto the ribbon and stapled it to my card using the Tim Holtz Mini Attacher. All of the printed paper used is from the Glitz Designs Wild and Free 6×6 paper pad.

And here it is incorporated into my project life layout.

Here is the right side.

The bottom right card in the photo above was from the digital glitz collection. I used a Ali Edwards 4×6 outline brush on top and the journaling. It’s hard to see from the photo but the upper right card says Movie Date on top of the Glitz designs heart washi tape.

I think everything came together quite nicely. I was a little stuck with this particular week for a while so using the sketch really helped inspire me to get this layout completed!

I am LOVING the new Glitz Designs Wild and Free collection! It’s so bright and colorful with some fun basic patterns that go with everything. Right now you can get this collection and all sorts of fun papercrafting candy at Whimsical Twist for 25% off through September 30th! Use Code AUTUMN25.

Happy Crafting (and Shopping)!

Sketch challenge accepted!

Published on August 28, 2013August 28, 2013 by Taniesa1 Comment

Happy Wednesday everyone!

On Monday you might of seen the sketch Lynne Forsythe posted on the Die-Namites blog. If you haven’t please hop over there and check out the beautiful creations that are already up from Lynne and Peggy!

Here is my take on the sketch. I changed it up just a little to work for me.

Today I am working with one of the latest die releases by Die-namites. The Summer Basket.

I was a little challenged by this die. Not exactly sure how I was going to use it even though I love it and think its beautiful. The detail in it was so pretty that I didn’t want it to get lost in the project. I decided to layer and add color with copics. Here is a couple of shots where I sketched some lines separating the flowers from each other and the basket, and where I cut it out.

Here is when I assembled the background cardstock, the die cut, and the cut-apart floral portion of the die cut.

I cut the background paper in a circle shape and adhered that to a pretty aqua doily. Lynne’s dare was to use fabric in your project. I don’t really have any fabric laying around so I did the next best thing and got some thin yarn and added that around my circle, in a button bow, and the string for the pendant.

The pendant was made using a punch by EK Success. Background paper is from Studio Calico.

I love playing with a sketch when I am lacking my own creative inspiration. Sometimes its just enough to get my creativity flowing. I also love it when it helps me get out of my comfort zone and try new things. Make sure you check back here every 1st Monday of the month for that month’s sketch and dare!

Happy Crafting!

Die-Namites Premier Blog Hop!

Published on August 9, 2013August 16, 2013 by Taniesa38 Comments

Welcome to the “Premiere” Die~Namites Dies Blog Hop.

We are so happy that you have chosen to join us!!!

Our blog hop will be from August 9th ~ August 11th.

Along the way, you will see creations by our Die~Namite Design Team using the LATEST release of Die~Namites Dies.

The Die~Namites Design Team Members will be sharing with you

how they made their pieces through video and picture tutorials.

Each of the Die~Namites Design Team Members

will have a secret word…..on their blogs.

Collect all the words, make sure to leave a little love,

to find the secret phrase this will give you one entry into our prize drawing. You will receive additional entries for Liking us on Facebook Signing up for Email Notifications.

We will be awarding one Grand Prize of a $50 Gift Certificate to Die~Namites Dies and 5 ~ $10 Gift Certificates to Die~Namites Dies.

So enough about the logistics…. LET THE HOP BEGIN….

If you have arrived here from Lisa Tottle’s blog you are in the right place. If you have just arrived in the midst of our Blog Hop please head to the Die~Namites Blog.

Hope you enjoy the “Premiere” Die~Namites Dies Blog Hop!!!

Today I am sharing a quick Project Life weekly title card tutorial using the Flowering Branch Die as well as showing a few of the NEW Die-namites dies! Be sure you collect my secret word at the bottom of my post and leave a comment, I would also love if you would follow TheCraftyPickle as well so I can share even more Die-namite inspiration with you!

My secret word is: IN

Thank you so much for stopping by TheCraftyPickle!

