some blog housekeeping

It's storming here tonight and we finished watching "So You Think You Can Dance" not too long ago. We'll be checking YouTube tomorrow for videos of the two jazz numbers that we missed tonight because of Severe Weather Alert interruptions. Of course we rejoined programming just as the judges were gushing over the performances, both times. ARGH!

So anyway, just a short post tonight to say that I've updated the drop down menus in the sidebar. I realized last night that I hadn't kept up with listing and linking my more recent posts that might come in handy for future reference. I also came across some nice straightforward instructions for making blog comments numbered. If you run contests or giveaways, numbered comments can be very helpful. They're also useful when you're trying to reference or address a specific comment that's been made. The instructions can be found at Quite Random, and if you click on a post here on my blog that has comments, you should be able to see that they're now numbered. And if you hadn't heard or noticed, Blogger now has a blog search gadget that can be added to your blog. You add it the way that you add other gadgets--via Layout, then Add a Gadget. You can see that I've added it to my sidebar. That let me get rid of the navigation bar that used to live at the top of the blog page but didn't really go with my design. Hope some of you find those items useful. :-)

EK Success Paper Shapers Punch & Stamp set

As you might be able to tell from my weird posting schedule, it was a busy April and an even busier May around here. Now that most of the rush is over, I've been able to get back into some crafting and some blogging. Ahhhh!!! Sadly for the bank account, I also got back into some shopping for craft supplies. I do have to admit that being busy kept me out of trouble as far as that goes. But shop I did, and so I have a bit of a product review.

One of my late night internet stops was Joann's online. These days I mainly look. They did away with the Free Shipping Club so no more double-dipping with coupons. The danger with looking is that sometimes you find something that you need to try. Especially when it's on sale for 40% off. And especially if you do a quick search and find a code for free shipping on top of that!

What arrived the other day in my box of goodies was the Paper Shapers Punch and Stamp set by EK Success. I haven't bought shape punches in ages. I do find myself drawn to their edger punches or to various border punches, but not to shapes so much. I like Nesties for that--more variety, easier to store, take up less space, can emboss with them.... But this set was intriguing! It claimed to stamp an image AND punch it out, too! No having to flip the punch over and line up the design to punch it out. No trying to eyeball a stamp so that it ends up centered on a small punched out shape. Okay, you only get one shape and one size, but it has multiple stamps made to fit inside that shape, and they make sets of other stamps that are compatible. This had potential, especially since there are alphabet sets made to fit. These were new, so no reviews yet on the Joann site. The few I saw online were good. I had to try one.

Here's the scoop....


This is how it looks once it's been liberated from the plastic shell. This happens to be the medium Black-Eyed Susan set.


The handle lifts up and away to reveal the couple of things that make this punch unique.


This is the storage compartment for the extra stamps that go with this punch.


This set comes with 4 clear flower stamps, so these are the three that were in that storage area.


This piece lifts straight up and out. Notice the handy arrows that let you know how to re-seat this part when it's time to put it back.


Pulling the whole thing out, you can see where that 4th stamp was lurking. You can also see why it's important to realign this piece properly--it has to sit in that opening in the metal just so.


Time to see how this works. I pulled out a small inkpad. I happened to have the Memento dew drops close by. These are great for inking up small stamps like this. They wash off of clear stamps nicely, too. Most of the time I just stamp off what little ink is left on the stamp.


I lined up the arrows and replaced that part with the inked stamp attached. Not difficult to do at all.


I moved the handle back into its original position, placed a piece of Georgia Pacific white card stock into the slot of the punch and pressed down on the handle, simultaneously stamping and punching out the design. At least that's what I hoped was happening.


HA! It worked. You'll notice, as I did, that the shape was still attached to the card stock at a couple of points. As I understand it, you can leave it this way to pop out a bit and give a 3D effect.


It was easy to pop it loose though. And you could certainly use a nice sharp pair of scissors if you wanted to. I'll probably just give that rough edge a quick swipe with a sanding block.


So there the stamped and punched out image. I kinda like that. Easy to see using all sorts of colors of inks or card stocks or maybe designer papers.... Lots of potential.


