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

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Blog Candy Alert!! Follow our blog via email and comment on this post for a chance to win grab bags and blog candy! Remember to tag your awesome projects with #simonsaysstamp on social media so we can see what you are creating!

Hi friends, it’s Nina-Marie here with you today! Did you know that today is a special celebration? Simon Says Stamp is collaborating in a hop with A Blog Named Hero to help celebrate their 5th Anniversary! Congrats to A Blog Named Hero!! In celebration of this wonderful milestone, I’ve created a cute shaker card that features products from both Hero Arts and Simon Says Stamp!

Do you like to combine stamp sets to create custom scenes and effects? It’s one of my favorite things to do! I was really excited to find that the new Hero Arts Purr stamp set pairs PERFECTLY with Simon’s Cuddly Critters Accessories stamp set. The party hat and balloons look like they were made especially for this little cat, don’t you think?? It is fun to see what neat things you can make by pairing different stamp sets from multiple companies together. This allows you to stretch those products even further, which is always a big bonus!

Because celebrations call for lots of fun, I thought this would be a great opportunity to make a shaker card for my party-cat. I used Simon’s Stitched Rectangle dies to make the shaker frame and filled it with a bunch of sequins that coordinated well with the colors of my cat. I used the Meadow and Sunshine mixes inside my shaker.

The sentiment works really well on a card like this because it is bold and large, ensuring that it won’t get “lost” in the busy sequins. I cut the Painted Happy Birthday die from yellow cardstock four times and layered them together to create a dimensional sentiment. All of my stamped and colored images are attached to the card using foam tape.

This card was a lot of fun to put together; I hope you will check it out in the video below! I also hope that it inspires you to pull out some stamp sets you’ve been wanting to use and see how you can pair them together to make something unique and creative!

WATCH THE VIDEO

KEEP HOPPING & GIVEAWAYS!

Make sure you hop along to the next stop of this special anniversary blog hop: the fabulous Jennifer McGuire! If you get lost along the hop, you can always go back to the A Blog Named Hero’s website for the complete blog hop list, as well as additional details.

The 5th Anniversary hop for A Blog Named Hero spans over two days and there are prizes to be won each day! A Blog Named Hero is so thankful for our wonderful sponsors and collaborating companies!  Several companies decided to help us celebrate our fifth anniversary with giveaways and they were so generous that we decided to spread the love over both hop days with different prizes to be won each day!

Giveaway prizes total more than $500!  To win, leave a comment on each hop stop.  We will select winners randomly from different blogs so the more blogs you visit each day, the greater your chances of winning!  And be sure to visit the Saturday post from A Blog Named Hero for the list of Saturday hoppers and prizes!  Comments must be left before 11:59 PM EDT on Tuesday, March 28th and winners will be announced on March 30th.

Today’s prizes include the following:
– $50 gift card to Simon Says Stamp
– $50 gift card to Gina K Designs
– $25 gift card to Winnie & Walter
– $25 gift card to Lawn Fawn
– $20 gift card to Avery Elle
– prize pack from Mama Elephant
– gift card from Studio Katia

-one Online Card Class of your choice
-one set of distress oxide inks from Jennifer McGuire Ink

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Hi friends! Thanks for stopping by today! Please welcome back Heather Hoffman as a guest designer on our blog! She’s made these adorable “Just because” cards using some NEW Winnie & Walter stamps, along with our Handlettered Encouragement stamps for the sentiments and our Stacked Stars die for a cool background. Read on and enjoy!

Good morning! Heather Hoffman here this morning – and I’m thrilled to be guesting here on the Simon Says Stamp Blog with a couple cards I put together combining some adorable new Winnie and Walter images with some SSS Exclusive Dies and stamps!

For the first card I used Winnie and Walter’s new Welcome to the Family stamp set, colored with Copics, and fussy cut out. To create a fun background I used Simon Says Stamp Stacked Stars Die on a panel of white cardstock but with embossing pads so it didn’t cut entirely through, but just left a fun bit of texture. The sentiment for both cards is from SSS’s new Handlettered Encouragement stamp set, heat embossed in white on a strip of black cardstock die cut with SSS’s Basic Banners dies.

The second card uses another darling Winnie and Walter set – Big Hugs. Both of these sets were illustrated by Evelin T Designs – who I had the joy of meeting at Creativation this year in Phoenis, and is just as sweet as her illustrations! I paired this image with the SSS Stacked Hearts Die, also embossed on the white cardstock. For the ground of both cards I used my SSS A2 Card Curved Edge and some SSS Green Apple Cardstock to create a little hill for them to sit on. I used some varying shades of Warm Gray Copics to color in a shadow on the hilltop for both cards before adhering the images with foam adhesive. This helps “ground” the images a little, and make them look a bit more realistic where they sit!

Finishing touch was adding some May Arts Natural Twine on the banners before adhering them with foam adhesive, and then adding a bit of sparkle with some Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear Confetti Mix!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a wonderful day!

SUPPLIES:

Thanks for reading today, and thanks to Heather for being our guest!