Now head on over to Dunja Dücker’s blog to continue the “Premiere” Die~Namites Blog Hop!!

Happy New Release Day!

Published on August 1, 2013 by TaniesaLeave a comment

Those of you that haven’t seen the new Close To My Heart products have got to stop whatever you’re doing and go look! So many beautiful new products I can’t even stand it! Here is a sneak peek of some of my favorite new releases from this new idea book/catalog:

This has to be my new favorite alpha stamp set! I love that it is sized to store with my other CTMH sets now too!

Check out some of the adorable new sets!

Check out one of the new mini stamps CTMH is offering for under $3!

For all you Cricut lovers out there, here is one of the amazing new cartridge packages!

And a look at CTMH’s take on smash type of journaling/scrapbooking collection “My Crush”

Wearable art? Yes, Please!

And you all know how I love my CTMH Organization. Here are the two new small organizer foam inserts! One for daubers and one for the mini ink squares.

What would a new release day be without some sort of fun special to get you going! from now until Aug. 15th I am offering 10% off all orders! To receive the discount you must email your order to TaniesaVlasak@gmail.com along with your mailing address and email address you want a PayPal billing to be sent. You can view all the new products HERE or go to http://www.thecraftypickle.ctmh.com.

I hope you enjoy all of the new products as I have!

Happy Crafting!

Dress up your packages with die cut accents!

Published on July 30, 2013July 30, 2013 by TaniesaLeave a comment

Hi Die-Namite fans!

Bringing you an idea today to step up your gift giving with one of my favorite Die-Namites die cut shapes, the Grassy Cattails.

I Love using solid color wrapping paper or in this case plain kraft mailing paper. This allows for the decorative card or tag to really shine. I decided to tie up my package with pretty pink ribbons and a tag created using the Grassy Cattails Die-namites Die.

I cut two of the shape out of kraft cardstock and then colored in with copic markers. I added a bit of glitter pen accent. I wanted the backing of the die cuts to be slightly transparent so I took white vellum and my copic markers, I colored a section of the velum with the green copic in two different shades for both.

I then attached the die cut shape on top of the velum using just a little bit of liquid adhesive. I cut around the shape which went really quick. I glued the die cuts and the flowers down with some glue dots and tied it up with some velvet ribbon to the package.

Wouldn’t you love to receive a gift like this? It’s such a simple yet stunning way to dress up your gifts. Surprise your next gift recipient with a die-namite wrapped gift!

Welcome to Christmas in July @TheCraftyPickle!!!

Published on July 15, 2013 by Taniesa9 Comments

Hard to believe we are already in mid July! Where has the time gone? Before you know it the holidays will be upon us again so for today and the rest of this month I am going to have christmas themed posts for you all to inspire you to finish up your December Daily (or get started on your 2013 foundation pages), Start making those christmas cards so its not so chaotic come November, and perhaps a few gift ideas as well.

To kick off my Christmas in July I am joining up with a bunch of very talented ladies in a Christmas Blog Hop! If you are following the hop in order you just came from Margareta‘s blog!

Welcome to the Christmas in July Blog Hop, inspiring you to get out your christmas stash and use it before all the new collections are introduced this month at CHA! Join the fun and create something too, use the hashtag #scrapbookchristmas in twitter, facebook or instagram.

Now I have a confession. I started out last December extremely excited about December Daily! I got my album all prepped and ready and I even did pages for the first and the second! Then, I Just got busy and said “oh nooo problem, I will catch up this weekend” well you guessed it I was busy then too. Then I thought well I will just wait until after christmas is over and then knock the whole thing out the last week of December. Yeah…. Didn’t work so well. SO being very excited about all the new christmas product coming out I figured I better get a move on and get 2012 done so I can figure out my 2013 (I may change my format) The pages I am about to show you are Dec. 1 to Dec. 12 which I pretty much completed all yesterday afternoon (Procrastinators unite!) I Plan on showing you 13-25 at the end of this week or beginning of next week. I WILL finish this album!!!

