Equal Time: Cuttling for Cuttlebug Users

Go figure. There are a lot of folks who use the Cuttlebug embossing folders with a Cuttlebug machine and not a Big Shot. ;-) I've read some comments about folks thinking that the Cuttling techniques that I've described can only be done with a Big Shot. I've always thought that the way the machines work is essentially the same, so really Cuttling should be adaptable. I had to prove it to myself though.

For you Cuttlebug users out there, I pulled mine out. It was a good deal that I couldn't pass up, and it's my back-up should my Big Shot ever fail me. It's out of the box now, and yes, Cuttling can be done with this machine.

Here are some how-to's. Thankfully Blogger's photo upload is working well today.


Okay, so there you see my CB with the plates, a couple of embossing folders, a card, my transparency, and the items I'll be using to do my creative double Cuttling (the wood frame and the oval wood die cut).


As usual, put the card front inside the folder and tuck the back part underneath the folder.


Here's that transparency template that I made by tracing the inside of the opening of the frame with a Sharpie. I use this to help me position where I want my frame once I've closed the folder. This is Floral Fantasy, by the way.


Once the folder is closed, I can still see where I want the opening of the frame to be.


I position the wood frame so that the opening matches the traced oval.


Here I'm sliding the transparency out. I don't need it anymore, eh?


Now I've placed the B plate on top of the frame, on top of the folder with the card inside, on top of plate A. As I understand it, usually you'd have another plate B in there. I took that bottom one out. My wood frame is virtually the same thickness as that plate, actually a little less. So this should roll through just fine. The only question is whether I'll need to make a second pass using a shim if it doesn't emboss deeply enough.


Here's the card after it's been rolled through. I like it fine as it is, plus I'm ready to take the next step. LOL!


Now I've tucked my card front inside the Birds & Swirls folder. I pull out my handy dandy transparency again to see where I'd like those birds and swirls to show up.


Close the folder with the transparency still inside.


This time I position my oval wood die cut on top of the closed folder and over the tracing. It's crooked up there on purpose, okay? That's so you can see the tracing. My eyes aren't quite that bad. ;-) I'll straighten it out before running it through.


I've slipped the transparency out and placed the B plate on top of the stack. Again, this wood die cut is conveniently the same thickness as one of the B plates, so I eliminated that second B plate that would ordinarily be in the stack. Top to bottom: B plate, wood die cut, folder with card front inside, A plate.


Here's how it turned out after I ran it through. Maybe it wasn't the best combination, but it's still pretty and it shows that creative double Cuttling can be adapted to a Cuttlebug. And obviously you don't need to do the second Cuttling. You can stop after the first pass as I've described in creative Cuttling. You might also want to peek at creative Cuttling in more detail.

Partial Cuttling for the Cuttlebug works, too. Hey, I've got the machine out, so I might as well put this through the paces as well.


Here's my stack. It's the usual combo. The folder with card front inside between two B plates on top of the A plate. The key is leaving the area that's to be left unembossed outside of the plates so that no pressure will be applied. That's why my folder is just hanging out there.


And there's the partial Cuttling result using the Swiss Dots folder. Only the top part of a top fold card was embossed, and no cards or tools were harmed in the production of this look. ;-)

Diagonal Cuttling works, too.


The two long plates are from Sizzix and are usually used for those long border dies. They're the same thickness as the B plates. They let me emboss at an angle as I've described before.


And that's the result of doing diagonal Cuttling using the Perfectly Paisley embossing folder. I do run that through twice because that top left corner is left unembossed after the first pass, but you can just straighten those long plates and emboss that area. You can also just leave it if you like that look.

I'm going to skip over the double Cuttle because I don't think there was ever any reason to think that couldn't be duplicated with a Cuttlebug machine.

So there ya go! Equal time for fans of the Cuttlebug. :-) I'll just add that I did like the CB fine. I was bummed that the multipurpose platform was too wide to fit through the opening though. I'd rather not have to think about what stack combo to run through the machine, plus that little extra width gives me more room when I'm trying to run things through diagonally. I'll be sticking with what's most familiar to me, so it's back to the Big Shot again. :-)