How Do I... Basic Die Cutting

Last week we shared this cute little Kittie pop-up card, which involved a two step process – stamping and die cutting.

Stampendous Pop Up Kitties Card

We created it using these great new companion sets from Stampendous:

Pop Up Kitties Cling Stamps and Cutting Dies

Last week we focused on the basic stamping techniques used to create the card; this week, we’re going to focus on how to use the die cuts to cut out your stamped images so you don’t have to do it by hand… yay!

First, we stamped all the images and colored them using Copic markers. (The patterned papers for the card were already selected, which made choosing the colors for images much easier).

Colored images

 

So, to get started there are basically two ways of doing this.  First, you can simply place the appropriate die over your stamped and colored image, tape it in place, run it through your die cutting machine and hope for the best.

Placing a die directly over a stamped image

That will certainly work, and it’s a great option if you’re not an extremely precise person.  Now, if you ARE an extremely precise person, you might want to check out the second option.  First, you die cut the appropriate shape on a piece of scrap paper:

Place your die on a piece of scrap paper and roll it through your machine

When you are done, you will have completed a mask:

Mask shape

Now, you place your mask over the stamped image to see precisely where the die will cut:

Place the mask over the stamped image

Place the die right inside the mask and tape it in place:

Cutting die taped into mask – don’t forget to use repositionable tape!!

Now when you roll the die through the machine your cutting will be just a hair more precise – check out the difference:

The mask method is on the left, and using the die cut directly on the image is on the right.

It’s a very small difference and only type A people would ever even notice… but, there are some upsides to knowing how to do the mask method.  First, once you create the mask you can keep it with your dies, and that way you don’t have to spend the time and paper to make one every time:

Store your masks with your dies

Second, some dies really do need the mask.  The basket die in this set actually cuts out the basket handles for you, which would be extremely hard to line up precisely without using a mask:

 

Isn’t it awesome that you wouldn’t have to cut out those little handles???

Once all your shapes are cut out, you can begin assembling the card.   We adhered all the background papers to the card base, then assembled the die cuts on the circle before adhering it to the card:

 

Pop up kittie die cuts assembled

Once that was done, we simply embellished the card with baker’s twine.  First, we wrapped the twine around a paper disc to create the ball of yarn.  Then we allowed the twine to come up and make cute little knot all over our kitties head.  A computer printed sentiment and a few black gems finished the card – really, with all the cute papers and the adorable little kittie, not much else was needed!

How Do I... Basic Die Cutting