Although in my last post I stated that I prefer clean and simple cards, to overly complicated ones, I adore punches. But I must confess that I have a number of dies. I mainly use layering dies, however, I have a number of stamp sets that have co-ordinating dies. I feel I don’t use them enough, so have challenged myself to use them more. To inspire myself and check they are all present and working, I complete a number of actions.
I first check that all the dies are present and correct and that they are the dies I am expecting ( I am not aware that a different die set has appeared in an envelope but it is good to check). I then take a picture, some people scan or photocopy the dies to show their position or alternatively they draw round the dies to show where they go.
I then carefully remove the dies, from the backing sheet as the double sided tape used is very sticky. I usually add a piece of magnetic sheeting to the card to add the dies to. The magnetic sheet I used in the video below came from Pink Frog Crafts. I then count to ensure that I still have all the dies (some little dies can disappear, I have a magnetic wand to find the pesky things.)
I had already stamped the Hand-Penned Petals stamps in Basic Gray, I then use my die cutting machine to die cut the items, I used my Mini Stampin’ Cut and Emboss, which I call Dinky. I cut each die cut for the co-ordinating stamps and then each die in Basic Black. For layering dies, I use Basic Black for the base and then Basic Gray for the layers. I add all the die cuts to pieces of Basic white.
I love having the inspiration for card sketches in a format that I can take it with me. The inspiration could be kept in a stamp case or a notebook.
