Happy World Card Making Day!  We’re doing a little celebration on our Facebook Page, you can add your Spellbinders™ creations and we’ll pick a winner via random drawing.  You could win a free Spellbinders™ die template!  Be sure to become a fan!

On to today’s project!  I recently organized a fundraiser for a family adopting a child half a world away.  My friends and family supported my efforts and I wanted to make them each a thank you card.  I’m a slow crafter, so my goal was to design a card that was not too complicated and efficient to make.  I already had coordinating cardstock and enough pattern paper to make the cards. 

Next I needed to do some die cutting and embossing.  If I make 20 cards, and each has four die cuts using four different colors of paper, I’ll either be up all night or I’ll have to streamline the process.  This is what I did:

I stamped the JustRite Stampers ”Thank You” sentiment 20 times onto white cardstock.  I cut/embossed  2  die templates in one pass, the S4-114 Standard Circles, Large #3, and the S4-116 Standard Circles, Small #3 .  The difference between the dies is 1/8 inch.  Eli explained the differences between the Nestabilities™ sets here.  Yes, I had 2 different sized circles, but that’s ok, they both look nice with the stamped image.

I used my Grand Cut Mat Kit to cut four Labels at once.  I chose the #3 die in each set, that is, the third from the center, or the third smallest die template. From left to right, the die templates are S4-233 Labels Nine,  S4-229 Labels Five, S4-161 Labels One, And S4-189 Labels Three.

I placed the S4-220 Nested Pine Trees, #1 & 2, and S4-228 Nested Maple Leaf #1 & 2, close together, but not touching, on the Magnetic Spacer Mat, and was able to cut with a 4×4″ square of colored cardstock.  I used 3 different colors and mixed them up on the cards.

Next I assembled the cards.  I used either two trees or two leaves on each, and used a 3D Foam Adhesive Square from SCRAPBOOK ADHESIVES by 3L to add dimension.

I know, they are not complicated cards, but I think my friends will appreciate my efforts.  I’ll also add a personal note to the inside.

I am using World Card Day to make the world just a little bit smaller for one family.  I hope you can make your world smaller by sending a few cards to those you care about.

Beth

World Card Making Day is Saturday (tomorrow), October 3rd!! We’re having a little fun over on Facebook:

Post a card using Spellbinders Die Templates on Spellbinders™ Facebook page on World Card Making Day and be entered to win a Spellbinders Die Template. We will randomly draw a name from all the participants!

Hey there scrapbooking fans! Here’s one for you today. I just had to share these pics of my family enjoying a Fall day in the park. I love the feeling of movement in them. Design-wise, I tried to include a variety of shapes to keep things interesting: ovals, lines, circles…These ideas can be applied to any card or layout.

I started by printing my photos at home and cutting them using the Oval Nestabilities®. The first attempt yielded an oval that was too big. As you can see below, the top and bottom edges of the photos’ white frame show… now, we can’t have that!!!

Not to worry…

The brilliant thing about Nestabilities® is that you can increase or decrease the size by just an eighth of an inch increment, providing a great deal of flexibility when designing.

So (now stick with me here), I began with S4-138 Petite Ovals, Large #6. (When counting die numbers, start with the smallest die template and count out to the largest.) This happens to be the largest in the set. If I went to #5 in the set, I would have a 1/4″ decrease. I thought that would crop too much of the photo. So I chose the largest in the coordinating set, S4-140 Petite Ovals, Small #5 which was 1/8″ smaller. It gave me the  perfect size.

And guess what? Since I wanted a 1/8″ mat around the photo, I used the first die template I used, S4-138 Petite Ovals Small, #6, to cut pink cardstock. Boy, these Nestabilities® sure are handy!!

If you want to try your hand at this layout or use it for inspiration for another project, you’ll need the following supplies: W-001 Wizard™, S4-138 Petite Ovals Large, S4-140 Petite Ovals Small, S7-017 On the Vine Borderabilities® Grand, S4-235 Fancy Tags from Spellbinders™

along with Chatterbox Fabulous bird rub-on, green patterned ribbon, epoxy sticker; The Paper Company Chocolate Brown, Sable papers; Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday patterned paper; Core’dinations pink cardstock; Creative Impression pink ribbon; SCRAPBOOK ADHESIVE by 3L, 3-D squares, Photo Tape; brown ruched paper, white opaque pen, sewing machine and thread

Now go out and PLAY!! Eli

When it was cold out, my mom used to tell us kids to put on layers.
Well, it’s warm out but I’m saying “put on layers - your Nesties™ layers!”

