Clouds

Hi, back again with how the clouds were created.....a stencil.....

This is the stencil  

 (the outer comes in one piece - but I have cut mine cause I've been playing and will show you why later)

The inner part of the stencil with which you can use inks or chalks to create layers of  "clouds" or moons, or stars

This A6 image was made by Phyllis from Diamond Card Crafts who produce the stencil.

Good, don't you agree?

Me being me(!)wanted to play to see if the outer piece could be used in the Bug and the answer is YES! 

You can emboss or deboss an A6 without the outer lines marking your card.

 

Here you can see that I have cut into the stencil.

Without cutting the stencil, on a larger card the lines show, but without the outer edges.....    

a 6" square card embossed

and the effect of debossing. 

So now you have two shapes with which to make your clouds!

 Sandwich for the Bug

Embossing:  A plate, stencil, card right face down, tan mat, 1/2 shims, 2 B plates

Debossing:  A plate, stencil, card face up, tan mat, 1/2 shims, 2 B plates

The stencil costs £2.75 plus postage from Diamond Card Crafts

Nice one Phyllis! 

Grand Calibur A4 Die Cutting Machine

If you are interested in the Grand Calibur A4 machine there is an independant report on this link that makes interesting reading.

The sandwich for using the  "special touch mica mask" from Creative Expressions  is

Grand Calibur:  Base plate/ mask / card / Rubber mat / Embossing plate

Joy: A/ black mat / card / mask / black embossing plate

Joy A4 Trouvaille - Embossing Stencils and Masks

Hi friends, thanks to all who responded to my appeal for info on the JT machine.  I will be in touch with you, and if anyone else would like to add their comments negative or POSITIVE, I would be pleased to hear from you.

The machine is still working okay, no squeaks, the vicious backspin of the handle seems to have stopped and it turns smoothly!   So far so good, but I'm being very cautious! 

One of the things I've tried is using brass stencils and masks....

 

This mica mask is from Creative Expressions and called That Special Touch - Ivy background.  I  was very surprised to get such a good embossing/debossing effect on the JT, because I've never been completely happy with embossing this type of stencil in the Bug using the Spellbinders Impressionabilities, which I now find also embosses well in the JT.  Great, this opens up more pattern options!  Both sides of the pattern have been coloured with chalk, which is a medium I used a lot before I discovered DI's and happily will now be using them again.

From the JT leaflet   (they describe it for embossing templates)

 the sandwich recipe :  A plate / Black Mat / Paper / Embossing template / B plate

Now for a bit of News, and puzzling at that!!!

The other day I received a message from PeeJay telling me of another A4 die cutting machine on the market called "Happycut" from Artemio (a French Company).  And, she thought I might be interested in seeing it - to right PeeJay.  AND, this is the surprising bit - it's WHITE and LOOKS exactly like the JOY TROUVAILLE (a Dutch Company)  !??!?!?  What is going on? 

Now for some help please, I have received this message from Karuna, but I have no experiences of this problem - so can anyone add anything to help?

From Karuna an reader living in India

"Hey ikki, I see your expertise on the bug and i need some help please. Just today i tried to use the nesties in my buy and it went so lose. Yes i triple checked on the sandwich too! :( i have used it only 3 days ago and it was cutting well. I almost used 8 cardstocks to make it cut the nestie! What happened to the machine. even the bug dies go quite easily but still cut. Any help? "

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Thanks for dropping by an I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.