Project Ideas

Project Ideas

Making Glitter Masculine

Hi Guys!

My Zing has been a little poorly sick but the fantastic peeps at KNK are sorting it all out for me ‘cos that’s the way they roll :) It did mean however that I didn’t have a cutting machine to work with when I made my Father’s Day Card so I had to put my thinking cap on. My Dad does love a bit of glitter at Christmas, don’t we all?, but I challenged myself to make a non-Christmas-y yet masculine Father’s Day Card and this is what I came up with:

glitterstripecard

I picked 3 of the most masculine colours of glitter I had in my stash – black, green and a white with a hint of green. I cut a panel of white card then added a strip of double sided sticky tape at the top and added glitter to it, I brushed off the excess then added the next strip of tape and used the next colour of glitter and so on. As long as you burnish the glitter into the tape with your finger you shouldn’t get any cross contamination of colours as all of your tape will be nice and covered.

My next challenge was the lettering, all I could find in my stash were mismatched chipboard letters, one was blue and the other two were cream. To make them all uniform, I covered all of the letters with some black permanent marker then added a generous coat of liquid gloss to give them some shine, sorted! :)

by Bird
Project Ideas, Tutorial

How to emboss with background files

Good Afternoon!

As soon as I made the checker plate background I knew an embossed version would really bring the design to life and wanted to see if I could use my background files for embossing. Of course this method can be used with any background pattern which is awesome but what’s even better is that it also means that we can save some money on embossing folders :)

Pic 1: I cut the checker plate background at 8 x 8 inches to have a larger pattern which I thought might emboss easier, as the card I used is so thin I cut 4 copies then glued them all together ensuring to line up the pattern as exact as possible. If you were using thicker cardstock you would probably only need 2 layers of card.

embossed card 1

Pic 2: I took one of the cutting plates from my big shot, I laid it on top of my cut panel and made a mark each side where it needs to be cut to fit through the big shot. I cut mine with my guillotine but you could also use a ruler and a craft knife.

embossed card 2

Pic 3: When you make your sandwich, the card you wish to emboss needs to be between your cut pattern and an embossing mat, I’ve used the spellbinders junior rubber mat for my big shot.

embossed card 3

Pic 4: I embossed some silver satin card to try to achieve a realistic result, here’s how it looks after it has been run through the big shot on tab 1 (you can add a shim if you need a little more pressure):

embossed card 4

Pic 5: I was so impressed with the result that I also cut some letters then ran those through the big shot and embossed them in the same way, they looked just as though they had been snipped out of an aluminum sheet! Some large silver brads or snaps finish off the look on my simple but very masculine card:

embossed card 5

My cut pattern is sturdy enough to keep and use again which will save me from having to cut it each time I wish to emboss, I’m now going to make a version for each of my background patterns so they will be on hand whenever I need them. I just love it that I have another use for my cut files and I can save money at the same time :)

by Bird
Free Digital Cutting Files, Project Ideas

Getting Organised in the Kitchen

Hi Guys!

I thought I’d pop in and show you the fun I’ve been having in my new kitchen with some re-positionable chalkboard vinyl and a chalk marker. I found a mahussive 2 meter roll of the vinyl on ebay for a fiver which I thought was pretty good, I love the fact that It’s re-positionable and I can easily rip it off anything I place it on and there’s literally no trace of it ever having been there. The only downside was that I originally wanted to use the vinyl on the side of my jars but it kept peeling itself off so it looks like it’s only suitable for flat surfaces but it’s staying on the lids perfectly, it’s a small payoff for the versatility it gives me.

Here’s how my spices, herbs and pulses etc look on my shelves now. I measured the lids of my cookie and kilner jars then cut a mass of circles on my Zing so I have plenty of labels left over for future jars, I placed the vinyl circles on my lids then wrote the contents on there as I filled each jar. The chalk marker is smudge free but wipes off with a wet cloth, clever huh?

Jars

I had hardly made a dent in my vinyl so I decided to make a little shopping list blackboard, it literally took 5 minutes to cut and have up in place ready to use. I have added the cut file below if you would like it :)

I placed my chalkboard next to my key hooks so I had somewhere to hold my chalk pen. I tied some thread around my marker then tied the other end onto one of the hooks, my marker sits happily on top of the hooks and the thread prevents the marker from falling onto the floor or getting lost.

Shopping List

Here’s your Free Cut File – Formats include ai, dxf, gsd, mtc, pdf, studio & svg:
(click on the link below the image to download)

Shopping List by Bird

Shopping List Digital Cutting File by Bird

So, I still have approx half of my vinyl left so I may be back to show how else I use it, I don’t have any plans just yet but of course I’m open to ideas ;)

by Bird