Stamping With Theresa

Oh My!

I didn't realize it's been so long since I had updated my blog!  Guess I had better get with the program, huh?

A lot has happened over the past few months so I'll try to give it to you in a nut shell so to speak.

James started a new job in Coldwater the end of October.  It's not hard but it is a steady work place...he's been working almost every Saturday and even some Sundays.  Miss having him attend church with me but it's a job in today's tough economy.

We had brought the table out of the stamp room for the family Thanksgiving and decided to keep it out here until after the family Christmas.  Then I decided as long as it's out I'm gonna organize.  Oh my!  What an undertaking!

I cleaned out the closet, made a trip to the dump and another trip to the Salvation Army thift store and bought some storage totes.  After organizing the holiday items into the storage totes, put them on the top shelf.  This left the entore floor open!  So I took the two storage shelf units in the stamp room, tore them down a little at a time and rebuilt back into the closet.  Walah!  Clean and organized!  The next undertaking, which I am in the process of right now, is clearing off ALL the stuff from the two tables in the dining room!  Oh my!  I told James once I get down to the little totes, etc. I'll be able to put alot of that stuff into the storage totes on the closet shelves (brads, tape, etc) or into the ribbon or punch racks on the wall. 

Here are some pictures of what I have gotten done and what is still to be done!  Also some organizational tips!

Shelf units in Closet

Use rain gutters for ribbon!

Use curtain rods to store either whale tail OR stackable punches!

Table 1 to sort yet!

Table 2 to sort yet!

I will have more pics to post later of some of the cards and stuff that you have been doing with stamping events!  We did a Christmas Card Stamp-a-thon, a Christmas 3-D class and then finished off our Year in a Scrapbook.  :)

 

Tool Tip Thursday

3/16" Corner Punch Tips & Tricks

Do you have questions on your 3/16" Corner Punch? Is it working the way you had hoped? If you're having trouble achieving the results you want, try these tips:

• Make sure your paper is cut square. Your paper should have straight sides for the punch to work properly. 
• Your paper should fit snugly into both edges of the guides and into the back of the punch. It is critical that you don't try to center the paper by looking through the bottom of your punch;  instead, align your paper using the guides. 
• Set the paper fully into both guides, as well as the back of the punch, almost pressing your paper down into the guides by curling the outside edge of the paper up. Push your paper flush against the guides as far as it will go into the back of the punch. If your paper isn't fully set against both guides, you will not get a good, clean punch. 
• If you don't get a perfect corner, try centering your paper in the guides and punching again; your design should punch correctly. Don't worry; sometimes it takes some practice.
• Cut only one sheet at a time. This punch is designed to cut only one sheet of card stock or Designer Series Paper at a time.

We hope that these tips and tricks will help you better utilize the 3/16" Corner Punch.

 

WOW Wednesday

Friday night I went to a team meeting and thanks to Barb for sharing this AWESOME technique for mounting your clear labels onto your clear stamp sets!

Remove the backing off from the stamp (before removing from the rubber).

Remove the sticker from the sticker sheet.

Peel off HALF of the backing.

Place the side WITH the backing still on it on top of the stamp.

Slowly roll it so the unbacked side lays flat on the stamp.

Fold up the label, remove the other side and wahlah!  No wrinkles!  :)

Give this a try and let me know how it worked out for you!  I plan on sharing this at my workshops for everyone!  Awesome!

Tool Tip Thursday ~ Questions & Video

Do you have any questions about HOW to use a tool or WHEN to use a tool for a specific item/project?  Please leave a comment below or send me an email me with your questions.  I'll then make posts relating to those questions!  If I don't know the answers, I will find them!

Today I will be sharing Stampin' Up!'s video on the Big Shot.  This is an awesome tool that is versatile...it will die cut all kinds of materials (including SU! new fabrics).  You can use it with embossing folders to emboss card/page layers with a "different" look. 

Stampin' Up! Big Shot Video

God bless!

Tool Tip Thursday ~ Bone Folder

Bone Folder ~ 102300 ~ $8.95

This bone folder gives your handmade projects crisp, clean folds. Use it for everything from getting beautiful, crisp folds to distressing the edges of a card, scrapbook page, or accent.

