And moving on to the desk:
There is also a Poinsettia stencil and die too, and you can see that in the Christmas Card post below this one.
You could of course fussy cut, but I hate doing that!
I had made a couple of each design, but you can cut them all from the same one, and add some cardstock at the back of the base to mount your layers onto.
I think these would look fab done in glitter, or the hot foil technique, which I'll be giving a try next.
These I did to try out using two colours in an image, by masking off the leaves and doing the flowers, then when that was dry, doing the reverse.
Then I spent some time using my Silhouette to cut out some stencils. I dusted the poor thing off -literally- I can't remember when I last used it, as I wanted an arch stencil, but couldn't find one the size & shape I was after. So I thought I'd have a go at making my own, using some OHP film.
I only want them for sponging ink through, so I think they'll be sturdy enough for that, but I don't think they'd be strong enough for anything more.
Anyone thinking of getting a digital cutter, I can say it's one of the best investments I ever made. You can see here how I've been able to resize each image as I wanted, which is the main thing I love about it.
I've also kept the inner bits, to use as masks.
I want to CASE a card I've seen done in a Facebook post, from the Loving all things Lavinia group, and the lady had used an Arched Clarity stencil that doesn't seem to be around now. It was a tall, thin one, rather than the smaller one they have now.
I'd also had a go at hand cutting some from some plastic packaging, but not tried them yet, and I don't know how smooth my cutting has been.😐
The window shape below was not only resized, I also changed the actual windows to just 4, as it had multiple small panes in it. Plus, it cost me 99 cents from the Silhouette store!
I have some round-topped ones to cut as well.
These cotton buds may interest you. I picked them up by the tills in Primark yesterday. I thought both ends should be very useful in crafting.
Now for a couple of other items you might find useful.
Firstly, those die storage pockets from Avery Elle I was storing all my dies on magnetic sheets on?
Now, they are not exactly cheap, although they are good quality and very sturdy. They are around £7-£10 for a pack of 50, depending which size you want, and I have found they are often out of stock over here.
Last night, while browsing You Tube, I came across a video from a lady who had made her own using a laminator & pouches. As she says, it's sheer genius! They look great and are nice and strong too. The upside of course is you can have custom made sizes to suit your storage method. Hers don't have a flap, but I'm sure that'd be easy to figure out if you wanted them, she just puts a thumb grip at the end with a 1" circle punch. Anyway, it's only a 10 minute video, and the link is HERE if you are interested.
So I reckon, even if you don't have a laminator, you can pick up a basic bog standard one for around £15, and packs of laminating pouches on Amazon are about £7.50 for a hundred (and you can even get them in Pound stores too), if you have a number of dies- or even stamps- you wanted to put into pockets,then it's cheaper to buy a lamintor and make your own. I know I shan't be buying any more of the Avery Elle ones.
Second thing of note was a tip I saw on a Joanna Sheen newsletter, from a crafter called Dawn Knight, about the annoying way silicone dries in the tube- (especially I find, Pinflair.) She said:
'I found that no matter what I did to protect it, whenever I wanted silicone glue, I had to spend ages gouging plugs of cured glue out of the top of the tube. I have now taken to squeezing the glue up to the very top of the tube and covering it with a piece of cling film before replacing the cap. Since then, I have never had to dig out the cured glue. Dawn Knight
So hopefully that will be a helpful bit of advice.
And finally..........................
I reckon we all qualify! 😊😊
