Die-Cut Love at First Cut

Cut It Up! Design Team Debut

I am absolutely thrilled to share some exciting news—I’ve officially joined the Design Team for the amazing Cut It Up! Challenges challenge blog! This is such a fun and inspiring challenge community, and I couldn’t be more excited to create alongside such a talented group of makers. Each challenge features a different theme, with one important rule: a die cut must be part of the project. The best part? Projects don’t have to be cards, which leaves the door wide open for creativity—and I love that kind of flexibility.

For my first Design Team project, the theme is Your Favorite Dies (Challenge #347), and that choice was an easy one for me. My current favorite dies are the Branching Out dies from Stampin’ Up!. I fell head-over-heels for them the moment I saw them online, and with every project I make, I find myself loving them more and more. They’re elegant, versatile, and incredibly easy to work with.

My card begins with a Very Vanilla card base, which immediately gives the project a soft and classic feel. To add texture without overwhelming the design, I dry embossed a slightly smaller Very Vanilla panel using the Beautiful Pattern embossing folder. That subtle texture creates the perfect backdrop for the layers to shine.

On the left side of the card, I added a strip of Brushed With Beauty Designer Series Paper featuring a Crumb Cake dotted line pattern, framed with Old Olive cardstock. This layered strip anchors the design and balances the framed focal element beautifully.

The real star of the card is, of course, the layered frames created with the Branching Out dies. I used two-tone Old Olive cardstock to cut both a lighter and darker frame, pairing them with a floral pattern from the same Designer Series Paper pack. The combination of tones adds depth and interest, and I love how the frames nest together so effortlessly. Once assembled, the framed piece was adhered to the card front, overlapping the DSP strip and leaving just enough space on the right side to keep everything feeling open and airy.

To finish the card, I stamped the sentiment “You’re the Sweetest” from the Banner Sayings stamp set in Old Olive ink on Very Vanilla cardstock. After punching it out with the Three Banner Punch, I popped it up with dimensionals at the top of the frame for a sweet finishing touch.

Inside the card, I continued the layered look so the design feels just as special when it’s opened. A Very Vanilla panel is framed first with the darker tone of Old Olive and then again with the lighter tone of Old Olive, creating a soft, coordinated matting effect that ties beautifully to the card front. Along the right edge of the Very Vanilla panel, I added a narrow strip of the flowered Designer Series Paper, which adds just a hint of pattern without taking away from the space needed for a handwritten message. I love when the inside of a card feels finished and intentional, and this simple layering does exactly that while keeping everything cohesive.

These dies truly make creating layered focal points simple and fun, and I’m so thankful I added them to my collection when I did—they’ve been getting a lot of use!

I’m also entering this card into the Ellibelle’s Corner where the Challenge #11 is Anything in or from a Garden goes AND the Paper Craft Crew challenge #655 for the sketch challenge.

Being part of the Cut It Up! Design Team is such an honor, and I would absolutely love for you to play along with this challenge. Dive into your favorite dies, create something you love, and share it with us. I can’t wait to see what you make and to cheer you on in the comments!