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Saturday, March 02, 2013

Spellbinders projects


Today I am working with my new Butterfly Corner and Ornate Square dies!


But first...

Shhhhh....I'm going to let you in on a dirty little secret...I take shortcuts! 

I do it all the time, because I am human...
and as such, I often get caught up in life. It creates the need to find ways to modify how I do things, so that I can fit in all the things that I want and need to do in a day. 

So here's one of my favorite quick crafty-tips that can save you a bundle of time when you are in need of a quick card, or crafty gift. 

On days when I do have a good slot of time to get my crafty on...I work double time with my Spellbinders Grand Calibur...

As I'm working on my project, I get out my paper scraps too--you know...the ones too small that you think you ought to throw them away...

but no...don't do that...

Instead, while you have all your crafty stuff out, run those scraps through your Grand Calibur with some of your favorite Spellbinders dies and then save them in a special place for a day when you don't have much time. 

I like to file my "pre-cuts" in a file labeled with the die set they were created with. That way I can find them on the fly when I really need to craft fast. This works great for Birthday cards, tags for gifts, or even holiday crafts that need a special shape. 

I have learned to craft this way, especially right now, as my craftroom is in serious limbo. We have been working to finish our basement for over a year. (My husband has been doing a fabulous job, but it is definitely a process.) I have a lot of my crafty stuff packed in boxes, or stashed here and there as it awaits a permanent home. So I find myself using my dining room table as my craft zone, which is not ideal, when you have to gather everything up, and then put it all away before dinner. 

This week has been crazy. Parent teacher conferences, school projects, swim team stuff, gymnastics, music lessons, deadlines, and more deadlines...it's all good stuff...but my week went by so quickly, that it left little time for crafting. 

This was the perfect week to get out my pre-cuts, and make some quick cards. It took me about 20 minutes to complete all three cards...and then I was off to my last parent teacher conference of the week. 

I went through my files and quickly found some colors I wanted to work with that had been cut with my newest dies from Spellbinders. 

Even though I did not have much time to craft this time...I wanted to make sure each project had something special, or a little twist in the design. I'll walk you through what I did in each project below:
For this first card, I took the tag die from my Ornate Square set and did what I call a "double take." That's where I use a die that is shaped one way, and make it appear another way by criss-cross stacking it with a duplicate cut. It's a great way to change up your die sets to get lots of looks from one set. So the original tag die is rectangular...by stacking it, I made it appear as a square. Then to add a little finishing touch to my card, I took some fabric and ran it through the center of the tag, like ribbon. I added a few knots for interest. In this case, I had also "pre-stamped" this with my coordinating stamps from JustRite, when I did my cutting session on a prior day. I just filed it away stamped and ready to go for a quick card. 
-Spellbinders, Samantha Walker, Ornate Squares Die
-Just Rite Clear Stamps Samantha Walker Botanical Swirls
-Carta Bella cardstock Traditions by Samantha Walker
-Riley Blake Fabric Serenata by Samantha Walker

Here's another pair of cards that I created on the fly...
Once again these were created with pre-stamped pre-cuts, that I created one day, and filed away for a day when time was short. 
I have two twists on this card...I first split my butterfly into two separate wings...to embellish the sides of my "happy" tag. Don't you feel like you have wings when you are happy? I thought it was a fun way to say "happy." The next twist on my dies, is that I took the smallest square from my Ornate Squares set, and just snipped off the ornate corners to use as a layered lace edge at the bottom of my tag. It was something simple, that really made for a nice way to "ground" my tag design...after all I had just given it wings...I didn't want it to fly away just yet. ;) 
-Spellbinders, Samantha Walker, Ornate Squares Die
-Spellbinders, Samantha Walker Butterfly Corner Die
-Just Rite Clear Stamps Samantha Walker Botanical Swirls
-Carta Bella cardstock Paris Girl by Samantha Walker

I did another "double take" on this card. I used my largest ornate square die, and criss-cross stacked it to make it go from a square shape to a lacey snowflake shape. I also double stacked two of my butterflies from my butterfly corner set to give it a little lift. 
-Spellbinders, Samantha Walker, Ornate Squares Die
-Spellbinders, Samantha Walker Butterfly Corner Die
-Just Rite Clear Stamps Samantha Walker Botanical Swirls
-Carta Bella cardstock Paris Girl by Samantha Walker


Since I made such quick projects for this blog frenzy, I wanted to make sure that I left you completely satisfied with some "knock your socks off" inspiration...so I asked my uber talented creative team to help show off my new dies with their interpretation.  

