Simon Says Stamp DieCember® Release & Card Featuring The Whirl Fancy Leaf Die

Happy December, and happy Simon Says Stamp DieCember®!!!!  Simon's release this month is all about the dies!  I'm thrilled to be a part of Simon's Blog Party to celebrate all the wonderful new dies!  Check out the list of designers over at Simon Says Stamp Blog.

I had lots of ink smooshing fun with this beautiful new Whirl Fancy Leaf die!  See the "shadow" prints in the background?  I made those with one of the die cuts!  Read on for details.

First I die cut Whirl Fancy Leaf die from Bristol Smooth cardstock five times.  I will usually die cut extra in case I need them.  I used three shades of Pawsitively Saturated Inks for my ink smooshing--Aspen, Sage, and Pine.  I smooshed each ink pad onto my silicone craft mat and added a few spritzes of water to the inks.

Then I dipped each die cut into the inks, using my heat tool between each color to dry.  I accidentally got one of the die cuts with way too much ink on it.  So I just pressed it onto a scrap piece of paper to try to remove some of the ink.  To my delight, I discovered that this is a way to "stamp" shadows of the die cut onto my background!

So I pulled out another piece of Bristol Smooth cardstock to plan and "stamp" the leaf shadows for a background.  Note:  wear disposable gloves if you are averse to having stained fingers!

When all of the pieces were dry, I ran the "stamped" background through my die cutting machine with the Layered Vine embossing folder.  I trimmed the piece to 4-¼" x 4-½" and adhered it to an A2 card base.  After I glued the embossed piece to my card, I inked up a narrow strip of white cardstock with Sage ink and then adhered it at the bottom edge of the panel.

I stamped the sentiment from the Thoughtful Messages stamp set in black ink at the bottom of the card base.

I used glue to adhere three of the Whirl Fancy Leaf die cuts to the card.  To finish it off, I added a bow of twine and a few enamel dots.

This super fun to make and I hope I've inspired you with my card!  Thanks so much for stopping by!