Have you ever worked with balsa wood? It comes in thin sheets and is lightweight enough to be used on cards and other paper crafted projects. Balsa wood may be an item that you've used on your projects before, but did you know that it can be die cut or embossed with Papertrey's dies and even stamped on? It's perfect for adding a masculine flair to cards, but it's gorgeous woodgrain pattern makes for really interesting detail even on the girliest of cards! I've got several examples of how to incorporate balsa wood onto your next project, to show you today!
I found balsa wood at my local Michael's store -- simply ask a sales associate if you can't find it, but I think mine was located near the dowel rods and cork. It is approximately 3/32" thick and comes in long sheets that are 4" x 36".
To start off, let's talk about die-cutting the balsa. I used the standard die-cutting sandwich with my Big Shot to die cut a mat stack 1 shape. Your sandwich may need to be adjusted slightly for your individual die-cutting machine. In my Big Shot, the sandwich was quite tight, so that when the balsa went thru the machine, it came out significantly compressed or flattened. You may also notice a little warping of the wood, but it will flatten back out easily. NOTE: Balsa wood is somewhat fragile, so you can't really man-handle it. Be gentle so as to not tear it! Don't ask me how I know this! ;)
After die cutting the mat stack shape, I pulled out the Through the Trees stamp set and stamped the tree trunk in dark chocolate ink followed by the leaves image in spring moss.
Once the stamping is complete, you can even distress the edges of the balsa wood, just as you would card stock, for a bit more dimension.
Now the balsa wood focal point is ready to be used on a card. Obviously I was going for a more masculine feel to this card, so I started out with a vintage cream card base and then added a panel of dark chocolate card stock that was impressed with the Woodgrain Impression Plate. I love how well the woodgrain background pairs with the balsa wood, for a bit more texture.
A strip of patterned paper from the Sugar Plum collection was roughed up along the top edge with an edge distressor and all four sides of the strip were inked with vintage touch tea dye ink. Three spring moss buttons were adhered to the tree with scor-tape.
For the sentiment, I die cut a bit of rustic cream card stock with the double-ended banner die and stamped a birthday sentiment from Mat Stack 1 Collection in dark chocolate ink.
Now, in case you thought balsa wood wouldn't work on girly-girl cards, think again!! Balsa wood looks gorgeous on any type of card because of the great texture it adds. In this case, I die cut an adorable balsa wood butterfly using the Signature Series: Butterfly Die!
Again on the kraft background of this card, I used the Woodgrain Impression Plate to reiterate the wood theme. To that, I added one of the button cards I showed you last week, made with the Button Boutique dies and stamp set. To the left side of the button card, I stitched a bit of plum pudding grosgrain ribbon, so it peeks out from behind the card.
On top of the balsa butterfly, I added another little die-cut butterfly -- this one using the Love Lives Here butterfly die -- and I topped them both with a little purple rhinestone. A strip of dotty patterned paper from the Sugar Plum collection was added to the card base and on top of that, the sentiment strip which was die cut with the double-ended banner die. The "You're the best" sentiment is from the Blooming Button Bits stamp set.
Now, suppose you don't want to actually die cut the balsa wood, but you've got a die with a beautiful silhouette, such as the Turning a New Leaf Die I used here.
You can easily emboss the balsa wood by making your sandwich in your die cutting machine, a little less thick. In my case, I removed the Tab 2 from my multi-purpose platform, therefore making the sandwich much less tight. Then, I went ahead and placed the die on the balsa wood cutting edge on the balsa, as though I was going to die cut it. Because the sandwich isn't as tight, the end result will be a pretty embossed piece like you see here, without actually cutting thru the wood!
I stamped the coordinating leaf image from the Turning a New Leaf stamp set on the balsa wood using dark chocolate ink. I let the large panel of wood serve as the background layer for this card!
A couple of flowers were die cut from aqua mist card stock using the Friendly Flower die and the Flower Fusion #2 die. The large flower was stamped with a birthday flower from my Hello, Friend stamp set and the small flower was stamped with a coordinating image from the Flower Fusion #2 stamp set. A couple of hawaiian shores buttons finished off the flower portion of the card.
Along the bottom of the balsa, I adhered a strip of rustic cream card stock that was die cut using the small scallop border die, with a strip of scor-tape. An aqua mist twill bow was tied around the wood panel before the panel was adhered to the card front with more scor-tape. I created a teensy little birthday tag using the Tiny Tags Die and the coordinating Tiny Tags stamp set. The tag was topped with a hawaiian shores bow and was tied to the aqua bow with a bit of chocolate baker's twine.
I hope you're feeling inspired to try using some balsa wood on a project of your own soon!
Thanks so much for visiting me today!
Have a great weekend!
{Wishing You a Happy Birthday supplies}
Paper: vintage cream, rustic cream, dark chocolate, sugar plum
Stamps: Through the Trees, Mat Stack 1 Collection
Ink: dark chocolate, spring moss, vintage touch tea dye
Other: balsa wood, mat stack 1 die, double-ended banner die, woodgrain impression plate, spring moss buttons, Heidi Swapp edge distressor
{You're Just the Best supplies}
Paper: kraft, rustic cream, sugar plum
Stamps: Button Boutique, Blooming Button Bits
Ink: plum pudding, vintage touch tea dye
Other: balsa wood, signature series: butterfly die, love lives here butterfly die, button card die, double-ended banner die, plum pudding & royal velvet buttons, rustic cream button twine, purple Kaiser Scrapbook rhinestone, sewing machine/thread
{Wish Big supplies}
Paper: hawaiian shores, aqua mist, rustic cream
Stamps: Turning a New Leaf, Hello, Friend, Flower Fusion #2, Tiny Tags
Ink: hawaiian shores, dark chocolate
Other: balsa wood, turning a new leaf die, tiny tags die, friendly flower die, flower fusion #2 die, small scalloped border die, hawaiian shores buttons, aqua mist topnotch twill ribbon, chocolate baker's twine
