AccuCut Craft Blog

Tuesdays with Tammy: Back to the basics

Posted by Tammy Miller

Where do we start? That is a question a store owner often asks me when I take their first order at a trade show. There are just so many dies to choose from and it's easy to get overwhelmed. Well, we start with the basics. An alphabet, bags and boxes, holiday shapes, note cards, albums, and tags are basic shapes for all stores. Today, let's focus on tags.

Scrapbook stores have been using tag dies for years. The obvious use for a tag to me is to put is on the side of a gift bag. I just love this Polka Dot Purse by the way.

That cute little "butterfly" tag is actually just one of four tags on Tags #4. It's one of our best-selling mini tag dies.

Then began the evolution of the tag die cut for us scrapbookers. We started putting them on scrapbook pages as creative accents or even behind letters. (See Zoo Love page)

You can also use tags to make a simple card like this one for Father’s Day:

But what's popular in today’s scrapbooking stores is being able to make your own albums -- the more creative the better. Here is a Tag Baby Album shown mixed with another hot crafting trend -- clear albums.

 

The album was made with our giant Tag-Accordion die, which means you need to have a GrandeMARK machine to use the die. We get so many oohs and aahs over this shape when we show the die and the projects. The die even has creases between the individual tags so it's easy to fold. The combined tag shape itself is 12" wide x 5" high so you can get two out of a standard 12" x 12" sheet of cardstock or plastic (we sell the plastic too!).

I have to show you one more project using the same die. Marah Johnson, licensed artist with Creative Imaginations, made this beautiful standing album to showcase some photos of her girls. This would be a great class.

Well, back to the basics was fun for me today, let me know what you think and we will chat next week.

Before I go, make sure you check back daily on our blog next week.... I may have heard something about daily giveaways for National Scrapbooking Day. It pays to read the AccuCut Craft Blog!

Projects for Mom... and a Challenge for a free gift!

Posted by Jen Cramer

Mother's Day is quickly approaching so I thought we'd take a look at a few "mom" projects today. And I thought we'd throw in our first challenge, but you'll have to wait until the end of the post to read about it. Coincidentally, both projects that we'll see -- a card and an album -- use AccuCut's Stencil Alphabet. 

I actually made this card a year or so ago for my own mom. I think that was when I started to fall in love with My Mind's Eye paper, but that's another story. : ) Now back to the card...

Sometimes when I need to design a card and I can't think of where to start, the easiest thing to do is to grab a letter die and make a cool monogram. Here I used the 2" Uppercase Stencil Alphabet to cut the M out of chipboard (after I adhered my paper). Then I just put another piece of coordinating paper behind the stencil so it would show through. (See Plaid Mom Card)

This also happens to be one of my all-time-favorite cards, the Buckle Card, that's 5 3/16" square folded. A $55 card die with crease... you can't beat that. I also like it because I can dress it up for weddings or I can make it fun and playful for a kid's birthday card.

The second "mom" project that uses the Stencil Alphabet (but this time it's the 2 1/2" size) is this Mom Album. The stencil letters let you see right through to the paper on the album cover.

Traci used the 5" x 10" album to cut the pages and even the clear plastic sheet that rested on top of the chipboard cover. The rub-ons were added to the front of the clear cover before she assembled everything.

So, do you want to know what the challenge is and what you can win?

E-mail a photo of a Mother's Day project you made to blog@accucut.com by Monday, May 12. Here are the details:

• You must use at least one AccuCut die (steel-rule).
• The project should preferably have the word "mom" or "mother" on it but that doesn't have to be made with a die. Use a rub-on, stamp, sticker, anything!
• In your e-mail, use subject line "Mom" and include a photo of the project (less than 150k please!) and the item numbers of the die(s) used.
• Be creative! We'll choose our favorite project and post the winner on Wednesday, May 14.
• The winner will receive a $50 AccuCut gift certificate!

Store owners: Print off this post and put it by your AccuCut machine. Your customers will love the chance to enter themselves too.

A dino-mite dinosaur die

Posted by Jen Cramer

If you're looking for a new "little boy" shape to add to your die collection, check out the AccuCut Dinosaur #10 die. It comes in two sizes: the large is 4" high and the jumbo is 6 1/2" high.

The large size may be the most versatile size as it can be added to various sizes of cards and boxes. This Dino Thank You shows it added to an A2 card.

And here you can see the same large size die cut added to a favor box.

The jumbo size die makes a great dinosaur invitation to fit in an A7 envelope. It can also add a lot of personality to a scrapbook page.

Make sure you create samples to show customers how they can create an entire dinosaur-theme party. You can also sell kits so people can just buy them and go.

