I used:
- 4.75" x 4.75" square white card blank, side opening
- a piece of ready embossed white card, another one sent by a friend to protect the front of her Christmas card to us - trimmed to approx. 3.75" square
- backed the pretty embossed white panel with a snippet of Tonic mirror 'Inca Gold' card, trimmed to leave just a very narrow frame - used Collall All Purpose glue - a huge favourite with me
- the fun (not!) part was die cutting the bauble itself - it's actually the same 3D-Sizzix Embosslits die as Jo is offering at the prize this month, but you have just over 24 hours until the challenge closes. It's a gorgeous die which cuts and embosses at the same time - called 'Ornament - No. 66505' .. and this was its first outing
- I don't have a Big Shot or similar so I Googled both Cuttlebug and Gemini Embosslits Plate Sandwiches. And that's when the fun began as I could only find a Gemini 'Plate Sandwich'!
- the Gemini sandwich went into the machine - then got stuck fast! Something I'd feared would happen when emailing a friend about doubts
- thankfully, after my attempts failed - Len galloped to the rescue and gently retrieved the plates and the Embosslit! Visions of a totally 'kaput' machine here - immediately die cut a simple die as a tester and no lasting damage - phew
- so, I left well alone until earlier today, Thursday, one day before close of play over at the challenge, bit too close for my liking
- eventually, I stumbled across a site purporting to have ALL plate combinations for the Cuttlebug - so I dutifully got the Cuttlebug and plates set up - no luck with the suggested 'sandwich'!
- in desperation, I actually used just plates A, the 3-D Embosslit and card with just one plate B - success!! I could have added a card shim but why chance your luck!?
- die cut a futher bauble using a snippet of white card, using the same die for additional rigidity and glued it onto the back of the gold bauble
- popped a simple knotted small red satin bow onto the bauble - Collall glue again
- added the bauble onto the panel front using thin sticky pads
- then added the whole panel to the card front using very narrow foam tape for even more dimension
Done! And, I'vr slipped a piece of paper into the Embosslit packet with the plates for the Cuttlebug clearly itemised!
Having thought further about it, I have a feeling that the plate sandwiches I found were most likely 'pre' the days of 3-D dies and possibly referred to plain 2-D Embosslits, which I've never encountered at all but would likely explain the difficulties I stumbled across? Stumble? More like fell into ......... totally headlong!! One to watch out for it seems.
One big lesson is to rely on a hand cranked machine if in any doubt! And then, don't give up on trial and error - with you in full command!
As well as Christmas Kickstart, I'd also like to add this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #70 - also about to finish! HERE.
I'm off for an early night in bed here - to fully recover!!
Beautiful card, Di. The bauble is fabulous and well worth the time it took to work out how to use the die. I must admit, I've never heard of 3D dies before. xx
ReplyDeleteGorgeous cut and embossed card Di. I must admit that I have some lovely old thicker metal dies by Provocraft and I haven’t managed to work out how to use them with my Gemini, and I’m sure I’ve had some problems with embossing folders too where the “sandwich” in the instruction booklet didn’t work. That’s before we even start with the state of my Gemini plates,considering I don’t do a lot of die cutting! I still get my Cuttlebug out now and again … if I were choosing now I personally wouldn’t get an electronic die cutting machine, just a bigger manual one eg a Big Shot! xx
ReplyDeleteHi Pauline, you can't use the really thick dies with the Gemini - that's why I searched high and low for a new Cuttlebug, hit very lucky on eBay. Re. the Gemini plates - here's a post of Jennifer McGuire's which really IS a game changer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0ZKxQLT3Gg No more badly warped plates. They do score over time but nothing like my first experiences with the Gemini! Go forward to around 13 minutes into the video for the 'green plates' option - I don't tape mine together BTW. Too much of a faff for me! Di xx
DeleteThis is a beautiful bauble Di and the Inca Gold card is so shiny and pretty, and the added red bow looks great. The white embossed piece which it is sitting on is very pretty too and works well on the card. I'm surprised that the Gemini actually accepted the sandwich if it was too thick, but the intrepid Len managed to release it from the machine's iron grip..lol. Hopefully that is a one off situation and at least you now know what sandwich to use next time. x
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