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Wednesday 4 September 2013

Birthday Wishes & Chevrons

Hello there!

I'm back with another card. I'm still in my clean, graphic mood and this time I'm being a bit more colourful. Oh yes & I have a little die cutting technique to share.


 It's a fairly simple card to put together. I embossed the black card with a Spellbinder's So Trendy Folder. I backed this onto green card and die cut a Simon Says Stamp banner from the scraps before stamping the birthday sentiment.


And what of the chevrons? A trend that doesn't seem to be going away thankfully, as I love geometrical shapes so welcome it's staying power with open arms. Anyway, I cut out my own chevron shapes, copying a technique shown by Jennifer McGuire in her recent Clean & Simple 2 Online card class.

In the class, she showed how you could make 'L' shaped arrows using Spellbinder's square dies. However, I noticed I could also use the same idea to make chevrons by using the Hexagon dies instead.


The trickiest part is lining up all the dies in perfect order before keeping them all in place with a low-tack tape or similar.


You then need to cut a strip of card about an inch (25mm) width.


Again, the trick is to ensure the card strip sits centrally across the dies. You can use the shape of the hexagon to help line it up. I stuck down the strip of card with low tack tape, at the ends, onto the cutting board, before running through the die machine. This prevented it from moving whilst cutting.

And voila you have your own chevron shapes to cut out in any colour, to mix and match as you choose. I'm sure this technique can be used with other dies too to create all sorts of weird and wonderful cut outs. Just look through your collection and you may see a whole new idea emerge.

Thanks for stopping by

6 comments:

Neet said...

A bit clever that - what eh! Must give it a try as it resulted in a lovely masculine card - not easy cards to do.
Thanks Paul.
Hugs, Neet xxx

kjjc said...

Brilliant idea Paul. Like the wy it's embossed the chevrons too.

Milliesmarvels said...

Great tip! I am going to try this! Love the card, the colour combo is fabulous.
Jane
x

Kay Wallace said...

Like you, Paul, I have yet to tire of those chevrons!! A great card with good bones--suitable for almost any occasion with the flip of a sentiment! My son's b'day is the month, so I am going to attempt to "lift" your card! Thanks! ;-)

alexa said...

That is a clever tip and must take plenty of patience and precision! But isn't it so worth it :).

Michele said...

Clever use of dies - fab card too! x