Hello and welcome to Day 1 of the introduction to our February Release!

As many of you already know, Waffle Flower was founded by a cardmaker and many of our designers started off as cardmakers. That’s why we’re always looking at design from a cardmaker’s perspective. So this month, we decided to put together a small collection that is all about card design basics! Over the next few days, we’ll introduce our February release, and all month, we’ll be discussing our best cardmaking design tips and tricks. And with that, let’s take a look at the new release!

This month, we’re starting a new series called Designer Templates! Each template set will include a collection of panel, label, tag, shape, or border dies that can be used together to create a variety of layouts. To help you visualize the possibilities, we’ll be sharing idea sheets from the template designers. Our first Designer Template was designed by the wonderful Galina Filippenko!

Designer Template 1 Die

Set of 9 dies: $30

The Designer Template 1 Die set includes 9 dies that can be mixed and matched in so many ways! Galina has put together an idea sheet that show examples of how the set can be used. You’ll be seeing lots more inspiration with this set during the release and in our release Blog Hop! Stay tuned!

When we develop products and releases, we always look to the card basics of Focal Point, Background, and Sentiment. Every card has these 3 elements and each element has its unique role to play.

Focal Point

A focal point is the center of interest on a card. In scrapbooking, your photo is always the focal point of your layout. In cardmaking, a lot of the fun comes from creating the focal point from stamps, dies, and more! Everyone loves a focal point, and over the years, we have brought you many ideas for focal points from flowers to rainbows to butterflies! This month, we have the March set for the Birth Flower series by Karla Jodoin! The Daffodil – March Birth Flower Stamp Set is a natural focal point set.

Daffodil - March Birth Flower

Stamp: $16; Matching Die: $22; Combo: $36; Coloring Stencil $12

These large detailed flower stamps are perfect for heat embossing or coloring with paints, markers, or colored pencils. In this card from Galina, she uses two daffodil blooms together for her focal point.

Designer Tip: Arranging the flowers and the sentiment in a “triangle” configuration is a great way to emphasize the focal point of your card. Triangle composition is known for being pleasing to the eye, and it helps bring your eye to each point of the triangle. You’re probably already using this layout, but it’s interesting to know why it looks so good!

Background

By definition, a background is the area or scenery behind the main object of contemplation, especially when perceived as a framework for it. For cards, backgrounds can be as simple as a clean white card front (which we love!), but sometimes a background layer can elevate and enhance the focal point.

Sets like the new Designer Template 1 Die Set is one way to build a background. Stencils are another way to build a background. They add visual interest with no weight and enhance (but not distract) from the focal point. The new Random Tiny Dot Stencil is a perfect example of this type of background stencil. The randomness of the dot creates visual movement which makes the card feel more dynamic!

Random Tiny Dot

6x6 in stencil: $7

In this card, Galina uses the Random Tiny Dot Stencil in black to help bring out the focal envelope die cut from the new On the Edge Trio Die Set.

On the Edge Trio

Set of 3 dies: $18