Hello, my crafty friends!!
I have been getting tons of questions on my social media in regards to how I create my 3D embellishments. How do I make my die-cuts look so dimensional? Here is my quick answer... with craft foam and my handy-dandy Xyron Creative Station !!
Today, I will show you how you can create 3D Stickers with the dies you have!! Follow along with me as I use this technique to create this gorgeous Mandala Zendoodle Card!
Supplies Used
Creative Station (Xyron)
Mega Runner (Xyron)
Big Shot Foldaway (Sizzix)
Eileen Hull Mandala Die (Sizzix)
Eileen Hull Folio Page, Pocket & Flowers (Sizzix)
Blending Tool, Mini Ink Blending Tool (Ranger)
Tim Holtz- Big Chat (Advantus)
Craft Foam
110 lb Black Cardstock
110 lb White Cardstock
Cutterbee Scissors (EK Success)
Paper Trimmer (Swingline)
White Gel Pen
Pencil
I started by making a background for my Mandala... this die is very intricate so I wanted to give it a little bit of heft, ground it, and draw the eye directly to the Mandala and make it the focal point(s).
So, I used the Mandala Die as a stencil and traced around the die with a pencil onto white cardstock.
Then hand cut out the traced image using my scissors.
I blended Distress Oxide inks in Mermaid Lagoon, Wilted Violet, and Picked Raspberry in kind of a "bullseye" pattern, overlapping each color slightly.
Now, here is where the fun and magic begin...
To make my die-cuts 3D, I first run my cardstock through my Creative Station and die-cut it with my Mandala die.
Then, I run my craft foam through my Creative Station and die cut the same Mandala from the foam.
Now, I have a Mandala from both cardstock and foam... and layer the cardstock onto the craft foam!
Then, I adhered that onto the inked background.
I wanted to create a slimline card and decided to distribute the Mandala across the card by cutting it in half.
Then attached the split pieces diagonally across the card front. I could have run my background Mandala through my Creative Station but the thought totally slipped my mind. So, I ended up just running my Xyron Mega Runner across the back instead.
Wow, these really pop off the card!
Even though the die-cuts were absolutely gorgeous "As-Is', I wasn't feeling all the blank space.
So, I took a white gel pen and Zendoodled throughout the blank spaces...
I hand drew a simple striped border. Then outlined each mandala half and added a scalloped border.
I drew arches that I filled with more arches. And even used a leaf die from Eileen Hull's Folio Page, Pocket & Flowers set as a stencil to add leaves.
Then, I filled in some of my patterns for a bolder look and added little polka dots into the remaining blank spaces.
I made a simple sentiment for my card using word stickers from Tim Holtz's Big Chat stack and inked them using more Distress Oxide Inks in Mermaid Lagoon and Wilted Violet.
I adhere the words onto a 1/4" strip of black cardstock.
But I didn't want these to be flat and wanted them to be dimensional too, so I added - you got it- more craft foam behind the words to make them pop up!
And here is my finished card...
Look at how much dimension there is! I angled my card for better viewing...
And even though this card is pretty thick it does not weigh very much. Using craft foam doesn't just make it dimensional, it also makes the die-cut embellishments very lightweight too!
I hope you liked this technique!! For more inspiration, here are a few other cards I created using this same technique using Craft Foam in my Creative Station...
As you can see, this technique is a real game-changer that can transform your cards from flat and boring to dimensional and STUNNING!!
That's it for today!! Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you again soon!!
Until then...
HAPPY CRAFTING!!
~Mitsyana