Large Acrylic Stamp Blocks

November 2nd, 2011

Q. Some of the stamps this year are quite large, I am thinking in particular of the Christmas rubber stamps and the clear big corner stamps, and they don’t fit any of my blocks.

A. Whereas the larger stamps are great for card making as the stamp virtually covers the card, which means you need little else in the way of embellishment, you do need a large stamp block to use them.

Woodware have brought out an acrylic block measuring 130 x 180, roughly 5 inches by 7 inches, which will happily take the largest of the stamps we sell. It’s a good depth as well at 15mm.  With some stamps, if you are using a greeting, and many of the stamps come with a greeting including with the main pictorial stamp, you can position the greeting on the acrylic block and stamp both the picture and the greeting at the same time saving you having to line the sentiment up afterwards.

Then it’s simply a case of adding embossing powder or colouring with Promarkers, adding an embellishment or two if you want and your card is made.

The 130mm x 150mm Woodware acrylic is excellent value too at only £6.99.

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Will a Die Cutting Machine Change My Card Making Life?

April 23rd, 2011

This question from a lady wanting a life changing card making event was put to us last week.  The more usual format is: “I’m thinking of buying a die cutting machine but don’t know if I’d use it enough to justify the cost.”  That question, we get asked at least twice every week.

We’ve never met a customer who says she regrets buying a die cutting machine. One or two may say that they wished they’d gone for a different model – different die cutting machines suit different people – but most people love the one they’ve got and would be lost without it.  At times, if die cutting machine owners are in the shop when a shop customer asks the question a line has to be drawn between those who advocate the Cuttlebug and those that swear by the Big Shot. The debate can get quite heated.

Once you have a die cutting machine you use it for everything all the time. If you take a look at the card making projects that were loaded up this April, of the 9 card making projects 8 were made using a die cutting machine.  For May’s card making projects Madeleine (Big Shot), Irene (Vagabond) and Linda (Cuttlebug) will face a challenge – at least 1 of the cards they make must not use a die cutting machine.  It’s a really tough challenge.  Madeleine has already come up with and then had to abandon 2 card making ideas as they both require die cutting.

So the answer to will a die cutting machine change my card making life is a resounding Yes.

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Update on the Grand Calibur

March 19th, 2011

Creative Expressions have brought out a plate to be used in conjunction with the Grand Calibur and embossing folders so now you can emboss with your Grand Calibur as well as die cut without having the faff of trial and error with multiple pieces of card.

As we really like this machine, and believe it is a great tool for both card making and scrapbooking, Craftsite will be stocking it and we’ll let you know as soon as supplies arrive.

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Review of the Grand Calibur Die Cutting Machine

February 27th, 2011

We have had a lot of customers aske the same 2 questions about the Grand Calibur die cutting machine and here is the response we have given to all of them.

Q. Will you be stocking the Grand Calibur machine and can you get A4 embossing folders for it?

A. The Grand Calibur machine has been brought out to take the new large Nestabilities dies.  There are no A4 embossing folder for it and, in fact, it won’t even take the embossing folders that are currently in the market place.

Madeleine asked the representative from Spellbinders, who make the Grand Calibur if they had plans to bring out their own embossing folders.  The answer was that they can’t – the plates are too thick to take embossing folders.

It appears that you can get it to take existing embossing folders but only by using multiple pieces of card as shims in conjuction with the tan mat.  This is a case of trial and error – too many pieces of card and your “sandwich” will be too thick and could damage the machine – to few pieces of card in your “sandwich” and your card won’t emboss.

The lady Madeleine spoke to said if you can get hold of the spacer plate that was brought out for the Wizard machine this will work in conjunction with the tan mat to use existing A6 embossing folders in the Grand Calibur.

We do like the machine but because it won’t easily take embossing folders we won’t be stocking it.  We would expect some manufacturer to come out with an A4 version that will emboss as well as die cut in the near future so, until then, we’ll wait.

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Which die cutting machine is the best one

October 7th, 2010

That’s a very difficult one to answer as it all depends on what you are going to use it for.  Do you want one that embosses as well such as the Cuttlebug or Big Shot or do you do loads of cutting and wouldn’t use the embossing folders? How much card making do you do that would benefit from one of the more expensive machines?  Craftsite has in daily use a Cuttlebug, Big Shot, Cricut plus a commercial die cutting machine and Madeleine uses the Big Shot the most of all 4 machines.

