Using the Beautiful Butterflies Die

The Beautiful Butterflies Bigz Die has four butterflies. Two show as full butterflies and the other two as half butterflies.

I cut a strip of Greenhouse Gala DSP and covered the full butterflies with that.

Then took another strip folded it in half placing the fold along the open side of the half butterflies and cut usually the Big Shot in the usual way.

This is how the butterflies look when popped out of the die.

This is how they look when the half butterflies are opened up.

I chose the two smallest butterflies and sponged the edges with baja breeze classic ink then covered the fold in the top one with basic pearl jewels and then did the same with the bottom one to match.

Here’s the finished card. I used the debossed side of whisper white cardstock embossed with the Manhattan Flower embossing then mounted on Not Quite Navy cardstock and a Baja Breeze Card base. The card was then finished off with a Thank you message from the ‘Because I Care’ Level One hostess set punched out with the Large Oval Die.


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Builder Punch Placement

Often when using a 'Builder Punch' (e.g. Owl, Two Step Bird, Blossom Petals) in a hurry I stamp the matching image and punch it out only to find that the hurried placement of the image has meant that I've punched out a lot of shapes I didn't need and wasted cardstock.

 For this project I'm using the Blossom Petals Builder punch and the Build a Blossom Stamp Set.  

I've chosen the stamp I want to use.

Before stamping the image choose the part of the punch that matches the stamp and position it on your cardstock in a position that creates the least waste.

Then stamp in that position and punch.  Then repeat for the number you need and start with the other images.

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Embossing just the front of your card

Embossing is a quick and easy way to fill up white space on a card, but what if you want to it straight onto your base card without adding another layer.  I'll show you how to position your card and embossing folder in the Big Shot to only emboss the front of your card not all the way through.

Cut your card blank so that the front will fit sideways inside the embossing folder as you see above.  Position the card in the folder with the edge of the folder against the score/fold line for your card blank.

Run the embossing folder through the Big Shot so that the overhanging card doesn't get caught by being on the side.

This is what you'll end up with if use the Perfect Polka Dot embossing folder like I did.

Another tip for a quick and easy embellishment is using a die like Blossom Party originals and using up scraps or cardstock to cut just the shapes that you need.  You don't have to cut all the shapes each time to need just one or two.

This is how I put my card together.

I hope this helped you get more use out of your Big Shot.

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Omitting part of an image using an Ink Pad

This was one of the cards we put together at a recent class.  The instructions told us to stamp and colour the full image then cut out around the clock piece and adhere to the whisper white cardstock circle.  It would have been a struggle for the beginner cardmakers.

One form of omitting that I think most of us use is to ink just the pieces we want on an image with Stampin' Write (brush) markers, but what do you do when you want the image to still be stamped in Stazon Jet Black ink.

Here's the solution that we used: -

This is what the complete stamped image looks like.

 

To remove the hello I covered it with a piece of sellotape (sticky tape).  I used removable tape but it doesn't need to be.  Ink your stamp as usual with the tape in place.  Make sure you remove the tape before you stamp your image.

For the card above the ladies at the class stamped their image like this, coloured it using Stampin' Write Markers and punched it out with the 2 1/2" circle punch.  No cutting involved.

I hope this helps you get more use out of your stamped images.



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Using the Pillow Box Die

One of the quickest & easiest little gift boxes to put together is made with the Pillow Box Bigz Die that works with the Big Shot and other Die Cut systems.

I've chosen to cut my pillow box from a 6"x6" piece of Nursery Nest designer series piece.  You can use a smaller piece of paper but I find this size gives you a bit of safety room.

I've found to get good strong creases in your Designer Series Paper (DSP) it's a good ideas to place a sheet of cardstock underneath the die as a shim before running it through the big shot.

 After running your paper through the Big Shot.

Crease the two fold lines with the Big Shot place adhesive on the tab and fold in to close the pillow box.

Now is the time to fill the pillow box.  I just fitted six Hershey's kisses in mine.  You can see it bulging a little bit.

If you wish you can make a tag.  I've used the Baby stamp from the Easy Events stamp set in Marina Mist ink, sponged the edges and punched out the image with the 1 3/4" circle punch then mounted it on a 2 3/8" Scallop circle punched from Marina Mist cardstock.  I've used the largest hole punch on the Crop A Dile to punch a hole for threading the ribbon through.

I find that placing a bit of adhesive on the back of the pillow box and sticking the ribbon to it keeps the ribbon in place when tying it round the box.  I've used a piece of Marina Mist Scallop Dots ribbon.

Thread your tag onto the ribbon and tie at the front and you're finished.






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Stockings Tag Punch

Stitched Stockings Christmas Card and Hints for Using the Stockings Tag Punch

Here are a couple of projects I've made up using the Stitched Stockings stamps and punch.



A quick and easy Christmas card using the jumbo texture stampin' around wheel in Marina Mist and Night of Navy.


Here's how I made it: -



Fold A5 Marina Mist cardstock in half and ink the jumbo texture stampin' around wheel with marina mist cardstock and run over card blank.



Layer a piece of 50x143mm whisper white cardstock on to 55 x 148mm Night of Navy cardstock and then across centre of card base.



Stamp three stockings in Marina Mist and three of the detail stamp in Night of Navy.  If you move too quick and get smudges like I did not to worry as we'll be punching them out.



You can see in the photo that the stocking shape in the punch is on an angle.  This means you will need to cut not to closely around your stamped image before placing it in the punch. 

Now punch around all your stockings and embellishments and assemble your card.

Here's another version of the card above using the Confetti background stamps and adding a greeting using Teeny Tiny Sentiments and the Word Window Punch.

 

Think of all the other colour combinations you could use, as well as adding a bit of glitter or texturing the centre white panel with a crimper or textured impressions embossing folder.

Christmas Idea Notebook

I've covered a notebook with designer series paper and embellished it with the stockings and punch as well as the woodgrain background stamp in tempting turquoise and real red.  I often manage to shorten my notebook covers when covering so the scallop edge rectifies that mistake.
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Dying White Ribbon to Match your Projects

This was a trick I learn't and used a lot as a very new Stampin' Up!® demonstrator but as I got more into the business and could afford to have more colours of ribbon on hand I haven't had the need to dye white ribbon to match my projects.

I used it at a workshop last week and had a great response to the budget angle so thought I would share it with my blog readers as well.

Now that I'm back up and running with You Tube I'm very interested in topics you would like to see covered in my tutorials. Please leave me a comment below. 

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