Tips for thin detailed dies!

Howdy folks! Yesterday I told you about the Mega-Mount being my biggest stamp show splurge. My other big splurge was a doily die from Cheery Lynn. I had a coupon for 20% off so after tax I paid $19. I was not cheap by any means but I have been wanting an intricate doily die for years and I had dozens to pick from at the show and this was my favorite:

 

I am very choosy when it comes to dies. I like to buy thick dies that I will use hundreds of time that will cut felt, metal, burlap and matboard. I only have a couple thin dies because they only cut paper/cardstock and thin materials and I have an electronic die cutter and SCAL software to cut whatever I want from thin materials. The one caveat of the electronic die cutter (I have a Cricut unfortunately) is that is cannot cut fine details and it snags my softer papers.

 

Thin intricate dies take a bit more patience to use though. I knew this before I bought the die so I was prepared to spend the time to learn how to get a good cut. Here are my tips:

• Place a piece of waxed paper between the cardstock you are cutting and the die.
• Try cutting the die with the normal plates you would use for a thin die.
• You will probably need to shim it. I used a sheet of rubber gasket and a couple of sheets of paper, you can keep checking to see if it is cutting, cut it with the cutting blades facing up so you can see if you are cutting the paper or not.
• Each time you send it through the machine crank it through and then back so it passes through twice.
• If you see at one section is not cutting place a small piece of cardstock under the cutting pad in that area to apply more pressure.
• Flip the die over and run it through the machine again to ensure a good cut.
• Some people swear by using a metal shim in their machine. If you have some metal flashing or coilstock left over from a project you can use that (for free!)
• To store your dies you can put magnet sheets in a picture album and the dies will stay put (see photo)

 

Stamping Tip! I fell in love with the marker technique I learned at the stamp show from Local King Rubber Stamps and I wanted to try it on one of my cheap clear stamps but the ink kept beading up.  So, I pressed the stamp in a light blue ink pad and then colored over it with my watercolor markers and it worked like a charm!

Oh, one last tip! Look at your design in a new way! I took the smaller center doily and cut it in quarters to make the corner element on my card. Think outside of the box…er, die! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!