Simply circles

Hey Tea-Timers! I can't believe it's already time for the August tutorial!

Did you see the new circles dies that Jo brought out in the July release? They're great for framing elements of your card and making windows... but you could also make them the main focus of your card!

Here's what you'll need:

- Simple Circle dies

- Die cutting machine

- Various colours of cardstock

- Tape runner and/or liquid glue

- Any other stamps or dies you'd like to use as sentiments / embellishments

Instructions:

- If you can, keep your circle dies attached to their original packaging like I did, as they will be evenly spread out and stuck in place. If you've already used them, don't worry - just assemble them so that they have an even amount of space between each die, and secure them in place with masking or washi tape, or you could attach them to some spare paper or card with temporary adhesive. 

- Run your circle dies and first colour of cardstock through the die-cutting machine. When it comes out, the card should still be inside the dies. To make life easier, place a couple of strips of masking or washi tape across the die cuts to hold them together. This will help you pull all of the die cuts out of the dies together, and will also help keep them in one place so you can find the right size circle when you need it later. 

- Repeat with a further 12 colours of card. You could choose rainbow colours like I have done here, or you could go for all cool tones or warm tones... whatever you like! 

- Now for the fun part - assembling the circles! Cover some spare paper or card with plenty of tape runner (you could use liquid glue but I always find it a bit messy, plus it can warp your card if you use a lot). Pick the smallest circle from one of your colours and stick it in the middle of your card/paper. From the next colour, pick the next size circle up and adhere it to the outside of the first circle. Keep going until you've done all of your colours, and you'll have something that looks like this:

- You've got enough spare circles to make another dozen of these (if you have the patience! I actually quite enjoyed doing it while watching a film), just start with a different colour each time. Also, you don't have to make the full 13-colour circle, you could make some smaller ones, too. 

- Now, your imagination is the limit on what you can create. You could use the full circle as a card, cut it into quarters and arrange it in different patterns on your page, mix and match smaller and larger size circles like bubbles on your page, cut one in half to make a rainbow... there really are a million possible combinations! I even used my offcuts from one card to make a pram, which I'll save for a baby card in the future! 

Here's some of the completed cards I made:

"Hey!" 

For this card, I took a 6x6" card blank, and used the largest circle die to cut a circle shape from it, leaving a small amount overhanging the folded side of the card so it wouldn't cut through it. Then, on the opposite side, I used my paper trimmer to create a straight edge to allow the card to stand. 

I then used the new Anthony's Alphas dies to make the word "hey!" from black card stock (cut three times and stacked together for dimension) and glued this to the centre of the card. 

Rainbow Corners

Cut one of your circles into quarters, and adhere each quarter to the corner of a 6x6 piece of card. I used black, as it really made the colours pop. I then die cut the hugs sentiment from black card, and its shadow from holographic card, and adhered them to the centre of the panel, before adhering the whole panel to a card blank. 

"Hugs"

A super simple card! Adhere the circle to a card base and add your sentiment! I've used the same hugs die as above, this time in black and white. 

See through card

Probably my favourite so far! Again, I cut a circle into quarters. I then cut 4 frames from white cardstock, using the A2 Nesting Frames dies. I placed a piece of acetate between two of the frames, and repeated with the other two. I created a hinge by cutting a scrap of card 4.25" x 0.5" and scoring down the centre, lengthways. I glued the hinge to the inside of each acetate frame at the top, to create my card base. Then, I glued one rainbow quarter to the bottom left of the card front. I opened up the card and glued another quarter in the top right corner of the back panel, and a plain white one in the bottom left corner so there is space to write a message. I then flipped the card round and added another quarter behind the one on the card front. Finally, I glued two more quarters on the back of the card (yes, that does make 5! I had to borrow one from another circle 😂) to hide the back of the other quarters inside. I then finished off the card with one of the pre-printed sentiments from TFTD.

Thinking of You

To create this card, I cut one of my circles in half and adhered it to the bottom of a top-folding US A2 sized kraft notecard, then trimmed away the excess from the edges. I then stamped the "thinking of you" sentiment from the Thinking of You Lily A7 stamp set on a curve around the top of the rainbow. To do this, I placed a piece of acetate over the rainbow, placed the stamp face down on the acetate and curved it around until it matched the curve of the rainbow. I then picked it up with my MISTI door, removed the acetate and stamped directly on to my card.

Friend - you are beautiful 

For this card, I again cut one of my circles into quarters. I adhered two of them to diagonally opposite sides of a 6x4" piece of white card. I then die cut the friend sentiment in white, and the shadow in black, and adhered it with foam tape for some nice dimension. I then added one of the T4TD pre-printed sentiment strips underneath (again, with a thin strip of foam tape), and finished by dotting around some rainbow gems from Lucy's Cards. Finally, I popped the finished panel up on a 7x5" notecard using foam tape.

Sending you virtual hugs

For this A6 sized card, I glued a full circle to the bottom left of the card, and trimmed away the overhang. I added a "friend" die-cut as with the previous card (but with the colours reversed!) and another pre-printed sentiment strip, both popped up with foam tape. I finished this card off with a few clear sequins. 

Rainbow cascade

This card was so fun to make. I cut a circle into quarters and arranged three of them on the card to look like they were cascading down the page. I then took some of the sentiment stamps from the same Lily stamp set as above, and as with my kraft card, I used acetate to bend the stamps around the edge of the rainbows, picked them up with the MISTI door and stamped. I then added a small sticky gem between each sentiment in rainbow colours. 

Celebrate 

For this card, I used a 7x5" card blank, cut my circle in half and offset them, but made sure that each arch from the top lined up with, and flowed into, one from the bottom. I die cut the celebrate sentiment from holographic card and stacked it on top of a few die cut from white, to give it some sturdy  dimension. I glued it in the centre of the card and to finish, I used some clay stars from Lucy's Cards.

Well, hopefully that's given you some ideas for ways you can use your own Simple Circle dies. Make sure you tag us on social media so we can see what you come up with!

DISCOUNT CODE - Don't forget that T4TJAYNE10 will give you 10% off your entire purchase at the TFTD store! 

Until next time, happy crafting!