Here is a look at my album cover.

I started with a Simple Stories SN@P album in green. I altered the cover with a few layers of gesso, with the last layer being one to just add some texture. I sprayed with Mister Huey’s Calico Shine on the top and added a embellished tag. The spine has the date and a cute wood veneer tree that I painted with some nail polish.

I decided to only paint the front cover. The inside of the cover I attached a glassine envelope and added a little tag. Originally I was going to put a DVD of home movies here. I still might but this fills the spot for now. The die cut on the title page is from Lori Whitlock and paper is from October Afternoon.

Day one: Lego advent! I loved advent calendars when I was a little girl so I got my own little girl one this year. She LOVED it. I especially love the picture of her holding the little lego doll, a reminder that her hands were this small once.

Day number two we celebrated my niece’s 5th birthday. I used October Afternoon’s Cakewalk line in this two page spread. The photo of the two cousins giggling always makes me smile every time I see it.

Day number three we finally got around to naming our Elf on the Shelf so she could get her magic! Cupcake it is. We had so much fun for our first year doing Elf on the Shelf!

The letters that spell ELF and SHELF were cut out using the silhouette as well as lots of the other die cuts on this page and other pages within the album. What I did differently with these though is that I took a Brilliance Gold mini ink pad and dabbed it all over the letters, I let it dry for a little bit (it stays wet for quite some time) and then I took some gold ZING embossing powder and sprinkled it on the letters lightly. I Heat embossed the letters and it gave it some added metallic shine and texture that I loved. You will see I repeated the technique a lot in my album because I loved the effect. In the photo it looks a little dull but in person its very shiney.

Day four we trimmed our tree. All the kids had fun going through our ornaments and remembering when they got theirs or made which ones. Its always my favorite part about decorating is seeing how special these ornaments are to my children.

The little dots around the photo below were made with an embossing marker and adding gold ZING embossing powder to add to the twinkle of the photo.

For Day five I just had a photo of our Elf, Cupcake, writing a little hello message to Taegan. This was one of the most favorite things Cupcake did that Taegan loved (besides she got to eat all the marshmallows after!)

and on day 6, my son got new glasses.

The glasses in the title were cut with the silhouette. The other glasses were stamped using a brand new release stamp from close to my heart *bonus sneak peek* . For the title “NEW” I cut one set and a shadow set from the silhouette. I dabbed platinum ink on the top letters and covered it with silver glitter ZING embossing powder.

(I realized that I completely forgot to photograph day 7 and 8 *OooOps* so I will have to go back and do those this week)

Day 9 was a VERY special day for my husband and my family. Baptism Day. My husband chose such a wonderful time of the year to be baptized. For our entire marriage he was not a believer but at the end of summer 2012 he gave his life to Christ. I was honored and humbled at being able to witness the experience and transformation God has done in my husband.

Transparencies were really hard to come by since Hambly studios went out of business. So one afternoon I got out some foam stamps, packing bubbles, and anything else i could find along with some acrillic paint and some blank transparencies and decided to make my own. They were very easy and I just let them dry overnight. I made about a dozen in total.

You know that song “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth”? Yeah we got to hear that one A LOT this year!!!!!

She was a super cute toothless sweetheart! In her words “the best thing about having no front teeth is that you have a place for your straw and you can whistle though the space” …. I love the things kids say!

My Day 11 was documenting that even though we are in a festive busy month we still have our normal everyday tasks, chores, and daily life that we have to do.

Day 12 was a super fun day for us. We managed to do everything we possibly could with the number 12! I even had a 12 year old to take a photo of! Some of the things we did were: Call 12 special people in our lives and talk for 12 minutes ONLY, Baked 12 cupcakes, bought 12 lottery cards, Boiled 12 eggs for breakfast, I reached my lucky 12 at starbucks for a free drink, Stayed up until 12:12 at midnight on 12-12-12 and again at noon making sure to text my husband at that exact minute. Our little elf, Cupcake even had her “twelve” fun with some Rice Krispies!

