If you follow my 17 for 2017 posts, you will know that I am trying to be more frugal in various areas and also avoid unnecessary craft purchases. One way I’m trying to do this is by finding new ways to use my existing stash. (I will start now by saying I spent £3.20 on a ‘Happy Birthday’ cutting die but I know I will use it a lot, and it’s something I’ve been wanting to buy for a long time.)

Hands up crafters if you have a special box for card and paper scraps. Now keep your hand up if you’ve had to start a second box and subcategorise them into ‘large and small’ pieces. (No judgement here!) I also have a box of paper pads and there is one type of paper that always seems to be left behind-the scene papers. You know the ones, too pretty to use for layering as they have a design that needs to be seen, but how on earth do you turn them into a card if you can’t cover them? This card uses scraps and papers from the unloved and not sure what to do with box, a great way to use some stash.

I read a magazine article about creating a background using watercolours and then die cutting from it, layering the die cut part with a contrasting colour. I thought it looked like an idea I could adopt for the scene papers, and had a go. Then I had another go so I could take photos for a tutorial! I think it looks really effective and is actually quite simple to achieve. Choose a greeting die that isn’t too fancy as you will be sticking the waste pieces back into the gaps (hopefully my instructions will explain that better!) The one I chose is about as complicated as I would want to go, I think I’d have to really like someone to make one more fiddly than this for them!

1) Select a plain coloured card that picks out a colour from the scene paper. I chose a pink that I had bought about 600 sheets of for my daughter’s christening invites (I really didn’t want to run out, apparently!)

2) Die cut the greeting from the main paper with a scene on. I chose to balance out the butterfly, which was the main feature and cut the greeting from the corner diagonally opposite it. Be really careful when removing this die cut as you need to keep every single piece (including the waste from the middle of the letters). Put the little pieces to one side where you won’t tip them over.

3) Now die cut the greeting from your second colour several times. (I went for 6, if you’re clever you can make a 3D card and still post it for the price of a normal letter.)

4) Place double sided tape around the edges of the main piece of card and across the aperture made by die cutting the greeting (this is where wide tape comes in handy!) Stick one of the contrasting coloured die cuts onto this now. Peel The backing off all of the tape and stick it to the base card. Now take the tiny pieces of waste from the die cutting (in my case, the purple ones) and pop them into the holes. The double sided tape will keep them in place nicely. If they are really fiddly, use a pin or a pokey tool to help you. 

5) Now create a die cut sandwich, glueing the 5 remaining contrast pieces together with the one from the scene paper on the top. Try to use really thin layers of glue to avoid loads coming out of the sides and making it look messy. (I sometimes put glue on the back of my hand and ‘swipe’ the die cut across it. Then you get the added bonus of peeling glue off your hand at the end!)

6) Carefully glue your die cut sandwich on top of the die cut that is in your base card. Add any other embellishments you fancy. (I didn’t add any as the butterflies and flowers were already glittered.)

I love the simple 3D effect and the whole card took less than 30 minutes even with me taking the photos.

A super simple but pretty card all ready to go! Have you got any papers you could try this with? I think a ‘thank you’ greeting would work really well too, and of course with a Cricut the possibilities for text to cut out are endless! The best part is I did it all using things I already had hanging around. I hope this inspires you to try it, or at least look at your stash in a different way.