A Child is Born

Today is my turn to share my Pick of the Week over on The House That Stamps Built blog.  While I was making a different card this week, I remembered a little trick that I like to use but hadn't thought of in a while.  If you have nesting dies like I do (or actually any die that has a little edge around it), you can use this trick to create a small border around your shaped die cut.  For this card, I used a circle die, but it also works great for ovals or other rounded shapes.  I used one size of my circle dies to cut the circle with the poinsettia, and the next size up to cut the green mat.  It's just leaves too much green showing and here is where the trick comes in.

 I took the green circle and the same die that I used to cut the white circle, and taped the circle die onto the green circle.

 Then, I took my scissors and cut right up against the die.  The metal edge is a nice guide.

 Continue cutting around the edge until you have a perfect circle.

 And then, you have the perfect mat for your circle; just the right size.

 And here is my finished card:

Supplies:
Stamps: Repeat Impressions "For Unto You" and "Poinsettia"
Dies: Spellbinders "Classic Circles, large" and "Radiant Rectangles"; MFT "Blueprints 13" fishtail banner

Challenges:
C.R.A.F.T. #524--Christmas
The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #55--anything goes
Merry Little Christmas Challenge #13--anything goes
Brown Sugar #292--anything goes
Love To Craft Challenge Blog #37--anything goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper--anything goes
Cards Galore #66--anything goes
Christmas at Sweet Stampin'--anything goes with the optional twist: Christmas in the sun (I did not use the optional twist)
Mojo Monday #520--sketch (I turned it sideways)

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #111--anything goes
Cardz TV #95--anything goes
Word Art Wednesday #399--anything goes with uplifting sentiment
Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #197--3 or more layers
Crafty By Designs--anything goes