You'll LOVE what they did!

Supplies:
Die Cuts: Butterfly Corner and Ornate Square by Samantha Walker (Spellbinders)
Patterned Papers: Traditions by Samantha Walker (Carta Bella)
Stamps: For All You Do Vintage Labels Three by Samantha Walker (JustRite Stamps)
Tools: Grand Calibur (Spellbinders)
Cardstock: Cream (Recollections and Bazzil)
Ribbon: Cream Crinkly (May Arts)
Twine: Buttercream (The Twinery)
Pearls: Cream (The Paper Studio)
Wood Chips: Hearts (Freckled Fawn)


 Projects below all by Aimee Maddern:
Supplies:
-Spellbinders, Samantha Walker Butterfly Corner Die
-LCI White Wood Grain Cardstock, Bazzill, 
Bo Bunny & American Crafts Cardstock
-Heidi Swapp Color Mist in Sweet Cherry & Primrose
-Dylusions ink spray in Cut Grass
-Mister Huey’s in Hot Dog, Lemonade & Bonny Blue
-Sequins, Misc
-3L adhesive squares, Glossy Accents


Supplies:
-Spellbinders, Samantha Walker, Ornate Squares Die and Butterfly Corner
-Just Rite Clear Samantha Walker For All You Do Vintage Labels Three Stamps
-LCI White Wood Grain Cardstock, Bazzill, Bo Bunny 
& American Crafts Cardstock
-Heidi Swapp Color Mist in Sweet Cherry & Primrose
-Mister Huey’s in Hot Dog,
-Charcoal Twine from the Twinery
-Hat Pin From My Minds Eye
-Sequins, Misc
-3L adhesive squares, Glossy Accents


Supplies:
-Spellbinders, Samantha Walker, Ornate Squares Die
-Just Rite Clear Samantha Walker For All You Do Vintage Labels Three Stamps
-Card Stock, Misc
-Stayton Ink in Timber Brown
-SEI ink in Tobacco
-Cantaloupe Twine from the Twinery
-3L adhesive squares, Glossy Accents

58 comments:

  1. I love your cards and your team did a fantastic job showing how the dies can be used in many ways. I love your tip and plan to remember it, it would be the perfect thing to do while watching t.v. too :-)

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  2. Butterflies are so very HOT this year.
    Thanks for some great inspiration.

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  3. Love the idea of using up your scraps by die cutting bits in advance and look how gorgeous your cards turned out, and fast too!

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  4. Gorgeous cards and I love the butterflies!

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  5. I love the idea of creating cards in no time at all - great tips! The DT cards all look terrific, too. Great new die sets!

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  6. great projects thank you to you and your team for sharing.

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  7. Thanks ladies for stopping by! So fun to see so many crafters blogging about on a Saturday!

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  8. I too save and use my scraps. They are great for sentiment layers and borders. They can also be used to create "quilt" backgrounds. I never throw away anything!

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  9. All of your projects are wonderful. This was a fantastic blog hop.
    Hugs, Cathy-Lynn

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  10. *lol* yeah, working in advance would be nice, but it would take me hours to find them. I am not very organized. I love to see that it works for you. I LOVE the crisscross ideas, inspiring!

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  11. Awesome dies, love how you both used them!

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  12. Anonymous11:05 AM MST

    What a great read. Thanks for reminding us to set time aside for our scraps. I love your new butterfly set and what your team did with them. Also the thinking outside the box with squares to snowflakes and corners to frames

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  13. Awesome cards!! Great idea to keep additional diecuts stashed!! Really helps in a pinch!

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  14. Oh WOW!
    Great projects!
    Consider my socks off!
    The butterflies are wonderful!

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  15. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GORGEOUS WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE the Butterflies!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) WHAT A SUPER SET OF DIES!!!!!!!!!! :)

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  16. Wonderful projects, love the butterflies, so pretty.

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  17. Love all the designs! The projects are amazing!

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  18. Butterflies are hot everyday in my house thats for sure. Love all of the cards. Just have to learn to think outside the box I guess to get so many varied designs is wonderful.

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  19. Beautiful eye-candy and fabulous tips!!

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  20. Beautiful eye-candy and fabulous tips!!

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  21. I can relate to what you are saying! So many things are done on the fly with occasional times to really spend crafting. My craft room is also waiting for me to get it organized, which seems like a never ending wish. I love your ideas for stamping/die cutting extras for the items needed at a moment's notice. I also enjoyed seeing how you stacked die cuts to form new shapes. I am psyched! Thanks.

