Functional Friday - Pour On Those Tiny Die Cuts!

Hi all! Time for another Functional Friday installment. In case you missed this post, I'm featuring one die from Top Dog Dies each month, and each Friday I'm sharing a different way to use the die. My hope is that even if you don't own that exact die, the ideas will translate to similar dies you do own.

This technique uses tiny die cuts in the same way that you'd use glitter, micro beads, or embossing powder. You apply adhesive to your base, and then sprinkle on the die cuts. Fun! Let's take a look ...

First I cut the Heart Border Die. Then I freehand cut a larger heart from a sheet of copy paper. This will be my template for coloring and applying adhesive.

A very IMPORTANT first step is to use your template to make a light outline of where your shape is going to be. Fill it in with a shade of marker that matches the color of your dies. This will make life much easier later. Now any spaces that are not completely filled will not stick out like a sore thumb.

 As you can see, the coloring doesn't have to be pretty. You just don't want this area to be stark white. Now place the template over your colored panel and spray adhesive through the opening.

  
  
Now the fun part! Sprinkle the tiny heart dies onto the area you sprayed with adhesive. Shake off any excess. You may have to play around and fill in some bare spots. 


  
At this point you can either try to get one layer of die cuts on your panel so they lay nice and flat, or leave them chunky with some standing up and some laying on top of others. 


  
I like the nice and chunky look. After the spray adhesive dried I didn't have any issues with the tiny dies falling off.

Now that you see the finished product, I'll mention that it's helpful to think carefully about the double-sided paper you pick for this project. Since you are randomly shaking the dies onto the adhesive, both sides of the paper will show. I really liked the colors on the colorful side of this Crate Paper Acorn Ave. paper, but the other side was too gray for me. So before die cutting the hearts, I colored the gray side with a pink marker. Now it's a patterned pink paper!



Here you can see half of the hearts show the pink pattern side. You can also get a better feel for how chunky the heart is. It's a fun one to touch!

This was a really fun technique to play around with. And, it was really quick to put together. In fact, I made 7 of these cards in total! They're the same basic design, but they all have a different way of using the tiny heart dies. I can't wait to show you the other 6 cards next week, PLUS an amazing trick that I just learned from my crafty friends Helen and Brenda on preventing paper from sticking in your die cuts. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO WANT TO MISS THIS!! I'm so darn excited!!

Thanks for looking,
-Kelly