Spellbinders Blog

Welcome, crafty friends! Marie here, from Marie Nicole Designs, and I am so excited to be back on the Spellbinders blog to share a few fun cards. I was able to create with the This Is Life collection. This collection is full of such fun and humorous sets! There’s something for the pickleball lover, as well as a few other sets to add some fun to some of the more mundane parts of life. A little laughter can always lighten up most situations. Let’s take a closer look! For my first card, the sentiment is the whole show. This big “UGH” is such a focal point, and I love the font! I cut this out several times, once from black cardstock and once from pink, and then I layered them together. I chose to add the pink to the back as a shadow because I wanted the black font to pop against the bright ink blending I wanted to do. I went ahead and cut a diagonal strip out of my card front, and made sure to keep the two corners so I could add them back on with foam adhesive later. Then, I grabbed a card base, penciled in the area that needed to be ink blended, and got to work. I used Distress Ink colors for the color in the diagonal strip. From left to right, the colors used were Scattered Straw, Worn Lipstick, and Festive Berries. This gave a yellow-to-red ombre blend that has a pinkish hue to it. Perfect to pair with the bold black of the sentiment! I then stamped the supporting sentiment, “adulting is hard”, and added the corners back on with foam adhesive. The UGH is glued down, with a little foam behind the tail of the “g” for support. I also thought there needed to be a little texture, so I added black splatters along the edges of the diagonal. I’d advise doing this BEFORE adhering everything down, but since I didn’t, I just covered the areas I didn't want splattered with a rag before adding the color. I really love how my second card turned out! I used the Born to Dink set and created a little pickleball scene on the front. Now, I do not play pickleball, so I had to look up what some of these terms mean, but the card was still fun to create, nonetheless. There is a bit of hidden engineering to this card that is hard to see on photo. The blue area behind the net is an acetate window, and the pickleball freely moves inside. That way, it can look like the paddles are bouncing the ball back and forth as you tip the card. It's much like a shaker! The green area is the court that I masked off lines for and then ink blended with Mowed Lawn ink. The frame, the green pickleball court, and the net are all adhered down with foam adhesive to make the raised-up front layer. Then, there is a sheet of acetate before the whole front is adhered to the blue background with the foam. And of course, the bright yellow ball is placed inside the shaker area before adhering everything together. For the paddles, I used navy blue, orange, and an orangish-yellow color. I added them to the sides of the card and then trimmed the overhang so it would be perfectly lined up with the edge of the card. I really love how the ball moves so smoothly back and forth on this card. It really gives the impression of playing pickleball! This final card just makes me laugh. We’ve all been there- the feeling that everything is just a dumpster fire. Adding a little laughter into the situation can really lighten the mood, though! I cut out this dumpster character from the Dumpster Fire set and assembled him. I kept the colors to greens, oranges, and yellows. Then, I thought if we’re gonna burn, we might as well crash, too. So I set our dumpster friend on an angle at the bottom corner of the card, and added colored stripes behind him. The stripes give an illusion of movement across the card, so it looks like he's speeding downhill. I also added splatters to this card, but this time BEFORE adhering everything together. I thought the splatters over the grey cardstock looks like the pavement the dumpster is flying over. Then, I added the stripes and the dumpster. The sentiment is stamped in black and also just makes me laugh. And, as a finishing touch, I added some sparkles to the fire. Because if you’re gonna crash and burn, you might as well be fabulous through it. So that’s it! A quick look at the This Is Life collection. I hope it puts a smile on your face like it did mine. Until next time, Marie [spellbinders-supplies]SDS-217,SDS-220,SDS-218,PE-104[/spellbinders-supplies]

Other supplies

Colored cardstock, foam adhesive, liquid adhesive, acetate, Distress Inks, black ink, scissors, paper trimmer  

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Hello there, Michelle Short here to share a step-by-step tutorial with you using the new Classic Mouse Love collection that pairs perfectly with the already released Steamboat Willie Duo Etched Dies from the Say Cheese Classic Mouse Collection. The Classic Mouse Love Etched Dies makes it so that you can accessorize the mice with flowers, chocolates, and balloons, plus lots more! I love that you can customize them to suit your needs! The set is perfect for Valentine’s Day, but also for general love, hugs, and anniversary projects too!

STEP 1 – DIE-CUTTING THE MOUSE

Die cut the male mouse from Steamboat Willie Duo Etched Dies, and the envelope, flower, and balloon from Classic Mouse Love Etched Dies:

1. Cut pieces of ColorWheel Cardstock to be slightly larger than the size of the dies.
2. Place the mouse’s body, head, tail, and arms dies face down onto Raven ColorWheel Cardstock and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
3. Place the mouthpiece, balloon, and hearts dies onto Poppy ColorWheel Cardstock and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
4. Place the pants, on yellow cardstock.
5. Place face of mouse die onto Alabaster ColorWheel Cardstock and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
6. Place buttons of pants and envelope dies onto Classic White ColorWheel Cardstock and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
7. Place shoes die onto teal cardstock and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
8. Place flower stem die onto Peridot ColorWheel Cardstock and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
9. Place balloon strings die onto Fog ColorWheel Cardstock and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.

