Border punch technique

I ran across this idea at Taylor's site. The idea is to use a border punch to make a decorative square. She used a scalloped border punch, but I have a lace border punch. I wasn't sure it would be anything worth looking at, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try. Boy, was I right! Check it out:



I love the effect! So I decided to make the 3rd monogrammed notecard for my mom's co-workers using this technique:



I used the lace border punch at the bottom of the notecard, then added a 1/2" strip of lavender cardstock at the inside bottom to make it show up. Then I used dimensionals on both layers of the cutouts.

I have a friend who does handmade ornaments for a tree every year, and these would be an excellent choice for just such a tree.

The only problem I had was that the punch didn't like my cardstock. I literally had to stand on the punch lever to get it to punch through the cardstock. (Good thing I don't weigh any more than I do, or I'm sure it would have broken the punch.) Does anybody else have this trouble? I've only made about 30 punches with it before, and it has never given me problems with cardstock. I think I might need to sharpen it with some aluminum foil.

If you have any border punches, try them out and let me know what they look like with this technique. I can't wait to see some more options! :)