Chelsea's Tip for Perfect Die-Cutting! (Tutorial)

Why, yes.... I have been MIA! My apologies. It's conference season and my time has not been my own as I have to get conferences prepped for my full-time job before I can take time for my fun job. :) So, conference #2 of 3 is done and in a week and a half, conference #3 will be done too. whew! But, the people are great so it's worth it. However, it's made me neglect my blog so keep reading for a handy tutorial on die-cutting to make up for it. :)

In July I attended the A Muse Studio National Conference in Santa Fe and had a blast! I love catching up with everyone and laughing and stamping and learning and it's just great! My mom came with me this year which made it even more fun! Here we're at one of our favorite restaurants in Santa Fe. :)

At the conference, Chelsea Comer shared this amazing idea that makes die-cutting with our matching dies, super easy and super successful every time!

1. Stamp your image (this is from the new sunflower set - love it!)

2. Die cut a mask out of a piece of scrap cardstock and then line up the die-cut mask over the image and washi tape it to your cutting pad.

3. Pop the die into the opening of the mask and washi tape it into place.

4. Run it through your die-cutting machine (I used the Grand Caliber but it would work on any of them) and this is what you're left with - a perfectly cut sunflower!

Kudos to Chelsea for that most awesome tip!!

And, isn't it great to have fabulous images with matching dies?! I love it! Any of the stamp sets in the catalog that have a red line around them means that there's a matching die set that just fits around the image. Great stuff! To do a little happy shopping of your own, visit my webstore: www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Have a wonderfully creative day!!

Emboss Resist with Splash Tutorial

Emboss resist with Splash is so super easy and the results are so AWESOME! Here is a tutorial to help you make your own splashed notecards!

First, stamp your image with Versamark. You want to use a solid image stamp. I used one of the solid modern zinnia stamps. Love that set! So, can you see that the image is lightly there on the vanilla cardstock? The versamark ink has some tackiness to it so the embossing powder will stick to it.

The next step is to pick your embossing powder and pour it over the stamped image. Be generous and really get it covered. Shake off the excess and pour it back into the bottle to use the next time. I'm using white embossing powder from A Muse Studio. 

So then you hit it with the heat gun and it melts. See the one on the right - it's melted and the others are still powdery. I love watching the powder melt - it's like magic!

Now they're all embossed and it's ready to spray!

After you spray it, wipe off the excess from the embossed flowers with a paper towel and let it dry for a bit. I used Pistachio splash for this one but you can use any color that you want. Scroll down to see other colors!

And, here's the finished project. :) I like to layer it on onyx and then back on a vanilla cardstock base. A group of these makes a wonderful gift of notecards. You can stamp inside but I generally leave this design blank.

 look at all these gorgeous colors! A Muse carries Splash is so many colors. You can dab, spritz or spray with it. You can even paint with it. Such a fun product!

So, here it is again - the cast of characters - versamark, Modern Zinnia solid stamp, white embossing powder and pistachio splash. Have fun playing!!

And, here's where you can pick up the supplies to make your very own embossed resist with Splash! www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Have a wonderfully creative day!