We will be cutting the Nestibilities® and layering them to make a wonderful design. Remember when you first purchased your Nestibilities®? They were nested in a package ready to be used. All you need to do is to position them in the same way on your magnetic spacer or white spacer (depending on which Wizard™ you have) and you’re good to go!

From bottom, the sandwich is your conventional cut receipe:
White Master Mat
Die (cut side UP - if you have a white spacer, I would tape down the die with removable tape on the non-cut side to hold in place
Paper
White Master Mat

After cutting, emboss by removing the spacer plate from the sandwich and add the Tan Embossing Mat by placing it on top of the die.

So your sandwich will be (from bottom):
White Master Mat
Die (cut side UP)
Paper
Tan Embossing Mat
White Master Mat

Although you may have seen this technique with our Flower Nestibilities® (such as the S4-191 Dahlia and the S4-192 Blossom), I decided to go a little geometric with mine by using the S4-202 Large Deckled Rectangles.

With the Core’dinations Color Core Cardstock , I cut/embossed the entire nested die template but only used the three (3) largest sizes and the center. Then I sanded the embossed areas. I only adhered the largest frame flat on to the card base and then foam taped the two other frames with Scrapbook Adhesives to give it a 3-D effect. The center I stamped the “HI” by using JustRite Stampers letters and Clearsnap Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink Chestnut Roan. Using My Mind’s Eye Penny Lane Collection, I made a card base and cut/embossed a flower from the S4-200 Flower Bouquet Miniabilities die template. To accent the flower, I stenciled with Clearsnaps Queue and added a Hero Arts Pearl in the middle. Adhere the finished flower with Scrapbook Adhesives 3D foam square in the middle of the frames and adhere the “HI” center on to the lower right hand corner…you are done!

To give you some more ideas, we did a post on this topic for a card and for a layout back in March.

So will you be putting your layers on?!
Have a great Saturday!

MargieH

Either way…it’s all good!

Hello, everyone! I’ll be pinch hitting for Eli while she is out for the summer.

Since reading this past Savvy Saturday post, I have been wanting to try this flower pounding technique! It seems like I didn’t have any flowers that were “pound-able.” So as I was doing yard work this past weekend, I noticed the ever growing pile of dandelions and then “AHA!” Why not reuse these into my work?! This is the only time I’m glad we had those pesky things!

When using your Wizard™, your sandwich is pretty much the same as embossing with the exception of using flowers instead of the Die Templates.

From the bottom:
White Master Mat
Watercolor/Cardstock paper
Flower (facing down)
Watercolor/Cardstock paper (or wax paper, plastic wrap, paper towel)
Tan Embossing Mat
White Master Mat

Pass through the Wizard™ once - that should do the trick! Yellowing in the flowers tend to dry brown so I sprayed an archival “fix” so the color will keep.

With all this pounding, I came up with a page called “One Fine Day” to celebrate my boys enjoying a sunny summer day! I used the S4-171 Nested Butterflies and S4-114 Standard Circles LG. The papers are from My Mind’s Eye “Feeling Groovy” collection and embellished with Clearsnap Queue and Hero Arts Gemstones.

Design Team Member Karen Hunsaker shared her pounding skills by picking out some Bougainvilleas and making this beautiful card, “Sending Sunshine.” Karen used a combination of S4-161 Labels One, S7-014 Classic Lace Borderabilities® Grand and S3-149 Double Ended Tags to start the card’s shape. Finishing touches were added with Hero Arts “Thoughtful” Stamp Set, Clearsnap Fluid Chalk Ink, Scrapbook Adhesives 3-D Foam Squares and Creative Impressions Bit of Bling Pearls.

This “Thanks A Bunch” card is from Design Team Member Heidi Blankenship, using the S4-190 Labels Four, S4-192 Blossom, S4-199 Floral Accent and I2-1004 Impressabilities® Flower. She pounded some violas to get this beautiful effect. WOW!

So does this make you go out to your garden and pound some flowers?! Go for it and have fun!

MargieH

Hey all, it’s Eli here with a very special announcement to make. We have a fabulous friend of Spellbinders™ who is joining us for the summer to help educate, entertain and inspire those of you who frequent the Spellbinders blog…YEAH. We needed someone to support Beth’s blogging efforts because I am taking the summer off to do some traveling with my family. So we thought of Margie Higuchi, who has been a fan/user of Spellbinders products almost since the beginning. She is known as MargieH on the boards so some of you probably already know her. I interviewed Margie a couple of weeks ago and this is what she had to say about her life as a crafter and the summer ahead.

