Hi Gigi, thank you for such a lovely reply, and for your very kind words! I've always determined to be as cheerful and upbeat as possible because a) it definitely aids one's recovery and b) who wants to attend a pity party?!!
So glad you liked my card. I made it several years ago. I'll attach a couple of pics of the envelopes I made last night. I made a silly mistake, setting the origin at the bottom of the paper instead of the mat, and couldn't understand why the mat was being half spat out behind the machine and getting itself all jammed and twisted up - quick dash to turn the machine right off! Duh... The mat got a bit creased, but I warmed it up with my heat gun and it flattened out again just fine.
I haven't actually cut anything using "origin" yet, but when I clicked on that option in the menu to see what it looked like, the little picture did change and I could see exactly how it would cut. I did WYSIWYG for the envelope because I'd already got it set up with very little paper wastage. The paper I've got is a bit thin. I think I'll get hold of some A3 that's a bit thicker for envelopes - what I've got is only 80 gsm. I cut one from the American Crafts cardstock and that is definitely too thick, although it does feel quite luxurious!
The cards I'm making at the moment are shutter cards. When you open the two flaps, they open "curtains" behind the round window to expose an image or a message underneath. I like cards that give the recipient a surprise, or which have some interactive element to them. I found the instructions for this one on Youtube. It was far too much faff to make because I kept making stupid mistakes (I shouldn't have gone in the studio at all that day, being more than usually foggy in the brain dept.) so I've decided to design some cutting files for the various pieces, so if I want to make them again, I can just cut out the pieces and embellish them as I choose.
The decoration on the front of the lighter coloured ones was done with a honeycomb die that I've got. For the darker one, I used the die with an embossing mat so that it embossed rather than cutting. In each case they were inked and a little gilding wax added, but photos never show up reflective surfaces unfortunately. I have a friend who is a bee keeper and I made her one of these for her birthday on New Year's Day but that one was slightly different. I've refined the design a bit since then. When I get round to cutting a honeycomb stencil, this can be used for embossing too, or for inking, spreading texture paste etc. etc. Lots of possibilities. I've got a set of 3 bee stamps in different sizes. I love the bee theme and the lovely colours you can use with it. Several years ago I made this friend an explosion box in the shape of a beehive, which opened up with lots of flaps, each containing a tag illustrating a different aspect of life in the beehive, with a humorous slant. It was one of my favourite projects of all time! I think it's in my Flickr album - I'll have to check. (Found it!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/12780076@N05/albums/72157659745462658 It was a lot of fun. You can see a lot of my other work on Flickr. I need to update it, though.
You could make cutting files to construct boxes like this, I think. Also I want to design templates for albums. Then it's a simple matter to cut out the pieces and not have to keep worrying about measuring everything, and get on to the fun part of embellishing more quickly.
Had a horrible time at the dentist yesterday - I needed a filling. I am dental phobic and the whole thing was gruesome. Our dentist is so lovely, though, and always does his best to help me relax, and we usually manage to have a bit of a laugh - on the days when he's not doing anything to me!! I thought after that I wouldn't have the energy for anything, but managed to spend a couple of hours in the studio doing my envelopes. It's all caught up with me a bit today, though.
I agree with you - Internet overload lol!! For me, Pinterest is the worst for this. I have to watch my Pinterest addiction... far too much inspiration on there!
Shoshi x
09 3 Envelopes - Back, Open 24-1-20.jpg
10 Embossed Card with Envelope 24-1-20.jpg
11 Die Cut Cards with Envelopes 24-1-20.jpg
06 Card Insides 20-1-20.jpg
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