Mother's Day Gift Activity Day

I do projects with the 10 and 11 year old girls at church, so I try to choose something they will enjoy but also has a purpose. This was our May project, and the girls gave them to their moms for Mother's Day. It's basically the same as the summer projects I made and posted awhile back, except that y sweet husband cut the wood for me.

It's just a sanded and painted wood block, with a little Modge Podge to hold the scrapbook paper to it. The paper had several sayings, and the girls got to choose which one for their block. This one was definitely the most popular. The paper line was Home Grown by Pebbles, and the individual paper was called "Family Time."

Heartfelt Creations Cards I made for 2 Friends

July was busy with family, and on August 6th, I had major surgery. I am finally back in my craft room, and since I have the perfect excuse to ignore housework without guilt, crafting is what I am trying to do. I am not yet up to much, but I am just happy to be able to do a little crafting.

I found out from a mutual friend that two of our friends back in Virginia have been having a rough time. I pulled out two of my favorite Heartfelt Creations collections and made cards based on the personality of each. I also made a matching envelope for each card.

Just a reminder, I am not affiliated with Heartfelt Creations or any other company in any way. Heartfelt Creations is, however, my favorite company and has been for a few years. They have such beautiful stamps, with matching dies and paper collections.  They also have more whimsical stamps, for those who like cute designs.

They are currently having a clearance on older products, if anyone is interested. The two collections I used here aren't on sale, but they do have some good ones that are on clearance, and there are 5 pages to browse if you want to see what they have. Here is a link:

Heartfelt Creations Clearance

This first card was made with the Lush Lilac collection:

The second card was made with the Woodsy Wonderland collection:

They may be simple, but I am happy with the results. Since I can't really do much yet, simple is good.  If you want to see fancy cards, look at the Heartfelt Creations Gallery on their web site. They have some amazing and very fancy samples there.

Heartfelt Creations Gallery

Layered or Stacked Cards

Recently on the RefuPeas scrapbook message board, jstblondie showed some beautiful cards she had made with stacking dies. They are dies that come as a set and which create a layered card. She also asked about using electronic die cut machines, so I decided to start playing with my Cameo to see what I could come up with by altering designs I had in my library as well as actual layered card designs.  These first two designs I bought from the design store. Lori Whitlock was the designer. I just chose the colors of cardstock and cut them:

This first one really looked pretty online, but not as pretty in person. I actually liked this next one better once it was cut and glued together

It's a bit hard to see the middle layer, but there are three different colors in the diamond layered card. It has a very dimensional effect and looks amazing in real life.

The next two were single layer designs that I altered using the offset feature of the Silhouette software to create 3 layers:

Unfortunately, the middle layer (medium blue) is not as obvious, but it is gorgeous. It also shows how nicely the Cameo can cut thin details.

The last one is not your typical layered card. I started with a single layer design from the Silhouette Design Store again, and turned it into a 3 layer design using the offset feature:

Layered cards are lovely. It can be expensive to buy the die sets, but cutting them with my Cameo works well enough for me.

The Scan N Cut: If I Knew Then What I Know Now....

Would I have bought the machine?  Probably not.

Just to clarify, it is a good machine. Some people will love it! I am just not one of them. The reason? I had unrealistic expectations based on overly positive reviews that never mentioned any of the limitations.

The videos always showed the machine cutting out cute, but simple stamps with a slight border. Since a lot of people prefer that style of stamp, I did not think much about it. A lot of people also like a slight border. I did wonder a little about that one until I saw someone cutting right on the lines. However, those were also simpler, less detailed stamps.

My huge stamp collection is made up of more intricate, detailed stamps than simple ones, and I want them fussy cut right on the line. No border.

Intricate details do not always scan well, so either a lot of the stamped images don't scan the full design, or they don't scan the stamped image at all. Your stamp needs to have a solid outer line, with no break in order to get a cutting line that will cut the entire stamped image, without chopping off parts.

If I were willing to fully color each stamped image before cutting, the machine would meet my needs better. It can see the fully colored image much better than just an uncolored stamped image, especially when there are a lot of details. While coloring, you can fill in any inconvenient little artistic gaps in that outer line. I prefer to stamp and cut out a bunch of images at a time, to color in later, once I know what colors I will be using for the project that the stamped image will eventually be part of.

One very good thing about the machine, though, is that once you get a good scan of a stamp, you can save it and keep it for later. That comes in handy if you like to cut first, stamp second (my recent tutorial post).

If you like simple, cute stamps that have a simple outline, the machine works great. If you like a border, many of the more intricate stamps will scan and cut fine, too, just not if you want to fussy cut on the line. If you stamp and color first, this machine may be right for you.

I bought it as a stand alone machine, to scan and fussy cut stamps without using my Cameo or buying matching dies. It did not quite live up to my expectations.  Maybe if I wanted to use the online software, I would feel differently.

However, I am used to using a Silhouette Cameo. It has great design software. If I have to use software, I would rather use Silhouette. I can scan my stamps, import them into the software, use it to get a good trace of the outline (which I can manipulate if I need to), and cut all the blanks I need. I don't have to have a matching die. I also don't really need the Scan N Cut, so I could have saved myself some money.

I will keep the machine. There will still be times when it is more convenient than using my Cameo. Besides, I would be selling it at a loss, because no one will pay me the price I paid for it, since it is now a used machine.

