Studio Monday with Nina-Marie: 5 Ways to Use Circle Dies
Hello friends! Happy Monday! This week I have a technique overview to share with you, demonstrating 5 different ways to use circle dies.
Many of you have basic shape dies, such as circles. There are a ton of different ways you can use circles dies besides the obvious ways. My hope is that today’s post will give you inspiration for stretching the use of those dies!
RECOMMENDED DIES
For those of you that are new to card making, or are looking for a great circle die set, I thought I would first touch on dies I would recommend. In this video I will be using Simon Says Stamp’s Nested Circle dies. These are my favorite circle dies. There is a large variety of sizes included in the set, which I really like. Nested dies such as these allow you to use them on a wide range of projects.
Similar dies that I would recommend also include:
- Memory Box Circle Basics set
- Lawn Fawn Circle Stackables set
- My Favorite Things Circle Stax 1 and Circle Stax 2
- Hero Arts Nesting Circles set
NOTE: Remember that all of these sets differ in size, so make sure to read the dimensions so you find the one that works best for you.
CIRCLE DIE TECHNIQUES 1 & 2: SHAPED CARD + EMBOSSING
The first techniques featured today are creating a circle shaped card, plus embossing with dies. Both techniques are great by themselves, but also look fabulous when used together! To make the card I cut the card base from Audrey Blue cardstock and stamped the Elinor background on top using embossing ink. Because the embossing ink is sticky, it held the Biscotti Perfect Pearls on nicely and created a shimmery effect to the design.
Using sentiments from the Kristina’s Love stamp and die set, along with some die cut hearts from the Clipping Hearts die, I finished off the circle shaped card.
Circle cards are one of my favorite alternatives to the usual A2 size. And the elegance of that doily Elinor pattern is enhanced perfectly by the circle shape!
CIRCLE DIE TECHNIQUE 3: WINDOW CARD
A window card is another fun way to add new life to a card design. Windows allow you to see from the front of the card to the inside, and can be altered in a variety of ways. Here I created a floating die cut shape inside my window, but you could turn the window into other things too, such as:
- a shaker
- have a critter or image peeking out from the inside
- cover the window with acetate and adhere something to the front of the window
With this card, simplicity was key. Because my floating die cut was a special effect that I wanted to make sure stood out, I needed the rest of the card to carry a simple but supporting theme. I cut the window into my A2 side-fold card, which was stamped with a Falling Hearts background.
I attached the Clipping heart die cut to the backside. The die was then sandwiched between a piece of white cardstock that had the same circle window cut out of it; this is so that the heart die cuts were cleanly and securely held in place.
After that I added a scallop circle frame around the outside of the window and popped a sentiment banner up off the right side. The sentiment was stamped using the Laura’s Love stamp set. Be sure to check out the video to see how both the window and floating die cut inside was created!
CIRCLE DIE TECHNIQUES 4: MASKED BACKGROUND
Have you ever tried using circle dies as masks? Its so much fun and another fabulous way to stretch the use of your dies. Plus you get to create your own custom patterns and effects with those masks – and who doesn’t love that??
For this card you won’t need many supplies; some printer paper, your circle dies and ink! Cut squares of printer paper and run them through your die cutting machine with the circle dies you want to use. With this technique you won’t be using the circle you cut, but rather the squares with the circle shape cut into it. These are your masks.
By laying the masks onto your card base, you can then use your ink and some blending foams and create circles anywhere you like! I used the circles to create a layered – almost bokeh-like – background. Very festive and celebratory; I enhanced that feel by stamping some stars in the same ink colors I used to do my ink blending. Inks used: Hollyhock, Strawberry, Lemon Zing, Sunkist, Cotton Candy.
The sentiment also carried the celebration theme, which is from Avery Elle’s Big Greetings set; the supporting sentiment was stamped using the You Matter set from Simon Says Stamp.
Another great thing about this card is that it is one layer, which makes it so easy to mail!
If you want to put a twist on this technique, instead of ink blending into the circles, you could adhere the circle shapes themselves onto cardstock and ink blend over top of them. Then, when you remove the circles from the cardstock, you’ll see the original cardstock color in the circle area while the rest of the card is colored with ink. Lots of ways you can customize this technique!
