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Card Making Basics: How To Use Coordinating Stamps & Dies

September 15, 2017 By Nicole Bergeson Leave a Comment

Getting started with any new hobby or craft can be intimidating. That’s why we’re here today with a simple tutorial to help you tackle the basics of card making. You may have heard of or come across a stamp set with coordinating cutting dies. Do you need them? How do they work? Let’s take a look at that!

Many companies choose to add coordinating dies to their stamps sets. While you certainly don’t need them, they’re helpful and save lots of time. I’m a huge fan of fussy cutting. It’s stress relief for me. However, fussy cutting can become frustrating when I want to make multiples of the same card design or have lots of images to cut out and arrange. I recommend picking up the dies to a stamp set you love, and give the following tutorial a try.

You’ll need basic card making supplies. Gather your stamp set with coordinating cutting dies, an ink pad, and washi tape. Painter’s tape or post it notes can be substituted for the washi tape. If you’re anything like me, that stash of washi tape comes in handy. It’s almost impossible for me to run out of the stuff!

Choose your paper and ink. When creating multiple cards, I choose to stamp all of the images at once, color them, and then use coordinating dies to cut them out. Of course, you can change the order to your preference.

Position the cutting dies around the coordinating image, and use small strips of washi tape to hold the die in place. This will make sure the die doesn’t move during the cutting process. The dies should have an empty center allowing you to line up the stamped image perfectly. Some brands will have a larger white border around the image than others, but they all work the same.

Consult the manual for your die cutting machine on how to cut with thin dies. Thin dies are universal and can be used in all die cutting machines, from the Big Shot to the Cuttlebug. My personal favorite is the Evolution Tool from We R Memory Keepers because of its long-lasting self healing mats.

Washi tape can be easily removed which makes it the perfect companion for this tutorial. Carefully lift the tape off your paper and die to reveal your image. How fun is this?!

With all the time you’ve saved cutting out stamped images, you can create twice as many cards. That’s right, the final step is to get creating.

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Filed Under: Cards, Tutorials

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