Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Celebrate Spring - Partial Die Cut Tutorial



Hello All!

I'm back from a lovely week off!  The boys were on Spring Break from school so I decided to take a mini break too; although I'm not really sure Spring cleaning the house qualifies as a break...

Anyhow I'm back in action with a post I've been meaning to do for a quite a while - a tutorial showing how to do partial cuts with Framelits.  You may remember seeing this Framed Corner Garden card I did for a Blog Hop last month.  So many asked how I did that partial cut; well now here's your chance to follow along and learn how to create your own!

Begin with a stamped image, completely finished/colored.  Choose an image that can be easily cut around.  In the case of my Framed Corner Garden card I chose to cut around the interior flowers in the image, in the case of this card I used the small trio of flowers from the  Forever Florals set and stamped them in a semi-cicular pattern so I could cut around them.  This card front was cut down to 4" x 5-1/4".

Choose a Framelit that not only suits your project but fits nicely around the area you would like to die cut.  I've flipped the Framelit over in this photo to remind myself where the cutting edge of the Framelit is.  For Stampin' Up! Framelits its easy to remember - the cut line is always on the inner edge of the Framelit but if you're using a non-Stampin' Up! die quite often the cut line is in the center or the outside edge.  Always check to be sure as it makes a difference in how the next steps are executed.  Try to line up the Framelit so that it touches two points on your image; in this case a flower on the upper left and a flower on the bottom right.  This will be your starting and stopping point for cuts.

With a pencil make a small mark where the Framelit touches the cut points (noted by the arrow).  This photo is the bottom cut point.

As in the last step make a small mark on the second cut point (noted by the arrow).  This photo is the top cut point.

If the outline of the image isn't a solid line it may be difficult to decide where to cut in the upcoming step. If this is the case it may be helpful to sketch a line from cut point to cut point so that its a simple as cutting along the lines; there is so much less room for error this way.

With an Exacto Knife and cutting mat cut along the lines sketched in the previous step, working from cut point to cut point.  Depending on the Framelit you may or may not have to cut slightly outside the cut points to make the Framelit fit in the next step.  I suggest only cutting from cut point to cut point first then making adjustments as needed in the upcoming steps.


Slide the Framelit through the hole from the underside through to the top of the image, as far as it will go.  If the Framelit doesn't reach to the intended spot, cut the opening larger so the Framelit can slide into position.
Your now ready to run the image through the Big Shot.  The Framelit beneath the image will not cut and the Framelit on top of the image will cut.

This is what the partial die cut should look like after running it through the Big Shot.  Its now ready to be completed.

To finish this card I cut a piece of Blushing Bride Card Stock measuring 4-1/4" x 5-1/2".  I laid it behind my image so I could align and stamp the "Celebrate" sentiment before embossing with the Decorative Dots embossing folder.  I added Stampin' Dimensionals to the image and pressed into place.  As a finishing touch faux stitching was added with a Piercing Tool around the inside edge of the partial die cut.

I hope you've found this tutorial helpful!  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me or comment below.


Until next time...
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2 comments:

ruthi said...

Thank you for the directions.

Cheribear said...

I love the way that your card turned out. I don't know if I could manage to get the die cut so perfect. You sure did a great job though. You did a beatiful job. Love it!

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