What can I say, I’m having a good month 🙂 I just got the June issue of Vamp Stamp News in the mail and I have a card in there! Woohoo! The magazine had a challenge to make embossed backgrounds with a die cut machine and well, I love my die cutters so I made a couple cards to send in. Here is one that did not make it into the magazine but I like it just the same so I thought I would share it here:
Stamp: About Art Accents, Cardstock: SU!, PP: Basic Grey
I used a Fiskars Texture plate in place of one of my cutting pads, placed my folded cardstock on top then a sheet of rubber gasket material (form the plumbing section of a hardware store) then the other cutting plate and ran it through my Big shot. Then I distressed the card with brown ink and white acrylic paint. The focal image is from about Art Accents and a colored it with chalk and a blender pen for a vintage look. made the die cut shapes with my cricut and scal software. SCAL is on sale for 10% off until the 26th with the coupon code:3847758. SCAL lets you cut any font on your computer and svg files with your cricut machine!
Speaking of Cricut, and die cutter in general, the June issue of VSN had a great article on choosing a die cutter and it review most all of the consumer grade machines out there so if you are in the market for a die cutter check it out!
Have a great Memorial day weekend, we are building the kids a playhouse, so much fun, I hope the weather stays nice for us, it have been lovely all week (hence a couple of days I didn’t post, I was too busy enjoying the weather!) Until next time happy crafting!
A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post on making your own scoring board. That was one of my most popular posts, so popular the owner/inventor of the Score-Pal read it and asked if she could send me one! What do you think I said? YES!!!!!!!! Grab a cuppa something yummy and settle in cuz this is a long post.
The lowdown: The Score-Pal is a thick piece of heavyweight plastic with grooves in it every 1/4 inch or so. It lets you score cards, brochures and boxes as well as emboss decorative lines in your projects. I decided to use my new Rubber Cafe stamps and papers with the Score pal because the owner of the rubber cafe is a huge fan and tried to convince me that I needed one months ago! She will be so proud! Here are a few project I made with it:
The box was simple to make with the Scor-Pal. I placed my 12×12 paper on the surface and scored at 4 and 8 inches, turned it and scored again at 4 and 8 inches. Then I scored from the corners to the points and folded the box. You can see a tutorial of this project at SplitcoastStampers. I used the 6×6 Marrakesh paper pad to decorate the box, there was no waste at all! I gold-embossed the Feathered Fan on blue, cut it out and attached to the box. I’ve wanted to try this box for weeks but didn’t want to bother with the measuring but since the Scor-Pal has the marked grids this was a snap to make. Note: This is a surprisingly big box, you may want to reduce it in size.
This box is made by scoring the 12" paper at 4" and 8" on each side and pulling the corners up with ribbon.
To make the double gate-fold cards I used the directions printed on the back of the box, easy as pie! I used the feathered fan again as well as the new Lori Renn Love Always stamp from The Rubber cafe.
The Scor-Pal is used to emboss the delicate lines on the edge of this card.
They also sent me the Scor-Mat, this sold me on the product because I always need to have a cutting mat (or 3) out when I craft because I often need to alter a pattern or cut a slit for ribbon and the mat fits in the recess of the board so the Scor-Pal turns into a cutting surface. That means I can leave this out on my craft table. It would be a major drag to have to put it away every time I used it and I likely wouldn’t use it if that was the case.
The bottom line: The Scor-Pal isn’t cheap, it’s $39.95 and the Scor-Mat is $15. However it is rugged and is built to last so if you figure the cost over the years of use it’s not bad. Once you have it and start using it you will love it. I recommend this product to anyone in the market for a scoring board. If you only make one card at a time, or craft occasionally and have a limited budget you may want to skip it BUT if you mass produce cards to sell or if you are a stamp demonstrator/teacher and need to prepare for a class the Scor-Pal will save you so much time. It’s also great if you make one sheet or die cut boxes. If you want it but are on a budget get the Score-Pal and see if a craft mat you have already will fit (and cut it if it doesn’t!)
I am enjoying this product, it hasn’t left my craft table since I got it and it is likely to remain there right next to my big paper trimmer for years to come.
To learn more about the score pal and see projects visit their website. Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!