I hope you enjoyed your first peek into my 2012 December Daily. I promise lots more Christmas in July is coming though the rest of this month at The Crafty Pickle. Until then Hop along to some of these other talented ladies blogs to see more yuletide inspiration!

Next on the hop is Smitha

In case you get lost at any point, here is the list all the blogs

Ruth – http://scrapmachine.com/

Bernice – http://btsoi.blogspot.com/

Theresa – http://himynameistheresa.com/

Holly – http://harmonydiy.blogspot.com/

Sandar – http://www.thecraftybunch.com.au/

Melissa – http://digitalscrapbookinghq.com/christmashop

Kimberly – http://kimberlymariekett.blogspot.com/

Stella – http://myscrapbliss.blogspot.com/

Alanna – http://scrapping-and-life.blogspot.com

Megan – http://meganlianesblog.blogspot.com/

Jen – http://myreillyboysandme.blogspot.com

Lisa – http://mykreativepursuits.blogspot.com

Margareta – http://www.paperpilekitten.com/

Taniesa – https://thecraftypickle.com/ *You are here*

Smitha – http://www.smilingcolors.com

Catherine – http://paperaddictcatherine.blogspot.com

Kate – http://www.funkytales.blogspot.co.uk

Tasha – http://tashascreativejuice.blogspot.com/

Melissa – http://yesterday2day4ever.blogspot.co.nz

Alison – http://magicalmesses.blogspot.com/

Cat – http://decisioninspired.com

Manda – http://www.mandalikadesigns.com/

Madeleine – http://senoritaml.wordpress.com/

Melissa – http://www.scrappyjedi.com/

Amanda – http://amandathemadscrapper.blogspot.com/

Ali – http://www.moloneystylestamping.wordpress.com

Jenny – http://scrappinjen-partyoffive.blogspot.com/

Ros – http://noteverypicturezperfect.blogspot.com.au/

Sue – http://themakingtable.blogspot.com.au/

Julie – http://plywthpper.blogspot.com/

Thinking of you….. A dry embossed look using die cuts!

Published on July 11, 2013July 10, 2013 by TaniesaLeave a comment

Hi Friends!

I missed my Make-A-Card Monday post as I was celebrating my little girls birthday so I thought I would share a card I made for a special person in my life (hoping it brings a little smile to her face)

For this card I mimiced the dry embossing look with some intricate Die-Namites die cuts. The two dies I am using for this card are the Berry Flower die and the Birds on a Branch die. I am using this teqnique on a card today but this same look would be great on a scrapbook page, altered project or project life card.

I love that you can achieve the look of dry embossing with die cuts on cardstock in the same color. I went with white for my card but you could do this easily with any color cardstock. The effect looks better with smooth cardstock rather than textured cardstock. Here is a look at just the background of the card:

I used a total of 5 die cut shapes to do the entire card front. The key thing is to make sure that the die cuts are adhered down completely. I ran the die cuts through my xyron machine, but working with a glue pen would also work well as long as you are careful not to apply too much glue. Once I had my dies arranged, trimmed and adhered I took a rubber cement eraser and cleaned up any extra adhesive from in between the flower detail. I also took a nail file and lightly sanded the cut parts of the die cuts around the edge of the card to soften the edges and blend them into the card. This technique would also look beautiful as a scrapbook page background.

After the background was done I began working on the sentiment strip. I took a Close To My Heart ink pad in the Lagoon color and stamped some of the ink on a clear acrylic block I use for stamping. I removed a little of the ink at a time with a water brush and beginning at the edges of the white cardstock I added color working my way in towards the center. I love the watercolor look this achieved. I stamped the “Thinking of you” sentiment in the same color ink and then went back in with my water brush to add a little more color in between the letters.

