Martha Stewart continuous edge system

I've mentioned before that I have this weakness for crafting tools. I saw this online and was intrigued. It's called the Martha Stewart continuous edge system, and it's called this because a corner punch and a border punch with coordinating designs are supposed to, when used together, allow you to punch a continuous pattern around your paper or card stock.

Here they are. This set is called Loops, for obvious reasons. There was also a spider web set, a leaves set, and one other that was also clearly seasonal.... snowflakes, as I recall. I went with this one because I could use it anytime.

Now the first thing I noticed was that these weren't like the usual Martha Stewart punches. The packaging was smaller! That's because the punches themselves fold up in order to make them easier to store. Now that's kinda neat! They are certainly more compact this way.

I can see how these could take up less space than the usual border and corner punches.

Here's how they look as they're opened up. The right sides are fully open. The left sides are only partially open to give you an idea of how they work.

So, the packaging had instructions describing how to open up the punches for use, even though that was rather self-explanatory. There were no other instructions, and believe me, I looked. Now, I'll admit that I played, and I tried measuring and being analytical about the whole process. It was late though, so I quit and headed for the computer and some internet surfing instead.

You see, the problem is that the border punch needs to meet up with the corner punch properly at each corner, so you need specific measurements. Sure would have been nice to have had some included with the punch! I did find my answer online. Basically, the continuous edge system is supposed to be able to handle squares from ranging from 3 1/4", increasing in increments of 1 3/4", up to 12". I would imagine that if you had bigger paper than 12" you could keep right on going, but I guess they're figuring most of us would max out at 12" x 12".

So, okay then. I cut some Georgia Pacific card stock, and I decided to include rectangles since that's what I tend to use most. I figured that as long as I stuck to the prescribed sizes, I should be alright. This was one way to find out. The sizes I cut were 3 1/4" x 5", 5" x 5", and 5" x 6 3/4", typical sizes that I might use for card-making.

Once again winging it due to the LACK of instructions, I decided that it made the most sense to punch the corners first. That was easy. No problem punching through the card stock at all.

Having done that, I set the corner punch aside and pulled out the border punch. As you can see, there are marks that show you exactly how you need to place the punched corner design so that it will line up properly with the border. HA! This is why I punched the corners first!

And just like that, I had the beginning of a nice continuous design running along one edge and two corners. Nifty! This border punch went through the card stock easily, too.

Did the same with the longer edge. It just required having to line the punch up twice to punch the full length. What I circled up above is what can happen when your measurements aren't quite exact. I was probably a shade over 5" when I cut that edge of the card stock. It wasn't anything that a little snip with some sharp scissors couldn't take care of, but it's something to keep in mind if you're planning to try this system.

You do exactly the same thing for the square design--punch the corners, then punch twice using the border design along each side.

This is a photo of the 6 3/4" x 5" size. That long edge needs to be punched three times to cover the distance.

If you look at the border punch, there are silhouette marks so that you can line up your design properly to make it continuous. By the way, it doesn't have to match up perfectly. I found that you can be a tad off and it'll still work, so there's a little wiggle room there.

That's the photo that shows the now continuous border.

And here's the whole piece. The whole process actually goes very quickly.

Just thought I'd mention that the corner punch can look quite nice by itself.

And if you get in a bind and can't remember what those card stock measurements are supposed to be, or if you didn't know because there were NO instructions included with your punches, you can still punch a fun non-continuous design.

And here's a card sample. The Loops design is a fun one to use with bright colors and with designer card stocks, too. The sentiment is by Studio G, the flower is by Bazzill and the leaves are Primas.

Overall my experience with this continuous edge system was positive. I like being able to punch a design around a corner for a different look. Fiskars has a system for doing this, too. Unlike this set though, they included instructions for how to use theirs and what size to make the card stock! That was my big gripe. There really should have been some mention of the dimensions that are needed to make this system to work. They're going to have some unhappy customers when they can't get the punched designs to line up properly.

It's a bit of a drawback that you have to go up in size in 1 3/4" intervals, too. If I remember correctly, the Fiskars went up by 1" intervals, so that's a bit more flexible in terms of sizes of layers that can be punched. It's a minor issue that you have to be somewhat precise in cutting your card stock or paper to size.

I did like that these punches are easier to store. They made it easy to line up the designs for continuous punching. The punches worked well for me, too. I know that some folks have had issues with punches not going through card stock. I didn't have that problem.