Buying a die cutting machine is a big outlay.  Laura Quick has written an excellent article on die cutting machines, and as an end user of them gives an unbiased report.  Read it here http://eljay1980.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/which-die-cutting-machine-should-i-choose/

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The difference between Clear and Unmounted Stamps

April 14th, 2010

Q. What’s the difference between clear stamps and unmounted rubber stamps? Both seem to need an acrylic block to mount them on so are they just different names for the same thing?

A. Good question. Rubber stamping has really grown in popularity recently as people rediscover what a great technique it is for both card making and scrapbooking.

Clear stamps are, strictly speaking, not rubber stamps as they are made from acrylic. The come as individual stamps, or in sets of individual stamps, ready to be mounted on an acrylic block. They are self clinging so you just take it out of the packet and attach it to the block without any need for mounting tape or glue. Clean then with clear water and dry with kitchen towel as soon as you have used them and they will last you a long while. I usually remove my stamp from the acrylic block after cleaning and put it back in its packet ready to use the next time – leaving my acrylic block free for another clear stamp.

Unmounted rubber stamps, on the other hand, usually come on an sheet and you first need to separate the stamps out by cutting around them with a sharp pair of scissors. To mount them onto the acrylic block you need a rubber stamp adhesive or tape such as U-Mount. When cleaning try not to get too much water on the adhesive as this can lessen its stickiness.

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Help – my punch has jammed

March 19th, 2010

Q. I recently bought the Woodware full heart Silhouette punch and it’s completely jammed and won’t work.

A. The new silhouette punches have lots of little bits that can get into the mechanism when card making. Ideally you should make sure that any bits left behind are teased out after each time you use it.

To do this use a pokey tool. A pokey tool could be an old fine embossing tool, or angle locking tweezers (Madeleine’s favourite pokey tool) or a paper pricker (Linda’s favourite pokey tool). Keep going until all the bits are cleared out of the punch.

This is also true for the Martha Stewart punches which have lots of holes in them. Most bits will fall out but make sure there aren’t any bits still in there and you’ll have trouble free punching.

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Where can I buy a really big stamp pad?

March 19th, 2010

Q. I have a really big stamp and can’t find an ink pad anywhere near big enough to take it.

A. You can use any size stamp pad, including even our little 1 inch versacolour pads, as you take the stamp pad to the stamp and not the other way round. Take your stamp pad and keep pressing it agaist the stamp until you’ve covered the whole stamp. You’ll find that this method gives better coverage and a crisper, even finish to your stamped image.

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Can you use Cuttlebug dies in the Sizzix?

March 17th, 2010

Q. I have one of the original Sizzix machines. Can I use the Cuttlebug dies and embossing folders with it?

A. Yes. A very nice gentleman who has one of the original Sizzix machines tested this out for us and reported that both the Cuttlebug dies and the embossing folders worked fine.

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What weight of card and paper will the Cuttlebug cut and emboss

March 17th, 2010

We have tested this on most of the card and paper that we stock and have found that the Cuttlebug dies will cut thin mulberry paper, thick mulberry paper, vellum, all our 100 gsm and 120 gsm paper, mirror and foiled card, glitter paper and card, and all our cardstock including the heavyweights such as the 300 gsm Ice Silver.

We have also tested it on the splatter mesh and illusion film but the cut wasn’t really a clean cut so we don’t recommend using the dies for these 2 products.

When it comes to embossing, it’s pretty much the same story. All the materials that it will cut it will also emboss, with one exception – in our trials we found the mirror and foiled card tended to crack.

Although the handmade mulberry paper does emboss, because it’s an embossed paper to start with lost some of the Cuttlebug embossing folder detail so, although it will emboss handmade mulberry paper we don’t recommend it if you want a clean crisp finish.

Card and paper that is already textured has similar results to mulberry paper. For example, embossing on linen effect, hammer or laid won’t give the oomph factor that embossing on Stardream will gives as hammer, linen and laid already have a degree of texturing on them.

With the glitter paper, we found that it did emboss but that the embossing was lost among the sparkly glitter. However as we turned the glitter paper to the light the embossed pattern did show up and this worked much better with the larger embossing folders than the little 2 inch folders. So yes, glitter paper will emboss but it’s a subtle effect.

It won’t emboss mesh (because mesh has holes in it so there is nothing to emboss) and although it did work on the illusion film the results, again were disappointing. So when it comes to illusion film, let the beauty of illusion film speak for itself without any embellishment from the Cuttlebug.

The embossing on vellum is fantastic, as is Stardream paper and card. And, yes, it embosses the 300 gsm Ice Silver, Ice Gold and White Gold as well.

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