No one I know has enough time or money so today, I want to share with you some techniques that I have learned to work efficiently AND get the most out of my supplies. I’m trying to actually get my Christmas cards out before Easter this year so I’m working on them early. First, I came up with a basic design that is simple yet elegant:

Check out the following tips for efficiency and frugality (is that a word?) when designing a big batch of cards.

1. Make them different?
My first big revelation about creating multiples is that they don’t have to be exactly the same. In general, no one will ever know. And, I decided, if they do find out…I’m ok with that. This practice keeps my supplies in check and I find it a little more interesting to change up my design as I progress.

2. Cut multiple dies at one time:
Beth gave us a fabulous example of this in her post Fall Thank You cards.
I layered 2 strips of paper on my favorite labels die templates: S4-169 Small Labels (#4, counting from the center), S5-006 Curved Rectangles (#2), S5-019 Labels Eight (#3) on the W-026 Grand Cut Mat Kit and cut/embossed in the Wizardâ„¢. In no time I had plenty of labels.

3. Use an assembly line approach: “component passes from station to station…and something is done or added to it. By the last station, the product is fully assembled and is identical to each one before and after it. This system ensures that a large quantity of uniform-quality goods are produced at a relatively low cost.”~ (science.jrank.org)  So, actually,  I cut and folded my card bases. Then I cut all my labels and stamped them.

4. Use your scraps:
I decided on a couple of papers that I really liked. The tan one had an interesting pattern that I wanted to keep intact. I cut strips in two sizes. Then I cut the red striped paper 1″ larger. You can also see two different label dies and two different stamps from the same set.

When I ran out of the tan patterned paper, I decided to try something a little different and add Magic Mesh in place of it. I added a ribbon for just a little something extra.

Finally, I had small pieces of the red striped paper left over so I created an almost totally different card as seen here:

So, my last card looked a lot different than my first card but I was able to use my supplies in the most efficient manner. I love that!

I hope you found some tips you can take into your craft room for the approaching holidays.

Supplies: S4-169 Small Labels, S5-006 Curved Rectangles, S5-019 Labels Eight, W-026 Grand Cut Mat Kit, W-001 Wizardâ„¢, Hero Arts Good Cheer Messages stamps, Magic Mesh green thin weave, Glue Dots International Craft Glue Dots, white cardstock

Cheers, Eli

Today’s Tattered Angels Blog Hop Hostess with the Mostess is Heidi Blankenship. Her personal blog, Embellished Dreams is chock full of Tattered Angels artwork, take some time to look around! This post is especially cool, enjoy!

I”m still having with foam!  Remember this Fall Wreath I made with embossed foam?  I had a few extra S4-228 Nested Maple Leaves left over from that project.  When I saw Eli’s Savvy Saturday and Margie’s Cushy project, I remembered my embossed foam leaf was still waiting to play.  Hmm, that would make a nice stamp!  Remember how nicely these embossed with the I2-1009 Flourish when I heated the Impressabilitiesâ„¢ with my iron?

I attached it to a clear block with a bit of adhesive. Then I inked the leaf with Clearsnap Colorbox Chestnut Roan Fluid Chalk Ink.

 Actually I used the same ink, but from 2 different ink pads, and I think it looks pretty cool!

I also added the S4-226 Harvest Border Petite , with a green ribbon under it to add some color.  It’s wrapped around the My Minds Eye Penny Lane Chasse cardstock.  I inked through the Borderabilitiesâ„¢ die template like a stencil, to color the embossed areas.  That piece is mounted on brown cardstock.

Enjoy Fall!
Beth

I can not tell a lie…I love S4-227 Pumpkin Nestabilities® die template, and since it is a limited edition, I want to give you plenty of reasons to get it before it is gone. But before I give you this Savvy Saturday’s tutorial, let’s hear it for our Tattered Angels Blog Hop:

They are hosting it with our Design Team and my friend, Kazan Clark at Nunu Toolies is on deck today. Make sure to visit her blog to see her amazing project using products from Spellbindersâ„¢ and Tattered Angels.

Halloween is just around the corner and I wanted a little “tchotchke” to put on my table {my 10 year old said she liked that word, “tchotchke” yesterday…lol…”Me too sweetie!”} Anyway, I’m revisiting a technique that I love: making a stamp with Spellbindersâ„¢ die templates and fun foam. Check it out when you are done here.

With the technique in mind, I gathered fun foam, orange ink, S4-227 Pumpkins Nestabilities® and some Dottie Ann Magic Mesh. I love Dottie Ann’s shape and its adhesive backing and thought it might make some fun stamping texture. Here is the full supply list.