ELI: Hi Margie, Welcome to Spellbinders™.

MARGIE: Thanks, Eli. I couldn’t be more thrilled to begin a summer of fun, hanging out with my good friend Beth and all the folks who visit the blog. I love to share my artwork and teach as I go along.

ELI: So how long have you been crafting?
MARGIE: It seems like I have crafted all my life…from when I was old enough to hold a crayon to what I do now which is paper crafting! I started paper crafting in the mid-70s. My father’s job took us all over the east coast, the south and the Midwest. So in order to remember each “hometown,” I would make a few pages of friends, neighborhood, school, etc. and add some memorabilia in my scrapbooks. That was the start of my scrapbooking! LOL!!

ELI: Like several of us around here, you’ve been crafting “forever”, but when and how did you “meet” the Wizard™.

MARGIE: A very dear friend was hooked on the Wizard™ and she had shown me the “PURPLE” side (the Wizard™ was purple at the time)…I was hooked! What can’t you do on this wonderful machine? OK…it can’t clean house for me or cook but it comes close!  LOL!! Seriously, the die templates are so detailed and you can’t get that anywhere else! So many ways to enhance a page or project (cutting, embossing and stenciling).

ELI: Do you have some favorite die templates? (I know there is no point in asking your precise favorite because no one can choose just one…)

MARGIE: Although I LOVE my Nestabilities™ sets (I have a lot!) recently, I have been getting into the Borderabilities®! I just purchased the Grand 12” Classic Lace Bordeabilities® (#S7-014) and I can’t wait to add it on my pages and cards! Heck I want it all! LOL! I’m having such fun!

ELI: I understand you are of Japanese descent and you teach in the Japanese community. Can you tell me about how that came about?

MARGIE: It started when I lived in NJ/NY area back in 2000. I was on the kindergarten yearbook committee for the Japanese Children’s Society (a Japanese international school) where my oldest son attended. The mothers saw my albums that I had brought as examples. I offered to teach them basics and it took off from there. In Chicago, I went to a series of Japanese card classes to make friends. When those classes were done, the students contacted me to see if I would teach them scrapbooking. Sure! LOL!! It has been going strong for about two years.

ELI: So what are you going to grace us with this summer?

MARGIE: I’m hoping to share the versatility of the Wizard™ and to show some “AHA” moments.  Of course, we have CHA (Craft & Hobby Assoc.) trade show coming up in July, so we’ll have some postings on that (wink, wink!). In addition to some FUN!! It’s all good but I don’t want to share too much…gotta have the surprise element in there. So stay tuned!

ELI: Any other thoughts before I show off some of your artwork and sign us off?

MARGIE: I just want to say thank you to everyone at Spellbinders for the opportunity to express my enthusiasm for the Wizard™! For me, it is truly the machine I go to–time after time.

Margie used the Labels 1 die template to create a shaped card which she embellished with Shapeabilities® Nested Butterfly. Love those colors!

Margie’s layout features a chain of Classic Scalloped Hearts, featuring her oldest son with his first girlfriend! Look carefully and see the Shapeabilties® Nested Bird cut out of plastic (using leftover transparency) and edges with ink…a sneaky little surprise right near the title.

Now this canvas is the one I can’t resist: Margie created a darling house and sunny scene, almost exclusively with Spellbinders™ die templates…see if you can find them all…

Classic Paisleys, Heritage Font (retired), Scalloped Circles, Pinking Circles, Shapeabilities® Nested Birds and Butterflies, Symbology, Brick Texture plate, { Brackets } (retired)…awesome, girl. Can’t wait to see what else you share with us…

To see get to know Margie more, please visit her personal blog, SCRAPS of (my) Life.

Have a great summer, everyone…I’ll see you in the fall. Eli

Hey everybody. One of the big buzzes right now is the economy. As crafter’s we often have a propensity to buy, buy, buy, but let’s look at a way to use up some pieces from your stash.

After seeing Beth’s post on Saturday about squares, I wanted to do another card inspired by that. I wanted to create as much depth, elegance and beauty that I could using very little paper. Conserving my stash and my cash.

