Customizing Die Cuts

Every month, Trish packs some nifty die-cuts into the kits, which is such a delight for me because I don't have a die-cutter. Sometimes, though, the colors aren't exactly what I need for the layout I want to create, or in a few cases, they're too big for the 8 x 8 pages I make, so I've found some ways to customize these wonderful little die cuts. Here are a few ways I've made the die cuts work for my layouts:

Glitter them. For this layout, I wanted richer, sparkly color, so I just ran Herma dotto adhesive on top of the leaf die cuts from the November kit and sprinkled on some glitter. Easy-peasy!

Heat-emboss them. I wanted some texture for this adorable little sandcastle in the July kit. If I'd had sand, I would've covered it with that, but since i didn't, I just pressed an embossing pad on top of the sandcastle and sprinkled embossing powder and heat embossed it. I also covered the flag part with some patterned paper and attached a pinwheel with a brad to further customize the die cut.

Paint and stitch on them. The October kit had some cool green trees, but that color wasn't working for my layout, so I painted it with brown acrylic paint. To add texture and interest, I machine stitched over it.

Embellish them. The die cuts are adorable as-is, but adding some embellishments can take them one step further. The September kit came with these cute little felt bicycles. I embellished the wheels with chipboard buttons that came in the kit, attached with mini brads and added a little bird cut out from paper that came in the kit.

Cut them. One of the problems of scrapping 8 x 8 is that sometimes things in the kit are just too big for my pages. One obvious solution is to cut them down so they fit. The fabulous "Enjoy Life" die cut from the August was way too big for my page, so I cut the words in two and just used the word "Enjoy," leaving me with the "life" for another page.

Repurpose them. The awesome felt leaves that came in the November kit were also quite large and too big to use as leaves for my page, so I turned them into trees by standing them on their stems, grouping them in a little forest, and using them to hold my title. I also stitched them to my page to give them more texture.



There are so many ways to customize die-cuts. I've just scratched the surface here. I'd love to hear some of your ideas!