Functional Friday: Those Tiny Dies Just Kept Pouring ... Six More Cards!

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.

Last Friday's blog post shared some how-to's on using the hundreds of tiny hearts from the Heart Border die to embellish an adhesive shape, like a larger heart. This Friday I'd like to share the rest of the "collection" with you. They all have the same heart focal point, the same white panel, and the same "hugs & kisses" sentiment stamp from Winnie & Walter's You've Got Love Mail.

First up, a tone-on-tone heart. This is actually where I started, just to see if the whole idea would even work. I figured if it looked OK without any colors or patterns, it's probably a good enough design. My fabulous neighbor Brenda was over for craft night when I was putting the sentiments on and she guided me to use bright red. Love that pop on the white base.

Since this is a tone-on-tone design, I didn't need to color the paper underneath the heart first. So simple.

With the few left-over white hearts, I thought it would be fun to make an ombre heart, so I cut some more colors.

 This one might be my favorite of the bunch. Before spraying adhesive on, I colored the background heart in the same colors as the tiny die cut hearts. I started pouring the darkest color first and just loosely placed a sheet of copy paper above where I wanted the hearts to stick. Then gradually moved the copy paper up the heart after each new layer that was poured.

 Here's the whole card! The arrow (from the Heart Mini Album Finishers Die Set) was cut in half and attached on each end under a tiny heart so you can't see where it pierces the heart. The card base has tiny stripe impressions to add a little something extra. Since the sentiment is small I stamped it a couple times without reinking to fill the space.

Now it's time to use the left-overs from the ombre stripes. Nothing goes to waste! Here's the lightest pink on a very simple card.

This time the sentiment is added on top of the heart. I used all gray tones on these cards instead of black. Gray is a good partner with pinks.

Next up is the middle pink. This time the sentiment is stamped across the bottom of the panel in stripes. I adhered random pink hearts in between each sentiment for greater readability. Plus it looks cute!

Finally, I used up the darkest pink. My Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher did a wonderful job of securing the sentiment through all those tiny hearts.



Cousin Helen's gold thread worked well to quickly add some spice to the bottom of the panel.

At this point I've used up all my tiny hearts, but I really wanted to see what chunky glitter would look like if it was added to the mix, so I cut one more batch from white paper.

While I'm not in love with this one, I do like how the glitter filled in the cracks somewhat and makes it seem more like a solid heart. To do something different with the sentiment I stamped the Big Bold love in very light pink first, and then "hugs & kisses" on top.

It was really only my intention to make one card, but I had so much fun and just kept going with it. They practically made themselves. I could really see making even more of these, or using them for a set. Do you have a favorite?

Thanks so much for sticking with me on this long, photo-heavy post! Hope to see you next Friday : )
-Kelly