Printing with Die Cuts

Evening folks. Did you have a lovely Mother's Day? I know many of us can't be with our Mum's at the moment due to Covid but we are thinking of them just the same. I had a lovely couple of bouquets and plants from the kids, so they will remind me of them for quite awhile.

However, March is gathering pace, we are almost half way through the month so its time for a brand new challenge at Perfectly CAS.

Here is my card based on this month's theme.

When I was trying to come up with a design for this post, I had in mind the latest challenge at CAS Mix Up. They certainly challenge you to go outside the normal CAS structure and widen your horizons with new techniques, I can't believe its 5 years since they started! This month their theme is 'Printing with Die Cuts', not something you would immediately think of as CAS. Anyway I followed the link to the You Tube video supplied by Kathy Racoosin, then had a play!

I wasn't sure which of my MANY dies would work for this technique and originally I pulled out a MB Tulip die, but then remembered that I had the same die cut Joy! daisy that one of the DT, Viv, had used. 

I cut a trio of them out of MM paper, as I wasn't sure how it would pan out, but in the end I only used one and a half. I added some Zig watercolour marker to the die cuts, spritzed one with water and pressed it onto the rest of my MM panel. A little too much water and the colours ran so when it was dry I flipped it over and tried again. This time I tried adding the colours in two different phases, first the green stems and yellow centers, then the pink petals. Instead of adding water by spritzing, I painted over the die cuts with water before flipping over and printing. I got much more control over the colours but they still blended well. Sometimes I wasn't quick enough with my flipping and the colour didn't all transfer but I quite liked that effect too.

When the panel was dry, I added the die cuts, trimming off the small daisy from one of them. The subtle printing with coloured die cuts on top, gives the design a sense of depth, I think.

When I use MM paper I always struggle to find a base card colour that works, so to take the eye away from the slightly differently coloured panel, I inserted a die cut of it into a die cut frame made from the same card as the base, and mounted that on a simple off white A6 top folding card, if that makes sense!

A simple LOTV sentiment completes the design. A messy mixed media center but overall a CAS card I think.

For more CAS birthday inspiration check out the rest of the DT here.

I'm joining in over at:-

 

Spring