Place a ruler on the paper where you want the fold. Hold the ruler firmly in place with one hand. Run the pointed tip of a bone folder along the length of the ruler, pressing it firmly down as you go. Remove the ruler and fold the paper along the scored line.

God bless!

 

Tool Tip Thursday ~ Adhesive Rolls/Sheets

Big Shot Fabric Adhesive Roll

Features & Benefits

Use to add adhesive to Designer Fabric that will be cut with the Big Shot
One 11-1/2" x 72" roll
Machine washable
Instructions included

FYI

To use, iron the adhesive onto your fabric, cut the fabric, peel off transfer sheet, and then iron the fabric die cut onto your project. See the insert that comes with the product for detailed instructions.

Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets

Features & Benefits

Use to create your own self-adhesive die cuts or to create stickers from precut shapes
12 sheets of 12" x 12" adhesive
Adheres in an instant with no lifting edges; there’s no need to trim
Instructions included
Not washable
Permanent Acid free

FYI

You can create your own stickers from precut shapes by simply pressing them onto the Adhesive Sheet and pulling the shape up. Or you can apply card stock or Designer Series Paper to the Adhesive Sheet, run through the Big Shot, peel off the backing paper, and adhere.

Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets are for use with paper and card stock; do not use with fabric. To add adhesive to fabric, use the Fabric Adhesive Roll.

God bless!

 

Tool Tip Thursday ~ The Big Shot

Here are some frequently asked questions regarding the Big Shot Die Cutting Machine (#113439 ~ $99.95)....

What type of fabric will the Big Shot cut? The Big Shot will cut all types of fabric. The following materials work well when creating die cuts with the Big Shot machine and Bigz and Originals dies. Please note the maximum thickness of several materials. As a rule of thumb, you can cut a material with your Big Shot machine and Bigz or Originals dies if you can cut it using your Craft & Paper Scissors.

Thick corkboard Thick chipboard (59 mil) Colored magnet Ruffle board Paper wood Balsa wood (3/32") Bass wood (1/16") Metal mesh Aluminum (.016) Tin (.008) Adhesive and non-adhesive mat board Drawer liner Shelf liner Vinyl Static cling vinyl Shrink film Fine sandpaper Clear acetate (20 mil) Vellum Card stock Patterned paper Flocked paper Contact paper Textured paper Metallic paper Linen paper Suede paper Embossed metallic paper Basketball embossed paper

Faux alligator textured paper Self-adhesiveglitter paper Fabric Canvas Iron-on fabric Soft plush fabric Burlap Velvet Corduroy Lace Heavyweight denim Terry cloth Funky fur Thin leather Quilt batting Warm & natural batting Fusible fleece Self-adhesive craft metal Self-adhesive cork Self-adhesive foam Self-adhesive magnet Self-adhesive felt Adhesive and non-adhesive rubber Pop up sponge Poly foam 100% pure beeswax (cut with parchment paper on top & bottom of beeswax.)

How many pieces of fabric can I cut at a time? That depends on the fabric. Different fabrics vary in thickness. For example, your Big Shot can cut through eight layers of cotton, which is a relatively thin fabric, but it will only cut through one layer of faux fur, which is a very thick fabric.

Do you shim fabric in a Big Shot differently than paper? No. Your Big Shot works the same with fabric as it does with paper. Different fabrics vary in thickness, much the same as different paper materials vary in thickness. If you are only cutting one layer of a very thin fabric, you might need to use a piece of card stock as a shim just as you would if you were only cutting one layer of thin paper.

Will all Big Shot dies cut fabric? You can cut fabric with any of the Sizzix steel-rule dies (Originals, Bigz, Bigz L, and Bigz XL). You cannot cut fabric with Sizzlits, Embosslits, Textured Impressions Embossing Folders, or Texturz Plates.

Will dies with score lines ruin my fabric? You can still use dies with score lines to cut fabric. The score lines will slightly distress your fabric, but shouldn't damage it permanently. However, we recommend that if you are using dies with score lines to only cut one or two layers at a time (depending on the thickness of your fabric). If you try to cut too many layers at a time, it is possible that the score lines could tear your fabric.

