Limited Supplies/Unlimited Fun with Cherry Blossoms BetterPress Plates

Hello crafters! Joan Bardee here sharing a step-by-step tutorial to make a pretty card using a limited number of products. The card uses the Cherry Blossoms BetterPress plates from the Spring in Kyoto Alex Syberia Designs Collection. This gorgeous collection includes a variety of unique products that take you to the land of cherry blossoms and other Japanese-inspired images.

I often get overwhelmed when I walk into my craft room. New and old products beckon, and there is so much inspiration online that I get caught up in all the choices. Sometimes, intentionally using just a few supplies helps me focus. For this card, my plan was to use: 1. one image set, 2. one sentiment set, 3. one ink, and 4. three shades of cardstock. Once I made that decision, the card came together pretty quickly.

Note: I photographed as I crafted. You’ll see the stained products. It’s a sign that they are well-loved!

Step One: Select Products and Design

I worked near the cherry blossoms in Washington DC for most of my career, so I fell in love with the Cherry Blossoms press plates. Alas, I’m not fond of my coloring, so I needed another way to use these beauties. Decided that keeping them black & white with just one other color might work. That’s a simple color palette (discussed here), and one I love, and it met my plan of using only 3 colors of cardstock. Spellbinders Blush cardstock reminded me of the pale pink and white cherry blossoms that fall like whispers along the Tidal Basin, so that was an easy color pick.

I had my main product and my color palette. All I needed was a layout and a sentiment, and maybe some embellishments. Framing a rectangle panel with flowers is a simple layout, and I knew it would work beautifully. Add a sentiment in the middle, and most of my choices were done.

Step 2: BetterPress the Cherry Blossoms

• Place the Cherry Blossom Plates on the Chase (the magnetic platform) of the BetterPress Letterpress Machine. Make sure to leave enough room between each set of flowers to die cut around each image.
• Using Best Ever Craft Tape, adhere a piece of Classic White Colorwheel cardstock onto the Platen (the clear top plate with registration marks). Make sure the paper will fit over your plates. (I wrote a blog post on all the ways I use the Best Ever Craft Tape. That stuff is awesome.)
• Ink up the Cherry Blossoms with BetterPress Black ink (most black inks will work).
• Flip over the Platen and put it on the Chase (the magnetic pieces will click into place) so that the paper is facing down towards the Cherry Blossoms plates.
• Roll through your Platinum Six Die Cutting Machine.
• Peel off the tape and remove the Classic White Colorwheel cardstock, which now has the images of the Cherry Blossoms.
• Repeat – I knew I was going to want an extra set of flowers to cover my panel.

Tip: After I purchased the BetterPress Letterpress system, I let it sit in the box for almost 6 months. It scared me! Finally, I got curious, and it took me a grand total of 5 minutes to figure out how to use it! For a wealth information on the system, check out the links here.

Step 3: Die-cut the Cherry Blossoms

For a visual on how to use the Platinum 6 Die Cutting Machine, check out this video from Spellbinders.

• Place the cardstock with the Cherry Blossom images on the Universal Plate System for this machine. Starting with the bottom, the sandwich is: 1. A Platform Base, 2. B Platform Top, 3. C Cutting Plate, 4. cardstock with the dies adhered to the images, and 5. another C Cutting plate (not shown in picture).
• Using Best Ever Craft Tape, adhere the dies around each image so that the dies don’t slide.
• Roll the die cut sandwich through the Platinum 6.
• Repeat with the second set of images.
• Set aside your images. You should have 2 die cuts of each image (I ended up only using 2 of the large and 1 of the small).

Tip: At this point, I’ve finished using the Cherry Blossom plates and the BetterPress machine. I cleaned them and put them away. I find it easier to create in a relatively clean space.

Step 3: Trim the Blush ColorWheel Cardstock Panel and Adhere the Die-Cut Cherry Blossoms with Foam Dots

• Trim a piece of Blush ColorWheel Cardstock to 5” x 3 and ¾”.
• Place the die-cut Cherry Blossoms on the Blush panel and move them around until you are satisfied. I ended up using them a little differently than the picture shows, but the idea is to let the images bleed off the end of the panel and fill up most of the panel.
• Place foam dots on the back of the cherry blossom images and adhere to the panel. I avoided placing the dots too close to most of the edges of the flowers because I knew I would be trimming those edges flush with the edges of the Blush cardstock, and I didn’t want to cut through foam dots.

• Trim the images using either your paper trimmer or scissors. I used scissors, as you can see in this photo.

Step 4: Adhere the panel to a white card

• Apply Bearly Arts glue to the back of the Blush panel and adhere to an A2 White Side Fold card.

Step 5: Hot Foil the Sentiment

BetterPress plates also hot foil beautifully. I chose You are Everything Sentiments Plates and Dies because I love the sentiments themselves and the font. I wanted the contrast of a white sentiment on black cardstock so that the sentiment would pop against the busy design of the black and white flowers.

• Turn on the Glimmer Machine. Wait for the Platform Ready light to go on.
• My fool-proof process for hot foiling:
  • Place Raven Colorwheel cardstock on your work surface.
  • Cut a piece of Opaque White Hot Foil the size of the image you are foiling.
  • Put the hot foil face up on the cardstock. You should see the shiny side.
  • Place the BetterPress or Glimmer plate face down on the shiny foil and secure with Best Ever Craft Tape.
  • Take this sandwich and flip it over and put on the Glimmer platform, so that the plate is touching the platform of the Glimmer Machine.
  • The Glimmer comes with 2 shims – a clear Spacer Pad and a frosted Thin Shim. Place both on top of your sandwich and press the Timer.
  • When the Timer stops flashing, remove the platform from the Glimmer Machine.
  • Roll the Glimmer platform through your Platinum 6.
  • Using the magnetic tool that comes with the Glimmer, remove the hot foiled cardstock and peel off the hot foil (it often just falls off).
  • You now have a piece of Raven cardstock filled with white sentiments. If you have any stray pieces of white foil, gently press some of that magical Best Ever Craft Tape onto the pieces and the strays will lift off. Thank you Yana Smakula for that brilliant tip!

Step 6: Die Cut and Adhere the Sentiment

• Place the die over the piece of foiled sentiments and adjust until the die fits perfectly. Tape in place.
• Die cut by rolling through the Platinum 6 using the Universal Plate System and the directions discussed above. Your sentiments will pop out.
• Take the sentiment and, using foam dots, adhere to the center of the card. Because the flowers are already popped up, the section of the sentiment that will not be on the flowers should have 2 foam dots so that it doesn’t sag in the middle.

Tip: I stand up when I die cut. It’s easier to use the machine and it’s easier to see exactly where to place the dies. Plus, I make believe I’m exercising.

Step 7: Sparkle Time

• I thought a few bits of sparkle would fill in the rest of the card nicely. Select gems that work with the card. In this case, I thought pale gold would add a bit of sparkle without detracting from the simple color palette.
• Use a Crystal Katana Pick Up Tool and Bearly Arts glue. Lightly dab the glue where you want the gems. Pick up each gem with the tool and place over the glue. Press slightly. Repeat until all the gems are placed.

Thanks for reading along, and thanks to Alex Syberia Designs for creating such beautiful products and to Spellbinders.

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Other Supplies

Gold gems