TIP: Holding dies down with tape prevents them from shifting when going through the die-cutting machine. Use a low-tack tape like Best Ever Craft Tape so that it removes easily from the cardstock.

9. Create your die cutting plate sandwich – (bottom to top) A Platform Base, B Platform Top, C Cutting Plate, cardstock pieces with dies on top facing down, C Cutting Plate.
10. Run through Platinum SIX Die Cutting Machine.
11. Remove dies from cardstock and pop out die cuts.
12. Repeat process to cut flower head from Cranberry ColorWheel Cardstock.

STEP 2 – ASSEMBLE MOUSE

1. Add Bearly Art Glue onto the back of the face and adhere to head.

2. To add colour to the tongue, flip the head over and add glue around the mouth opening, adhere the mouthpiece that you cut from red cardstock on top. Set head headpiece aside.
3. Repeat the same process for the white piece behind the pants buttons, so that white shows through the front.

4. Adhere pants to body, followed by shoes.

5. Apply a small amount of the glue to the top of the body and adhere head on top.
6. Flip over and add a piece of Best Ever Craft Tape on the back to secure in place.
7. Adhere arms to the back of the body, making sure the hand on the left-hand side (when looking from the front) is in front of the pants.

TIP: Adding Best Ever Craft Tape on the back of die cuts helps to hold the pieces in place while the glue dries and also adds stability to the mouse.

8. Add a small amount of glue to the top of the tail and adhere to the back of the body, reinforcing with Best Ever Craft Tape on the back.

9. Adhere flower head to stem.
10. Adhere underneath mouse’s left hand.

11. Adhere heart to envelope.
12. Adhere balloon string to balloon.
13. Adhere balloon string to mouse’s right hand.

14. Lift up mouse’s thumb and adhere the envelope underneath.

STEP 3 – CREATING THE CARD BASE

1. Die cut two of the second largest die in the Essential Arches Etched Dies set twice from Classic White ColorWheel Cardstock.
2. Cut a small strip of Poppy ColorWheel Cardstock and place bottom of the arch die on top. Hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape and run through die cutting machine to create strip for mouse to stand on.

3. Score line towards the top of one of the arches cut from white cardstock using a scoring board and bone folder. This creates a hinge.
4. Add adhesive to the hinge (above the scoring line).

5. Add another arch on top to create an arch-shaped card base.

TIP: The hinge method is an easy way to create shaped cards; however, you can die cut directly on top of a side-folded card base. Make sure to have the edge of the die extend the edge of the card so that it does not cut the fold of the card. This works well too, but it is sometimes difficult to cut all the way through two layers of cardstock, depending on the shape of the die.

6. Adhere red cardstock strip at the bottom of the card base.

STEP 4 – HOT FOIL SENTIMENT

1. Turn Glimmer Hot Foil System
2. Cut Opaque Black Foil to size (just slightly bigger than sentiment plate).
3. Place foil onto a piece of Classic White ColorWheel Cardstock, shiny side up.
4. Place the plate from Classic Mouse Love Sentiments Press + Foil Plate & Die Set on top, design side down.
5. Hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.

TIP: Holding down plates and foil prevents the foil or plate from slipping whilst running through Platinum Six.

6. When the platform is ready light shines green. Flip the sandwich over and place it on top of the platform.
7. Press the timer button. This will flash green on and off.

8. When the timer button stays green, remove the platform from the base and place shims on top.
9. Run through Platinum Six.

TIP: There are different methods for hot foiling. The shims can be placed on top of the platform when the plate is heating up or can be placed on just before running through die cutting machine. Find a method that works best for you and your machines.

10. Peel Best Ever Craft Tape off gently at the top.
11. Use the tape as a handle to lift plate off cardstock (be careful, as the plate will be hot).

12. Place the coordinating die over foiled sentiments. Hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
13. Run through Platinum Six.
14. Pop out sentiments.

STEP 5 – ASSEMBLE THE CARD

1. Add foam squares onto the back of the mouse, cutting them smaller with scissors as required.

2. Remove backings from foam squares and adhere to card.

3. Cut foam squares into smaller pieces and add to the back of the sentiment on either end.
4. Remove backing from foam tape.
5. Adhere sentiment to the card on top of the balloon.

