Dressed Up Border Punch Card.

American crafts
It really is all in the details when it comes to creating with paper and punches. Punches are amazing tools that can help you add the necessary details to any projects in the smallest and simplest of ways. They can stand along wonderfully and together with other elements they shine just as bright. So how do I dress up my plain border punches to add interest to a project?
For this card I have found my new favourite border punch (sounds familiar right) – well I really have. The humble border punch filled with lots of little circles. Perfect in every way!
For my patterned paper I used the Kaisercraft Bow & Arrow range of papers that worked perfectly with my design.
Step 1 - I used the punch to punch a border from salmon pink cardstock and a brown patterned paper.
Step 2 - I then aligned the punched strips off-set from each other so that the pink would show through the back of the brown strip layered on top and adhere it to the background of my card.
Step 3 - I made small pierced holes using my Couture Creations paper piercer and sewed small pink seed beads to the inside of the punched circles using the pilot holes I made. I also added some thin gold straight stitches to the card from one hole to another connecting the punched circles to each other.
Although not that visible on the card – I truly adds the most beautiful texture and dimension in a subtle way to my punched border. It just goes to show, that the simplest of details really can made a difference to those everyday punched borders – making your basic tools more functional.
Products used

Nuts about sketches double page layout with Prima.

cuttlebug
There's a new challenge up at Nuts about sketches and this is a great one - i loved everything about this sketch, and i loved how my layout turned out! i did a LOT of Christmas layouts last year for a lot of different reasons, but this was a really special one (even better up close and personal).
this was of my regular friends' Christmas dinner we had together. i used a single sheet of Prima patterned paper for this layout - the piece on the left hand side running down.
the remainder of the paper was cut out and you can see that below - the feather and rose grouping. just love that. i combined it with some Heidi Swapp and Teresa Collins' elements and cut out bits from papers. the red and black striped tape is a Heidi Swapp product from way back when and it just worked beautifully.
i used the die-cut circle i made on my Cuttlebug using washi tapes, with some stamped images inside it. a few diamante were added to finish it off.
i used this beautiful washi tape to add some delicate writing to the top edge and the gold just picks up on the gold in the photos and in the paper. a few gold confetti circles works really nicely scattered amongst some other elements.
and here's how i got to that die cut again as written about it here
hope you feel inspired - i love scrapping themes but not necessarily using themed papers and elements. it can be done to suit your style - and this one is right up my alley! have a wonderful week and thank you for popping by - followers of blogs are special people and you are truly loved and valued! thank you!

Xcut recycled tool caddy.

altered stuff
I am for ever losing my most used tools on my desk that is always so full of work in progress projects. This also leads to me losing my sense of humour and some other things every now and again. So what’s a girl to do?
Well you hoard stuff and then one day you figure it out. The other day I was given a whole bunch of plastic containers that are used to store shell casings in – you know for guns right! Don’t ask. Anyways - so they were lying around and then I threw some away just to pick some out of the trash pile again – because the possibilities where there.
 If you are still confused – it’s the black plastic part of my tool caddy pictures. I then happened to stumble upon a gift box at Mr Price that could be the perfect size for this little sucker to fit into. I took a chance and when I got home it was oh so perfect and fitted like they were made for each other. I simply discarded the lid of the box and inserted the plastic holder.

How I decorated my tool caddy
I covered the outside of the store bought box using Crate Flea Market patterned paper. The tag came from the same range of paper and then used some of the tags to die cut 3 little petals using my Xcut flower die set. The flowers were so delicate and perfect I just added some ink around the edges and layered them on top of each other for dimension. I didn’t want to decorate the functionality away from this caddy but wanted it to still look pretty. I wrapped some pretty ribbon around the top end and inserted the plastic part back into the box. The plastic circles are big enough to hold all of my favourite tools, scissors, journaling pens and pencils – no more looking for all those very important bits to get me crafting.
With a little bit of imagination and some recycling you can make something so simple and functional. And those die cuts sure do make life a lot easier – they cut like butte through paper and cardstock which makes decorating your everyday life so much prettier.
i love how my XCut tools perfectly fitted into the holes and the colours are really pleasing with everything beautifully co-ordinated!
Products Used 
Crate Flea Market Paper Pad Cuttlebug V2 [PC 2000293] 
Glue Dots Pop Up [GD12296-75] 
Tombow Mono Multi Glue [TB 62191] 
Purple Turtle Double Sided Tape - 48mm [PT13] 
Xcut A5 Die Set – Flowers [DXCU503195] 
Xcut A5 Die Set – Leaves [DXCU503194]

