How to Make a Windmills and Tulips Card with Spellbinders BetterPress (Step-by-Step Tutorial)

Hello crafty friends! It’s Lisa Tilson here with you today. I am delighted to be back on the Spellbinders blog to share a card featuring the prettiest tulip field, set against a backdrop of windmills with a gorgeous pink sky! The Windmills and Tulips Press & Foil Plate is from Yana’s Tulips Collection, and it is lovely – it creates a beautiful, serene scene! I believe it is inspired by a recent trip that Yana took to the Netherlands, and the vibe is captured to perfection. Along with this press and foil plate, there is a set of layering stencils that you can use to add your colour to the image, and I use those on my card today. Also part of the collection is the Tulips and Daffodils Press + Foil Plate. That too has a set of layering stencils which you can use for colouring. To top off the collection, you will find a set of sentiments called Bouquet of Hugs Sentiments Press + Foil Plate & Die Set. These sentiments are perfectly worded to suit this floral theme. I am going to be taking you through my card with a step-by-step photo tutorial. I hope you like the end result – pink is my jam, so there’s lots of it!

Sending A Bouquet Of Hugs

For all of the die cutting, use the Platinum SIX Die Cutting Machine with the die cutting sandwich as follows (from bottom to top):

• Plate A – Platform Base
• Plate B – Platform Top
• Plate C – Cutting Plate
• Plate C – Cutting Plate

The cardstock/die will be inserted between the two cutting plates with the die sitting on top of the cardstock, cutting side down. For the pressing, use the BetterPress LetterPress System, which works in conjunction with the Platinum SIX Die Cutting Machine.

Pressing The Panel and Sentiment

1. Start by placing the Windmills and Tulips Press & Foil Plate onto the BetterPress Letterpress System Chase (magnetic platform).
2. Using small pieces of Best Ever Craft Tape, adhere an A2 panel of Porcelain BetterPress Cardstock onto the underside of the Platen (clear top plate).
3. Ink up the plate using BetterPress Black Ink.

TIP: Use a pouncing/tapping motion to add the ink to the plate. The larger BetterPress Black Ink Pad is helpful when needing to cover an A2-sized plate with ink.

Note: You will see there are small pieces of yellow tape around the edges of the Chase in the photo. This helps to hold it in place and keeps it from shifting if you need to double-press a plate.

4. Flip the Platen back over and clip it onto the Chase. The inked plate and cardstock are now “face to face”.
5. Remove all die-cutting plates from your Platinum SIX Die Cutting Machine and insert the BetterPress Letterpress System
6. Run the system through your die-cutting machine.

7. Use Ranger Archival Ink Stamp Cleaner and a microfibre cloth to clean the ink from your plate.

8. Place a sentiment from Bouquet of Hugs Sentiments Press + Foil Plate & Die Set onto your Chase.
9. Adhere a small piece of Porcelain Cardstock to your Platen using pieces of Best Ever Craft Tape.
10. Ink up the sentiment using BetterPress Black Ink and pop the Platen back onto the Chase.
11. Run the system through your die-cutting machine.

12. Adhere the coordinating die to your sentiment using yellow tape.

13. Run it through your Platinum SIX Die Cutting Machine using the sandwich listed at the top of this post.

Adding Color Using the Layering Stencils

1. Place your pressed panel onto the Altenew Stampwheel Sticky Mat.
2. Take Stencil 1 from Layered Windmills and Tulips and line it up with your pressed panel.

TIP: You can use some Best Ever Craft Tape here to make sure the stencil doesn’t move. The Sticky Mat will hold the stencil in place, but when the stencil is only slightly bigger than the panel of cardstock, it can be helpful to also tape it in place.

3. Stencil 1 covers the first part of the windmill sails as well as the tulip heads

4. Using a Medium Blending Brush, blend a light layer of Tawny Brown BetterPress Ink through the sail openings.
5. Use Wild Berry BetterPress Ink to blend the tulip heads.

6. Using a Mini Blending Brush, apply a small amount of Hero Arts Raspberry Jam Core Ink to the bottom of each tulip head. This adds extra interest and creates an ombre effect on each tulip.

7. Remove the stencil and look at the beautiful results!

8. Stencil 2 covers the next section of the sails as well as the tulip leaves.

9. Using a blending brush, apply a slightly darker layer of Tawny Brown BetterPress Ink to the sail openings.
10. Apply Leaf BetterPress Ink to the leaves and grass sections.

11. Using a Mini Blending Brush, apply Pine BetterPress Ink to the bottoms of each of the leaves to give them some extra dimension and interest.

12. Place Stencil 3 over the panel.
13. Using a piece of Best Ever Craft Tape, mask off the top of the tulips section.
14. Apply a heavy layer of Tawny Brown BetterPress Ink to the tops and bottoms of all three windmills.

15. Place Stencil 4 over the panel.
16. Apply Pine BetterPress Ink to the bushes and tulip stems.

17. Place Stencil 5 over your panel. This covers the final sections of the windmills as well as the clouds. Saffron and Tuscan BetterPress Inks will be used for these sections.

18. Apply Saffron BetterPress Ink to the two outer windmills.
19. Apply a heavy layer of Tuscan BetterPress Ink to the middle windmill.

Note: The clouds will be left free of any ink in this card design.

20. Place Stencil 6 over the panel.
21. Apply Wild Berry BetterPress Ink through the openings. Use a heavier layer of ink towards the bottom so that the sky fades up to a light pink.

Assembling The Card

1. Add Bearly Art Glue to the back of the completed panel.
2. Adhere it onto a top folding A2 white note card created from Classic White ColorWheel Cardstock 11” x 4.25”, scored and folded at 5.5”.

3. Add small pieces of White Foam Squares onto the back of the pressed sentiment.

4. Adhere the sentiment to the bottom of the card to finish.

That brings us to the end of today’s card. I hope you find this step-by-step tutorial useful and you like the card! This is such a pretty press plate, and don’t forget it, you don’t want to press it, you can always foil it and use the stencils with the foiled image instead. If you would like to see more of my cards, I would love to have you join me over on my blog, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. In the meantime, thank you so much for being with me here on the Spellbinders blog today. I hope that you have a wonderful day!