Out of Frame Die Cutting by Alice

Hello! It's Alice here. I have a few readers asking me how I do the out of frame die cutting on my cards and I thought it would be a good idea to share it here. I first learnt this technique from the fabulous Rachel Jacks a couple of years ago and have been using it ever since. Thank you, Rachel! =) Here is how I did mine:

You will need:

• Colored image. I used the beautiful Melinda With Bouquet for my sample.
• Nestibility die of choice. You have to use dies that has opening in the middle to make this work.
• Die cutting machine. Not shown here, but I use a Cuttlebug.
• Pencil & easer.
• A pair of precision scissors.
• Tape.

Starting by placing the die where you think you want to cut the image. You can move the die around and see what looks the best for your image. I tend to avoid having the more delicate parts of the image as the "out of the frame" part since it would make it difficult to cut out later.

I couldn't use both hands in the photo, but in real life you will want to firmly press the die down with one hand and trace using the other. I always trace both the inside and the outside edges of the die where it meets the image. This marks the part of the image that is going to stick out after cutting. It is very important that you trace both the inside and outside of the die on all parts that will be sticking out.

Here is a look after tracing. The outside line means starting this line you do NOT want to cut off any excess paper along the image. The inside line represents how deep you need to cut since that's how far the inside edge of the die will go.

This is the piece after cutting. I trimmed along the image line and cut it a bit farther than the inside line. If you trimmed off any excess between your pencil lines, it would leave a empty spot on your shape. This is because the real cutting line on your die is somewhere between the two marked lines, so please wait until AFTER die cutting to cut off the excess paper.

Erase the pencil lines before inserting the die. Position the die where you planed and I always secure it with a couple of tapes.

After die cutting (and embossing) and off the die. Now you can safely cut off the excess paper.

Here is a finished piece after all is done. It may look scary to try this in the beginning, but after a few practices it would be much better. You may want to stamp an image that you intend to use this technique with and cut a practice piece before you actually use it on your colored image.

Here is a card that I made with the cut out image:

Hope you will give this fun technique a try! =)

Thanks for stopping by!

hugs,

alice

Pocket Card by Lori

Hi all, Lori here with a quick tutorial on making a pocket card. I also get to show you a sneak peek of Henry with Map which will be released August 1st from Whiff of Joy.


To start cut a piece of card stock. Mine is 29cm long by 12 cm wide. You can make this any size I just randomly cut and it ended up this size. I also cut a tag shape to fit inside. I used the corner punch at the top and bottom edges of my piece of cardstock. Score at 3cm from the top and then again at 14.5cm from the top.

I then added adhesive to the top section of the cardstock.and fold at the 14.5cm line to close it.

Now begin decorating. You will need to fold the 3cm section down, but before I did this I sponged the edges and added my twine. I also cut some pieces of WOJ Designer paper and glued them to the card. To finish I added more adhesive and folded the 3cm section down and in place.

Finish decorating your pocket front and tag and that' s it, you're all done. If I'm giving a gift it's also perfect to stick a gift card or money inside! I hope you'll give it a try!

Simple box by tanjaak

Hello and good day to everyone! I'm here today to show you how I made a simple yet cute/cool storage box for my crafting supplies. This box also doubles as a perfect gift box.

The materials needed for this project are:

a box

distress crackle paint (picket fence and weathered wood)

distress ink (weathered wood and tea dye)

pearl brads (white and pink basics from WoJ)

hinge/clasp (Tim Holtz grungeboard)

paper

ink

image stamp

colouring medium of you choice

adhesive

I started my project by adding some white distress crackle paint onto my box.

After the paint had dryed I went on and added some blue distres ink and a hint of tea dye distress ink onto the box.

The next step was to make the clasp. Mine was a ready hinge piece from a Tim Holtz Idea-ology grungeboard set and I have covered it with Distress crackle paint in blue (weathered wood).

Now attach the clasp to the box with some pearl brads. These totally gorgeous ones I've used are from the WoJ store. It might be a bit difficult to punch holes to the edge of the box but I found that the easiest was to do it with a big sharp needle and twist a around in the hole to make it bigger.

Now that the box part in covered let's start on with the image to go on top. I was in a springy mood and chose this cute little gnome by Norma Fickel...the image is actually called Spring Joy. First step is to stamp the image and then go on with the background. To mkae the clouds you'll need some distres ink and a cloud template. You can draw your own cloud onto some thick paper and cut it out, it's as easy as that, but the one I always use is actually a tag from my little daughter's winter jacket. So it's always good to keep your eyes open when you buy new clothes as the tags might be worth saving for LOL. So again you need your image, template, ink and a sponge off course...and as you can see in the next picture a mask to go over the image if you want to make sure you don't smudge the image itself.

