Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Creative Cuttling - thinking outside the folder

Okay, I've described partial Cuttling and diagonal Cuttling for some different looks when embossing cardfronts with Cuttlebug A2 embossing folders. Ready to take another step beyond using the whole folder? Sure you are. :-)

I was tidying up my junk drawer and rummaging through some of the things on my craft table earlier today. I came across some things that I thought might be interesting to use with my Big Shot and Cuttlebug folders.


So, up above you see my trusty Big Shot, a Cuttlebug folder, a blank card, a fridge magnet that's supposed to frame a photo, a plexiglass ornament that I hadn't gotten around to decorating, and some craft sticks.


I started with the craft sticks. They're easy, eh? I placed my cardfront inside the folder and tucked the back behind, as usual. I then positioned the craft sticks as you can see. This is where things get a little tricky. You have to play just a bit because of the thickness of whatever you use for pressing on the embossing folder. My multipurpose platform gives me leeway because of the tabbed layers. I also found that I could use either a clear plate or the plate from the Big Impressions kit which is a tad thicker if I found that I needed to apply just a bit more pressure. This gave me plenty of options. Mind you, I've played with my Big Shot for quite a while now, so I have a pretty good feel for when something will go through and when I shouldn't force it.

Here's how the craft stick embossing turned out.


Kind of a cool look, don't you think?

Next I tried my fridge magnet with the Swiss Dots folder.


After a bit of tinkering, this is what I got when I ran that through.


Now for that piece of plexiglass. I went back to the D'vine Swirls folder again. I wanted a fairly busy pattern.


And here is the result of running that particular item through my Big Shot.


There's one thing that I haven't mentioned yet. For all of these examples, I just placed my folder with the card directly on my platform. That was just the way it worked best for me. I mention this because you don't need similar shaped objects sandwiching your embossing folder. You just need the pressure applied to whatever you have positioned on top. You can see from my examples that it works.

Now here are some cards that I made from these experimental cardfronts.


The stamps are all Hero Arts, stamped with chalk inks and colored with Prismacolor pencils, then blended with my Goo Gone pen, which just happened to be handier than the Icky Sticky Stuff Remover and a stump. I'm still planning to use ISSR more often. I was coloring in the carpool line though, and this was super easy to transport. It was also a gorgeous day so I had the windows open--no problem with fumes. The score lines were made using my Scor-It.


The stamps in this one were also all Hero Arts and stamped with chalk inks. I used the Scor-It to make my score lines and used Fiskars corner edgers to embellish as well. The ribbon was from the Target $1 spot.


This time the stamps I used were from Inkadinkado--one of their new mini sets. I stamped with black Brilliance ink, colored the images with Prismacolor colored pencils, and used my Goo Gone pen to blend the colors. Again, I made the score lines using my Scor-It. The flowers are Primas and embellished with a Robin's Nest Dew Drop.

So, if you're ready, give some creative Cuttling a try! It's time to think outside the folder. :-)

24 comments:

  1. Oh wow, thanks for showing us this Jay. I'll definitly be having a go later.

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  2. Oh geeze! Thank you for sharing this! Off to play with my cuttlebug now!

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  3. This is absolutely brilliant! Thanks so much for sharing it, :0) Mel

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  4. Wow! That's great! I'll be trying these today...! Thanks for sharing this! Love what you've done!

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  5. That is so clever. Thanks for sharing!

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  6. Gosh these are so pretty! Talk about thinking outside the box! You nailed that one, what would I do without these wonderful blogs to keep me inspired!
    Diane

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  7. Brilliant ideas! I've just gotten bitten by the Cuttlebug, and am delighted with the possibilities. TFS!

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  8. i was thinking about the possibility of something like this just last week, but didn't have the initiative [and was a little worried i'd hurt my bug] to try it. thanks for the GREAT samples and ideas.

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  9. Thats amaing, thanks for sharing.
    Eileen

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  10. Holy cannoli! You're a genius. TFS

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  11. WOW! You're awesome! I guess I need to experiment more. Thank you SO much for sharing!

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  12. WOW that's a may zing!!! I'd never have thought of that being a bear of very little brain - thank you for sharing.

    xxxxxxxx

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  13. Awesome!!!
    Love the diagonal embossing.
    Deanne
    xx
    Sydney Australia

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  14. These are so cool! You've just added another dimension to my cuttlebug.

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  15. That's pretty cool...love the bird card

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  16. Wow thats great tfs, Carmen van Dansik

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  17. I am new to the cuttlebug and I am just amazed at the great techniques you showed us. I can't wait to try them. Keep the tutorials coming. Thank
    you sooo much for sharing.
    Happy Clam
    In New Mexico

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  18. WOW It worked.. A lot of hit and messes to get the right thickness.. But O when U do it super.. THANK UUUU

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  19. You have an excellent site and since I am new to cuttlebugging love it.
    I did see a card done with a thin piece of wood that masks an oval center so the embossing is on the outside and the center ready for a stamp. Tried it can can't make it work properly any hints Thanks.

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  20. Hi Rosemary, glad that you're finding helpful information here.

    I've made some cards that selectively emboss a card front, leaving the center unembossed so that it can be stamped. If you look at this post on selective Sizzix-ing, you can see what I do in a bit more detail. The Sizzix folders are similar to the C'bug folders, but are slightly larger and thicker. The principle is the same though--leave the center area of the folder uncovered so that no pressure is applied to it and no embossing is made. You still need enough pressure on the rest of the folder to make a nice impression though. So if you're not getting a nice embossed image, you probably need to add a shim or two so that enough pressure will be applied to the folder. The shim doesn't necessarily need to have that same open space. It can go underneath the folder. It can go on top of the wood frame. It just needs to make the stack a little thicker so that there'll be more pressure applied. I often use the backing from the C'bug folder packaging as a shim.

    Is that the issue that you were having? If so, I hope that helps. If not, let me know more of the specifics and I'll try again. :-)

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  21. what a cool idea! thanx for sharing!

    glg silvi

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  22. Glad you found your way here, silvi! Thanks for stopping by!

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  23. Great info on Multi Shaper BUT i was really looking for something on the oval!

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  24. Thank you for sharing this experiment of yours! It resulted in some really interesting designs, but also opened up a world of possibilities that I hadn't considered before! :)

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