6. To finish, embellish with Silver Mix Color Essentials Gems.

Isn’t he just adorable? I thought that the arch-shaped card worked well with the shape of the mouse, but for an easier design, this would work well on a standard rectangular card base too; just add a strip of cardstock at the bottom for him to stand on. Thank you so much for stopping by today. I hope you have a wonderful day! [spellbinders-supplies]S4-1522,S6-261,BP-346,S5-526,GLF-049,SCS-130,CS-8-147,CS-8-100,CS-8-141,CS-8-148,CS-8-115,CS-8-118,CS-8-145,CS-8-102,PE-104,GLS-005,PCG02E,SCS-267,SCS-272,SCS-123,SCS-241,T-066,T-043,T-023,T-042[/spellbinders-supplies]

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Scoring board, Bone folder

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Hello crafty friends! It’s Lisa Tilson here with you today on the Spellbinders blog. I’m excited to be here to show you how to create a sweet love-themed card featuring the Classic Mouse Love Etched Dies, which form part of the new Classic Mouse Love Collection. This release features the dies I am using today, plus two sets of BetterPress Letterpress sentiments and a set of rub-ons. So, here is the card I will be creating for you today. I will be walking you through all the different stages of pulling it together. This card is pretty much all die cutting, but I have also foiled the sentiment. There are lots of die cuts that go together to create these two adorable mice, and assembling them is a lot of fun. It’s wonderful to watch them come together, and there are so many ways to customise them! So, grab a drink of your choice and craft along with me. Let’s get started! I use the standard Platinum 6 Die Cutting Machine sandwich for all of my die cutting today. From bottom to top, your plates should be as follows:

• Platform Base (A)
• Platform Top (B)
• Cutting Plate (C)
• Cutting Plate (C)

For the mice, you will be using the previously released Steamboat Willie Duo Etched Dies, along with the new Classic Mouse Love Etched Dies.

1. Starting with Steamboat Willie Duo Etched Dies, die cut all the pieces as above using the following ColorWheel Cardstocks. I used Raven, Chiffon, Classic White, Seaside, Waterfall, Poppy, and Fawn.
2. The die that is cut from Poppy cardstock will need to be die-cut twice. This is the piece that creates the inside of their mouths.

3. I store all the die cuts and the dies that I have used in these fabulous storage trays called Craft Stax. There are lots of little dies and die cuts in these sets, and it is easy to lose them on your work surface. I keep them all in place in this tray, along with the dies, in case I need to cut something out again – much easier to find. See that little piece of white card which is just above the red mouthpiece in the centre of the tray? You could easily lose that or throw it away, but it is actually part of the frilly knickers that you will be adding to your female mouse!

4. Okay, so start by adhering the two Chiffon face panels to their black bases using Bearly Art Glue.

5. There are embossed lines on the black pieces to help you line up the face pieces. These are really helpful when assembling any die cuts.

6. Add tiny dabs of glue around the edges of the mouths on the back side of the head die cuts, and then secure the two mouth pieces in place.

7. Add Bearly Art Glue to the back of the shorts and pop the tiny white die cut in place. This small detail means that when you turn the shorts back over, you won’t have two empty areas where the buttons are, as the white die cut “fills” them in.

8. Adhere the shorts to the male mouse body piece using the embossed lines to help you line it up.

9. Adhere the skirt and both shoes to the female mouse body piece.

10. Glue her tiny frilly pantaloons in place. Now, aren’t you glad you kept all those die-cut pieces in a safe place!

11. Adhere the hat trim onto the hat base using liquid glue.

12. Pop a dab of liquid glue onto the circle of the eyelashes piece, and then place your female mouse down on top. Isn’t she adorable with those long lashes!

13. Take the two tail pieces and add small dabs of Bearly Art Glue onto the circles, and then place both of your mice down on top.

14. Adhere the two brown shoes to your male mouse. Isn’t it fun watching them come to life?

15. Now add some liquid glue onto the top sections of the body pieces and then pop the heads in place.

16. Add some glue onto the edge of the underside of the hat and adhere it on to your female mouse. That brings us to the end of the “core” features of the two mice.

Next, you will need to grab the Classic Mouse Love Etched Dies. This set of dies has a whole raft of accessories that you can use in conjunction with Steamboat Willie Duo Etched Dies.

17. Die cut the pieces as shown from Raven, Teal Topaz, Waterfall, Pomegranate, Poppy, Beeswax, Saffron, and Tutu ColorWheel Cardstock. Note: I used Pomegranate for the heart chocolates base, the hat ribbon that spans the circumference of the hat, the tiny piece that sits on the bow on the hat, and the three hearts that are used for decoration at the end.

Poppy is used for the smaller heart on the chocolates, the envelope, and the bow on the hat. Make sure to keep all your die cuts in your storage tray. There will be one or two die cuts you won’t end up using.

