Tips for Butterfly Thinlits Dies

You have probably noticed that I've been cutting a lot of butterflies lately.  I love them!  They add so much to a project.  Here are some tips to help you in working with the Butterfly Thinlits Dies.

When cutting with any thinlit die, it's all about the 'sandwich' you make to prepare for your cutting.
My sandwich, from the bottom up:
- magnetic platform
- cutting plate
- 1 dryer sheet
- card stock
- double layer of waxed paper
- thinlit die
- cutting plate
Please note:
The tension on each Big Shot varies from others.  You must get to know your own Big Shot and whether or not you need more than 1 dryer sheet or shim to help cut cleanly.  Never force anything through your Big Shot.  You could seriously damage it.

Because of your unique 'sandwich' for this project, you need to roll it through more than once.  Roll the 'sandwich' back and forth through your Big Shot 3 or 4 times.  I do 4 to get best results with my Big Shot.

I actually have 2 sets of the thinlits dies for the butterflies, to make class prep easier.  I can cut 3 butterflies with 1/2 sheet of CS.
Next:
- Remove your top cutting plate and pull up the waxed paper.
- The dies will come up, too.
- Gently pull your butterflies from the CS.
- Almost all the pieces will stick to the dryer sheet!
- Flick your fingers over any remaining pieces and they'll pop right out.

You have one remaining job to do before you can continue your project.  You need to clean up your die.  You will have a layer of waxed paper still on the back of the die.  I use a very handy tool that I found online.  I poke a bit to start to loosen the waxed paper.  Then, I use the piercing end of my tool to slide under the top edges of the wings.  I can then pull off the waxed paper butterfly.  Rather than using a piercing tool to poke out all the remaining tiny pieces, I roll the roller brush end of my tool back and forth over the top of the thinlit die and they fall right out.  It's amazing!

One bit of sad news:
Stampin' Up! is really suffering with backorders because of a dock strike.  It has created a royal mess out of shipping.  So many people have wanted these dies that they've had to take them offline temporarily so they wouldn't create a mess of backorders.  Be patient and they will be back.  In the meantime, if you have any other dies with intricate cutting, such as the butterflies, try this technique to help you have an easier time of it.  I have used it with our gorgeous Darling Doily Thinlit and it works great!

Click here to enjoy a video about these gorgeous Butterfly Thinlits Dies.

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world.

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Another Take on My Vintage Layout

Remember when I shared the layout I made as a tribute to my Aunt Vivian?  We made it at my Scrapbooking Your Heritage class at our library and it will be our February Scraps and Prayers project as well.  Today, I want to share another version that I made with it.  This layout is a tribute to my grandfather... my daddy's father.  He died when my father was only 12, so I only have a couple of photos of him.  Thus, I've used one of the photo mats to add my journaling.  It helps tell more of my story... my family history.

Tip:
My journaling is typed on vellum.  You cannot add adhesive behind vellum or it will show and it is NOT pretty.  Think of ways to attach it by layering objects over it, such as I did on the corners of my vellum piece.

Click here to see my Aunt Vivian's layout and compare the two.  It helps give you more ideas for planning your layouts.

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world.

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

A Vintage Tribute in Sepia Tones

I included today's layout at the end of one of my previous posts on Heritage Scrapbooking, and today I'd like to take another look at it and talk about the elements in this layout.  I'm excited to say, too, that this is the layout we will be making at the Scrapbook Your Heritage class that I'm teaching at our Forsyth Library in January.   Everyone has liked it so much that we're going to make it at my February Scraps and Prayers class, as well.

This layout is a tribute to my Aunt Vivian, my mother's sister.  I'll later add journaling to include some special things I remember about her.
She was always so nice to me and could style my curly hair better than anyone ever has been able to do... and she did it all, basically, with just her fingers.  She had a beautiful, musical laugh.

The partial doily piece you see, along with the butterfly are both cut from our brushed gold CS.  I tried it just to see how it would look and I was blown away by how well it coordinates with the sepia tones in my layout.

Elements of a good vintage layout:
- sepia tones
- rich textures
- layers
- subtle layers of stamping, adding to the texture of the layout
--- Above all, the photos should be the star of each page.

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world.

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.