Then I remembered that sunflower stamp that came with the set. Oooo, I had to see how that one would look! As I inked it up, I wondered if I could make the center a different color. Well, I mean, of course I could, but could the set up of this punch help to line up the design? That was the question. And the answer was yes! I inked in Cantaloupe first, then punched/stamped as before. But this time I didn't remove my card stock to see how it turned out. I left it, and instead I lifted the handle and removed that piece with the stamp, and inked just the center with Potter's Clay. I put it back into its spot, and I gave the handle a gentle press--not enough to punch again, hopefully just enough to apply the new ink.


And here is how that experiment turned out. Not bad, eh?

All in all, I found that this was a slick way of stamping an image and having that image be nicely centered in the middle of a cut-out shape. Clear stamps are great and I can get fairly accurate placement just by looking, but it's not a foolproof process for me by any stretch; and though I like my Stamp-a-ma-jig for more accurately placing images, I don't tend to pull it out for smaller stuff like this. I know that I'll use this flower shape and the images fairly often, and I may now have to give serious consideration to getting either the square or circle punch and stamp set. I understand that there are a couple of alpha sets that will fit in both and I think these sets punch out shapes that are a great size for card making.

Gotta like it--a tool that works as billed, and I got it for a good price. Woo hoo! :-)

flower pounding with original Sizzix

I pulled out my old red Sizzix machine to answer a question that was asked regarding my flower pounding post of the other day, that is, how would this be done using the original Sizzix. I correctly anticipated using the cutting pad as well as the magnetic converter. Not bad considering I haven't used this thing in ages. ;-)


As it turned out, that was not nearly enough of a platform to apply good pressure to the flower that I had sandwiched inside a piece of folded card stock.


I pulled out some of these--they're the backings to the packages that Cuttlebug embossing folders come in when they're brand new. I save them to use as shims. They're nice and sturdy and much too useful to throw away.


So here you see the original Sizzix with six Cuttlebug backing shims, the white cutting pad, the flower inside the folded card stock, and the magnetic converter in place and ready to go.


I moved the stack into position and cranked down on the handle a couple of times. I could tell that I'd applied adequate pressure when I could see some of the moisture seeping through the card stock.


Here's a close up of one of the sides of the opened card stock folder.


And here's how it looked after I removed the flower material, leaving only the pigment. The flower had been a freshly picked Bachelor button, by the way.


This is a clematis petal that I'd picked up off the ground on my way in from picking flowers. It had looked fresh, but probably wasn't as fresh as I'd thought. Still, I got some color out of it.


And this was part of a spike of sage blooms. This was also freshly picked. Sorry that the photo is a bit out of focus, but I think you can still see that the 'pounding' released a fair amount of pigment.

So, that's flower pounding using the original Sizzix. Fresh flowers work best, and you'll need to do some shimming to get enough pressure to get a nice release of pigment from your blooms. I have to say that it works quite nicely though, and you don't get the same blotchy look of the flowers that are put through the rolling process of the Big Shot or Cuttlebug. Both of those machines squeeze the moisture from the flower and push it back as the flower rolls forward (imagine damp cloth being put through a wringer), so there tends to be some puddling at the end. Didn't have that problem with Old Red--yet another reason to keep it around. :-)

on customer service

I posted a little while back on having to contact QuicKutz customer service regarding some defective embossing folders. Last night I received a comment from Kelly, who appreciated hearing about the QuicKutz embossing folders from the customer service standpoint. That reminded me that it's time for an update.

I'd emailed QuicKutz regarding the issue that I was having with a couple of their 2x2 folders. They said that they'd send out replacements. I received one quite promptly, along with a note that said that the other was on back-order and would be sent when it became available. I also received an enclosure suggesting that using a shim would result in a deeper impression. It was great to receive the replacement. It still isn't aligned quite properly, but unlike the other, it's close enough that it will line up under pressure. So that's cool. And the advice was appreciated, though no amount of shimming would have ever gotten that original embossing folder to mesh correctly. So, now I'm just waiting for the other embossing folder to arrive.

What I've found is that when items don't perform the way that they should, it's best to go directly to the source. It's not unusual for me to come across some issue long after I've lost or misplaced the receipt, but I do know how to find and contact a manufacturer by email, and how to politely but firmly ask if I have any recourse.

