improvising with L LetterPress printing plates

L has come out with accessories for the QuicKutz Epic 6 Machine that let a crafter do home letterpress printing. Letterpress printing is basically relief printing of text or images; that is, the printed word or text is debossed--think engraved invitations. Sounded neat to me.

I did a little research. Their starter kit came with a platform, plates to which you adhere your various printing plates and attach your paper, black oil-based ink, another plate for holding ink, and a roller for rolling out that ink and applying it to the plates. It also came with some specialty paper which sounded a lot thicker than the usual card stock, even heavy weight card stocks. It was the paper that sounded like it was the key.

Well, I wasn't sure that letterpress printing was something that I really wanted to invest a lot of time or money in, so I decided to just see what the paper was like and maybe try one set of plates. I didn't buy the starter kit. I decided that I could improvise for now.

My apologies. I took these pics with my cell phone. I was in a hurry. My supplies included duct tape, Versafine ink, two clear Big Shot cutting plates, a sheet of letterpress paper, a damask printing plate and repositionable poster tape as well as a few pieces of painter's tape.

I attached the two cutting plates using the duct tape. Placed end to end as you can see above, I left a gap of about 1/4" between them. This made a hinge that allowed room for sandwiching the printing plate and paper between them. I used the straight edges of the painter's tape to mark the position of my paper.

In this photo you can see the paper placed on the plate in the foreground. The damask printing plate image has been adhered to the other plate with the poster tape.

Now, I tend to shy away from using my brayer. I just don't like dealing with having to get the ink evenly applied to it and then having to clean it up again later. I applied the ink directly onto the plate using the inkpad. It's probably not as even as it would have been had I rolled it out, but I think dealing with less mess is worth it. I used the Versafine ink because it's oil-based and because I like the detail that it picks up and the easy clean up.

I rolled the sandwich through my Big Shot using my multipurpose platform open to Tab 1. I thought it needed to be just a little tighter, so I added a shim--the Cuttlebug embossing folder backing material that I typically add. This is another time when it's best to start thin. These printing plates are made from a clear plastic that definitely feels like it could easily crack.

Here's how it looked when I opened up the sandwich. The debossing was nice and deep, but hard to appreciate just by looking, even in real life.

I thought I'd try running an uninked plate through the machine. That's the Thank You that's in the photo above.

I think the debossing is easier to appreciate now, despite the low quality of the photo.

So, this is a fun twist on traditional stamping and embossing. It's neat in that unlike the debossing that you can do with embossing folders, the back of the paper remains nice and flat. My method is admittedly full of ways in which things could go wrong. A real hinge on the plates to keep them nice and stable would be a big help. Not sure what the plates are like in the starter kit, but I've heard that there's a bit of play in them, so they don't sound quite perfect either. My poster tape method doesn't cover the entire back of the printing plate so it's possible that I'm not getting as even a deboss as if I used a sheet of adhesive over the whole thing. I'm sure that I wasn't able to apply the ink quite as evenly as I could have with a brayer. Like I said, I was willing to sacrifice that quality for this quick test. I also used a more crude method of keeping my paper in place. The starter kit comes with some paper positioners that sound sort of like rectangular pop dots. Since I was only running the image through in one color, I wasn't really worried about precise positioning. I think I could have safely used more painter's tape to hold the paper more steady without harming it though.

Bottom line? This was a fun technique to try. I think I'll definitely be using the plates for doing some debossing, inked and uninked. I haven't tried any other paper yet. Watercolor paper would be tempting. The thickness of the paper made for use with the LetterPress plates is key though. Makes a big difference and a beautiful result!

news for C'bug owners

If you're a crafter, this is a fun weekend! Most of us didn't make it to Anaheim for CHA, aka the Craft and Hobby Association Craft Supershow, but I've been having a fun time checking out blogs and updates on the new items coming out from various manufacturers.

Making Memories has a system for making the Slice a hands-off machine. It involves using a cutting pad that is glass on one side, an embossing surface on the other, and a metal plate sandwiched between. The metal allows the Slice to be affixed to the glass or embossing surface via magnets that are attached to a plastic collar that's fitted to the Slice's base. That was very slick design work! Looks like it works like a charm. I also read that they'll be releasing some colored pen attachments later this spring, which sound like fun, and there are new cards on the way as well.

Spellbinders already held their week of sneak peeks at their new dies. Some of those looked great!