So, in my version, I used two types of paper: Core’dinations blue cardstock and Chatterbox’s artsy.licious Fine Paper in Alabaster. The extra oomph in this card comes from embossing with Spellbinders™ Impressabilities™ Template. It essentially turned one paper into two. Here are the supplies (plus my Wizard™ and some adhesive):

Instructions:

• Cut/emboss four S4-129 Classic Scalloped Squares, Small from cream paper.
• Cut four straight edge S4-126 Classic Squares, Large and adhere them to the center of the scalloped squares.
• Cut largest die S4-129 scalloped square. Spray with a fine mist of water or other embossing agent such as Paper Glide. Emboss with Butterfly Impressabilities™ (or if you prefer, try Snowflakes, Flowers or Paisley).
• Sand the debossed side of the scalloped square to reveal the light color of the core. (See, now it looks like a totally different paper!!)
• Using cream paper again, cut another square scallop, one size larger than the original squares. Trim it to make 2 small squares and one larger rectangle.
• Stamp sentiment onto scalloped rectangle. I sanded the paper first to knock down some of the shine and it stamped better.
• Put it all together with your fave adhesive.

Now, imagine a couple of words that could go inside the squares, spelled out, such as G-R-A-D, L-0-V-E or B-A-B-Y…now I know the gears are turning.

And I hope they keep turning. Grab some squares and create to your heart’s content…

Eli

CONGRATULATIONS to

Jennifer Woodward of Rockland, Ontario, Canada

The following die templates will be sent to her door as soon as the product is in the warehouse:

When Spellbinders™ contacted Jennifer, she had this to say:

I’ve been using Spellbinders products for about two years now. I love them. They are incredibly easy and versatile tools in my crafting supplies that I do not go a day without using. Seriously! WOW! To think I’ll actually be able to pick and choose from all of these fabulous new sets. My mind will truly be boggled but I’ll deal with that, don’t you worry! Again, thank you so much! WOW! Thank you from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU! Jennifer

Well, It’s hard to believe it is over. We had such a blast sharing all the templates with you and now you have seen the whole release.

Just an aside: If you are planning to apply for the Design Team for 2009, your application is due no later than 11:59 Central Standard Time on February 1st. So get it all polished off today and send it in…

Cheers, Eli

A day filled with running the kids to and from school, meeting a fellow volunteer for coffee to go over the next steps in the big project, getting the snow tires put on the car, paying a few bills, shopping online for Christmas gifts, making sure is enough wrapping paper for the approaching holiday, writing out a few end of the year greetings…and the list goes on…a jam-packed schedule can sometimes take the joy out of celebrating a season of giving, of peace and of miracles.

Today, I am sharing with you four cards announcing that simple state of being that runs deep: JOY!

Three members of our Design Team created cards that express this simple word. Through the loveliness and grace of these projects, may we all be inspired to live into and pass on the sentiment that it brings.

Jennifer Ellefson begins our fashion show today with a vintage take on the subject. Featuring our Christmas Stocking, she gave it a well-loved look by using metallic rub-ons. The ruched paper by WorldWin also adds to the age-old appeal.

Spellbinders™ Supplies: S3-142 Festive Stockings, S3-147 Labels Trio, S4-145 Long Classic Scalloped Rectangles (S4-145)

Other Supplies: Ruched papers (WorldWin), Patterned paper, lace, sentiments stamp, metallic rub-ons

Joy Stocking by Jennifer Ellefson

Joy Placeard by Beth Pingry

Next: Beth Pingry (our other blogger, extraordinaire) created this place card for a friend but it seems to translate well into a great card for the season too.

Spellbinders™ Supplies:
S3-141 Stars, S4-139 Double Ended Tags (smallest), S3-142 Long Classic Rectangles, Large (2 largest dies), L1-01 Caesar Font (retired), F-005 Gold Premium Craft Foil

Other Supplies: ColorMates Bright Heritage White and Deep Heritage Black paper (WorldWin), Fabri-tac adhesive (Beacon), Clearsnap ColorBox Chianti ink, Brads (Creative Impressions), red patterned paper, sticker maker

Layered Joy by Beth Pingry

Third in line is another of Beth’s cards. I love the subtle print on the coordinating papers and the repeated image of the Labels 2 Die Template. Sublime.

Spellbinders™ Supplies: S4-162 Labels 2, S3-138 Ribbons & Bells (retired), L2-09 Julius Font

Other Supplies: ColorMates Medium Outdoor Olive and Mirri Cast Gold papers (WorldWin), ColorBox Creamy Brown fluid chalk ink (Clearsnap), Pop-up Glue Dots, patterned papers, memory glue

And Finally: Cathy Chlebana offers us an elegant window card. By cutting out a window from the card front, Cathy’s sentiment is actually adhered to the inside of the card and so it remains visible when the card is opened. This is a nice surprise for the recipient.

