Die cut frames are such an easy item to use to spruce up an otherwise bland card or scrapbook layout. They work well on all sorts of projects, whether masculine or feminine, from children to grandparents, classy and elegant or playful and whimsical! Using a frame on your project can be just the perfect finishing touch to highlight your focal point or even the sentiment. And with all of the fabulous dies that Papertrey has been releasing in recent months, making your own die cut frames is a cinch!
Papertrey has introduced several new lines of dies, all of which work so well together for creating your own frames. The Mat Stack dies, Fillable Frames dies and even the Limitless Layers dies can all be mixed and matched to create a wide variety of custom frames. Here's how:
To create your own frames, start by selecting which two dies you want to use to create your frame -- one needs to be larger than the other. Die cut the larger of the two frames. Here, you can see that I die cut some patterned paper with the mat stack 4 die. Then position the smaller die in the center of the shape you just die cut and run it thru your die cutting machine again, thus cutting out a portion from the center of the die cut. I told you, it's a cinch!
The beauty of die cutting your own custom frames, is that they can be cut from patterned papers....
from felt.....
from card stock.....
even from thin chipboard....
They can also be stamped on.....
distressed or embellished or even glittered like these.....
I ran these thru my Xyron machine to cover them with adhesive and then sprinkled on the glitter.
You can stack up your frames creating all sorts of fun layers.....
and you can use impression plates on them.....
Truly, the possibilities are endless when creating your own custom die-cut frames! I highly recommend having yourself a little frame-making session, perhaps on one of those days when you're feeling a little lacking in the mojo department! Just get out your dies and papers and create a stack of frames for use at a later date. Once you get finished, you'll have a gorgeous stack of die cut frames just waiting to be used the next time you sit down to craft!
Don't forget to save all of those shapes that you die cut from the centers of your frames too! Those will come in handy on projects of their own!
Once you've got a stack of frames on hand, you'll love how easy it is to use them on your projects. Here are a couple of cards I whipped up using some of my die cut frames.
Ahhh.....I just love this pretty little ditty.
Starting with the hibiscus burst card base, I layered on a paper doily (from Michael's). Then, if you look closely, I stacked up THREE of those die cut frames I created and layered them all on a bit of Sugar Plum patterned paper. Look closely.....see the raspberry fizz frame with a circle cut from the center? And to that, I added a dark chocolate frame with some foam adhesive so it'd pop up a bit. Then, on top of it all, I added the sparkly hibiscus burst circle layer. I finished off the focal point of the card by adding a distressed flower made from vintage book print using the beautiful blooms II #3 dies and a simple Making Memories brad.
I added the sentiment to the bottom portion of the card using a sentiment as well as a pretty frame from the Mat Stack 3 Collection stamp set. I LOVE taking those pretty frames and stamping just a portion of them on the card like this.....such a simple way to add some pretty detail to the sentiment without adding bulk that would compete with the focal point on the card.
And here's another frame-y card for you. For this one, I started out with a fine linen card base and stitched on some of that same Sugar Plum patterned paper.
I layered a bit of stamper's select white card stock behind this polka dotted frame. To that, I layered one of the scalloped circles that I die cut from the center of another frame. I die cut a bit of stamper's select white card stock with the double ended banner dies and then stamped a sweet little sentiment from Everyday Button Bits with plum pudding ink. A threaded plum pudding button was the perfect finishing touch.
I hope you've been inspired today, to pull out those dies and get a little crafty yourself! Can you see yourself making a few die cut frames to use on your projects?
Thanks so much for stopping by today....I'm so glad you shared a bit of your day with me!
Happy Weekend!
{Heartfelt Thanks supplies}
Paper: hibiscus burst, dark chocolate, raspberry fizz, Sugar Plum, vintage book print
Stamps: Mat Stack 3 Collection
Ink: dark chocolate, vintage touch tea dye
Other: mat stack 1 die, fillable frames #10 die, limitless layers: 1.75" circle dies,beautiful blooms II #3 dies, Making Memories brad, paper doily (Michael's)
{Hey There, Chickadee supplies}
Paper: fine linen, plum pudding, stamper's select white, Sugar Plum
Stamps: Everyday Button Bits
Ink: plum pudding
Other: mat stack 4 die, fillable frames #7 die, double ended banner die, limitless layers: 1.75" circle die, plum pudding button, rustic cream button twine, sewing machine/thread