Hope that helps if you're thinking about buying one of these sets for punching continuous edges. I'm going to have to start making more square cards now so that I can get more bang for my buck. ;-)

more fun with the Scor-It ruler

In my recent post describing the Scor-It ruler, I tried my hand at a pattern of scores that I'd seen on the Scor-It site called Starbursts. I'd modified it a bit by making my scores a little farther apart. This time I took that same idea and modified it a little more. I made my initial scores 1/2" apart in the starburst pattern, then I turned my card stock over and repeated the scores 1/2" apart, but made them halfway between each of the original scores. Follow that? So basically I ended up with mountain and valley scores that were 1/4" apart and which look kinda neat when they're in a starburst pattern.


This is what I mean. There are scored lines every 1/4", but they alternate being debossed vs embossed. I know that wasn't a great photo, but it still showed the effect of the alternating scores rather nicely.


Here it is on a quickie card. The stamped image is by Hero Arts. The sentiment is by PSX. The die cuts were made using a Sizzlit embosslit die. All inks are Memento dye inks.

I'm having a lot of fun playing with this new Scor-It ruler. :-)

Guest Design Spot: flower pounding

Please note: this article was originally published on the Cuttlebug Challenge blog. I think enough time has passed that I'm publishing it here as well so that it can go out to my email subscribers and be linked along with my other tutorials.

Hello everyone! This is Jay from IndigoInklings dropping by for another visit this month at Maggie's request. Recently I read about a technique that was done using the Wizard by Spellbinders. It's called flower pounding. Flower pounding itself isn't new. As you might guess, it's been done using a hammer or a mallet and a nice flat solid surface. Flowers were placed atop paper and pounded to release and transfer the pigment. What was different was that this was done with less effort (and noise!) by using a die cutting machine. I decided to adapt this technique for the Cuttlebug and share it here.

Now thankfully, this time of year there are lots of flowers in my backyard. These are a few that I picked just for this project. Love the wonderful variety of shapes, textures, and colors!

What you need to have on hand for flower pounding, besides some fresh flowers, are your Cuttlebug machine and plates and some card stock or water color paper. What I did was cut the sheets in half and then fold each half in half to make a folder. There's no need to be neat about this. I know my Scor-It is in the photo, but it was there primarily to be a nice backdrop.

Here is the sandwich that I used for flower pounding: A, B, and C plates, with the flowers placed inside the folder. I've found that the side that releases most of the pigment is the face of the flower, so if you don't use a folder, then put the bloom face down onto your card stock, then cover it with a layer of scrap paper before sandwiching it and putting it through.

Here you can see that I did place the folder between the plates before rolling it through. You can also see why I used a folder. This can be a juicy project. Depending on what type of flower you use, it can be really juicy! This is why I mentioned that water color paper would also be a good option.

This is what it looked like when I opened up the folder. You can see that pigment has been transferred from these shrub rose blooms to the card stock.

This is how it looked after I peeled the flower petals etc away. Both sides of the folder are potentially usable, so that's another neat thing.

Here is the same sandwich, different flowers. These were much thinner than the first blooms. I had a shim handy, just in case it looked like the blooms needed to be squeezed harder, but I didn't need it. It's a good idea to have at least one or two of them close by though.

Again, here is the folder opened up.

And this is the design that's left once the flowers are removed. You can gently rub the flowers off with a finger. Often you can peel up an edge of a petal with a fingernail then pull it off the rest of the way. I found that using a scrap piece of card stock as a scraper worked nicely, too.

This is one more example with a Bachelor Button. I used watercolor paper for this one. I've had a lot of moisture get forced out of this type of flower before, so I learned from that!

This is one side of the outside of the folder after rolling it through.

This is the other side. I really liked the colors and the delicate look.

Here is the folder opened up. The flower was squeezed from the top then down toward the stem. This is why I also tended to place my flowers near the edge of the folder that would be going through the machine first. Think of the Cuttlebug as a wringer with all of the pigment and moisture getting squeezed out and forced along as the bloom moves between the rollers. It's much less messy to have excess folder at the trailing edge to catch all of that. Yes, as you might guess, that's the voice of experience. :-)

This is one side with the flower parts removed.

This is the other side. The amount of pigment left by the flowers can be impressive. And don't discount the stems and leaves, or the stamen and the pollen. They can all leave color, shapes, and texture behind.

