Altered Die Cut: A Thanksgiving Art Tutorial

Are you looking for a way to get a little more creative this Thanksgiving? Try this Altered Die Cut project from Lisa Pace’s Delight in the Seasons to create beautiful Thanksgiving art.

Altered Die Cut

I created this tag to be displayed in a floral arrangement during Thanksgiving. I packed it with elements that remind me of fall, including burlap, felt and plaid along with hues of yellow, orange and red. I arranged the altered die-cut leaves so that they would look as though they were falling from the tree—this is how my grandmother would iron the autumn leaves she sent to me. The altered chandelier bead at the bottom of the tag is tinted using a Copic marker, then stamped with archival ink and a plaid stamp. I think it is the perfect embellishment to top off this tag.

What You’ll Need
watercolor paper
leaf die
Distress inks (two colors)
blending tool
embossing medium pen
ultra thick embossing enamel (UTEE)
tweezers
heat tool
glitter glue

1. Using a die-cut machine, cut a leaf out of watercolor paper. Apply your lighter colored ink (yellow or orange) to a blending tool and ink the entire leaf.

2. Apply your darker ink (orange if yellow was used in step 1; red if orange was used) to the blending tool and apply the ink to the edges of the leaf.

3. Use an embossing medium pen on the edges of the leaf. If you’d like some detailing inside the leaf, apply embossing medium there as well. Holding the maple leaf with tweezers, dip the leaf into gold UTEE, then tap off the excess UTEE. Melt the UTEE with a heat tool.

4. Embellish the leaf with glitter glue for extra sparkle.

From Delight in the Seasons by Lisa Pace, 2012; courtesy of www.createmixedmedia.com. To learn more about or purchase Delight in the seasons by Lisa pace, click here.