water coloring die cut balloons + video tutorial: MFT Stamps Die-namics Design

Welcome to the MFT Stamps design team Die-namics Design Challenge! This month we are being challenged to use balloons! With all the birthday celebrating going on around here for MFT Stamps 9th birthday, we have tons of fantastic product choices!

For my card today, I wanted to create custom balloons by water coloring the die cut images from

Die-namics Birthday Balloons. I cut water color paper with the largest balloon in the set.

Then I pressed my ink pads into my craft mat and added water. Using a paintbrush, I added color to each balloon, leaving an open space for a highlight.

I love the way they turned out so well, that I made a video tutorial for you. Short and sweet.

Direct link: Water Coloring Die Cut Images-Balloons

To finish off the card, I used the string and bow from Die-namics Blueprints 26. The length of the strings in Die-namics Birthday Balloons were not long enough for my project. And who can resist that adorable bow? The frame was inked with Grout Grey ink through Stencil Diagonal Stripes. And the sentiment is from Totally Happy.

Visit the MFT Stamps blog to see what everyone else has created. As always, I know all the projects will be amazing and inspiring!

thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly

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creating frames with dies; MFT Stamps Die-namics Design

This month for the Die-namics Design Challenge we were to showcase the STAX dies. And only the basics; squares, circles, rectangles, and ovals. Sounds boring, right? Wrong! So many great things can be done with the four basic shapes, you would be surprised! Take a look at how I created a frame and a mask for this card!

Creating a frame with two dies is pretty easy, nest two dies together and pass through your machine. I took it one step farther and made a frame using two different sets of dies!

On my Sweet Tooth cardstock piece, I placed the largest die from Die-namics Cross-Stitch Rectangle STAX. (Ok, I cheated a little and used a fancy edge die, but I could not help myself, its so pretty!) I secured the die with a piece of low-tack tape.

On the inside of the rectangle die, I placed the third largest oval from Die-namics Oval STAX Set 1 and secured it with tape as well. As long as your die templates are not touching each other, or overlapping in any way, you can pass them through your manual die cutting machine at the same time!

Once I had my frame, which you can see below, I stamped it with Swiss Dot Background in Lemon Drop ink. I spread the color a bit with a wet paintbrush.

Note: I do not have magnetic plates for my die-cutting machine, which is why I use the low-tack tape. 

Knowing that I wanted the sentiment to show through the frame I created, I decided to create a background behind. Problem was, I needed to block off that spot to save it. Enter my wonderful STAX again! Using the same die from Die-namics Oval STAX Set 1, I die cut a Post-It note to create a mask.

With the mask in place, I stamped Roses All Over Background with watermark ink. Then it was heat after being sprinkled with white embossing power. I used my dye inks as watercolors and colored the background.

Isn't that a great look? Oh, and I cheated one more time, I simply had to add a watercolor butterfly to finish things off. I am obsessed with Die-namics Flutter of Butterflies-Solid.

Head to the MFT Blog to see some crazy brilliant ways to use your basic STAX. I was incredibly inspired by the projects!

thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly

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creating die cut ombre borders; MFT Stamps Die-namics Design Challenge

Today's Die-namics Design Challenge is all about the borders! Border dies can do some pretty creative things on our cards and today, while my idea is simple, adding a bit of ink to the situation definitely steps the design up another level!

Having been working on projects with the ombre look. (Yes, that is a tease about a video tutorial I have coming up for you in the June release!) Because of that, I was inspired to create ombre borders on my card, as a sort of background.

I began by die cutting watercolor paper with Die-namics Stitched Scallop Edges. I used the largest scallop shaped die. I repeated that four times.

The piece of Coral Crush cardstock at the top there was my guide for the next step of the process.

Then I pressed my Coral Crush ink pad onto my craft mat. Water was added with a squirt bottle. I kept the water to one corner because I wanted to be able to control how light and dark I painted the watercolor wash onto my pieces of die cut watercolor paper. I began painting with a larger paint brush. One of the things I liked about this technique is, when I needed to add more color to my darker layers, it was easy to do, without splotches or streaks. And that is the key here, start light and layer your colors as you go.

I adhered each of the borders to my card by the straight edge and then bent the front edges up slightly.

I HAD to use Die-namics Flamingo on this card. With all that coral loveliness, it just would not have been right. Haha!

Visit the MFT Stamps Blog to be linked up to the rest of the design team. I cannot wait to see what they all have up their sleeves with this one!

And remember, if you are interested in any of the products I used today, please click the photos at the bottom of the post. Those images will take you directly to the products in the online store. If you are looking at this post via email, you may have to click over to my actual blog for the links to work. I am trying to not only enable you, but make your shopping a little easier. :D

thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly

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