Scrapping by Design

Valentines Day is approaching so I decided to see what a Popup Valentine Ball would be like.

I made these pop-up ball using the Sizzix BIGZ Dies 3D Ball PopUp.

Its cut on the Sizzix 655268 Big Shot Cutting-and-Embossing Roller-Style Machine.

Additionally, you need a Sizzix extended cutting pad to handle the length of the Bigz die.

I made a similar popup ball ornament at Christmas. The video demo is here: Popup Photo Cube Using the Biggz Die.

I decorated this with ruffled lace at the top and bottom. I found it quite challenging to work with the lace as it seemed difficult to get the top and bottom parts of the ball to fit together properly and to “stay stuck”.

Other embellishments are circles punched from a paper doily, a pujchy art flower, and small flowers created with heart shaped punches. I gave the heart shaped flowers a rhinestone center.

I hung the popup Valentine ball ornament with a pink ribbon.

I made these Wreath Christmas cards using a combination of techniques: rubber stamping, heat embossing, paper layering, eyelets, Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Scalloped Circles Die Template and ribbon.

They look considerably better in real life than in the scanned images.

I cut the wreath shapes with the Nestabilities dies, then stamped them using the Peruvian Lily Set by Rubber Stamp Tapestry. The set contains a dragon fly image, which I omitted. I substituted a candy cane stamp that I had in my collection since I was going for a Christmassy look and feel.

I stamped with Ancient Page die inks, then heat embossed the entire wreath with Versamark Ink and clear embossing powder. After having made several cards, I remembered a product in my supply shelf called Simple Shine by Simply Stamped Papers and Rubber Stamps. The Simple Shine was faster and did a nicer job than the heat embossing.

The sentiment is a stamp from Hero Arts.

I used various colors for the backgrounds — some red, some green, some brown and some bronze. All have four white eyelets at the corners and all have a small green, flower-shaped rhinestone in the middle. Ribbon varies depending on the background color.

These wreath Christmas cards went out to various friends this year.

I made these pop-up photo cubes and the holiday ornament ball using the Sizzix BIGZ Dies 3D Ball PopUp.

Its cut on the Sizzix 655268 Big Shot Cutting-and-Embossing Roller-Style Machine, and you need a Sizzix extended cutting pad to handle the Bigz die.

If you haven’t used the Big Shot, I have to tell you it has quickly become my favorite crafting tool, right after my Fiskars Paper Trimmer. There is a video demo of the Big Shot at this link.

These photo cubes will be Christmas gifts for two little boys, and the blue ball makes a neat Holiday ornament. Although the shape lends itself well to Christmas and the holidays, these balls would work well at any time of the year.  Using black and white images makes a truly elegant photo cube, based on some pictures I have seen.

I like these little pop-up balls quite a bit. You can flatten them in an envelope or between folded card stock and mail them. When the envelope is opened, the balls pop up. The high tech items that make them work are good old-fashioned elastic bands.

The balls are easy to make, once you know how. I am not particularly skilled at figuring things out, so I confess that I struggled with the instructions for quite some time.

I have made video demonstrating how to make these 3D pop-up balls.

As for the photo cube, I have to say that sizing the digital photographs and printing them out to the right size and shape was a time consuming project, at least the first time I did it. It was much easier the second time around when I made the second photo cube.

Don’t know how to resize or shape your digital images to use them in this photo cube? I have a post describing how to resize and shape your images using Photoshop CS or Photoshop Elements.

In the meantime, how about these other great Bigz Dies at eBay? I need to win the lottery.

This hand made birthday journal was inspired by a project I saw on a crafting community called Life on the Scrap Beach.

The journal is called My Year, and its a gift for a friend’s birthday.

I made the project 100% from my stash, since I’m trying to use up the supplies I already have before I buy yet more. The downside of stash-using  is that not all pages coordinate well. The upside is that in addition to saving me some money and reducing the piles of craft supplies in my home, it also forces me to use more hand made embellishments and to strive for more creativity in design.

Each page in this little book  has a title and contains tags for journaling.  The book has a wire binding, made with the ZUTTER BIND IT ALL SCRAPBOOK & PAPER CRAFT TOOL. The titles and a die cut on the front and back covers are made with the Cricut Expression 24-Inch Personal Electronic Cutting Machine.

I’ve never been a huge fan of the Cricut because for quite some time I could not get it assembled correctly. Now that its working the way it should, I am warming up to it.

Here is my video demo of my hand made birthday journal:

I have used a number of techniques that I have demonstrated in other videos.   People new to crafting or people unfamiliar with the tools and techniques  might want to check them out:

1. Video Demo of the Zutter Bind-It-All
2. Video Demo of the Sizzix Big Shot Universal Die Cutting and Embossing Machine
3. Video Demo of the Burnished Velvet Glitter Technique
4. Video Demo of Basic Rubber Stamping, Masking and Coloring
5. Video Demo of Heat Embossing

This hand made birthday journal is in the mail now. I hope it arrives in time for the birthday.

This “Especially for You Card” includes dry embossing, stamping and a punch art paper flower with a rhinestone center.

The yellow card is made with Bazzill card stock, the shiny kind.

The first step, after cutting the card stock and scrapbook paper,  was to stamp the sentiment on the scrapbook paper. The stamp is Especially for You by Great Impressions. I suggest stamping before embossing, otherwise the stamped image will be uneven.  You should probably make your paper flower first, so you can use it as a guide to place the stamping on the paper.