To complete the card I took the Birds on a Branch die and cut it in the same color cardstock as the border strip. I fussy cut a few of the pieces apart and attached them to the left of the sentiment. I finished by adding some glitter detail on the butterflies using a clear wink of stella glitter pen.

I hope you enjoyed this fun little tip! The intricate designs of the Die-Namites dies are perfect for this look. Experiment with any of the Die-Namites dies for a bit of POP in your next project! Check out more Die-Namite die cut tips and projects on the company blog!

Happy (almost) embossing!

Project Life Week 24: die-cut embellishments

Published on July 9, 2013July 9, 2013 by Taniesa9 Comments

Hi Fellow Project Lifers!

Today I am working backwards a bit and showing you my week 24. This week I had a bunch of fun playing with some brand new dies from Die-Namites! You have seen in previous posts that I am very fond of my silhouette die cutting machine, but the one thing I find that I have a hard time with is getting really good intricate cuts from the machine. Thats why these dies rock! There is so much detail that brings a little wow to your project life without bulk. To cut my dies I use an Epic 6 by lifestyle crafts, but any manual die cut machine will work.

Here is the full two page spread:

And one of just the left hand side:

For my title card I used the Die-Namite’s Scrolly bird design. I originally cut it from a heavy white cardstock and then colored it with a light blue copic marker. I took a piece of cream cardstock and attached various strips of washi tape. I fussy cut the different pieces of washi to fill in the different parts of the bird. It really helped the die cut pop and didn’t add any additional bulk to my pocket. I LOVED the result.

Here is the second page of my layout:

For the second half of my project life layout I decided to use the center portion of the page as one 4×12 strip just cutting it in 3×4 sections.

I used two different Die-Namites dies for this section. The first was the Floral Corner die. I cut two of these corners out of heavy watercolor paper and then played with some greens and pink watercolors. I put the two together to make a little frame around the title. The watercolors add a little more than just coloring with a marker or cutting from cardstock.

The second die in the last pocket was the Flowering Tree die. I cut this from heavy white cardstock and colored in with copic markers. I added red enamel dots on the tree to mimic apples. I thought this was fitting being next to Snow White. Cutting off the very edge of the die makes the section of the layout flow a bit better.

My oldest daughter had a wonderful opportunity present itself, to be a disney princess for a local production company, these photos of her are her trying on the different costumes.

To check out more about the Die-Namite Dies I have used today and more, please visit the site HERE. A little birdie told me there is some amazing new stuff coming out SOON!

Looking for more project life inspiration? As always, I am linking up with The Mom Creative who shares her album every week and links up with several other talented project lifers.

Have a great week everyone!

Happy Crafting!

Project Life Tuesday: Week 20…. wow, seriously!?!? Week 20!!!!!

Published on June 25, 2013June 25, 2013 by Taniesa7 Comments

Hi Project Lifers!

I seriously cannot believe how fast this year is going by! I just completed week 20 and went back flipping through the entire album so far. I was just amazed at how it seemed like I just started my album. It really is a treasure having something simple like Project Life that helps you slow down and really treasure the everyday because otherwise we might miss some pretty important moments and memories in all our busy-ness. Maybe you are new to the Project Life concept. If so I recommend you go HERE to Becky Higgins website, Creator of the Project Life system.

This was a calm at home week for us. The biggest excitement was that my 6-year-old little girl was allowed to have her first sleepover. Our sweet neighbor came over and I got to experience giggly girls who were up wayyyy too late LOL.

This week I largely used a combination of Becky Higgins Blush core kit and Dear Lizzy: Fifth and Frolic. Both matched up perfectly to one another and went along with the overall theme of the week.

The left side focuses mostly on our week. A few random things including a photo of our home that I have been trying to find a spot for in the album. Beings that I didn’t take a lot of photos this particular week it fit perfectly. I fell in love with the Dear Lizzy line and was so pleased that it seemed to be made to match with the Blush core kit.

