Hi my friends, I send you all greetings and my very best wishes on this World Kindness Day!

A day to say thank you for the kindness you have shown in caring and thinking about Dave and myself over the last two months when life was painfull, and difficult.  Your kindness in sending messages from all over the world has been a great comform and very much appreciated by us both.  I hope on this day that life is well with you and yours and that kindness surrounds you.  There is a saying "little things mean a lot!" - how true we have found this to be!! 

It seems that I have not been posting a great deal of crafting or tutorials of  late.  One reason, although being on the EIDT is a fab experience and I'm enjoying the challenge, it is time consuming and because we are producing samples of new stamps I'm not able at the time to share them with you.  So, I was very excited to learn that the new Family Christmas stamps are being released soon and you will be able to visit the gallery and see what we have all been up to!?!?!?

In the meantime I thought you might like to see one of my Christmas cards made with EI stamps 

I have used 2 sizes of  mega rectangle dies - one larger stamped, coloured with distress inks and Promarkers and then triple embossed.  The smaller embossed with the Swiss Dots folder.  The circle is another Spellbinder die stamped, coloured and guess what?  Yes, triple embossed.  Although these dies may have been about for a long time, they are still useful aids to crafting, and by combining different dies you can certainly make interesting cards!  Have you looked at your old dies recently?  Have you tried combining different shapes?  Have you any interesting examples to show me?  Would love to hear from you! 

Thanks for dropping by, kind regards, 

 

Cuttlebug Cupboard - Spellbinder Mega Rectangles

Today's tutorial is based on the Spellbinder's Mega Rectangles,  I actually did this way back in January, and somehow forgot to post it!  But, better later than never.

As with all the label dies, the difference between the sizes means that layering is more difficult.  If you like wide borders, you are okay - but what if you like to have narrow borders?  My friend, Andrea explained this to me, but it was only by playing that I cottoned on.   Cool Andrea! This is how you do it.

With the same die, cut 2 shapes  The die-cut with the image is then embossed.  You can use the TAN mat or an embossing tool to run round the edge whilst the die-cut in still in the die.   Following the line of the embossing, cut off the embossing.

and when fixed together.....you have a narrow border!  An alternative way would be to cut and emboss round the image as usual, then draw round the die and cut with scissors.  I have tried both ways and found that by cutting the edge off of the inner shape it was less noticeable if the cut was not exact! 

The next part of my card was to cut another die-cut - this time I used a border from the Joy Crafts range. These dies are smaller than the Spellbinders, but have their uses in your craft box.  Having cut the die, I inked and dusted with Metallic Perfect Pearls which is perfect for a grunge look!

Next some simple matting and layering, which I actually find not so simple to get square!

and my finished card......

The image is a digital download from Sketching Stamper which I love!  It's big and bold and beautiful!!

Hope you like this idea and will find a use for it in your crafting.  Thanks Andrea for your help.