The other items that caught my eye were the new embossing folders and dies made by Sizzix in association with Tim Holtz, his Alterations line. He has his own machine, too! It's electric and looks like a vintage suitcase--very cool. And Tim has new colors of Distress Inks being released, among many other fun things. Check out his blog for more details, but his embossing folders will not only have great designs but vary the depth of the embossing as well. Fun stuff! Love innovative ideas like that! These will be in the larger size of the usual Sizzix folders, too, so they'll emboss an entire A2 size card front.

What I saw just a little while ago is that ProvoCraft is finally catching up with some of the items that have been missing from their arsenal. They're coming out with some 12" border dies that look similar to the ones by QuicKutz, at least in the photos. They'll be releasing some dies that cut and emboss and that sound quite similar to the Sizzix Cut 'n Emboss dies. And they're finally making long cutting plates available--13" A and B plates, which is good news for those of you who want to use those long borders without having to make two passes or want to use the Sizzix XL Bigz dies without having to figure out how to resize the Sizzix plates to fit. For pure aesthetics, they're going to release the Cuttlebug in a couple of new colors, a red and a blue, both with flourishes. Sounds like the machine is otherwise unchanged. Then there will be a new batch of embossing folders released later this spring. I read most of this C'bug info on Pezadoodle's blog, so click over there to see her take on these and her photos as well.

Lots of fun stuff being released over the next few months! I just touched on some of the stuff that sounds intriguing to me. Hope you've been saving your pennies!

Edited to add: Just saw another video of Cuttlebug's new product that cuts & embosses. I shortchanged them. This line is called the Emboss Plus. These are A2 and probably 5 x 7 size folders, multilayered--they do cut and emboss in one pass. One layer can be peeled back so that the design can be inked (worked like a stencil). The flip side shows the image(s) of the design(s) on the folder. Looked like about 10 folder designs being released. Should be interesting!

Sizzix ScoreBoard XL dies

I couldn't resist trying this new offering from Sizzix. These are similar to their other XL Bigz dies but they cut and score matboard and chipboard, with the recommended thicknesses of the board being between 0.04" and 0.055" for the best results. I thought I'd get the most use from the Memo Holder and I was excited when this die arrived in the mail yesterday.

Here's how things went....

I started with getting out my Big Shot and the extended cutting pads. I also pulled out my rotary cutter, cutting mat, ruler, and some matboard. I cut the matboard down to a size that would fit nicely through my Big Shot--this was roughly 3 3/4" wide and 18" long.

Here's the usual sandwich. It rolled easily through my machine. From the bottom up: clear cutting plate, die cutting side up, matboard, other clear cutting plate. Yes, the die will fit through the opening of the Cuttlebug, but the extended cutting plates made by Sizzix are too wide--this is the same as with the other Bigz and XL Bigz dies as noted before.

Here are all of the pieces, cut and scored.

Here it is folded along the score lines.

In this photo I wanted to show that I used adhesive Velcro dots to keep the flap closed over the 3" x 3" size Post-It note pad that I'd adhered using my ATG. I think ideally I'd use the magnetic snap closures, but I couldn't find mine. I hate it when I clean up and then I can't find stuff! LOL!

Here's the finished product. Sorry, I forgot to take a photo where the memo pad was actually showing. But the holder was made from matboard. The flowers were chipboard by DCWV and the I used self-adhesive pearls for the embellishment. The finished measurements are roughly 3 3/8" x 3 1/4" x 1/2".

This Sizzix ScoreBoard Memo Holder die worked beautifully. It cut through the matboard and chipboard without any problems at all. The scoring was perfect. It assembled very easily and the end result is that I made a very nice sturdy memo holder in a very short amount of time. I think it probably took me longest to locate all of the paraphernalia that I needed. :-) Typical.

scoring late in the game ;-)

I wanted to share a few cards that I made over the holidays that I didn't post here. They were originally made for sharing in the Scor-It newsletter, but it looks like they've started up their own design team now so I'll go ahead and share these here.

I made these using the full-size Scor-It board and Scor-It ruler. I like finding unusual ways of using scoring on my cards and these are a couple of great tools for doing just that.

Starting simply, a grid pattern can be easily made using the new ruler and it can add visual interest to a card front as above. This is a card that came in a box of premade, prefolded, blank seasonal cards. I added the stamped sentiment, the punched bird, and the grid scoring, and just like that it became a more interesting and more unique card. Some touches with a glitter pen would add some fun sparkle, too. I may have to do that.

I also like stamping bolder images on designer cardstocks and papers for making a quick card.

