Fabulous Finds Friday — Balloon Bonanza

I love dies for so many reasons, but mostly because they make cutting easy and I can often USE UP MY SCRAPS!!!

Which is exactly what I did to with this set of balloon dies (*Party Balloons QF176) from Cheery Lynn. I gathered a bunch of scraps and did some serial die cutting.  Here’s my Cheery Lynn balloon explosion:

And a group shot of a few of the cards:

Once you have the dies cut, these cards come together quickly. Great to have in a card emergency.

A few close-ups:

(Cuttlebug embossing folder)

*(Sorry, I could not find a direct link.)

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Fabulous Finds — New Embossing System

I found a fun new embossing system called Inside Out Embossing Plates (or IOEP for short!) that lets you create several embossed looks by simply switching out some plastic plates.

Here’s what they look like:

Created by Australian crafter Tasha E Armour, who wanted an easier way to do double embossing on her cards, the plates work with most tabletop embossing machines and with most embossing folders. (You can see some excellent videos on her website, teapapercrafts.com.)

Tasha has also created a versatile embossing folder designed specifically for the 9-piece IOEP set, which she promises is only the first of many future designs:

Here’s how it works: Say you want to emboss your card front with only the center oval. You load your paper inside the embossing folder, then use removable tap to attach the center oval piece of the IOEP set to the appropriate area on the outside of the embossing folder. (Sorry, I didn’t take a photo of this step!) The center oval piece presses down on that area so that the oval is the only thing embossed. Hope that makes sense!

Take a look. Here is an example of using the entire embossing plate:

Pretty, right?

But for my next card, I wanted space for a sentiment in the center, so I used the rectangle piece that covered the corners and the piece that covered the larger oval:

When applying the plates, think about which areas you want embossed. That’s where you apply the plates. (It almost sounds counter-intuitive, but picture it as if you are pressing down on those areas to get an impression — that’s what the plates do.)

I trimmed the piece, heat embossed a sentiment in the center and mounted in on tan card stock:

Playing around with the folder and the plates (which are made in the USA from a semi flexible plastic) I created a small decorative piece using the smaller oval and the inside design:

I cut the oval using Spellbinders’ Classic Ovals Small S4-112 (one of the first dies I ever bought!) and mounted it on a tiny tag (actually a pre-scored place card from Paper Source. Love these for tags!) The background was stamped using Hero Arts’ Unicorn white pigment ink and Hero Arts’ Pearl Strings Bold Prints stamp.

Tasha says there are 31 different combos for the IOEPs — but I think I found a 32nd design! Check out the two embossed lines on this card:

To create those lines, I used the outside frame. I put just one side of my card stock in the folder, ran it through, and repeated the step. I trimmed the piece and applied it to front of a 3 1/2 x 4 3/4 (4bar) folded card. The cute pot is one of my new favorite dies (flower pots B667) from Cheery Lynn and the flower stamp is an old one from Memory Box. I put a scrap of glitter paper behind the opening in the pot before mounting it.

I haven’t had a chance to try the IOEP set with other embossing folders, but that’s in the works, and I look forward to some new designs from Tasha!

 

 

A Shoe to “Die” (Cut) for…

Do you love shoes? Check out this beautiful shoe die from Tattered Lace:

The paper on this top-folding card is Graphic 45. The arched die cut is Spellbinders Arched Windows One, edged a bit with Old Paper Distress ink; the tiny pearls on the shoe are Hero Arts. I used Elmer’s Fine Line glue pen to attach the shoe and Therm O Web’s supertape to attach the ribbon.

And did you notice the darling bow tie at the top? That’s a die from Cheery Lynn and I am getting such a kick out of using it.

After I cut out the shoe, I notice the negative space left from the die and decided to use it as a stencil:

And here’s the result (again with the bow tie):

The dotted background paper is from Simple Stories’s Snap collection; the dies are Spellbinders Label 8 and that adorable Cheery Lynn bow tie.