18. Glue the Tutu mini heart onto the envelope.

19. Adhere the top of the chocolate box onto the base.

20. Using liquid glue, pop the yellow ribbon across the chocolates, followed by the bow on top.

21. Add that tiny little centre piece on the bow to finish off the chocolates!

22. Put a tiny slither of glue onto the top of the hat and adhere the lighter aqua die cut in place.

23. Assemble the hat trim by first adhering the longer ribbon piece, then the bow on top of that, and finally the tiny piece that sits in the middle of the bow.

24. Now it’s time for you to add their arms! The Classic Mouse Love Etched Dies set includes two arm pieces, which, when joined, will create a heart in the centre! Isn’t that just so cute!

Add some glue as shown onto the arm pieces and then place your mice down on top. At this point, it’s a good idea to have both mice next to each other on your work surface. I adhered the female arms first, followed by the male arms. This way, I could make sure they would align together to form the heart. I didn’t do this when I was preparing the tutorial, and I had to re-cut them and add them again. As you are using liquid glue, you have time to wiggle the pieces around so that everything lines up and they form a heart. Carefully manoeuvre the two other arms around to the front of the mice, ready for them to hold their gifts.

25. Add a small dab of adhesive onto the skirt, and slip the envelope under the arm and press it down. I also added a tiny bit of glue onto the back of her hand and pressed it down onto the envelope, just to make sure it was held securely in place.

26. Do the same with the chocolates on the male mouse. You end up covering most of his shorts, but as you can see a little bit of them, it was important he was wearing something!

27. Using Bearly Art Glue, adhere the hat onto your male mouse. You’ll only need to add a small line of glue at the bottom of the hat to do this.

28. Finish by adding glue onto the circle of the heart on a stem die cut piece, which will finish your female mouse.

Give yourself a high five as you have now finished the mice and weren’t they worth it! Let’s move on to our sentiment now. We are going to do some foiling, so switch your Glimmer Hot Foil System on and let it heat up.

29. I am using the Classic Mouse Happy Sentiments Press & Foil Plate and Die Set for my sentiment. I am foiling the plate onto Raven ColorWheel Cardstock using White Glimmer Hot Foil. So, I have placed my foil piece pretty side up onto my panel of black cardstock.

Tip: I use the 9” Pro Shears to cut my foil; they work like a dream.

30. Flip your hot foil plate over and place it face down onto your white foil and tape it in place using Best Ever Craft Tape. This tape holds everything still whilst you are foiling. There are different ways to foil. Some people put the plate down onto the platform, add their foil, and then the cardstock on top, without using tape, but I always prefer to hold my plate in place. Both ways work out fine – it’s just the habit I have got into!

31. When the green light comes on, flip your stack over so that the plate is directly on the heated platform. Press the timer button, and it will start to flash.

32. At this point, I put my spacer shims on top, but you can leave this until you run everything through your die-cutting machine if you want. It’s a personal preference. When the timer button stops flashing, remove the entire platform from your Glimmer Machine.

33. Run the whole stack through your Platinum 6 Die Cutting Machine.

34. Use the pick-up tool to remove your foiled panel and plate from the platform and pop it onto your work surface. Peel back the foil to reveal your beautiful results. This never gets old for me. It’s wonderful how it works!

35. Tape the Classic Mouse Happy Sentiments Press & Foil Plate and Die Set coordinating die over your foiling panel and secure it in place with tape. Run it through your Platinum 6.

36. Take an A2 panel of Poppy ColorWheel Cardstock and the third largest die from Essential Stylish Ovals Etched Dies. Tape it in place using Best Ever Craft Tape and then run it through your die-cutting machine.

37. Add liquid glue onto the back of the window panel and adhere it onto an A2 panel of Classic White ColorWheel Cardstock.

38. Add Black Foam Adhesive Squares 1MM to the back of both of your mice and your foiled sentiment

39. Adhere the mice and sentiment into the oval window area.

40. Finish by adhering the three little hearts. Pop the whole panel onto a horizontal A2 top-folding white note card.

Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of this fun-filled love-themed sweet card, which you may or may not want to send out to anyone! Die cutting can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming when there are lots of dies to contend with. I hope that breaking down the process of using them on this card makes it seem a little less daunting. I personally find it relaxing and often have music on in the background. I love seeing a character come to life by adding all the different layers and playing with different coloured cardstocks. I hope my tutorial has given you an idea of how to use these dies. If you would like to see more of my cards, I would love to have you join me over on my blog, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. In the meantime, thank you so much for spending time with me here on the blog today. I hope that you have a great day! [spellbinders-supplies]S4-1522,BP-348,S6-261,S5-562,GLF-049,CS-8-123,CS-8-115,CS-8-148,CS-8-124,CS-8-116,CS-8-100,CS-8-101,CS-8-108,CS-8-147,CS-8-125,CS-8-104,CS-8-142,SCS-123,SCS-268,T-056,T-035,T-024,T-042,T-043,PCGO4E,GLS-005,PE-104[/spellbinders-supplies]

Other Supplies

Embellishment Wand

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