I embossed the scrapbook paper using the Sizzix 655268 Big Shot Cutting-and-Embossing Roller-Style Machine and the Cuttlebug A2 Embossing Folder, Spots and and Dots.

If you are new to this die cutting and embossing tool, I have a video tutorial of the Sizzix Big Shot.

I made the paper  flower using the technique shown in my video demonstration  called  how to make paper flowers with a craft punch.

The white scalloped circle that the paper flower sits on is made with the Big Shot and a Nestabilities die. I tinted the edge with a chalk ink.

The yellow border with white polka dots is a ribbon.

On the inside of the card, I used a paper transfer to place a sentiment on another strip of scrapbook paper. I plan on making a video tutorial demonstrating how to do an image transfer soon.

This birthday card incorporates a number of techniques — layering, rubber stamping, embossing and die cuts — not to mention ribbon trim and a few yellow rhinestones.

The Big Shot played a major role in making this card. If you aren’t familiar with this machine, I invite you to check out my Big Shot Video Tutorial

First, I used the Cuttlebug Birthday Embossing Folder to make the background.  I brushed the embossed finish with a little navy decorator chalk to make the text stand out.

I cut the three scalloped circles on the Big Shot, using Wizard Nestabilities: Classic Scallop Circles Large

The text in the center of the inner scallop is a rubber stamp from Hero Arts.

I made this birthday card using leftover card stock and papers from the Prayer Shawl Accordion Fold Book Project that I made a few days ago.

This Easter Card doesn’t scan well, but its made using the Burnished Velvet Glitter technique.

A couple of local women, Deanna Pannell and Haroldine Wingfield developed this technique. Haroldine is the owner of  Be Creative craft store in Pitt Meadows, BC  (no web site). These two gals have popularized this technique  throughout the Lower Mainland and beyond.

Essentially, the Burnished Velvet technique refers to applying glitter to double sided sticky tape, then rubbing the glitter with your fingers to bring out the sheen and to prevent color contamination when using two or more colors of glitter.    This results in a lovely effect that looks and feels like brushed velvet.

There are various effects you can get with  Burnished Velvet, including using masks to create patterns of several colors.  This card demonstrates using ultrafine, transparent glitter to completely cover a picture — in this example, an item from the Heartwarming Vintage Collection by Crafty Secrets.

Be Creative markets its own brand of double sided tape, and that is what is used here. The tape is available in sheets as shown in this video, or in rolls of tapes. You can buy it at various stores including ordering online from I’m Impressed , a Vancouver craft store.

To make this Easter card, I have also used an embossing folder from Cuttlebug. This is one of the border folders. If this is new to you, please refer to my video tutorial showing the Cuttlebug Embossing Folders used with the Sizzix Big Shot.

Here is a video tutorial showing how I made this Easter Card using the  Burnished Velvet glitter method.

I apologize in advance. In the video demonstration, I referred to the method as the Brushed Velvet method instead of the Burnished Velvet method.  It does end up looking like brushed velvet so I suppose that is where my word mixup came from.

The transparent glitter I used is Warm Highlights by Crystal Glitter Ritz. It’s also available in Cool Highlights.You can purchase it at most craft shops in the Vancouver area, including online at I’m Impressed.

Obviously you can use this technique with other brands of tape and other brands of glitter.  Around here, we just happen to think that Deanna and Haroldine have the BEST products! LOL

A week or so ago, I did a post in which I compared the Provo Craft Cuttlebug and the Sizzix Big Shot.  I was struggling to decide which tool to purchase.

It wasn’t an easy choice, because both machines are apparently very good. In the end, I went with the Sizzix Big Shot Universal Die Cutting and Embossing Machine.

Three  factors influenced my decision.

First, the Big Shot will handle the Bigz Dies from Sizzix but the Cuttlebug, I am told, will  handle some, but not all. These dies are awesome and I know I will want to purchase some sooner or later.

Second,  my local craft store, Scrap Arts in North Vancouver, was selling the Big Shot at a better price than you usually find. You had to order it in, but it arrived within a few business days so this was not a big problem.

And a question about the warranty was the last  factor that influenced my decision. I am told that the Cuttlebug’s warranty is void if you use any die or folder other than Cuttlebug’s. Although the machine works with most other dies, or so I am told, the company won’t replace it if there is any damage and you have been using a non-Cuttlebug product.  I left a message with Provo Craft customer service asking if they would verify this.  There was no response. I tend to shy away from businesses who do not respond to customer questions.

So, the Big Shot won out.

So far, I love this machine. It required almost no assembly, other than attaching the handle. It works like a charm on the folders and dies that I have tried.

So far, I have used it successfully with the Cuttlebug embossing folders, a Cuttlebug die, a QuicKutz die and a brass embossing template.  All worked well.  For the brass embossing templates, I had to purchase a package of Spellbinders 5 Inch by 7 Inch Wizard Enlarged Embossing Pads.

The brass templates I am using do leave a border around the embossed design, which is unfortunate. Apparently there is no way to avoid this, at least not with the templates that I have.

I have a video demonstration of the Big Shot using the Cuttlebug, the QuicKutz and the brass templates.

I want to correct one mistake I made when explaining the use of Tab 1 or Tab 2, or no tab. I said you choose your tabs based on the width of the project.  I should have said the thickness, not the width.

Here is the video tutorial:

Note: Since first publishing this post and the video, some kind visitors have left comments or emails telling me how to use the brass templates or stencils without getting the border. You cut the foam mat to be just smaller than the brass stencil. I haven’t tried this yet but it certainly makes sense and sounds as if it should work.