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  22. Oh, Samantha, I LOVE how you 'cheat' -- you're a clever girl to make such excellent use of your time. I just need to organize my many spare die cuts and combine/stack/turn/twist/USE them, huh?!!! I've accumulated quite a collection of your previous dies & have Butterfly Corner on it's way to me as we 'speak' -- YAY! LOVE your & your DT's awesome projects -- TFS!!!

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  23. All the cards are wonderful! Thanks so much for the prestamp, precut tips. That will really come in handy.

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  24. Did you hear that loud thud? That was me! i fell off of my seat when I saw the cards, and I LOVE your tip for making little cuts while working on something else! Love the new die sets! Ohhh!

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  25. Nice projects and what a great hint about cutting things out when you have extra time. I am always trying to put cards together at the last minute.

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  26. WOW! These are all so gorgeous! I am amazed at all the talent from all the designers. I especially love Aimee's rainbow butterflies! Incredible!
    I understand the limbo thing. Hubby has been building our new house for almost a year now and I am crafting in our bedroom for now. It is a tight fit with the bed, my craft stuff, dressers, tv, 3 dogs and all sorts of other stuff in a 11 X 10 room.
    I am a newbie to dies so your tips are so helpful to me. Thank you for sharing with us! Beautiful job by you and your DT!

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  27. What gorgeous cards, And that butterfly card is just so creative.

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  28. Love all your cards Samantha. Lots of good advice which I'll take onboard. tfs

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  29. Pretty and fun creations, love them all. Awesome new dies too.

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  30. Wow what incredible display of creativity

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  31. Beautiful projects! really showed of the versatility of the dies!

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  32. Thanks sooo much for some great inspiration. I´m totally in love with these sets especially the butterfly Corner, it is just what I simply NEED. he he he

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  33. Love your little secret lol. That's what i do all the time. Or when i don't have my Mojo, my BigKick in work hard that Day hahaha. Love what you have done with this dies.
    Hugs Nataliya

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  34. Samatha,
    Thank you for sharing with us creative ways to use your dies! I really appreciate your suggestions to 'cut when you have time and file away for later'! Your creations and new dies are beautiful!

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  35. Your cards are wonderful! I love your idea of making pre-cuts, and I love the way you extend the use of your dies by stacking the cuts! Great inspiration!

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  36. Thank you for so many great ideas . To think " out of the box " is sometimes scary but you make it look easy . Great projects , TFS.

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  37. I save my scraps and never get them used! Thanks for sharing ways to use them.

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  38. Anonymous2:35 PM MST

    Thank you for sharing all the fantastic projects, love them all.

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  39. Love all your cards and your team's as well, these dies look amazing, thank you for sharing such crafty tip!
    Have a wonderful weekend!

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  40. I'm really loving all the new product. I can't wait to get them.

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  41. Love how you have gotten some cool new looks from your dies!!!

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  42. I love your idea of precutting dies when I have a few minutes to spare or when cutting something else with my Grand Caliber. Your cards are wonderful and I love how you all think outside the box.

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  43. What great ideas you have! There are so many times when I wanted to make a card but didn't have the time to. Your design teams' cards were lovely as well. Thanks so much.

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  44. So many quick and easy ways to achieve a beautiful result - thank you!

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  45. Such great tips and such beautiful dies. Thank you!

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  46. Beautiful dies and fabulous creations. Thanks also for the tips and tricks-love how you used the dies in different ways. Thanks for sharing

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  47. All of your cards are amazing!! I can't believe you did those cards in 20min:)

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  48. I absolutely love these dies. They are already on my "must get" list. Your cards are gorgeous! Hugs! xx

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  49. Love your idea of running some scraps through with your dies while you have everything out! Makes it possible to make a beautiful cards in very limited time! All of your cards are very nice!

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  50. Thanks for your great time and scrap saving tips Samantha... love your work and those great dies.

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  51. Wow! Awesome projects....and you make it look so easy even with a busy schedule! TFS!

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  52. Fabulous cards, love the tip for stocking up on die cuts.
    Kim xXx

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  53. Absolutely stunning projects. I thought that I was the only one who crafted this way...lol... We are packing for a move so I too am crafting out of boxes sure makes it hard. I feel your pain. Wow though for someone who is crafting out of boxes you sure are talented. Thank you for sharing.

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  54. Great collection of cards!!! Thanks so much for that great tip...a good reminder!!!

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  55. Very neat cards and a fabulous tip. Great idea to be prepared.
    Love the butterfly cards. So cute.

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  56. Thanks for sharing your tips. I love your double up projects and all the inspiration from these dies!

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