A Way With Words

Die Cut & Doodle

August 2, 2015

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By Judi Kauffman

Thank you for inviting me to be today’s guest designer. My projects illustrate a super simple approach to cardmaking: Die Cut & Doodle! There are only three steps:

  1. Die cut any of Suzanne Cannon’s A Way with Words Collection words or greetings from solid color cardstock that you’ve backed with double-sided adhesive sheet.

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  1. Position the word or words on a contrasting color top-fold card base. The card base can be a solid color (Happy Birthday), a cardstock rectangle on top of a patterned card base (Believe), or a card base topped with a die cut oval (Season’s Greetings, Merry Christmas).
  1. Doodle around the words with a white opaque pen as shown or in any light opaque color(s) you prefer. Doodle on the lettering, too, as shown on the Season’s Greetings card shown below.

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Don’t worry if your doodling isn’t perfect. The point of making marks is to have a good time, to create something that is clearly hand-done, that is evidence of a human brain at work. (Practice on scraps of cardstock if you don’t want to doodle on the card until you feel confident.

Don’t stop at the four dies shown – there are eight other options in the collection from which to choose.

TIPS:

*Do all of the die cutting at one time so you can make a big batch of cards and spend a long afternoon or evening (or weekend…) doodling patterns and designs.

*Create your own patterns and designs or search for them in books or online.

*Develop your own pattern “vocabulary” using your favorite marks and shapes. I love using lots of dots and small circles, as well as scallops or sharp zig zags, leaves and flowers, and abstract shapes. The more you doodle the more patterns you’ll develop and the easier and faster it will become. Though speed is not a goal, it’s nice to develop a rhythm.

*Position words at an angle or parallel to the top and bottom of the card base. Words can be arranged on one or more lines. Some of the dies have words that are connected (Happy Birthday, Season’s Greetings, Merry Christmas) but the other nine consist of one or more words that can be arranged as you choose, and they can be mixed among the sets. For example: Best Friends; With Best Wishes.

*Use more than one color for the doodling.

*Add gems, peel-offs, or other small dimensional embellishments. (Keep the embellishments small so they enhance but don’t overwhelm the doodling.)

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Supplies:

Elizabeth Craft Designs –

1054 Happy Birthday
1049 Believe
1057 Season’s Greetings
1056 Merry Christmas
772 Accordion Oval Card (for white ovals)
503 Transparent Double Sided Tape Sheets

Other –

Gelly Roll Medium opaque ink pen in White (Sakura of America)
Popcorn pattern carcstock (Anna Griffin)
Solid color cardstock in White, Chocolate Brown, Red, Cordovan, and Chamois

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  • TracyM #6773 August 16, 2015 at 2:48 am

    WOW – these cards are SERIOUSLY AWESOME and SUPER COOL!!!

  • Mary Prasad August 5, 2015 at 3:58 pm

    Very pretty!

  • Bibi, Rubber Dance Stamps August 5, 2015 at 12:13 am

    Fabulous! I love the doodling – it really makes the words pop!
    Thank you for sharing such a lovely idea!

  • Nancy Doubler August 3, 2015 at 8:18 pm

    Great cards, as usual, Judi! A new outlet for “doodling”! love it!

  • Kimberly O. August 3, 2015 at 4:53 pm

    What a great idea! My white Sakura gel pens don’t write very reliably… But maybe I can find something else that would work.

  • scramblinrosie August 3, 2015 at 12:39 am

    That is such an awesome idea. I love doing this sort of thing inside of open work stamp images. I fill it in with either zentangles patterns or simple lines. My favorite kind of stamp images to do this with would be similar to (and I am not affiliated with) SU’s Blended Bloom stamp. I am going to have to try doing this to the OUTSIDE of an image now.

    • judi kauffman August 3, 2015 at 11:09 am

      Scramblinrosie – Give it a try with die cut images! It works whether you doodle around or on top of the shapes – or both. Elizabeth Craft designs has a lot of flower dies that would be perfect. Crystal Flowers comes to mind – large, simple petals. I’m glad you like the idea and left a comment.

  • judi kauffman August 2, 2015 at 8:52 pm

    Thank you all for the kind comments! Doodling is so relaxing to me and I loved working with the white pen. I’m going to switch to other colors for the next batch.

  • Marjorie August 2, 2015 at 5:49 pm

    The cards are fantastic. You’re a great doodler. I love that idea.

  • quietfire August 2, 2015 at 5:29 pm

    Such fabulous options for decorating these die cuts! Love, love, LOVE them!

  • Frances Byrne August 2, 2015 at 4:47 pm

    fabulous idea to add doodling to the senitments

  • wandahentges August 2, 2015 at 1:46 pm

    A Wonderful Idea!!!! All yours look fabulous!!!!!!!!

  • forrestwife August 2, 2015 at 12:56 pm

    Fun post! Inspirational! A whole new use for Suzanne Cannon,s Way With Word dies!

  • Betty Antibus August 2, 2015 at 10:14 am

    nice ideas, making the sentiments pop

  • Joan Milld August 2, 2015 at 8:37 am

    I love this, Thanks Judi.

  • Raquel Mason August 2, 2015 at 8:10 am

    Great doodling to compliment the beautiful styling of the new Quietfire word dies.

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