Mixed-media paper crafter; stamper, freelance craft tutor, designer of PaperArtsy JOFY stamps

10 January 2015

Some dies are like puppies - they are not just for christmas!

I love a bit of die cutting!!  and recently the lovely Paula Pascual gave me several of the die sets she designed for Sizzix - such a clever chickie!!

I've been using this one- its a christmas set - but I seriously think its too good to use only at christmas! (called 'Christmas Phrase Cards' ref 659973)
 
The 9 dies cut pocket-scrapbooking sized cards and co-ordinating elements - words, a word block.  and a really useful circle.

I have used it for festive projects, obviously - as part of my 'christmas book' (more about that tomorrow)...
On this page I cut a white panel, a kraft word block and a blue spotted word - love how all the elements layer up - and looks great laid over my snowflakes stamps.

On this page I just used a single word... (I'm definitely a 'less is more' type of person)

I started playing around with non-festive ways to use the dies and elements, using the Prima Epiphany 6x6 paper pad for these projects - great pad - lots of each design, double sided & a little bit distressed... but not grungy - nice.

What I like about the dies is that they can be positioned in just the right place over patterned papers to create perfect little scrapbooking cards, or panels for cards - so it you want to cut at an angle right in the middle of the page you can!... It so much quicker and accurate to die cut than to sit and measure the space - not lazy just time efficient!
I use the magnetic platform with my BigShot to hold thin dies in place - genius piece of kit for the BigShot - you NEED one of these is you use thin dies! I bought mine from the The Stamp Attic

I got busy cutting bits and pieces: several panels using the different sizes of journal cards (creating perfect mat'n'layers (bottom left in picture), and circles as motifs.. the rectangular cards are ready for journaling or large words of photos...

On this card I mat'n'layered two panels, tearing off the bottom of the smaller panel.  I chose this circle motif because of the hanging thread of the cages...

I marked the position of the hanging cord, so I could remove the circle and sew the line on my sewing machine

Here is the finished card - the circle a has been 3d mounted...  Note about the sewing: my sewing machine was having a funny five minutes and the tension wasn't quite right which caused the odd stitching (in cream) down either side of the card...
I could've unpicked it and restitched but one of my new year resolutions is to 'embrace the imperfections' and so I left it as it was... the stitching isn't horrible, its just not what I planned ... so it'll stay

This card is created with the scrap panel remaining when the circle was punched out..(too interesting to waste!)..  I rounded off the corners (with the We R Memory Keepers Crop-a-dile Corner Chomper - another go-to tool)

The circle becomes an aperture to mount flowers, embellishments onto, and one of the words from the die set - nice for a birthday card (or if used with the right colours, papers and embellishments- a baby card)

I liked how this card looked (I'd added lines of stitching...) so I mounted it onto a 12.x12.5cm greeting card:

I sewed the die cut circle onto a card to create a simple panel:

I stitched onto all of the cards to add texture/interest, but the stictching can be seen on the other side of the card so I covered the stitching with washi tape (LOVE!)

I had fun playing with this set of dies - I like them very much - going to be using them A LOT - and are definitely not just for christmas.

I created the pieces above but then discovered lots of little bits & pieces of the paper that were too nice to throw away, so I chose some scrapbooking cards and altered them... (cards that I wouldn't use in their current format).. I think covering the words also makes them more versatile...

Here are the cards - I also added some stitching - all these little additions and alterations makes them more personal, individual and less generic...




and created a whole batch of co-ordinating cards.... ready for journaling, scrapbooking & cardmaking - even a quick thankyou note or gift card...

And now I am definitely finished- no more scraps to use!

xx
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3 comments

  1. Great scrap usage :-)

    Sally

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  2. Paula is very kind to gift you with a set of her die cuts! Great ideas, completely agree about the magnetic platform, wish they would do one for the larger plates to.

    Sewing on paper is one of my new loves, this simple addition really does make a huge difference.

    Glad you having a year of accepting your crafting imperfections:-) x

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  3. wow!! love those dies - how very useful they are! thanks for the tip about a magnetic plate too, off to check that out right now!

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