Here I added the flourished bird design to the preprinted card stock.

For a special touch, I added some diagonal scores in a pattern that resembles a beam of light. Again, very easy to accomplish using the Scor-It board and ruler. I scored right over the top of the design, after making sure that the ink had dried, of course. :-) I've used this scoring pattern before, using stamped images at the upper and lower corners where the cardstock is unscored. I like the look of scoring over the images themselves, too.

And finally I have a card that took a little more time to make, but I thought that the effect was worth it. This was inspired by a card that I saw on Splitcoast Stampers but done a different way.

I started out with a piece of A2 size white cardstock and stamped a flourish image multiple times in a couple of colors to make a subtle background.

I then turned this face down onto my Scor-It board and proceeded to score a brick-like pattern. I started with horizontal scores 1/2" apart then added short vertical scores to make 1" wide bricks. I staggered the scores to make it look more realistic.

So now I've got that nice background pattern and the scored design.

Another thing that's fun about the Scor-It is that it makes such crisp, deep scores. I took advantage of that in this step where I stamped a flourished bird onto the front using black ink. The bird image helped bring out that brick pattern of scoring even more, and I really liked that effect. It's even more stunning with a more solid stamp design, as you might imagine.

This is my finished card. I trimmed some of the bricks away to give that central image more interest.

Here's a closer view....

It can be a lot of fun to using scoring in decorative ways. The Scor-It board and ruler can add more than just a professional hinge score to your cards, though that's definitely a great start. :-) Creating 3D projects and using scoring in creative ways on card fronts, layers, and die cuts with these tools opens up a world of creative possibilities.

BTW, it also looks like the Scor-It folks are coming up with more ideas for accessories. The latest newsletter shows pics of their new Position-It. It looks like a fancier version of a stamp positioner. I'll be interested to see what advantages it has to offer over my tried and true Stamp-a-ma-jig. They also have new pink Scor-It boards being released soon. As I recall, it'll be neat because the rulers will have both inches/metric measurements, plus there'll be another size board added to the arsenal, smaller than the original but larger than the mini--made to accommodate A4 size European cards. Oh, and the tool will be stainless steel rather than wood.

Oops, almost forgot to include credits--all of the above card images were by Inkadinkado and stamped using Memento inks. The cardinal in the first card was made using a Martha Stewart punch. The snowflake embossing in the last card was made using a Sizzix textured impressions embossing folder.

quick peek

Over the holidays I managed to acquire a Slice at a good price. I'd never been all that interested in computerized die cut machines, but the Slice seems to fit exactly what I'd use an electronic cutter for, and that's card making.

That said, I'm sharing a project that I made using my Slice. Is it a card? Of course not! LOL! But I found out that the Slice can cut adhesive backed vinyl quite nicely. I'd been wondering if vinyl would work--it's used with the Cricut, eh? I gave it a try. When I saw that it would work, it started the wheels turning.

Some time ago, I did some glass etching using stamping supplies. It was great fun! It was a little tricky to etch words though, especially if etching the bottom of a plate or something like that. Stamp your words and they'd end up being backward. I left that alone for a while, but then I started playing with the Slice and BINGO! You can cut out letters, letters that could spell words, especially if they didn't already have the words you needed on one of their nifty cards, AND you could mirror the letters! Backward writing would work! That's my theory anyway. I haven't actually tested it yet. I did test the vinyl in unmirrored form. First things first. Had to make sure this would work.

This is several steps into the process. I'd not been planning on sharing this, but then it turned out well and I had to share. So, up above is a glass container with black vinyl letters and flourishes adhered to one side. I used painter's tape to mask off the area that I wanted to cover with the glass etching cream. This is the stage where I'd just rinsed off the cream. The cloudy look to the glass is the etched effect. It was quite clear at the start.

Here I've removed the painter's tape and pulled part of the "H" away. This is the fun part, the point where you really start seeing the effect of the etching.

Here it is with all of the vinyl removed. Worked out nicely, I thought! This is a four-sided jar and I etched the other sides using the vinyl technique as well as the Versamark and embossing powder technique that I've described before for some of the images. I can't share those right now (since this is a gift-shhhh!), but they turned out quite nicely, too. :-)

And I'd thought that I'd just be using the Slice for card making.... ;-)

Martha stamp/punch pack: how-to

I'd been browsing stamping forums and had seen the question of how to use the new Martha Stewart Stamp & Punch come up a few times. From what I'd gathered, they did come with instructions, apparently vague instructions. Hm, sounds like those corner/border punch combos. I also wondered if they were perhaps like the EK Success Punch & Stamps sets. I like these. They're fun in that they stamp and punch at the same time. I've described how they work here on this blog before. I thought that maybe these new punches worked the same way. I hadn't seen one to check it out.

