Friday 29 November 2013

Christmas Door & Wreath Card Tutorial

As promised, I have produced a step-by-step tutorial on how to create the Christmas Door and Wreath as shown in my Red Door and White Wreath Christmas Card, using a window die and various foliage dies. 
At the end of this blog post, I have added a downloaded pdf of the instructions.




To make my project, I used Tonic Studios Domed Window Die, Window Box Die, Branches Dies and your choice of die cutting machine (I used my Grand Calibur).  Other supplies included red linen textured card, white centura pearl card, wet glue, foam pads, low-tack tape and basic craft tools.



Door Tutorial


Step 1 - Cut and emboss the top of the Door

Cut a piece of card 8cm wide by 29.7 cm long, then cut this in half so you have to pieces 8cm x 14.85.  Secure the window die to the top of the one of these card pieces with low tack tape. Place on your cutting mat so that half of the bottom "panes" are hanging off the end, then cut and emboss as normal. 
 You can see below that the die has only cut out the top arch section and the 2/3rds of the square paned section.














Step 2 - Repositioning the Die

Next, move the die and reposition it, slotting the half bottom square panes into the upper square panes - you can feel when it slots into place.  Secure with low tack tape.  Place onto your cutting mat so that now its the top of the die that is off hanging off the mat and cut and emboss.


Step 3 - Making the door
You will now have the basic door shape and the little waste pieces from the die (they are not waste though, so don't throw them away)!  Take your spare piece of red card, lay your door shape over it, trace around it with a pencil and cut out inside your pencil lines (you want your hand-cut piece to be marginally smaller on all sides).  Don't worry about making this shape look pretty, it's going to be completely hidden so you won't see any wonky cutting!

Attach a small metal brad to act as the door handle.  Now comes the fiddly bit.  Cut narrow strips from 3D foam pads and stick them to the back of the door panel (I find that tweezers can help with this).  Although it is very fiddly, you will get a better result if you can stick foam to the central sections as well as the outer edge.  Remove the backing from your stickies, and I find it easier to keep the die cut on the mat and position the backing panel over the stickies.  Only press down when you are happy that your backing panel is correctly positioned.

Finally, place a small dob of wet glue onto the back of the "waste" pieces.  Using tweezers, inlay them into the door.  Using glue rather than double-sided tape allows you to easily move the pieces around until they are exactly in place.  And, viola, your door is complete.

And, every Christmas door needs to be dressed with a festive wreath!


Wreath Tutorial

Step 1 - Cut and emboss the top of the Door
Cut a piece of card white centura pearl card into strips 3.5cm wide by 29.7 cm long, then cut this into 3 lengths, repeat until you have eight lengths and an offcut.  You will also need some more offcuts for the branch die.  Use low tack tape to secure the strips to the foliage section of the Window Box die and use the small leaf die from the Branches die (or use any mixture of foliage dies you may have).
Cut and emboss, then repeat this step eight times

You will now have eight sets of foliage.  You also need a 5cm wide ring cut from card (I used a set of circle dies but you could just trace around a shape and roughly cut it out as it will eventually be completely obscured).  Trim the foliage as shown below and shape using Floral Crafters Tool Kit.

Dab a small dot of wet glue to the front end of the stem of the branches die cuts and adhere these to the back of the ring.  This will help give the wreath a very opulent fullness when completed.  Don't fuss too much about spacing, but to help get things fairly evenly spaced, I start by placing 2 sprigs opposite each other and then work round filling in.  Next place a blob of glue to the bottom, back of the ivy sprig and stick to the front of the ring, spacing evenly and slightly offset from the sprigs already in place.  Finally add the leafy sprig, tucking the stems in behind the ivy.  Using tweezers really helps with placing the sprigs
Give your wreath a bit of a shaping tweak with your fingers to create fullness, then decorate with rhinestone crystals, glitter glue and a festive bow.

I really hope you've found this useful.  You can download a pdf of this step-by-step photo tutorial on making a door and Christmas wreath here.  
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14 comments:

  1. Wow! What a stunning card! Fab tutorial and the wreath is beautiful!
    Hugs
    Debs x

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  2. Sorry I meant to ask you some advice!
    Please can you tell me which glue you use on the back of your hand to pat the die cuts on to prior to sticking in place? Think this is a fab idea as I can get in a right mess trying to stick really intricate die cuts! Thanks! Debs x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Debs, I think you are asking about the glue that Jodie has been using, not me(!) but that will be Tonic Tacky Glue

      Delete
  3. Dips this is fab, a lovely piece of work.

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  4. This tutorial must have taken you ages. It is really clear and so detailed.
    Heike xx

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  5. Wow! That's some tutorial, so clear and great photos. Really thank you for sharing this.

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  6. Fantatsic card and brilliant tutorial
    Carol x

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  7. Beautiful card. You can't beat red and white at Christmas. The tutorial is brilliant too, really clear. Thanks for sharing.

    Melanie
    x

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  8. Fab project.
    I'm hopping on over from Do Crafts.
    Nikki x
    Great tutorials!

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  9. love this colour combo - very festive
    Linda x

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  10. beautiful card I have always wanted a red Georgian door this one would be perfect xx

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  11. Great tut Dips. I've printed it off to have a go sometime and just wanted to say thank you for providing such a clear step-by-step. :) Edna x

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  12. Brilliant use of window die, extended to form a door. I've often wanted a door die or stamp, now I don't need one! (Why didn't I think of that?)

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  13. What a lovely idea. I have these dies and sadly they haven't come out of thei packaging yet so this is a good excuse - I am going to give it a go. thanks for sharing, so appreciated. Natasha

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