The warmer weather has finally settled in around my area and the grass has turned that deep emerald green that only lasts for the first month or so of spring. We’re spending tons of time outside now and my driveway is covered in sports equipment already! This is one of the reasons I was so excited to see the new Large Die of the Month kit from Spellbinders. Happy Celebrations is full of fun sports-themed dies (it’s hard to find dies like these usually!) as well as dies perfect for some other fun occasions.
While it coordinates perfectly with the previously released and insanely popular Truckin Through the Seasons die set, this month’s Large Die of the Month can also easily be used on its own. Today I wanted to share two cards showing how versatile these dies are on their own, starting with this fun sports-themed one, and hope to come back later this month to share a project using it with the Truckin Through the Seasons set when mine arrives (I had to order it after receiving this!).
DIECUT THE COMPONENTS
- Diecut all of the balls and bat pieces from the Happy Celebrations die set out of appropriately colored cardstock (this is a great way to use up scraps!).
- Add subtle shading in some of the embossed areas of the die-cuts with a fine tipped pen. I enhanced the stitches on the baseball with a red pen and the grip on the bat and panels on the soccer ball with a light grey pen.
- Glue together the layers of the balls and bat using a fine tip glue pen.
- Trim pieces of white cardstock to 0.5″ x 5.375″ and 2.5″ x 5.375″.
- Die cut the “You R #1” sentiment out of the larger white panel as shown. Using the same sentiment die as well as the outer border die, die cut a shadow layer from black cardstock. (I love how you can either cut the sentiment “in” or out!)
CREATE THE INK BLENDED PANEL
- Trim a piece of Neenah Classic Crest Solar White cardstock to 4.25″ x 5.5″.
- Apply Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide Ink over one half of the panel using a foam blending tool.
- Apply Pine Needles Distress Oxide Ink over the other half of the panel, blending the colors together in the middle with the foam blending tool.
ASSEMBLE THE CARD BASE
- Adhere the ink blended panel to the front of an A2-sized white card base using tape runner.
- Glue the black sentiment shadow layer to the back of the larger white panel slightly offset behind the sentiment cut-out as shown with a fine tip glue pen.
- Pop both white panels up on top of the ink blended card front using foam adhesive.
- At this point, I didn’t like how plain my card front was looking, so I masked off the sentiment area and ink-blended strip with scraps of paper and splattered Blueprint Sketch and Pine Needles Distress Oxide Ink over the front with a paint brush (diluted a bit with water) for a little extra color.
To finish the card off, just adhere the balls and bat over the ink blended region of the card front using foam adhesive and liquid glue. I love all of the details on these little dies and think they’re perfect to make cards for young boys…a group I often have trouble creating cards for!
This next card is pretty simple to create using the super cute birthday-themed dies in the kit. I can’t get over this fun cupcake and hat!
ASSEMBLE THE DIE-CUTS
- Die cut the cupcake wrapper, cake layer, icing, and sentiment from Shimmery Aqua, Pale Yellow, Pink, and White cardstock, respectively. Adhere the layers together as shown using a fine tip glue pen.
- Add sprinkles to the icing with a white gel pen (I mimicked where the sprinkles were on the die).
- Die cut the party hat out of Shimmery Lavender and White cardstock. Adhere a small scrap of typing paper behind the purple hat die-cut and piece the white stripes back in using liquid glue.
- Die cut the birthday sentiment using Shimmery White Cardstock and the mat layer using Shimmery Aqua Cardstock and adhere together with liquid glue.
CREATE THE FOILED BACKGROUND
- Trim a piece of Shimmery Pale Yellow Cardstock to 4″ x 5.25″.
- Apply Opal Hot Foil to the cardstock using the Scattered Dot Pattern Hot Foil Plate and your Glimmer Hot Foiling System. (This leaves a very subtle iridescent pattern, similar to a watermark and very pretty!).
ASSEMBLE THE CARD
- Trim a piece of Shimmery Aqua Cardstock to 4.125″ x 5.375″ and adhere it to the front of an A2-sized white card base using tape runner.
- Adhere the foiled background panel on top of the aqua panel using tape runner.
- Pop the cupcake, party hat, and sentiment panel up on top using foam adhesive.
I hope you enjoyed this look at the April 2020 Large Die of the Month kit and thanks so much for stopping by today. I’ll be back with inspiration for a few of the other April club kits very soon!
Supplies Used:
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 Spellbinders Large Die of the Month Kit Shop at: SPL |
 Spellbinders Value Clubs Shop at: SPL |
 Scattered Dot Pattern Glimmer Foil Plate Shop at: SB | SPL |
 Opal Hot Foil Shop at: SB | SPL |
 Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil System Shop at: SB | SBP | SPL |
 Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide Ink Shop at: SB |
 Pine Needles Distress Oxide Ink Shop at: SB |
 Shimmery Lavender Cardstock Shop at: CCS |
 Shimmery White Cardstock Shop at: CCS |
 Shimmery Pink Cardstock Shop at: CCS |
 Shimmery Pale Yellow Cardstock Shop at: CCS |
 Shimmery Aqua Cardstock Shop at: CCS |
 Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock Shop at: SB | CCS |
 NEW Domed Ink Blending Tools Shop at: SB |
 Zig Two-Way Glue Pen Shop at: SB | SBP |
 ATG Tape Runner Shop at: SB |
 Foam Squares Shop at: SB |