How to Make a Love-Themed Card with Classic Mouse Love Etched Dies (Step-by-Step Tutorial)

Hello crafty friends! It’s Lisa Tilson here with you today on the Spellbinders blog. I’m excited to be here to show you how to create a sweet love-themed card featuring the Classic Mouse Love Etched Dies, which form part of the new Classic Mouse Love Collection. This release features the dies I am using today, plus two sets of BetterPress Letterpress sentiments and a set of rub-ons.

So, here is the card I will be creating for you today.

I will be walking you through all the different stages of pulling it together. This card is pretty much all die cutting, but I have also foiled the sentiment. There are lots of die cuts that go together to create these two adorable mice, and assembling them is a lot of fun. It’s wonderful to watch them come together, and there are so many ways to customise them! So, grab a drink of your choice and craft along with me. Let’s get started!

I use the standard Platinum 6 Die Cutting Machine sandwich for all of my die cutting today. From bottom to top, your plates should be as follows:

• Platform Base (A)
• Platform Top (B)
• Cutting Plate (C)
• Cutting Plate (C)

For the mice, you will be using the previously released Steamboat Willie Duo Etched Dies, along with the new Classic Mouse Love Etched Dies.

1. Starting with Steamboat Willie Duo Etched Dies, die cut all the pieces as above using the following ColorWheel Cardstocks. I used Raven, Chiffon, Classic White, Seaside, Waterfall, Poppy, and Fawn.
2. The die that is cut from Poppy cardstock will need to be die-cut twice. This is the piece that creates the inside of their mouths.

3. I store all the die cuts and the dies that I have used in these fabulous storage trays called Craft Stax. There are lots of little dies and die cuts in these sets, and it is easy to lose them on your work surface. I keep them all in place in this tray, along with the dies, in case I need to cut something out again – much easier to find. See that little piece of white card which is just above the red mouthpiece in the centre of the tray? You could easily lose that or throw it away, but it is actually part of the frilly knickers that you will be adding to your female mouse!

4. Okay, so start by adhering the two Chiffon face panels to their black bases using Bearly Art Glue.

5. There are embossed lines on the black pieces to help you line up the face pieces. These are really helpful when assembling any die cuts.

6. Add tiny dabs of glue around the edges of the mouths on the back side of the head die cuts, and then secure the two mouth pieces in place.

7. Add Bearly Art Glue to the back of the shorts and pop the tiny white die cut in place. This small detail means that when you turn the shorts back over, you won’t have two empty areas where the buttons are, as the white die cut “fills” them in.

8. Adhere the shorts to the male mouse body piece using the embossed lines to help you line it up.

9. Adhere the skirt and both shoes to the female mouse body piece.

10. Glue her tiny frilly pantaloons in place. Now, aren’t you glad you kept all those die-cut pieces in a safe place!

11. Adhere the hat trim onto the hat base using liquid glue.

12. Pop a dab of liquid glue onto the circle of the eyelashes piece, and then place your female mouse down on top. Isn’t she adorable with those long lashes!

13. Take the two tail pieces and add small dabs of Bearly Art Glue onto the circles, and then place both of your mice down on top.

14. Adhere the two brown shoes to your male mouse. Isn’t it fun watching them come to life?

15. Now add some liquid glue onto the top sections of the body pieces and then pop the heads in place.

16. Add some glue onto the edge of the underside of the hat and adhere it on to your female mouse. That brings us to the end of the “core” features of the two mice.

Next, you will need to grab the Classic Mouse Love Etched Dies. This set of dies has a whole raft of accessories that you can use in conjunction with Steamboat Willie Duo Etched Dies.

17. Die cut the pieces as shown from Raven, Teal Topaz, Waterfall, Pomegranate, Poppy, Beeswax, Saffron, and Tutu ColorWheel Cardstock. Note: I used Pomegranate for the heart chocolates base, the hat ribbon that spans the circumference of the hat, the tiny piece that sits on the bow on the hat, and the three hearts that are used for decoration at the end.

Poppy is used for the smaller heart on the chocolates, the envelope, and the bow on the hat.

Make sure to keep all your die cuts in your storage tray. There will be one or two die cuts you won’t end up using.

