Works for Cuttlebug small folders, too

Just in case there are those out there who either didn't make the leap or weren't sure whether this notion would work, let me elaborate a little more on preventing folder lines. My last two posts on this subject addressed those new border folders. You can use the same idea for the small Cuttlebug folders. Those have been known to leave those pesky folder lines, too.

So, here are a couple of those folders, along with the border folders and the craft sticks that I'd used with them.


I found that other craft stick at the bottom of the photo in my stash. It's nice because it runs the full length of the border die. The small craft stick comes up just a tad short.

So, what I needed was something that would cover the embossed design of the small folders, but not overlap the folder edges. Sadly, none of my wood die cuts would fit the bill. At least not without some alterations.


What you see above is the back panel of some Cuttlebug packaging. Yeah, I still had that handy, and I guess I'm just determined to use it. LOL! I cut it into approximately 1 3/4" squares. That's big enough to cover most of the designs without catching the folder edges. I stacked eight of those to come up with the thickness that gave a nice impression. Your mileage may vary. :-) That gives you an idea of where to start though.


Another thing that you could do is use two of the bigger craft sticks side by side. Cutting one in half would do the trick. I'd thought about doing that, but my paper cutter and Cuttlebug scrap packaging were closer, quicker, and easier. And actually, you could use these craft sticks as I've shown up above without cutting them. Just let the extra length overlap the hinge of the folder--that edge doesn't leave a line anyway.


I left this card fairly plain, no score lines or ribbon, so you can see that there aren't any folder lines. These are all Cuttlebug embossing folders--the top is the new Forest Branches A2 embossing folder. I did the coloring with Memento dye ink, Prismacolor pencils, a black Sharpie, and a white Inkssentials opaque pen.

Preventing folder lines - Cuttlebug Users

Yesterday I experimented with eliminating border folder lines using my Big Shot. I thought that the same thing could be done using the Cuttlebug. Here's what worked for me and my machine. Keep in mind that machines can vary and some rollers are "tighter" than others, so if a "sandwich" is not rolling through easily, don't force it. You don't want to end up with a broken Cuttlebug. Just try a thinner sandwich.

The usual combo for using embossing folders is: plate A, plate B, cardstock inside the embossing folder, plate B. Since I'm using craft sticks which are fairly thick, I eliminated one of the B plates. Here's how I set things up.


I didn't use the bottom B plate. I put the folder and cardstock directly on top of plate A. I placed the craft stick on top of the border and topped that off with plate B.


Here's a closer look at how I placed the craft sticks. They're covering the design, but are well inside the edges of the folders. That's the important part. No pressure on the edges means no folder lines. I also want to point out how the two standard sizes of craft sticks work quite nicely with the sizes of these new embossing borders.


This shows how it turned out. Well, at least how it turned out after three passes. As I've said before, it's best to start thin, so since I didn't get a good impression the first time, I added a Cuttlebug packaging shim (It was handy. Go figure. LOL!). I ended up adding a second shim to get the result that is pictured above--a nice crisp emboss with no lines.

By the way, I tried using plate A with plate C (Plate C is thicker than plate B and I thought it might eliminate having to use the shims.), but this combo was too thick to put through easily.

So, I offer this up as an option for Cuttlebug users who are noticing those bothersome border folder lines and don't want to have to cover them, cut them off, or hide them with a score line. Just eliminate them from the start. :-)

Addendum (since there seems to be renewed interest in this post): You might be interested in peeking at a post that I made more recently which recaps many of the items that I've used for both eliminating folder lines and for selective embossing: About all of this Cuttling. Just FYI. :-)

Look, Ma! No lines!

I've been enjoying these new border embossing folders from Cuttlebug. It sounds like others have been, too. I've seen one question come up a few times. It's not a new one, but these new borders seem to have brought this issue to the forefront again. It's those pesky folder lines and how to get rid of them!

I decided to try to tackle this problem in a methodical way. When I modified the small Cuttlebug folders a while back, I'd eliminated the folder lines by changing the overall "thickness" of the stack that I put through my Big Shot. That is, I'd made the stack a bit thinner. It made, and still makes, sense--a thinner stack means less pressure on the folder, including the edges, and less likelihood of embossing those edges. Of course it also means that the image might not emboss as well, so it's a little tricky. I wanted to see if there was any other way to get rid of or avoid making those lines altogether. I tried a number of ways that I'd seen online.


First I had to find a border that would leave some distinct lines. I found this one from the Frills set. I'm not sure how well you can see the lines in the photo, but I could see them fairly clearly in real life, especially with indirect or oblique lighting hitting the test page. I used my Big Shot with the multipurpose platform, no tabs, and two clear plates, as usual.

Some of the techniques that I tried and subsequently discarded since I still saw lines:

1. Adding text weight paper inside the folder.
2. Adding text weight paper strip outside folder.
3. Adding cardstock strip outside of folder.
4. Using the somewhat softer Sizzix crease pad rather than a clear plate.

I'd read on the Provo Craft forum a while back that thin chipboard the thickness of the folder could help prevent fold lines. Didn't really work for me or for others that I'd heard from.

I decided that my best bet would be to alter the "stack" after all. I set my multipurpose platform to Tab 2 and eliminated one clear plate. That's too thin to get even a faint impression. I cut a thin shim from Cuttlebug packaging and added that. You can see in the photo up above that the impression wasn't very distinct. I added a second shim. You can see the results a bit better in the next photo.


You can see the nice crisp impression and no folder lines. YES!


For the purposes of experimenting here, I'd cut my shims the width of my cardstock. What I'll probably do is cut some to fit the full length of the border folder.


What I wanted to illustrate here is that I'd cut my shim so that it would apply pressure only to the embossed design and not put any pressure on the edges. And just for the sake of completeness, I tried running the cardstock and folder through using Tab 2, one clear plate and two full sized Cuttlebug packaging shims. That was still too much pressure on the edges and caused them to be embossed. So much for doing it an easier way without the cutting.

BUT WAIT! I'd had to pause here because, gee, the family was hungry and dinner was ready. I came back to this and had a *lightbulb* moment! This is very similar to creative Cuttling!

Okay, so I just now tried this. Here's an easier way to do accomplish what I did above, and no having to cut out shims from Cuttlebug packaging--though I have to say that recycling would be a good thing, eh?

1. Using my Big Shot and multipurpose platform, I went back to using no tabs.
   
2. I placed my cardstock inside the border embossing folder on the naked platform.
   
3. I placed a regular craft stick on top of the folder design.
   
4. I put the clear plate on top of that and ran it through. The result was a so-so impression, so....
5. I added a shim and ran it through again. BINGO! Good impression, no folder lines.
   

The best part? You can emboss the wider borders using the wider craft sticks! These are perfect for these borders! Most of us have these on hand. You don't need to make any specially cut shims and keep track of them. You may or may not need to shim with a layer of chipboard or cardstock to get the crispness that you like, but if you use the craft stick method, you shouldn't get a folder line because they're thinner than the folders. Woo hoo!

As for those of you with Cuttlebugs, I didn't pull mine out, but you should be able to accomplish something similar. Substitute a craft stick for one of your clear plates. The craft stick will most likely be thinner than the plate, so you'll need to shim to get to the right stack thickness to get a good impression. Work your way thicker slowly--you might be surprised at how little pressure it really takes to get a good impression--but you should be able to get to that point and not have a folder line.

Hope that helps everyone use these new embossing borders with less frustration. :-)