My one recommendation is that before you buy the Scan N Cut, or any other machine, find out the negatives, not just the positives before you buy.

Cut First, Stamp Second!

Recently I read message thread on 2PeasRefugees about a possibly defective Avery Elle die. The message thread eventually included a post about a technique that allows stampers to get better results by cutting first and stamping second. I had to try it, and it worked extremely well, even though I used a fairly detailed stamp.

To do this technique, you need a stamping platform, such as the Tonic/Tim Holtz Stamp Platform.

You need one "template" made from the negative that would normally be thrown away. The template can be reused. Cut as many of the actual shapes for stamping on as you want.

For example, I could do this with the matching die for the Lush Lilacs parasol stamp, that I used to make my Lush Lilacs card in the post shown just below this one.  If I cut it in white, I might keep both the parasol shape, and the part that is left, the outline. The parasol piece will be set aside for stamping on later. The outline piece becomes the template. Or I might cut the template in a dark, heavier cardstock. In this case, I would keep the outline, but might throw the dark colored parasol away if I did not want to use it. A heavier cardstock is sturdier for your template and can be reused more times.

The purple cardstock was too flimsy for my template, so I ended up making my template from a sturdier black cardstock. I cut a few blanks from white, light purple, and medium purple cardstock. The medium purple was textured, which was a bad idea. I had forgotten that textured does not stamp as well.

I would also cut several additional parasol die cuts in white and lighter colors, but would throw away the outline/waste papers as usual. The die cut shapes are the "blanks" and will be used for stamping on as desired.

Put a piece of plain paper on your stamp platform and fasten it with magnets. Put your template on the platform base as well, then position the stamp so that it will be approximately in the center of the template. It does not need to be perfect. You just want to make sure you can fit the template. The first time I did the "cut first, stamp second" technique, I put the stamp on the platform lid without making sure I had left sufficient room on the base plate for the template. I had positioned my stamp too close to the edge and had to trim a corner off my template, which was annoying.

Once it is positioned, bring down the lid so that it picks up your cling stamp.  Remove the template and set it aside. Ink your stamp, then stamp on the plain paper.  Open the lid.

With the stamped, plain paper still in place, lay the template over the stamped image, so that it is outlined perfectly. Tape it to your plain paper with Washi tape, or use additional magnets if you prefer.

Now put your matching cut out into the template so that it fits like a puzzle piece. The template should hold it perfectly in position.

Ink your stamp and press it down onto the cut image. It should stamp perfectly.  Stamp as many pre-cut "blanks" as you like for future use.

The nice thing about this technique is that there is no guesswork, and you are more likely to get a perfectly stamped image each time.  You can use manual dies that match your stamps, or an electronic cutter that allows you to trace a stamped image to create a cutting file. Either will work.

Card I made using Heartfelt Creations Lush Lilacs stamps and papers....

This isn't as fancy as the ones we made in the class. I cut apart one of the Lush Lilacs papers which is obviously intended for cards or for journaling on a layout. I had previously stamped, cut, and added extra lilac blossoms to the parasol. I chose a ticket element from the paper, cut some matching cardstock, added a little bling (which doesn't show up well, unfortunately), and my card was done.

The parasol was cut out with the Scan N Cut. It required a border to get a decent cut. I had another that had no border. I don't remember if that one was colored first, or if I used the matching die. Yes, I did eventually buy the matching dies, as well as the Lilac flower shaping set.

Sometimes it's easier using the Scan N Cut. Sometimes it's easier using a matching die. To a great extent, simpler stamps cut well using the Scan N Cut, especially if you do not need inside sections cut out. There is a way to do inside and out cutting, but I tried it and was not quite satisfied with the results.

The machine will cut highly detailed, artistic stamps far better if they are first fully colored with Copics or other markers.

Heartfelt Creations are not simple stamps. Because they are highly detailed, they do not always cut right on the line with the Scan N Cut. I had more success if I added a thin border. Sometimes a thin border looks better, and sometimes borderless looks better. It depends on the project. I had both a borderless and a bordered parasol, and for this card, the one with the slight border looked better to me. I bought the matching dies so that I could eliminate having a border. There is another reason to buy the matching dies.....

We had thunderstorms today. A recent lightning strike fried several ethernet ports on many of our devices. Sometimes you just don't want to use an expensive electronic cutter. You can use dies even if you have a power loss.

As a result, even though I have the Scan N Cut, I am still buying Heartfelt Creations dies.

I have not given up on the Scan N Cut. It's a good machine. And I have a lot of stamps that don't have matching dies. For Heartfelt Creations stamps, though, I really like having the coordinating dies in some cases, too.

Heartfelt Creations Lush Lilacs Class

Back in January, I got an email stating that Heartfelt Creations, my favorite stamp company, would be having a class near me. It was very, very near me! A local stamp club hosted the Heartfelt Creations classes, including one that used the Lush Lilacs stamp collection which had not yet been released.  I signed up, and I loved it! The cards we made were gorgeous, as you can see:

We also had the opportunity to buy the stamps, dies, and paper collection that day. I bought the stamps and papers.  That is when I decided to buy the Scan N Cut, so that I could cut my stamps without having to buy matching dies.  Many of the other gals at the class raved about the machine. Some of them had never even heard of the Silhouette Cameo.