Supplies: S4-226 Harvest Border Petite, S4-227 Pumpkins Nestabilities®, S5-006 Curved Rectangles, S4-161 Labels One, S4-162 Labels Two, S5-019 Labels Eight, S4-169 Small Labels, Wizardâ„¢, W-026 Grand Cut Mat Kit, Core’dinations Green color core cardstock (1-3/4″ strips), Magic Mesh Dottie Anne, Clearsnap ColorBox Chestnut Roan chalk ink, Creative Impressions mini brads and photo turns, Glue Dots, lines and dots; SCRAPBOOK ADHESIVES by 3L, 3D squares; white cardstock, Orange Distress Ink, white letter stickers, fun foam, “Happy” stamp, sandpaper, double sided removable tape

I began by creating my own embossing template. I placed a strip of Dottie Ann onto cardstock. Since I didn’t want to notice the “seam” in the final project, I cut off the bottom edge.

I added the second piece, cutting off one edge, placing the cut edges together, matching up the circles.

I cut the fun foam with S4-227 Pumpkin Nestabilities® using the regular Wizard™ cut sandwich:

• Master Mat
• Spacer Plate
• Die Template with cut ridges facing up
• Fun Foam
• Master Mat

.

.

Embossing followed its regular sandwich:

• Master Mat
• Texture (in this case my Dottie Ann sheet)
• Fun Foam
• Embossing Pad
• Master Mat

.

.

After I ran the pumpkin stamp through the Wizardâ„¢ with the Dottie Ann texture sheet, I noticed how flat the embossing was, I thought the embossing was too “thin” to show up as a stamp texture. But it was worth a try…I taped it (double sided removable) to a foam block, inked it up and pressed it onto smooth white cardstock and what do you know? I got the look I wanted! I stamped 4 more and love them!

I cut each stamped image out with a different die template. I used #5 die template from the following sets: S5-006 Curved Rectangles, S4-161 Labels One, S4-162 Labels Two,  S4-169 Small Labels, and used #4 with S5-019 Labels Eight.

Using the S4-226 Harvest Border Petite and my W-026 Grand Cut Mat Kit, I created a long border. Since there is only one cut edge on this Borderabilities® die template, you can create endless borders. This is what I found worked the best:

I built the sandwich “upside down,” placing pieces of double sided removable tape at the ends of the Master Mat and sticking the Core’dinations strip onto it. I added the die template at one end, cut edge down, carefully placing the W-024 Magnetic Spacer Plate and adding the other Master Mat. Through the Wizardâ„¢ it went.

To cut the center section, I moved the die template down until the pumpkin “hole” and edge fit snuggly.

I cut again and then repeated the process for the last section.

I embossed the first section and then sanded it–giving me the “fresh” emboss (versus embossing and then running it through the Wizardâ„¢ for the second cut and flattening the first emboss). I repeated this 2 times to complete the strip. I created two borders, overlapped and adhered them.

To assemble, I laid out my pumpkins, added the stickers and stamped “Happy.” I embellished the tags with mini pumpkin die-cuts, brads and photo turns and accordion folded the piece so it would stand up on its own. Yeah! Here is is!

And to what it says, “Happy Halloween” not only from us but also from Tattered Angels!

Enjoy the weekend, Eli

October! I love October!

The air is getting cool. The leaves are turning colors. Kids are planning Halloween costumes and me? I’m buying candy corn. I love the fresh, soft and sweet taste of these seasonal tri-colored confections. I eat them all month.

But then by November 1st, I can’t stand’em for another year.

Yet, this crazy cycle inspired today’s project using the Limited Edition Pumpkins Nestabilities®, and Harvest Borderabilities® Petite die templates. My little candy glass is perfectly sized to sit right by my keyboard and keep me company while I create and write. I hope it will inspire you to create your own “desk mate” for October or other season of treating!

Instructions:
Cut two 1½x12″ strips of the yellow, white and orange papers. Cut one 2″x12″ strip from the orange paper. Using the 2″ orange strip, cut/emboss S4-226 Harvest Borderabilities Petite (two times). Color the borders and die-cut leaves with metallic rub-ons to give definition to the embossing. Adhere the borders to the glass. I trimmed off the outer parts of the strips at the leaf, as shown here.

Then to make the strips lay horizontally, I snipped the top part of the center leaf and stretched the borders down. I adhered a tiny die-cut acorn to cover the openings. Add the die cut leaves around the glass.

To make the pumpkin “picks,” glue the yellow, orange and white strips together creating stripes. Cut/emboss four #4 pumpkins from the stripes. Stamp the sentiment onto the pumpkins. I chose “Sweet on You.” If desired, sand the pumpkins and add some metallic rub-ons for a distressed look. Glue two pumpkins back-to-back with the bamboo stick at the center. To make one shorter, trim the stick with wire cutters. Cut/emboss On the Vine Borderabilities® Grand from brown checked paper. Trim it to add vines and leaves to each of the large pumpkins.

Taking your 3″ of reserved paper, glue these strips together closer than the for the large pumpkins. Cut/emboss the #1 pumpkin from this. Using a head-pin and jewelry tools, add a green bead to the pin and string it onto the pumpkin, giving it a “Z” turn so it can hang from the glass like a charm.