Will cutting fabric with the Big Shot dull my dies? The Big Shot steel-rule dies (Originals, Bigz, Bigz L, and Bigz XL) were designed to work on several different types of materials. Cutting fabric with your Big Shot dies will not result in any damage to your dies, and will not dull them any faster than cutting paper will.

If you have any questions regarding the Big Shot, please don't hesitate to ask!  If I don't have the answer I will find it for you and get back with you!

Tool Tip Thursday ~ Postage/Machinable

We all love to add embellishments to our cards which make them rather lumpy.  Do you know that if you have a bulky card they charge extra postage to "hand stamp" it instead of running it through the machine?

Here's some "quick tips" regarding thickness, postage and machining.

If you have the Fiskars black cutter, you have a guide to know if it is machinable or not. The clear plastic cutting slider piece has that 1/4 inch channel opening - if your enveloped card will slide through that clear plastic piece's opening, it should be machinable.

Some people also turn their cards so the embellishments typically found on the outside are protected by being turned to the inside.

Occasionally, if you put a piece of bubble wrap over the embellishment, it may go through without additional postage. You can also position the bow so it won't interfer with the machine.

The best thing to do?  Talk to  your post master.  Find out how and when they charge extra money.  Find out where the ribbon, etc. can go so it doesn't interfer with the machine.

God bless!

Product Review ~ Paper Cutters

Paper cutters are a necessary tool when paper crafting.  There are many on the market today.  I will be talking about the two paper cutters that SU! carries.  

 
The first is the smaller Fiskars cutter (#104152 ~ $24.95).  It's light weight and easy to carry with you.  It comes with a cutting blade and a scoring blade.  The cutting blade cuts through a piece of cardstock easily.  The scorer makes it very easy to score your cardstock for nice, crisp folds.  The top ruler make measuring for card layers easy (see Thursday Tool Tips for measuring tips).   SU! also carries replacement blades (2 pack of cutters #104153 ~ $5.59 or package of 1 each #104154 ~ $5.95).

The second is the larger tabletop cutter (#106959 ~ $45.95).  This is light wieght (although bulkier), the measuring extension and handle easliy store on the bottom of the cutter itself.  This is great when cutting a lot of paper.  It can cut up to six pieces of cardstock at once.  However, I have found that this is not something I would recommend.  I don't do more than three at a time.  One thing you also need to make sure is to hold down the "glass" shaper holder tightly and pull the blade "toward" the cutter when cutting.  If you don't do these two things it tends to give you uneven cuts and frays the paper at the end of the cut.

Whichever you choose, both paper cutters are worth the money.  I would recommend either/or.  It depends on the amount of crafts that you will be doing, etc.

 

Thursday Tool Tips ~ Cutter Tips

I know that some of us have problems with cutting, sizing our layers, etc. when it comes to doing cards, matting, etc. on our projects,  Hopefully this will help you!

Both the Fiskars cutter and Tabletop cutter have 1/16" lines between the inch markers.  As you can see it can be quite confusing!  So I am going to give you some helpful tips on how to use these to your advantage.

First, when you are using the lines there are five sizes: The longest are the inch markers, the next longest is the 1/2" mark, then the 1/4" mark, the 1/8" mark and the 1/16" mark.  (I noted the 1/2" with the 1/4" inch marks in the above illustration).

If someone says that the card piece measured 2 5/16" that means they counted to the 5th line, using ALL the lines.  If it's 2 1/4" that means they counted the third biggest lines only (one from the 2" mark).  Is that clear as mud? 

So how does this help with layering?  A normal card base is 5 1/2" x 4 1/4".  So if I wanted to cut a card front I would cut it 5 1/4" x 4".  If my stamped image is on a piece of 2 3/4" x 3 1/2" cardstock and I want to layer it I would cut the layer at 3" x 3 3/4".  This would leave a 1/8" border around the edges.

Want a bigger edge?  Go with 1/2" smaller (or larger), leaving a 1/4" border.  

If you would like a class on how to measure and cut layers I am available to set up a time for one on one training or for a small group.  This is a free service to you.  I want you to be comfortable with your ability to make wonderful projects, cards and gifts!

If you need help with anything else please don't hesitate to ask!  I'm here for you!