Backporch: Technique of the Week: Easy Inlay

I got the idea for this technique from Jennifer McGuire's blog. She's always thinking up easier ways to do complicated things, and we like that!

I thought it would be fun to show this technique using Yupo paper and alcohol ink. I wanted to show how you can die-cut Yupo paper with beautiful results.

For this technique I chose a Poppy die 1840 Gentle Leaf Collage, and the Magenta stamp 07.928.I With Sympathy.

I applied alcohol ink to a piece of Yupo paper, using the same technique shown here. I wanted to show that you can also die cut the Yupo paper, although it can't be torn. For this piece I used some of my favorite new colors of alcohol ink, Amethyst, Limeade, Valencia, and Turquoise.

In planning my design, first I cut the die out of white paper and placed the Yupo paper colored with alcohol inks behind it. It's pretty, but I want the colors of the alcohol ink piece to show up more, and I may need more space for my sentiment.

Clearly my chosen sentiment won't quite fit in

I put the die onto another piece of white cardstock onto my cutting plates and placed the sentiment where I wanted it. I moved the die around until I thought there would be plenty of room for both; then removed the stamp before running the die through with the white cardstock.

I then arranged my die on the Yupo paper. My goal was for the die to cut through the Yupo paper, but for all the pieces to remain in the paper.

I looked carefully at the back of the Yupo paper, with the die still stuck to the other side. It looked like it all cut through.

This is the Yupo paper next to the white die cut cardstock. I'm leaving the pieces in the Yupo paper for now.

I carefully placed the front of the white cut out onto the back of the Yupo paper so that they matched up perfectly.

The white die cut panel lined up with the back of the Yupo paper panel

Working on the back of the white die cut piece that is lined up on the Yupo paper, I adhered scor tape to the entire area of the die cut opening.

The effect of this is that there will be adhesive facing through all of the holes in the front of the die cut opening.

Once the back was completely covered, I flipped it over to the front, and the die is still attached to it.

I poked a sharp tool through all of the holes in the back of the die to ensure that the Yupo paper would release from the die.

As I peeled the die carefully away from the Yupo paper, it revealed that the die cut pieces were still in place, and this is what you want. If any pieces fall out (two of mine did), place them back in their spaces. I pressed the colored Yupo side very firmly.

Since I put adhesive on the back of the white panel that is positioned right behind the Yupo panel, all of the die cut pieces in the Yupo panel stuck to that adhesive. The Yupo pieces only stuck where there was adhesive facing through the die cut.

I carefully peeled the Yupo panel off of the white panel underneath, and the die cut pieces of Yupo paper stayed behind, stuck to the adhesive. If any of them tried to peel up with the Yupo panel, I pressed them down with my sharp tool, so that they all stayed behind, stuck to the scor tape.

The white panel has the Yupo pieces beautifully inlaid into the die cut holes, and I have a beautiful Yupo panel that I can use on another card.

I placed the panel into my MISTI to stamp the sentiment, but first I wanted to stamp it onto a piece of grid paper to ensure that it was perfectly straight. After I did all of this work, I didn't want any mistakes here at the end.

With the first stamping, the sentiment did not stamp all the way. It took a number of stampings to get it all stamped and I found myself wishing I had used the Creative Corners for the MISTI. Sometimes when you stamp close to the edges some stamps do not stamp well there.

I finally got the sentiment right, but can you see in the upper right that I got a little smudge of ink?

I have found that these Mono Sand erasers work very well at removing minor smudges, without damage to the cardstock. We do have these erasers at Art 'n Soul. They are very popular and we have trouble keeping them in stock.

Much better with no smudge

I hope you will give this technique a try! It's much easier to do it than explain it! It really is much easier than trying to individually place each die cut piece by hand.

Magenta Products Used:

(If you are local, please look for products at Art 'n Soul. If you are not local and wish to find Magenta products, you can click on the link in the stamp or product name below each image, or you can visit the Magenta online store here).