Here's a quick rundown, in my experience, of the folks who've stood by their products:

Scor-It: The scoring bar on my mini Scor-It was off-center resulting in scores that were off when I used the centering ruler. When I figured out that this was what was causing the problem and not operator error, I dropped the Scor-It folks a line. My note was answered on a holiday weekend by the owner of the company, and he promptly Fed-Ex'd me a new one.

Plaid Enterprises: I'd had some Dimensional Magic, unopened, which was very thick and unusable when I did finally open it. I wrote to them, asking what I could use, if anything, to reconstitute it. They apologized and sent me new product.

Wilton Industries: Okay, I know that there are a lot of folks who've had trouble with Martha Stewart punches. I had one that appeared to be defective. This had been ordered online, so I contacted EK Success customer service. (Contacting Martha Stewart customer service was not useful--automated reply that said that they couldn't help.) A rep from Wilton wrote back, agreeing that it sounded like the punch was defective. He sent out a replacement.

Making Memories: I've mentioned that I like the MM paper trimmer. When the cuts began fraying, I contacted MM to see if I could get/purchase a replacement blade. I'd already done the troubleshooting to no avail. They regretted that there were no replacements as the blade is designed to be self-sharpening and essentially told me to write a different dept about getting a replacement. A couple of weeks after making that contact, I had a new trimmer on my doorstep.

Then there's QuicKutz, which is also standing by their products and trying to make things right.

Those are the companies that I wanted to mention. BTW, Kelly, I do have some JustRite stamps but have not had any issues with mine, so I can't comment on their customer service. Sorry to hear that you've been disappointed so far. Hope they come through for you.

Addendum: In the comments below, Lesley reminded me of yet another company that stands behind its products and that's We R Memory Keepers, makers of the Crop-a-dile, among other things. My experience was with a defective Crop-a-dile also.

art of flower pounding, using the Big Shot

Pounding flowers isn't a new concept. It's been around for a while. Using die cutting machines to pound flowers and get them to release their pigment onto paper isn't new either. I remember the old red Sizzix being great for this sort of thing, back when the original Sizzix was new, but I'd never tried it. Probably the wrong time of year or something. ;-)

So, this morning I was catching up on my Google Reader subscriptions and came across a blog post in which Spellbinders' Wizard was used to pound flowers. I had to try it. We have lots of flowers around here, and though I may not have a Wizard, I have my trusty Big Shot.


Our poker plants are blooming. So are the clematis and peonies. None of those was really right for this project. Then I remembered that my shrub rose, pictured up above, is full of blooms! These would be great! Nice color, not too big, fairly flat, also lots of them! Sorry that the sun wasn't out when I snapped my photo this morning. It looks so pretty in the bright sunlight, but we were due for rain.


Here's a close up of some of the blooms.


I plucked three candidates for my first attempt at "pounding" flowers with my Big Shot.


I trimmed the stems and placed them--hm, I guess you'd call it face down on my card stock. You can see what I mean.

I then arranged my stack as follows, from the bottom up: multipurpose platform on Tab 2, clear cutting plate, 1/2 sheet of card stock, arranged flowers, scrap text weight paper folded in half, clear cutting plate. You may or may not need to shim, depending on the size/thickness of your flowers.


This is what I got after running it through the Big Shot. There was quite a bit of pigment transferred, but you can also see where the juiciness of the flowers kinda squirted out and made a rather unsightly mess on what had been going to be my card front. This called for a change in plan. LOL!


Here is the card that I made after switching gears. The embossed background was made using the QuicKutz vines embossing folder. The rose leaves are Primas. The sentiment is by Penny Black and stamped using Memento dye ink.


Here's a close up view of the result of the flowers being pressed by my Big Shot. I like the way it turned out, even if it wasn't quite what I'd envisioned when I started. :-)

Addendum: I'll make a separate post at some point, but for Cuttlebug users, this will work in your machines, too. The stack that I used, from the bottom up, was: A plate, Cuttlebug backing shim, C plate, card stock, flowers, another sheet of card stock, B plate. As usual, you may or may not need to shim, depending on your particular machine and on the 'thickness' of the flowers you choose. Just remember not to force anything! :-)