This is a card made with flower pounded shrub roses. Notice the bright yellow that was transferred from the pollen. You might recognize the scalloped QuicKutz border embossing folder that I used as the background for their layer. The sentiment is by Hero Arts and was stamped using Memento dye ink.

Since the pounded Yellow Loosestrife blooms left behind an image so reminiscent of stars, I paired them with the above sentiment from The Little Prince made by Silver Crow Creations, and I added some QuicKutz die cut flourishes.

The focus of this card is that Bachelor Button "image" that was on the outside of the folder. As I said, the delicate look appealed to me and I wanted to go with something more subtle. The stamped sentiment is by Hampton Art Stamps and I added the score lines using my Scor-It.

I made this last card using one of the images made with a shrub rose bloom. I cut and embossed it using Spellbinders Nestabilities dies and layered it on top of white card stock with some decorative scoring that I again made using my Scor-It. The decorative edges were made using the Fiskars Upper Crest border punch. The sentiment is by Hero Arts and was stamped using white craft ink.

So, no tips or tricks using embossing folders this time, but I hope that I've inspired you to try a technique that doesn't get much more complicated than going outside and picking some flowers. I've found that fresh blooms work better, by the way. Again, it's that voice of experience. :-) And for those of you who are Big Shot users, or even owners of the original red Sizzix machine, click on over to my blog where I've described how to flower pound using those die cutters.

Have a good day everyone! Enjoy your weekends! And be sure to have fun checking out all of the special features that will be published on this blog in the upcoming days. :-)

Another Guest Designer Spot

Just a quick post to say that I'm doing another guest visit over at the Cuttlebug Challenge blog. I'm giving the low-down on flower pounding using the Cuttlebug. I've already talked here about this technique using the Big Shot and the original Sizzix.

And while you're over there, be sure to check out their previews for the 5x7 inch size winter-themed embossing folders that ProvoCraft is due to release. It's the post right after mine, or you can click on that "previews" link I've provided.

Scor-It ruler

I'm not sure how I missed this, but Scor-It has come out with a sliding ruler that fits onto the large original Scor-It boards. I love my Scor-It, and I liked the idea of having a way to measure at the opposite edge of my paper or card stock. I had to give it a try.

That's my board with the new sliding ruler attached. It's all metal and has inches on one edge and metric measurements on the other. It also has a raised area that accommodates the rail that helps create those nifty score lines and notches at that zero centering mark.

The ruler is essentially clipped on the board. Since it's metal, you can bend the sides in or out a bit to adjust how tightly it fits on the board. Mine was originally very snug. I bent the sides out just a bit and now the ruler slides up and down the board easily.

Here I was just trying to show that having the second ruler is nice when you want to make sure that everything is lined up nice and square. You can also slip that bottom edge of your paper or card stock underneath the ruler to help hold it in place. I did this a few times. The ruler didn't make a score mark where the raised rail is, so that worked nicely.

That notched area is also very handy because you can take your scoring tool all the way to the bottom edge of the card stock for a complete score.

Having the ruler at the bottom also helps as far as making very accurate and quick measurements. You can see exactly how far you've moved the paper or card stock at each end when making multiple scores, particularly diagonal scores. Makes it easier to make fun scored designs.

This is a card that I made using that piece of scored card stock. The images are by Penny Black and stamped using Memento dye inks.

I scored this card using my Scor-It, too. The images are by H & M stamps and also stamped using Memento dye inks.

All in all, I'd have to give a thumbs-up on the addition of the Scor-It ruler. I'd already used an extra ruler at times when making score lines. It's very nice to have one that can stay attached to the board, accommodates the scoring rail, and glides up and down the board very easily. I noticed that Scor-It has also added an online store to their site. That was just a little late for me since I'd bought mine elsewhere after not finding it anywhere locally. Now if they only sold some of those replacement rubber feet for the board. Mine lost one somewhere along the line and I suspect that I may have tossed it after finding it and not knowing what it was. Oops. :-)

more fun with punch & stamp sets

I'll admit it. I love playing with crafting tools. :-) I reviewed the EK Success Paper Shapers Punch & Stamps sets recently. I really liked the way the Black-Eyed Susan set did its job. I decided to try out some other ones.

I made this card by embossing the card front with an A2 size Sizzix folder from the textured impressions Spring Set 2 . Love the way it covers the entire front! I used the circle punch & stamp set to make the heart-stamped, round flower center from decorative paper. The heart-shaped petals were made using the heart punch & stamp set. The sentiment is by Hot Off the Press, and all inks were Memento.