Holly Joy card Cathy Chlebana

Spellbinders™ Supplies: S4-142 Long Classic Rectangles, Large, S4-144 Long Classic Rectangles, Small, S3-139 Holly & Lights, L1-01 Caesar Font retired), F-002 Gold Premium Craft Foil

Other Supplies: Glue Dots, green and red velvet ribbons, 1/8″ hole punch, Sticker maker adhesive

Cheers for your holiday preparations: Eli

Today’s Savvy Saturday features the recipe for my cake. A good mom lets you lick the beaters, a great mom turns off the mixer first. That one always cracks me up.  Anyway, on to the cake:

I started with a set of round boxes from Darice. I tossed aside the lids; I decided not to use them. I painted the set, sides and bottom, with white acrylic paint, then covered that with Pearl Ranger Paint Dabber, with a brush not the dabber tip.

Layered Flower Creations

To make the flowers, I used cardstock from WorldWin: Deep, Dark, Medium and Light Lovely Lilac ColorMates. I used the Flower Creations, Flower Creations 2 and Flower Creations 3 Die Templates. I cut and embossed each Die Template from the four colors of cardtsock.  For the Flower Creations 3 Die Template, I separated out each die and set them on the new Magnetic Spacer Plate.

When all the flowers were cut and embossed, I airbrushed them with a few Copic Marker colors (some smooth color, some splattered color).  I used newspaper to protect the table and repositionable adhesive to keep the flowers in place. I wiped on some white Glimmer Chalk from Craf-T Products to add sheen to the flower petals.  I added detail to the center of the smaller flowers with a Lavender Atyou Spica pen.

I assembled the flowers, each different, with a long brad. If you feel the flowers are looking a little flat against the cake, curl the petals up or down, to give them a little bulk, or add some dimensional adhesive dots between the flower layers. It’s all very subtle but it makes a difference once the cake is assembled.

Die Template sets used.

To make the frosting swags, I assembled 3 sets of ovals, mixing and matching from the
Clasic Ovals, plain and scalloped.  I needed 3 of each size, so I taped them to a piece of scrap paper. The tape keeps them in place and I won’t have to realign them once I get the inside die template centered. Then I can cut and emboss as many as I need, all the same.  I used the Medium Lovely Lilac paper.  The ovals were then cut in half, the long way.

Nested half circles

Each strip of paper for the ribbon on the bottoms of the cake layers was embossed in the Wizard using a Fiskars Texture Plate and the blue mat from the Charm Embossing Kit.

Add texture to the cake ribbons

On the ribbon and swags, I rubbed White Sparkle Luster Rub-ons from Craf-T Products.  It added some extra highlight to the embossed areas.

Give Beth three "tiers" for this amazing cake!

We’re working with the boxes turned upside down, so the bottom of the box becomes the top.  I glued the embossed ribbon to the bottom edge of each layer.  I secured the swag ends with a brad, using a Japanese hole punch to make a small hole through the paper and box.  I punched more small holes in each layer for the flowers on the sides and secured the brads from the inside.  The flowers on the top are attached to a small triangle of paper.

Cake topper brilliance

As suggested in the comments the other day, the cake can be made for any occasion, with any shaped box. What’s the best part?  No dirty dishes! I’d love to see your creations, give us a link in the comments!  And don’t forget to rate the blog entries by clicking on the stars below.

Thanks for cookin’ up some fun with me, Beth!!!

A cake with no callories

Hey, we got some help from our Techies and we think this will work…

Hey all my paper crafting friends! It’s a party!!!

Welcome to Spellbinders™ Blog. We are so excited to be with you starting today. It has been a long time in the making and we couldn’t be more thrilled…Oh, by the way, I’m Stacey Caron, President of Spellbinders™ Paper Arts and Co-creator of the Wizard™ Embossing and Die Cutting System.

We have so many great things in store for you that we can barely stay quiet about but I know we can’t give all our secrets away on the first day. But let me tell you about our blog: Our blogging babes are Eli Harlan, and Beth Pingry. They are great women with tons of knowledge about the Wizard and all our Die Templates. You’ll learn a lot from them.

One of the exciting features we’ll be having is Spellbinders’ Savvy Saturdays. Beth and Eli will be bringing you some fantastic techniques for the Wizard. I can’t wait to see all that they create. We’ll also have prizes, challenges, special guests and all kinds of things to offer. Like I said, I am thrilled.

To get things going we are going to offer some Blog Candy. [It’s a Template Mystery] All you need to do is offer a comment about your favorite Die Template in the comment box below and on Tuesday, we’ll be picking a winner. Make sure you leave your e-mail address so we can contact you when you win…   :-p

Come back “early and often”. Cheers and happy creating, Stacey.