Die cuts go the extra mile on a few simple cards.

docrafts
I love when things are made simple – after all creating is all about enjoying the process instead of finding it stressful. The new Xcut border punches and nesting dies are some of the products I find to make creating so much easier. The designs are beautiful and the products are of such a high quality – going the extra mile. Here are some of my favourite qualities about the new products 
• Have you noticed the little clear plastic flap on the punches to collect all those tiny confetti bits that normally find their way onto your floor 
• The XCut border punch’ guides can be removed so you can punch anywhere the punches are really strong and it doesn’t feel like the handle is going to break off first time around 
• You can punch through paper, thin cardstock, vellum, photos, packaging materials – 
all with great ease 
• The dies have their own little magnetic storage sheet – genius. Because as we all know these little bits tend to disappear at the most inconvenient times 
• The nesting dies will work on most brands of die-cutting machines making them really versatile 
On top of the world card
For this card I used the nesting Parenthesis die to create a border frame for my image to sit inside. I love how versatile the dies are and in how many different ways they can be used with different designs.
1. Take two of the nesting dies – 2 sizes next to each other – and position them to be straight. I placed the dies upside down on my work surface with the flat side upwards. Use a strip of washi tape to secure the dies together temporarily.
2. Turn over the dies and place them on your cutting plate. Add a piece of cardstock to be cut. I used the packaging from a set of Prima flowers for this and placed the design face down onto the dies.
3. Send the dies through your Cuttlebug. Remove the dies and cut pieces from carefully. The washi tape kept the dies in place for a neat border cut evenly spaced all round.
To finish off my card I placed and image inside of my frame and trim the excess off. The frame was placed on my card background with a stamped sentiment, buttons and a punched leaf.
washi tape come in really handy to adhere two dies together for cutting - not too tacky and easily removable.
Music to my soul card
On this card I used the nesting hexagon dies set to create a layered focal point image for my card. Cutting shapes with these dies makes life a whole lot easier. I first cut the top shape out of white cardstock and then stamped my image onto it using Black Versafine ink and a Gorjuss stamp image. I then combined my Artiste markers with some traditional watercolour paint to colour in my image before layering it onto a larger cut hexagon piece. The border at the bottom was punched using the Lace Trim punch for a beautiful and subtle effect. I added red as my accent colour on the cards making the grey and sage green combo really come to life.

Heart gift bag
I had recently got these cute little gift bags from a local store and the colouring was just perfect to create something using the same colour combinations as the cards I had just completed. I used my Flourish border punch and just punch a random border from a piece of scrap cardstock. I then placed it onto my actual cardstock that I am going to work on and used it as a stencil to ink through. I used a finger dauber and some brown ink to achieve the soft look. This is a fun and easy way of creating your own stencils. Alternatively you can also mist through these stencils using some of your Mister Huey inks.
I used sponge daubers and a scrap paper punched using one of my border punches - then I inked through the punched shape to create a custom inked border
subtle and effective
Products used
Xcut Decorative Border Punch - Lace Trim [DXCU257104]
Xcut Border Punch – Flourish [DXCU2571301]
Xcut Dies - Nesting Hexagons (7 Pieces) [DXCU503080]
Xcut Nesting Dies - Square Parenthesis (5 Pieces) [DXCU503401]
Artiste Dual Tip Brush Markers (12 Pack) – Brights [DDOA851100]
Artiste Dual Tip Brush Markers (12 Pack) – Vintage [DDOA851101]
Artiste Dual Tip Brush Markers (12 Pack) – Pastel [DDOA851102]
DoCrafts Gorjuss 8x8” paper pack [GOR160102]

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