Paper and Fiber Arts: AECP Easy Die Cutting Techniques

Hello! Today's post is inspired by the Altenew Academy's Easy Die Cutting Techniques course taught by Yana Smakula. The last two blog posts also included die-cutting elements but this one will show an additional way to use die cuts.

Inlaid die cut and popped up die cut in white

Inlaid Die Cuts

This is a fun way to expand your die cuts, especially background or cover plate dies. You can vary the inlay depth by choosing to pop up the negative cuts or inlay them like tilework.

The first card is watercolor paper painted with reinkers. I have a lot of reinkers! And this is another way to use products from my stash. The colors used are mainly discontinued Close To My Heart colors and a couple of PinkFresh Studio ones, as well. The white cube pieces are glued on top of the watercolored pieces and reinserted into the cover die-cut piece. I wanted the 'love' to show up well, so underneath the word are the original pieces placed back into the die.

Radial Hearts Cover Die Inlaid Technique

The base layer of this card is die-cut with all of the pieces replaced. After adhering them into place, I ink-blended the base. Cutting the teal paper with the die allowed a lot of flexibility in how many pieces to use to adhere on top of the base. It also allowed for three of the hearts to be glued onto the top of the circle around the sentiment. The card base could have been made by embossing the die cut instead of cutting out the base layer. I rarely pre-plan my cards and layouts so that did not occur to me until the card was almost completed.