And here's how I go about it...starting from the top. Place your mask (cut from photo copier paper) over your image and your cloud template on top of that and start sponging away.

Now that the background is finished it's time to add some colour...

I did the colouring with Promarkers bu you can choose what ever colouring medium you like...and it's not set in stone that you need to make the background first and then add colour to the image, this is just the order in which I like to do things.

Here's a picture of the finished box...

...and a close-up of the image again.

Here's a small pic of my crafting table ( my "jewellery making station" and not the messy paper crafts side of it) with some finished and unfinished boxes.

Hope you enjoyed this time with me and have fun crafting!

xxxTanja

Stamping & More Video–Decorative Heart Hanger plus free template

Watch me creating this lovely heart hanger. It is approx. A4 size, perfect for decoration. Think of it on a door, create multiple ones to get a whole set of banners, or for the christmas tree – the possibilities are endless :)
Heute zeige ich euch wie ich diesen dekorativen Herz-Hänger gebastelt habe. Er hat ca. A4 Größe, also eine gute Größe für Raum-Dekorationen. Stellt ihn euch an einer Tür vor, bastelt mehrere für eine Herz-Girlande, oder für den Weihnachtsbaum. Die Möglichkeiten sind endlos.






Download the template for this decorative hanger by clicking on the image to the left. It is approx. A4 size.
Ihr könnt die Vorlage für diesen dekorativen Herz-Wandhänger herunterladen, indem ihr auf das Bild links klickt. Es hat ca. A4-Größe.


Stamps: Whiff of Joy (PrimaBallerina Nora (Digistamp), City Girl sentiment collection)

Paper: white carton, design paper (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Archival jet black, Distress ink "frayed burlap"

button twine Whiff of Joy "vintage linen"
ribbon, lace, paper flower, bead caps "silver flowers", pearl brad, halfpearls, Crop a dile, small envelope, Tim Holtz distressing tool,
Coloured with Twinkling H2O (get them at Whiff of Joy (www.whiffofjoy.com), Wink of Stella glitter pens

Mini Santa Shrink Plastic Earrings tutorial

Good Morning Everyone! I (Jane) have a tutorial today to show you how to make a pair of Christmassy earrings using the Santa Mini stamp. The smaller sizes of these images are perfect to make jewellery and charms with if you shrink them down using Shrink Plastic.

Materials needed:

Whiff of Joy Mini Stamp - Quiet Santa
White Shrink Plastic
Stazon or other alcohol based ink
Colouring medium (Promarkers, Sakura pen)
Hole punch or cropodile
Jewellry findings: jump rings, earring hooks, eyepins
Round nose pliers and wire cutters
Small pearls

Instructions:

Stamp and colour the image on the rough side of the shrink plastic. The colours will intensify when the image is shrunk so take this into account when colouring in. I added Sakura glitter pen to the fur on Santa's hat and coat. If using Promarkers try not to colour over the stamped lines or the ink will run.


Cut the image out and punch a hole in the top of Santa's hat.


Shrink the image using a heat gun. Use scissors or tweezers to hold the image to stop it blowing away.


When it has completely shrunk, flatten it with an acrylic bloc.


Use the pliers to open up a jump ring and fix to the Santa.


Attach an eyepin to the jump ring and thread on two beads. Cut the pin and bend with the round nose pliers to form a loop.


Finish the earrings by attaching another jump ring and the earring hooks.


I will definitely be making more of these before Christmas comes along. They are surprisingly quick to make and it would also be really easy to make phone charms or small badges using this technique.

I hope you will be inspired to give this a try.

Jane
x

Distress Inks ~ Twinkling H20s: A Substitution Guide

Hi there! This is Jeanette from Canada and today I wanted to share a little chart that I made that gives  a quick substitution guide comparing Distress Inks to Twinkling H20s.

I often use my H20s over copic coloring but I also use them as the only coloring medium; and I love the soft look and subtle shimmer. They add more depth to your coloration and that little something extra special to your project.

I need to add a small disclaimer :) I don’t have all full range of Distress Inks and so that is why some are missing. I also do not have all the Twinkling H20s (but I do have most). So, the comparisons were made with what I actually own.

As you will see mentioned in my chart, these are not always exact substitutions but are fairly close. I find that the Distress Inks are more vintage in tone; a little grayer whereas the H20s are more pure in color and of course; they twinkle.

Whiff of Joy has an amazing collection of Twinkling H20s as well as the wonderful water tank brushes that I use. You will find them all by clicking on the icons below:


Thanks for stopping by and I hope you find this little guide helpful!
Hugs Jeanette