Well, after dropping the younger daughter at a friend's house the other night, I popped into Michael's to see if they had any of these punches in stock. I had a coupon for the week that I hadn't used yet. They had some! They were also on sale and my coupon would have gotten me a better deal, but I did what any good stamper would do and bought a set then found something else that I "needed" to use my coupon on. The bottom line? These do not work the same way as the EK Success punches. These should be called Stamp Then Punch packs. When you buy a set, you get the shaped punch and three small clear stamps that you use to decorate your punched shape; you do ink and stamp before punching it out though.

Here's how it works:

Above you can see the bird Stamp & Punch pack as it's meant to be stored once it's out of the packaging.

It has a removable cover over the storage space for the clear stamps that coordinate with the punch shape. I found two stamps separate, in a compartment with the cover in the original packaging. The other stamp was inside this storage space. So, you should find three clear stamps. If you don't, check that storage area, and also take a good look at the clear stamps that were separate--they may be stuck back to back.

These are the three stamps that came with my bird set. They're round, clear stamps with a smooth flat side and a tab that sticks out at one edge.

The cover of the storage compartment doubles as the stamp mount. If you look at the flip side, there's a smooth area at the center and a raised rim around the edge. This is where the stamp is seated. My curved red double headed arrow is showing a gap in the rim--this is where the tab should go. This orients the stamp image properly when you go to stamp it--it'll match up with the image on the flip side.

This photo shows the three images that I stamped using the three stamps. I used Memento ink because I like it and because I have all of the colors in that nice small dewdrop shape that makes it easy to ink up small stamps in tight spaces. Notice that I stamped along the top edge of my card stock. Regardless of what shape punch you buy, if you're using a large piece of paper or card stock you'll want to take care to punch along the top edge so that once you stamp the image you'll be able to insert it into the punch in the right direction.

See? This is what I mean. If I'd punched along the side or bottom edge, I'd have had to cut my card stock so that it could be oriented properly. Of course if you're using a small piece of paper or card stock it might not matter that much. Just leave yourself enough extra room to maneuver it into the right position. You can see that I lined up my first image with the punch opening. Yes, you're now looking at the bottom of the punch. You flip it over to use it.

This is how it looks once it's punched out.

Here are the other images once I punched them out.

And here's one last closer view so that you can see how the different stamps give different looks--same punch, same ink, same card stock, just used the different stamped images.

For those of you who've been having trouble using these, I hope these instructions and images help a bit. I agree that the instructions that came with this Martha punch set could have been more descriptive and more useful, but that seems to be the way of things with a number of her items. This isn't a difficult set to use, and it's fun to have a punch that exactly matches the stamped images. I think I still would have preferred something similar to the EK Success set up of stamping and punching simultaneously though--more efficient and more foolproof.

Chewy chill-axin'

Most people would probably think that a cold snap would be a great time for hunkering down at home and crafting. Well, that would have been great if we hadn't had to start replacing appliances that have all begun to have issues. UGH. We now have a new washer/dryer. We're orking on replacing the wall oven/microwave combo. Such fun! But enough of that.

Since some of you have commented on Chewy, the white furry half of my profile pic, I thought I'd share a photo that I took of him this morning. It had been VERY cold for the last several days, with the thermometer outside reading 0 degrees F in the morning more often than not. Today it was about 10 and we're supposed to get into the mid-20s by later today. Whoa! It's a heatwave! LOL! Really! Apparently Chewy thought it was a heatwave.


See? He did his usual patrol of the perimeter of the yard then plopped himself down in the snow for a little rest. He chilled out there for a minute or two and then trotted back to the door to be let inside. What a rough life. :-)

Happy New Year!

Belated holiday greetings to those of you who are still checking in here. :-) It's been a busy holiday season, but a fun one. I wanted to share one of the versions of my holiday cards for 2009. I made these in various colors, keeping the same general theme.


This one happens to be the light green. I used pre-folded, textured cards by DCWV, embossed the trees across the bottom, adding some sparkle to them with Copic Spica glitter pens. The sentiment is by Hero Arts. The die cuts were made using Martha Stewart punches.

Happy New Year, everyone!