Step by Step: Die Cutting Printed Text

 In today's post, I'll show you a quick little trick for die cutting around printed text. While I sometimes enjoy stamping, I'll admit that I often prefer the clean, crisp look of printed text, especially if I'm using textured cardstock. I also like to be able to customize my text to fit the situation.

For this project, I started with my new 3x3 Tuck and Close Notecard die by Taylored Expressions. I've made several cards with this fun little die! Because of its small size, you can cut three cards from an 8.5x11 sheet of cardstock.

 The die itself has a nice scoring line and a little half-moon for the closure. When cut, it has a little extra "room" in it so you can use it as a lollipop holder! I'm not sure why I haven't tried that yet. You can see an example on the Taylored Expressions website. 

 

But I digress! In this post, I want to share a bit about die cutting around printed text. This is a similar technique to the one I used in making labels for my card basket, with a couple of twists.

For this particular card, I planned to use my new owl stamps. (How many owl stamps does one person need? I don't even want to count how many I have at this point!) I colored and cut out the owl and branch (more on that in my next post) and determined where I would position them on my card.

In this case, I wanted to print "HELLO THERE" on my card. I chose those two words so they would line up exactly when using the Pharmacy font. :) I planned to use my Spellbinders square label die, so I placed the actual die on the card front to determine approximately where the text would be positioned on it. Based on that, I could tell that the text needed to be in the upper right corner of the die cut piece. 

With information in mind, I measured the die and created a text box of the same size using Word. I positioned my text within the text box in the proper spot, then I removed the lines. (Did really need to create that text box? Couldn't I have just situated the die around the text? Yes, but having the text box gives me a visual confirmation on the screen of how the text will look when positioned on the die cut!)

Next, I printed the text, positioned the die around it (with the ridge side down), and ran it through the Big Shot.

 

 And here's the completed card, with the text positioned exactly where I wanted it, leaving room for the other elements. (Don't look closely at the Copic coloring, as it leaves quite a bit to be desired!) I saved the template on my computer to use for future cards. Just print and cut!

What would I do without Word and my Spellbinders dies? They are two of my favorite tools for card making!
jp