I really appreciate the lines and angles of the Empire Inlay Card Front Die from Concord & 9th. I’ve made a number of cards with it, and I find that the leftovers from each project spark ideas for another.

I was inspired for this by pieces left from a previous card. I made this one right after, but just realized I hadn't shared it yet. For this card, I focused on the square sections in the center of the die.

I used the die to cut four colors of cardstock (two pairs of colors) and trimmed out a square section from the middle of each. As I arranged them, I realized that having them slightly offset in position and some variation in size would add some energy and interest to the design. You can see in the images below that two are the full square, and two of them I cut off the outermost section. Once I was happy with the arrangement, I glued them on an A2 panel of Pebble cardstock with my Gina K Connect Glue, and trimmed the background so it was square.

I used a darker shade (Cobblestone) for the final layer of card base, and in searching for how to add subtle interest to that, I found this topography background stamp from Simon Says Stamp that continues the linear theme, but with an organic flow that adds nice balance to the angular die cuts. I stamped that on the background with Versamark ink, so it had just enough variation to show without being distracting. I added the front panel to it with foam tape so the dimension between the two accentuated that shade difference.

The sentiments was stamped with embossing ink on black, and embossed with white. The black and white both have a nice contrast on this card of more mid-range colors. A sprinkling of enamel dots in the gray and black colors help to tie it al together while adding more movement and energy to the design.

Thank you for visiting! I hope you get some time to create something soon.

Links are below if you’re interested in any of the products I used.

Supply list*:

(Listed by company, with links to Simon Says Stamp)

Brutus Monroe Embossing Powder - Alabaster White

Concord & 9th -

• Empire Inlay Card Front Die

• cardstock: Sorbet, Creamsicle, Sprout, Eucalyptus, Pebble, Cobblestone

• enamel dots: Black

Gina K Designs - Connect glue

Simon Says Stamp -

• Topography Cling Stamp 

• CZ Design Birthday Basics Clear Stamps

• CZ Design Birthday Basics Wafer Dies

Tsukineko - Versamark Embossing Ink Pad

*Affiliate links have been used with no cost difference for you.