The little house was fussy-cut out of a 12×12 sheet of the Dear Lizzy paper and the arrows were apart of the tear strip. The background “card” behind the house was another sheet of paper from the same collection. I stamped a sentiment from the Technique Tuesday : AE Studio “Memories of Home” set. It was straight but I curved it on my stamping block to fit on the card insert.

For the title card I used a card from the Blush kit and stamped “week” several times along the bottom in two different ink colors. The lighter seafoam color was just a second stamping of the darker ink without re-inking. The beautiful glitter thickers are also from Dear Lizzy but from the Neapolitan line, Can you tell how much I *LOVE* her designs and colors? The little file tab was stamped and heat embossed with Aqua ZING embossing powder.

A few of the photos this week were edited using the “A Beautiful Mess” app. If you haven’t checked it out its amazing! I definitely recommend purchasing the app and the add-on designs. So much fun! The coffee cup card is from the Studio Calico Project Life monthly kit.

The right side was all about the sleepover. Aren’t those seafoam polkadot thickers adorable?

Perfect color and perfect font. I had been hoarding these cuties for a while, So happy I had the perfect opportunity to use them.

Again, some more editing using the “A Beautiful Mess” app and more of the Dear Lizzy paper (same sheet of paper called Bowtie Boulevard.)

And finally a fun speech bubble to highlight the final words to wrap up my daughters sleepover experience. She was out like a light until lunchtime!

Hopefully you all have a special place in your album to document your home along with all that happens in it. I am grateful for my home where we create meaningful everyday memories, where we come together as a family.

Looking for more project life inspiration? As always, I am linking up with The Mom Creative who shares her album every week and links up with several other talented project lifers.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Don’t forget to snap photos of those little moments along the way!

Happy Crafting!

Make-A-Card Monday!

Published on June 24, 2013 by Taniesa1 Comment

Mondays are usually my least favorite day of the week. Nothing brightens someone’s day more than happy mail, especially on a Monday! So today I whipped up a few adorable cards that can be adapted to whatever sentiment you desire. they are simple, quick, and guaranteed to bring a smile to the recipient’s face. My challenge to you today is to make a card, simple or more elaborate, and send it to a special someone by good ol’ snail mail! Please feel free to post a link to your card project in the comments if you would like. I would love to see your card-creations!

My first card is a simple “Hello”:

This card was made using the Pebbles Basics papers and some Pebbles / American Craft’s die cut shapes from the silhouette store. It came together super quick and I love the bright cheery colors. The Pebbles Basics really is a fabulous basic set every cardmaker, scrapbooker, project lifer, and papercrafter should have.

Here are the cut design ID numbers for the Silhouette Shop:

Design ID #20725

Design ID #19946

Design ID #42918

My next card was inspired by the new Pier slide frames. I adore them and thought they made the perfect frame for a shaker card!

The paper and the frame are from Crate Paper’s The Pier line and the floral die cut is from Crate Paper’s DIY shop. I added a touch of glitter to the yellow portion of the die cut and the stamp “celebrate” is from Technique Tuesday: AE studio. I added a bit of bakers twine and called it done. This is perfect for any type of celebration. You could even replace the flower die cut for a cupcake or birthday cake if you wanted a more birthday-like card.

Finally for you today, I have a super simple, super quick gift card that is perfect size for a Starbucks, iTunes, or other gift card to tuck inside:

The frame was a project life style card cut from a 12×12 sheet from Crate Paper’s The Pier collection. I added a dimensional die cut from American crafts Pretty Party stand outs and simply stamped a “Thanks A Bunch” sentiment from Dear Lizzie that fit perfectly with this card.

Don’t be afraid to mix and match collections, especially from the same manufacture. The colors generally match perfectly and it gives you a chance to really stretch your supplies.

I hope you feel inspired to create a few cards of your own. Spread some smiles with some handmade card love!

Happy Crafting!