18. Glue the Tutu mini heart onto the envelope.

19. Adhere the top of the chocolate box onto the base.

20. Using liquid glue, pop the yellow ribbon across the chocolates, followed by the bow on top.

21. Add that tiny little centre piece on the bow to finish off the chocolates!

22. Put a tiny slither of glue onto the top of the hat and adhere the lighter aqua die cut in place.

23. Assemble the hat trim by first adhering the longer ribbon piece, then the bow on top of that, and finally the tiny piece that sits in the middle of the bow.

24. Now it’s time for you to add their arms! The Classic Mouse Love Etched Dies set includes two arm pieces, which, when joined, will create a heart in the centre! Isn’t that just so cute!

Add some glue as shown onto the arm pieces and then place your mice down on top. At this point, it’s a good idea to have both mice next to each other on your work surface. I adhered the female arms first, followed by the male arms. This way, I could make sure they would align together to form the heart. I didn’t do this when I was preparing the tutorial, and I had to re-cut them and add them again. As you are using liquid glue, you have time to wiggle the pieces around so that everything lines up and they form a heart.

Carefully manoeuvre the two other arms around to the front of the mice, ready for them to hold their gifts.

25. Add a small dab of adhesive onto the skirt, and slip the envelope under the arm and press it down. I also added a tiny bit of glue onto the back of her hand and pressed it down onto the envelope, just to make sure it was held securely in place.

26. Do the same with the chocolates on the male mouse. You end up covering most of his shorts, but as you can see a little bit of them, it was important he was wearing something!

27. Using Bearly Art Glue, adhere the hat onto your male mouse. You’ll only need to add a small line of glue at the bottom of the hat to do this.

28. Finish by adding glue onto the circle of the heart on a stem die cut piece, which will finish your female mouse.

Give yourself a high five as you have now finished the mice and weren’t they worth it!

Let’s move on to our sentiment now. We are going to do some foiling, so switch your Glimmer Hot Foil System on and let it heat up.

29. I am using the Classic Mouse Happy Sentiments Press & Foil Plate and Die Set for my sentiment. I am foiling the plate onto Raven ColorWheel Cardstock using White Glimmer Hot Foil. So, I have placed my foil piece pretty side up onto my panel of black cardstock.

Tip: I use the 9” Pro Shears to cut my foil; they work like a dream.

30. Flip your hot foil plate over and place it face down onto your white foil and tape it in place using Best Ever Craft Tape. This tape holds everything still whilst you are foiling. There are different ways to foil. Some people put the plate down onto the platform, add their foil, and then the cardstock on top, without using tape, but I always prefer to hold my plate in place. Both ways work out fine – it’s just the habit I have got into!

31. When the green light comes on, flip your stack over so that the plate is directly on the heated platform. Press the timer button, and it will start to flash.

32. At this point, I put my spacer shims on top, but you can leave this until you run everything through your die-cutting machine if you want. It’s a personal preference. When the timer button stops flashing, remove the entire platform from your Glimmer Machine.

33. Run the whole stack through your Platinum 6 Die Cutting Machine.

34. Use the pick-up tool to remove your foiled panel and plate from the platform and pop it onto your work surface. Peel back the foil to reveal your beautiful results. This never gets old for me. It’s wonderful how it works!

35. Tape the Classic Mouse Happy Sentiments Press & Foil Plate and Die Set coordinating die over your foiling panel and secure it in place with tape. Run it through your Platinum 6.

36. Take an A2 panel of Poppy ColorWheel Cardstock and the third largest die from Essential Stylish Ovals Etched Dies. Tape it in place using Best Ever Craft Tape and then run it through your die-cutting machine.

37. Add liquid glue onto the back of the window panel and adhere it onto an A2 panel of Classic White ColorWheel Cardstock.

38. Add Black Foam Adhesive Squares 1MM to the back of both of your mice and your foiled sentiment

39. Adhere the mice and sentiment into the oval window area.

40. Finish by adhering the three little hearts. Pop the whole panel onto a horizontal A2 top-folding white note card.

Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of this fun-filled love-themed sweet card, which you may or may not want to send out to anyone! Die cutting can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming when there are lots of dies to contend with. I hope that breaking down the process of using them on this card makes it seem a little less daunting. I personally find it relaxing and often have music on in the background. I love seeing a character come to life by adding all the different layers and playing with different coloured cardstocks.

I hope my tutorial has given you an idea of how to use these dies. If you would like to see more of my cards, I would love to have you join me over on my blog, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. In the meantime, thank you so much for spending time with me here on the blog today. I hope that you have a great day!

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