To finish it up, add the charm to the glass, add some yummy candy corn, place your picks in the candy and ENJOY!

NOTE: Just wanted to remind you that Spellbinders is teaming up with Tattered Angels for a blog hop. Why not hop on over to Terre’s Blog: Terre’s Scrap Therapy for an amazing project using Tattered Angels products and, of course, some Spellbindersâ„¢ products too!

Happy day and enjoy those October treats, Eli

Creating stamps using Spellbinder die templates is super easy, giving you another versatile way to use our products. Today, I’m going to share a few simple steps and some fabulous art to inspire you to give this a try.

First, you’ll need to gather some supplies:

Your Wizard and favorite die templates
Fun Foam
Stamping Inks
Wood or acrylic stamping block
Double-sided tape
Papers and other fun creative supplies

Here is what you do, it couldn’t be more simple…

1. Choose a die template that you want to make into a stamp.
2. Cut and emboss the template from fun foam.
   Cut Sandwich: White master mat, spacer plate (white plastic for purple machine and magnetic for raspberry machine), die template with cut ridges up, fun foam and white master mat.
   Emboss Sandwich: white master mat, die template with ridges up, fun foam, embossing pad and white master mat.
3. Use double-stick tape to temporarily stick the stamp to a wood or acrylic block.
4. Ink the stamp and impress it onto your project.

These are so fun and easy to make and will last a few stampings. Check out some of the great art that our designers created using this amazing technique.

By Jennifer Ellefson

Jennifer used the Labels One (S4-161) die template and inked and stamped it in four different colors, providing a background for her butterfly stamps made from Nested Butterflies (S4-171) die template. She gave it a fun, textural look with embossing powder.

Embellished Frame Card by Holly Craft

Holly often adds stamped images to cardstock, creating the look of subtly patterned papers. Here, she used the Floral Accents (S4-199) to enhance the paper behind the photo

Decorated Flower Pot by Holly Craft

Holly created a whole garden party ensemble and this is just one of the elements. She created the stamp from the Sunflower Two die template (S4-158) to embellish her flower pot. Beautiful!

With all the fun we’ve been having around here with the Impressabilities, I wanted to try them out with our stamp making fun.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Emboss fun foam with the Impressabilities template of your choice. Mine was the Butterfly Impressability. The embossing seemed to be so slight, I didn’t think I would get a very good image. But I wanted to know for sure.
   
2. Cut the fun foam with die template of your choice. I chose the Nested Birds (so springy).
3. Place the die cut onto a stamping block. I used an acrylic block and double stick tape.
4. Ink the die cut. I used a metallic ink in spring green.
5. Impress the stamp you made onto chosen paper.  Green grass by WorldWin (Are you noting a “springish” trend here?)
6. Be amazed at what a cool image it is..subtle but clear.

I finished the project with a sentiment, doodling around the edge and a ribbon for a gift tag. Voila!

Spellbindersâ„¢ loves a party. This time we’re throwing it over at Splitcoaststampers.com. We want you to show us your best Spellbinders projects to add them our gallery at Splitcoaststampers. We want everyone who visits Splitcoast to see how versatile and detailed our die templates are, and we know SCS is the place to do just that–with an amazing group of talented, versatile and stylish paper crafters!!

So, beginning today, we invite anyone who is a member at SCS to create items in three categories: Cards, Layouts and Altered Projects, using our die templates: Shapeabilities®, Nestabilities®, Borderabilities®, Frameabilities®, or any die template category.

So here is what you need to do:

1. To be eligible to win, you must be a registered member at www.Splitcoaststampers.com

2. You may not have any current affiliation with SpellbindersPaperArts.com (such as you are on our Design Team or Blog Team).

3. Create a card, a layout and/or an altered item using Spellbindersâ„¢ die templates.

4. You may enter one category, two categories or all three categories, but only one item per category allowed.

5. Upload your project(s) into their Upload Page. (Make sure you log-in before clicking this link.) If you would like any info on the upload process, check out this link: Sharing your artwork on Splitcoaststampers. When uploading be sure to include the appropriate Keywords (a box for the keywords appears on the second page in the uploading process:

• Spellbinders_card
• Spellbinders_layout
• Spellbinders_altered

The underscores are imperative. Only projects utilizing correct keywords will be considered for the contest. Please only use the keywords for new projects that you upload for this contest and not for art previously created.

We would also appreciate your including the product names or numbers in the description or accessories section.

6. Complete the upload by 11:59 pm CST on Sunday, March 8th.

Winners will be chosen by random integer program on On March 9th at Random.org (through our entering the number of qualified entries in each category).

Winners will be announced on Spellbindersâ„¢ Blog and over at SCS on March 10th.

OH, What do you win???

One winner in each category will win $50 retail value in die templates at SpellbindersPaperArts.com. Sooooo, show off a few die templates you have from Spellbindersâ„¢ and you might just get shipped a few more. Ooooh! La! La!

If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me, Eli, at spellbinderseditor@yahoo.com.