CIRCLE DIE TECHNIQUES 5: NEGATIVE SPACE
The last circle die technique for today is using negative space. Instead of using the circle shape to pop my sentiment up off of the background, I reversed things. Rather, I popped the background (which has a circle die cut into it) up off of the card base. The card base has the sentiment stamped onto it, which causes the sentiment to be recessed into the design and is framed beautifully by the background panel. The sentiment is from Reverse Confetti’s The Lord’s Strength stamp set.
Because we used the negative instead of the “positive” (i.e. the circle die cut), we achieved a totally different look and feel for this card.
The background of this card was created by stamping the Fresh Flowers #1 cling stamp from Prima onto white cardstock. I then colored the images with Copics, but in a very loose, artistic style. The flowers have a very loose, hand drawn look and I wanted to emulate that with the coloring. By using quick flicks, following the general direction and flow of the artist’s illustration, I resulted with a very fun and artsy background. I really love the end result!
I also added some sequins that I colored with Copic markers, so that they matched the colors used in the background. Since the ink in Copics are alcohol based, they can be applied to many different surfaces and will not rub off.
I hope these 5 ways for using circle dies in the video below is inspiring and that you are able to pick up some tips and tricks too! Thanks for visiting me today!
WATCH THE VIDEO
SUPPLIES
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Thanks for sharing ideas on stretching basic die shapes. I have nesting circles and would like to expand my stash to include hearts, squares and rectangles someday.
Awesome, this stretches the supplies we have!
Great tips even for non beginners. Makes you think about the dies you already have. Thanks Nina.
Very cool ideas. Thanks for sharing .
These are so Pretty!
Great tips, thanks! :)
Awesome cards!!! Great way to stretch your supplies!!!
Great cards!
another awesome video & gorgeous cards! Thanks Nina :)
Thanks for all the tips! I especially like how you colored the flowers in the last card!
Love using dies for more than the obvious ways! thanks for another wonderful video, Nina Marie.
I really like the masked circles background!
Great tips and cards!!
Cool ideas! Thanks for sharing!
So many great ideas, thanks for the tips and beautiful and inspiring projects!
Love the ideas. Will have to try some
Thank you so much for sharing the ideas of using circle dies! You did a fab job – have a blessed day!
What wonderful ideas, Nina-Marie! Some of these things I’ve tried and some I haven’t so I’ll be revisiting to see what I cna create with these ideas. Thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks for sharing
these neat ways to
use the circle die.
Always good to learn
new things.
Carla from Utah
Love all your circle cut out cards–thanks for some great tips!
I love these dies! So fun!
Thanks for sharing these awesome ideas! Love the cards!
Great tips! Love when you can look at something and see it in a new way.
So many great ideas, such pretty cards!
Beautiful cards and great ideas! Thank you.
What a fun set of cards!
I was wondering, on your window card, with as little of the heart overlapping as there was, could you have used the little scalloped circle to cover the hearts and attached them to the front, so you didn’t have to “line” the inside of the card? Or would there have been a noticeable bump under the scallop?
Thank so much. I really enjoy your videos.
So many great ways to use circle dies, so very cool too!
I need to try to make a circle card, yours was really nice. Enjoyed all your cards.
Pretty cards and a great video today. Always helpful to see other ideas for using dies.
Love the cards!
Such great ideas! I loved this video, Nina, and will definitely use my circle dies in new ways. Many thanks! ♡
a brilliant post full of beautiful projects and creative ideas-love them!
I love the circular love card so much! I will be doing something similar soon for sure!
So pretty. Love all the color.
Great use of the dies!
Wonderful & creative way to use circle dies that give a whole new look to something.
Melissa
“Sunshine HoneyBee”
Super cute cards!
Your cards are beautiful! Thank you for the great ideas!
great video!
Great cards! This made me want to use my circle dies a bit more. Thanks for sharing.
I haven’t been making cards long and these are some fabulous tips! Thanks Nina!
I always love learning new ways to use my tools and there are so many cute ideas here
Thanks for reminding me of all the things I can do with my basic circles!!
Thank you so much for all the wonderful tips. I always like to learn new ways to use my tools.
Awesome video and thanks for all the tips. I never think about other ways to use them. Thanks for sharing.
Linda D.
Very cool cards. I love the floating hearts!
Great tips Nina-Marie. Love your cards too.
I love the cards! You have inspired me to get my circle dies out and play with them!
Thank you for the great tips!
Great post and beautiful cards, Nina-Marie! I’m always eager to learn additional ways to use existing supplies. Have to try using the circle masks and ink blending for a fun and festive card!