I really like how simple it is to get a nicely placed stamped design on a punched shape using these sets. I'm not saying that it can't be done by stamping, centering the image and punching with a regular punch, but this takes the guesswork out of it, and I like that a lot! I have a clear alphabet stamp set that I want to use with these next. Seems like this should be great for making words etc.

And woo hoo! My web site is back up and my blog background once again looks much more interesting than plain white. :-)

selective double embossing

I'm not sure why it never occurred to me to do this before, but I decided that I'd try combining creative Cuttling with double Cuttling. This is not to be confused, however, with creative double Cuttling (LOL!)--this was where I used one folder design, left an unembossed area, then embossed that area with a different design. This time I selectively embossed the same area twice, leaving an area of my card front completely unembossed. I hope you followed that. :-)

Now since I didn't use any Cuttlebug embossing folders, I thought I'd better not call it Cuttling, but rather just "embossing". And instead of having that fun alliterative term, creative Cuttling, I went with the more boring but perhaps more accurate description of "selective" embossing. I added the "double" since I embossed twice.

Here are the cards that resulted from my playing around with these techniques....


I embossed the above card using two A2 size Sizzix embossing folders and left the oval opening by using a wooden die cut frame to selectively emboss my card front. The flower image and sentiment are by H and M stamps and were stamped using Memento dye ink.

For this card, I again embossed the card front by using two A2 size Sizzix embossing folders. This time I used a wooden frame die cut with a rectangular opening to leave the space for the flower design and sentiment which are both by Studio G. Again, these were stamped using Memento dye inks.

My original plan had been to further embellish these two cards. I may still add a little something. But I think that the embossing already adds quite a bit of visual interest, which is also the reason why I left the embossing unaccented. I think it stands out rather nicely on its own.

So, that's my latest twist on using these embossing folders. It's fun to double emboss, but if you do this directly on a card front, I'd recommend using a heavier weight card stock that will hold up nicely even through a couple of embossings.

One more thing, you might have noticed that I've lost, hopefully temporarily, my usual blog background and any photos and files on this blog that are hosted by or linked to my personal web site. For some reason my site is down, so those things are unavailable at the moment. I've sent up an SOS to my provider's customer service department, so hopefully things will be fixed up soon.

Guest Designer Spot: let's talk about embossing folders

Please note: this article was originally published on the Cuttlebug Challenge blog. I think enough time has passed that I'm publishing it here as well so that it can go out to my email subscribers and be linked along with my other tutorials.

Hi, this is Jay from IndigoInklings, and I'm back for one of my monthly Guest Designer visits. I thought it would be fun to talk briefly about using other manufacturers' embossing folders with the Cuttlebug, and talk in more detail about the new QuicKutz border embossing folders and how to use them with the Cuttlebug.

I think everyone is familiar with the Cuttlebug embossing folders by ProvoCraft. Sizzix was the next to come out with embossing folders, and QuicKutz has been the most recent to begin producing these.


For now you'll have to trust me that there is one of each brand of A2 folder in the photo above. The ProvoCraft is on top, the QuicKutz next, and the Sizzix on the bottom. What I want to show is that the Sizzix folks listened to crafters and made their folders just a bit wider so that their designs truly cover the entire front of an A2 size card.


Okay, see? There they are. The QuicKutz has the distinctive blue tint.


Just wanted to give you a side view of the folders. They're similar in thickness, but I'll just remind you that if you're not getting as crisp and clear an emboss as you'd like, gradually add thin shims until you're happy with what you're seeing--then make a note of it for next time.


Here is a typical set of Sizzix embossing folders. They sell their product in sets--the folders are usually of varying sizes but the designs are coordinated so that they can be used in combination on a card front or layout.


This is a sampling of QuicKutz embossing folders. They have the A2 size, the 2x2 inch size, and they have the large 2x12 inch border folders. The borders and A2 folders are sold individually; the 2x2's are sold in sets, like the small ProvoCraft folders.

All of these folders can be used with the Cuttlebug machine. I use the same sandwich for the Sizzix and QuicKutz folders that I do for the ProvoCraft Cuttlebug folders.

That's my quick overview of the embossing folders currently out on the market. Now I'd like to talk in more detil about the QuicKutz border folders.