Box #18

Posted by Jen Cramer

Today I'd like to feature Box #18 -- a unique vertical box that comes in three assembled sizes:

Jumbo  1 1/4"w x 1 1/4"l x 3 5/8"h
Super Jumbo  1 3/4"w x 1 3/4"l x 5 3/16"h
Giant  2 1/2"w x 2 1/2"l x 7 3/8"h

Both the jumbo and super jumbo sizes are our most popular. Let's take a look at a few examples of the jumbo size first.

I love the design of the Spring Box on the left and how Traci glued the two half-circle flaps down to create such a nice effect. That's a great idea when you want to let someone see what's inside without having to open the box. The Sweet Bon Bon Box on the right is classically wrapped up with a ribbon and tiny tag.

The next size up is the Super Jumbo size, which makes a box 5 3/16" high. This Button Top Party Favor Box would be great for favor boxes at a child's birthday party.

And the largest size we offer is Giant. It requires larger than 12" x 12" paper but I do want to show you the technique used on this Pink & Inked box that can be used on any size box.

The box is cut out of AccuCut's clear plastic sheets. After removing the protective film, you use Ranger Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Inks to add color to the outside of the box. You'll be amazed at how fast that ink dries on the clear plastic!

Tuesdays with Tammy: Back from Nashville - Part II

Posted by Tammy Miller

As Jen mentioned yesterday we are back from Nashville, home of country music. I enjoy country music and wish we could have had more time site seeing, but the sites we did take in were beautiful. What a beautiful part of the country -- gorgeous landscaping, warm, welcoming and full of southern hospitality.

One of our first stops was at The Sassy Scrapper in Murfreesboro.

This is where we found Mary Kumpf, Lee Diamond and Bettye Branton. Yes, her name ends in "ye". How cute is that?

These ladies love their AccuCut GrandeMARK machine. They have an 8" Roman Uppercase alphabet set they use to cut letters out of chipboard covered in cardstock for classes and to sell individually.

They also use their machine to cut shapes to sell at the register. Mary said the 5 1/4" Square-Scalloped and Circle-Scalloped shapes sell really well for her.

What a cute store, and it was packed with all sorts of products. Jen purchased more than a few sheets of paper along with some other scrapbook supplies. I nearly had to pull her out of the store, wink wink. : )

Before the rain set in we ran into Memories In Bloom Scrapbook Superstore in Clarksville owned by Georgie Vaughan Stimson. I love this fun entrance.

Lauren and Kim were there to help with the rest of Jen's purchases (good thing we had extra room in the rental car!). Beautiful projects were displayed throughout the store and customers had access to a GrandeMARK machine and lots of fun dies.

Again, we found die cuts near the cash register, which is one of my favorite "smart business tips".

Here they have used chipboard and plastic to cut birds, tags, frames and borders.

What fun we had in Nashville visiting stores that love their AccuCut systems as much as we do. I look forward to seeing more scrapbook stores across the country later this year. See you next week...

Back from Nashville - Part I

Posted by Jen Cramer

Tammy and I are back from Nashville after spending a few days at the Scrap Etc. "Tell the Story Only You Can Tell" event and visiting scrapbook stores in the area. Today and tomorrow we'll share some of our trip with lots of photos!

We sat in on a number of classes including this Everyday Us album class by Vanessa Hudson. She used lots of AccuCut dies in the project, and the die cuts looked great with the Scenic Route paper. On the cover below she used three dies: Birds #1 (small), Butterfly #8 (small) and Tree-No Leaves.

Here is Vanessa teaching one of her sessions:

The class used a Pioneer album and she created a number of dividers to separate the sections. This "On the Go" divider uses Car #2 and Flourishes #1 -- how clever was that?

On her "What's for Dinner?" divider she used a small Label die behind the word "Dinner", the Apron card and a Scallops border. I love how she uses a black pen to outline her shapes. It really makes them pop. 

We also spent quite a bit of time traveling around the area to visit scrapbook stores that have AccuCut die cutting systems. On Friday we stopped in at Scrappuccino in Greenbrier, Tennessee, and saw co-owners Lola Fields and Kathy Sterry. They use their Creative Cafe dies for art bar projects.

Here's another shot of part of their Creative Cafe area. They have both Spirit and Lucky lines.

The last store that we squeezed in to our trip was Timeless Reflection in Hendersonville, where we found a huge selection of AccuCut dies. Owner Michelle Luther was having her last crop before she was going to have to close for a few days to knock down a wall to expand her store. When she opens again she's going to hang these beautiful pennants over the 7 Gypsies products. I just loved her vintage style using the Pennant #5 die and our 4" Carnival alphabet. The letters are cut out of chipboard and then covered with glitter.

Tomorrow: Tammy will share photos from our stops at The Sassy Scrapper and Memories in Bloom.

