Hello there! I’ve been playing around with an idea I’ve had for a while…or as long as I’ve been seeing the adorable crafts made with Nestabilites dies. If you don’t know what they are they are dies that emboss and cut. For lovely examples check out Olena’s blog. They are however expensive and you need to buy one in each size that you want..Boo! So being the frugal goddess that I am I figured out how to get the look for free:
I used my Faux Copic Technique to color the cute little witch and my cricut with SCAL software to design the card. Here is another Card I Made using these techniques:
To cut the cards with the cricut you will need SCAL software, and the free font Halloweenies and the SCUT files: Click here for card 1, Click here for card 2.
To get the look of “Nestabilities” all you need is a stencil and a stylus. A stylus is what you use for embossing by hand, it has a little metal ball on the end so it impresses the paper without poking through it. I use a large one and a small one but if you don’t have these you can use a dried up ball point pen for the small one and a bone folder in place of the large one.
Here’s how: Rub the back of a piece of cardstock with waxed paper. Lay it down waxed side up on a stencil (I’m using a deluxe design color blocking template as my stencil. It’s nice to bring them out of retirement LOL!) With little pressure and with the large stylus trace your shape. If you press too hard you may rip your paper, esp with the thick DD template, thinner templates like brass or the cheap purple ones wal-mart sells are actually better for this! After you traced it with the big stylus gently trace it with the small one or a nice crisp impression. There you have it, no machine, no dies, just a simple stencil and you have the look of “nestabilities” for a fraction of the price. The thing I love about using the colorblock templates is that there are so many sizes in one template! And by using Bic Mark Its instead of Copics you save a bunch there too!
Thanks for stopping by and until next time Happy Crafting!
Lindsay
The Frugal Crafter Blog 