Quilt Card with Top Note Die

This is another card made at a shoebox swap recently, with a local group of demonstrators. I was trying to finish quickly and basically just took the pieces home to finish the card. I figured I'd take some pictures as I was completing it, for a quick tutorial. [Remember: click on any picture below to see it larger]

This card is a lot easier to make than it might look. First, you will want to cut a piece of scrap card stock or paper to 5" x 3-3/4". Then, you will take your 1-1/4" Square Punch, and punch out 12 squares of coordinating card stock or patterned paper.

Arrange and adhere the punched squares onto your scrap piece, as shown below--all 12 pieces should fit perfectly, so use the corners and sides of the scrap piece to line them up next to each other. You can use SNAIL, but I prefer to use the Two-Way Glue Pen to get into the corners of each piece and make sure they are glued all snug and flat.

Next, you will place your scrap piece with the glued squares, FACE DOWN on the Top Note Die. (I think the perforated detail on the Top Note looks nicer if you put the piece face down) The pictures below show the Top Note Die on the left, then the scrap piece with the glued squares face down over the cutting outline of the Top Note Die on the right. It's a little hard to see in the photographs, but the idea I wanted you to get is that you will need to make sure your scrap piece with the glue squares covers the cutting outline of the die.

Run your Top Note Die through the Big Shot machine to get the trimmed "quilt" piece. You can also run your quilt piece through a Texturz Plate on the Big Shot, if you'd like to add a bit more depth. I ran mine through the diamonds pattern of the Stampin' Up!® Backgrounds I Texturz Plates. You can also optionally add little "stitch" marks or "faux quilt ties" between your squares, as I did in the picture below on the right, with a Chocolate Chip marker.

Finally, I sponged around the quilt piece with Chocolate Chip ink and a Stampin' Sponge, to set it off a bit from the base card (which I also textured using the Big Shot), and added a greeting.

On the final finished card (pictured at the top of this post), I put the quilt piece on with Stampin' Dimensionals, then put the greeting on with Stampin' Dimensionals, and added a ribbon knot in the upper right corner. The Designer Series Paper I used, and the So Saffron ribbon, are both items you can get for FREE through the Sale-A-Bration promotion...but you'll have to act fast, because the sale ends March 31st!!! Click on over to my ONLINE STORE and place your order before it's too late...