Headed to Nashville for Scrap Etc. event

Posted by Jen Cramer

Tammy and I getting ready to go to Nashville tomorrow for the Scrap Etc. event. AccuCut is one of the sponsors and Monique has used lots of AccuCut dies in some of the sessions so we're excited to see how our products have been used. If you were lucky enough to score a spot in the event then we'll see you there! If not, we'll post some pictures next week when we get back.

But before we jump on a plane, here is an adorable little girl's birthday invitation that I wanted to share. Sometimes you have to do something extra special with an invitation -- and people will notice the effort and the creativity! This card is made using our 3-D Horse die, but it really comes to life with beautiful scrapbook papers. Imagine getting this invitation in the mail and having fun putting it all together.

We have a number of other 3-D animal shapes including a Dinosaur for little boy parties, an Elephant (don't forget to come my party), and a Lion (Lion King theme parties). 

Besides the invitation you can also use them for table decorations and even an activity for the kids depending on their ages.

Tuesdays with Tammy: Wedding favor ideas

Posted by Tammy Miller

I love spring. I even love the rain. But this time of year really gets me thinking of what’s coming around the corner... all of the graduations, bridal showers and weddings I have to look forward to.

I have a couple ideas that will spark some interest from the brides, brides' moms or even bridesmaids that are stopping in your store looking for party favor ideas. This Dress Box is one of our most popular boxes for weddings:

Here it is used to make this All Dressed Up Place Card, a perfect little box for a bridal shower. A bride-to-be can simply use it for table decorations or throughout the room so each guest knows where to sit.

And here's a more formal Bride Box dressed up with Imaginisce rub-ons and a tag:

And here is the bride box shown with the coordinating Tuxedo Box. They can be filled with mints or other little treasures like mini soaps or tealight candles. See the project here.

One more box idea is our also popular Flower Box. You get all three shapes on one jumbo die.

Here is a pink and green flower box made with our clear plastic sheets for the base:

What I love about all the boxes I've shown here is that they do not require any adhesive at all. Just fold them up and you're ready to go!

I could go on forever about boxes and bags for weddings. They are such a smart addition to a store's die cutting center so they can reach new customers. Visit the Ideas area of our website for even more wedding and stationery ideas and I’ll be back next week to share more ideas.

And the winners are...

Posted by Jen Cramer

A great big thank you to everyone who is helping us spread the word about our AccuCut blog by putting a link on their blog or site (please continue to do so!). And now the results of our drawing from our April 7th post, the four winners of a 50-pack of 12" x 12" chipboard are (and the links to their blogs/sites):

• Nancy Connor: http://www.sage-crafts.com/html/links.html
• Tina Reed: http://www.quirkyquillers.com/servlet/StoreFront
• Vickie K: http://www.scrapbookingforothers.blogspot.com
• Rachel D: http://www.scraphappyohio.blogspot.com

We'll be in touch to get you your well-deserved chipboard! Thanks again.

And, before I go, let me share one quick card with you that was made with our new A2 Pocket Card. The die has two shapes on it: the card itself and the insert card that fits in the pocket.

If you cut your 12" x 12" sheet of paper in an L to cover just the card shape you can get 2 cards out of one sheet. I cut out one card first and then laid that on my paper to use as a guide.

I think this card is perfect for invitations and announcements. Here's an example of a Baby Announcement using this die.

And the inside...

Enjoy your Monday!

A gift for my sister

Posted by Jen Cramer

I've been meaning the share a photo of a Christmas gift I made for my sister Erin. The photo quality is not the greatest since I was in a rush to get it to the post office, but you can at least see how it was put together.

My sister and her husband don't have any kids yet so let's just say that their cat is a little spoiled. So I knew she would love it if I made her something she could display that had her cat's picture in it. I found this great shadowbox frame for a 12" x 12" page and then it was easy to put together.

She had sent me a photo of Bailey hiding in a blanket and I wanted that to take up much of the page. For the background paper I used Around the Block's Feline Phrases. Then I used AccuCut's Mat-Scallop die to cut the shape out of a brown piece of cardstock. I glued the mat scallop shape to the photo and then glued both pieces to the base sheet of cardstock.

Then I wanted to add Bailey's name to the page so I adhered some of the same dark brown cardstock to some chipboard and cut the letters out of our 1 1/2" Black Tie alphabet. I glued the letters down above the photo.

I thought it needed one more accent shape so I added a small Flourish #1, also out of cardstock adhered to chipboard to give it some dimension.

And it was done! My sister said she loved the frame and that it was worth the wait. I've found that people really enjoy gifts when you can make them yourself or put something very personal in them, so I try to make as many gifts as possible. And AccuCut dies make it so much easier to put them together.