Partial die-cut

When I saw the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch this time I immediately fancied trying a partial die cut for the sentiment. I do have dies which give this effect without the messing around, but I particularly like this 'merry' die from Papertrey Ink.

I taped the die to the red card and placed just the part I wanted cutting, between the cutting plates for my Big Shot... the rest hung out over the edge. When I had passed it through the machine, I changed plates and added a rubber mat and embossed the lower part of the letters. I then removed the die and cut the top line with a combination of my Fiskars trimmer and a craft knife. 

The jingle bells and thread are from Memory Box (different die sets... the thread belongs with a needle which I seldom use but the thread die is a favourite) To finish it off I added a few random tiny stars.

Looking at the card just now I've realised that there is a really easy way of achieving this effect without messing around aligning up the die with the plates etc.

Cut out the word, cut the front panel and place the die just overlapping the top of the panel and cut it out. Throw away the scraps, then pop the whole word you just cut into the space! Easy peasy! 

I guess you'd call it faux partial die-cutting!