First off, yes, they can be used in the Cuttlebug. (They can be used in the Big Shot, too, but I'll mainly stick to descriptions for the C'bug here.) The sandwich is the same one that you'd normally use for ProvoCraft embossing folders: A plate, B plate, embossing folder with card stock inside, B plate. It's the length of these folders that make using them a little tricky, but that's only because you have to put the sandwich through twice to emboss the full length.


Here's how I made my first pass. I staggered the stack just a bit. This makes it a little easier to feed it through.


Here's how it looks so far.


Now I've moved the plates to the other end of the folder and I'm going to go ahead and just feed that unsandwiched end through first. It's always a good idea to lead with the folded edge if possible. I staggered the plates just a bit again, too.


Here's the full length of the embossed card stock.


And since I think I actually showed the debossed side up there, here's the other side. :-)

Quick aside for Big Shot users: you can do the same with your machine, just use the multipurpose platform on either No Tabs (what I use) or Tab 1, and sandwich the folder between the clear cutting plates as you normally would.

Now a simpler way to accomplish the same thing would be to use the Sizzix extended platform and the cutting plates that are made for use with the Sizzix decorative border dies.


Here you see the extended platform that I was talking about.


It is conveniently very close to the same thickness as the A plate. Big Shot users, you could use this instead of the multipurpose platform.


So the stack/sandwich is: extended platform, extended cutting plate, border embossing folder with card stock inside, extended cutting plate. Roll it through.


Voila! One pass. Easy peasy. I wouldn't recommend buying these items just for this, but if you happen to have them or come across them on clearance or something somewhere, it does simplify things.

But you know, why stop at just embossing these borders the regular way? We crafters like to innovate, right? Let's take things a step farther.


Here I have 4 one inch wide strips of chipboard that I wish were 12" long rather than the 11" that they were in reality. Through the magic of the internet though, it can seem like they were 12" long and it can look like I did the following in one pass. LOL!


In the photo above, I removed the extended cutting plate that had been on the bottom, put the previously embossed card stock that I showed you into a different border folder (one with a line of large dots that happen to be one inch wide), and placed it directly onto the platform. I placed my stack of chipboard strips on top of the circle designs, topped that with an extended cutting plate, and ran it through the machine.


Here's how that piece of embossed card stock looked after that. By the way, I used the chipboard to keep from flattening out the original embossing--a form of selective embossing, eh? This is one of the ways that I've described on my blog for avoiding those unsightly folder lines. In the same way that I don't like to have stray marks made by folder edges, sometimes I don't want to flatten out existing embossing either. This is how I choose where I'd like the pressure to be applied to a folder so that I can avoid flattening embossed images if I don't have to.


You can also embellish the plain scalloped border this way.

So, these border embossing folders would be a fun way to embellish scrapbook layouts. They're a true 12" length, though the widths of the designs vary.

I thought that you might like to see that these can be used for card-making, too, so here are some cards that I worked up.


For this card I used the QuicKutz scalloped border and the QK dots border embossing folders. The stamped images are by Chatterbox and stamped using Memento dye inks. The embellishments are by Hero Arts.


The QuicKutz border for this card is the scallops and dots. The flowers are by Bazzill and Prima. The sentiment is by Amuse Artistamps.


I did a little something different on this card. I embossed it with the A2 damask embossing folder by Sizzix. You can see how it embossed the entire card front. I embossed over that with the QuicKutz scalloped border which left a faint impression of the original embossing. I didn't do it justice in the photo, but looking at it in real life, it almost looks like there's a scalloped border vellum overlay on the card. The sentiment is by My Sentiments Exactly and was stamped using Memento ink. The punched embellishments were made using the EK Success Black-Eyed Susan Punch & Stamp set and Memento inks.


For this last card I wanted to show that you can use other border folders in combination with the QuicKutz borders. This is the QK scallops and dots combined with one of the Cuttlebug Just My Type border folders. I added the scored lines using my Scor-It to set off that border design a bit more. The sentiment is by Hero Arts and stamped using Memento ink. The stick pin embellishment is by Maya Road.

I hope that gives you some useful information regarding all of these embossing folders that have become available recently. I also hope that I've given you a bit of inspiration as far as some fun ways in which some of these new border folders can be used both individually and in combination to dress up cards quickly and easily. If I managed to inspire you, I love hearing about it and seeing what you've made. Feel free to leave a link here or on my blog so that I can take a peek and be inspired by your creativity, too. :-)

Thanks, and I'll see you next time!