AccuCut Craft Blog

Graduation box idea

Posted by Jen Cramer

If you have any more graduation parties coming up, here's an idea for a cute gift box. Traci used Box Pyramid #3 (Crease-Jumbo), simply cut out of black Bazzill cardstock, for the box base and lid. (The box is 3 3/4" wide by 2 1/2" high.) Then she cut a 4 1/2" square piece of the same black cardstock and attached a gold tassel to the center with a 1/4" black brad. Adhere the square to the top of the box and you're done!

You could fill the box with a gift for the graduate or even money would be fun (and appreciated). They would even make fun table decorations.

On our web site you can also find five more project ideas using this box.

National Stationery Show: Beach ensemble

Posted by Jen Cramer

Last week I started talking about the Beach Ensemble that we had on display at the National Stationery Show and I didn't get back to it. Let's take a closer look at some of the individual pieces...

Here is a "save the date" card that fits in an A7 envelope. What a cute deck chair!

The dies used to make the chair card are:

• Deck Chair (NC577CJ)
• Border-Interlocking #2 (BR455XLC)
• Place Cards #1 (P1016SJ) NEW!

The Place Cards die is one of our new dies with pins. It holds a letter sheet of paper and cuts nine 3" x 2 1/4" cards at one time. You can see here that it can be used for more than just place cards. (Note: The piece behind the place card on the invite was a hand-cut mat.)

The envelope behind the card is our Envelope-A7 #6, which has a nice scalloped edge on the flap.

And one more close-up...

The large card on the left shows off one of our new pocket cards. The dies used to make all of the pieces in the card are:

• A7 Pocket Card #1 (NC652CG)
• A7 Card Inserts (2-Die Set) (NC653SJ) - Two of the three layers are used on the left side of the card.
• A7 Card Mats #2 (NC633SJ) - This is the light teal layer on the right under the printed card.
• A7 Card Mats #3 (NC646SJ) -This is the top layer on the right with the printing.

The little place card in front of the card uses the same Place Cards #1 die that was used on the deck chair project we looked at earlier. That is one of the most versatile dies we came out with this month. You could even use it to make a large seal for the front of a card.

On the right side of the photo you can see a response card and envelope. The 4 Bar Cards die was very popular at the show for people wanting to make thank you cards, response cards and save the date cards. It's a nice size (4 7/8"w x 3 1/2"h folded).

Behind the card is the matching envelope which was made with Envelope-4 Bar and the new liner die. Our new liners that we came out with in May are nice because the fit the entire depth of the inside of the envelope.

I hope you liked taking a closer look at our Beach wedding projects. It's very rainy and gloomy here in Nebraska this morning and it makes me want some sun and sand!

Tuesdays with Tammy: A special gift

Posted by Tammy Miller

Yesterday was Memorial Day -- a day of picnics, family reunions, celebrating the loss of a loved one and it also represents the beginning of summer. For our small town, school is out and the water park is open. Of course my girls wanted to go.

Before going to the water park Marissa wanted to visit a friend who had been in the hospital and give her something special. She had noticed the last time she was at her house that she had started a scrapbook. We printed some favorite pictures of her and her friends and compiled them on a couple scrapbook pages.

Marissa felt by putting the pictures on a scrapbook page it would help express the way she felt about her friend. She wrote a little note on the back that brought tears to my eyes. I felt so proud. Scrapbooking is about life and journaling everyday events. That's what makes it such a meaningful hobby.

I didn't have time to snap a picture of her pages but here's an example of how to take an everyday moment and turn it into a special gift. A photo with your Grandma can be framed and given to her for her birthday or just because. She's sure to proudly display it in her home and it will mean the world to her.

Click here to see the dies used in this 12" x 12" page.

We're back from the National Stationery Show

Posted by Jen Cramer

In case you were wondering where we disappeared to, we've been recovering from the National Stationery Show. What a blast that was... but all of the excitement of 4-day show does tend to leave you a little exhausted at the end!

I do have one bit of advice for those of you that go to the shows... if it sounds like a good idea to spend five days at a trade show, get back at 1 a.m. and then be up at 7 a.m. for a garage sale, you are very mistaken. Run very fast from that idea. I can tell you from experience. ; )

On a brighter note, I hope everyone enjoyed their Memorial Day. We'll be back this afternoon with a Tuesdays with Tammy post and then I'll talk a little bit more about the Stationery Show tomorrow.

More from the National Stationery Show

Posted by Jen Cramer

We're still in New York at the National Stationery Show. Two days down and two to go! It's so much fun meeting new people and showing them what our GrandeMARK system can do to help them save time. They are so amazed. But many of you already know what it can do so let's get on to the projects!

Here are a few more projects that are on display in our booth...

The response card and the thank you card in front were made with our new 4 Bar Cards die. It has two card shapes on one die and the die has registration pins to hold 8 1/2" x 11" paper. It saves a lot of time when you need to make 50, 100 or even more cards.

I also wanted to show some photos of the amazing wedding dress that Vicki Chrisman made for us last year. We loved it so much that we brought it to the show again.

If I remember correctly, the front of the dress was made with Borders #2, Flowers #18, and Flowers #26.

The back of the dress added dies Flowers #6, Border-Interlocking #1, and Leaves #1.

And the dress wouldn't be complete without a matching bouquet!

Well, I have to head over to the show. Tomorrow I'll show more pics of our "beach" ensemble.

If you want to see all of the new dies in our May release, click here.

Live from the National Stationery Show!

Posted by Jen Cramer

We're on our way to Day 2 of the National Stationery Show here in New York but I thought I would post a couple quick pictures from the booth. More photos will be posted by tomorrow!

 

47 new AccuCut dies!

Posted by Jen Cramer

In case you haven't seen it yet, late yesterday we posted our new Craft May Release on our website! There are 47 new stationery dies to pick from including a brand new line of dies that have registration pins that hold a letter-size sheet of cardstock. You've been asking for them and here they are! I have to say that I have had a lot of fun playing with them to create cards and favors.

Yesterday I showed you a sheet of seals that you would have had to cut out with a punch. Can you imagine having to hand punch 150 of those? Now you don't have to because there is an AccuCut die that you can use!

Here is the new Seals-Circle-1 1/2" die that cuts fifteen 1 1/2" circles at once -- in exactly the same place every time.

 

Now you can see that I placed that sheet of seals I had already made with my computer (see yesterday's post) face down on the die in the GrandeMARK machine. Then I started to roll them through to cut all of those circles.

 

And now I have 15 circles cut with one pass through the machine. All I would have to do is print off nine more sheets of seals and roll them through my machine and I would be done.

To see the entire release of new dies -- there are some cards, boxes and place cards in there too -- just go to our May Release page and start checking them out.

The supplement is ready too so you can download it or request one to be mailed to you.

We're headed to the National Stationery Show so if you're going to the show too stop by and see us in Booth #2462.

Wouldn't it be great if you had a die that...

Posted by Jen Cramer

Picture this.... You need to make 150 favor boxes for a wedding. You have your AccuCut GrandeMARK machine and your box die picked out. But you want to put a seal on them to make them more personal, to add the bride and groom's names and the date.

Wouldn't it be great if you could use your computer to design your own custom seals, maybe something like this:

... and then wouldn't it save you a lot of time if you had a die that would cut out all of those seals at one time?

Stay tuned for an exciting new die release.......

Our Mother's Day challenge winner

Posted by Jen Cramer

Back on April 28 we posted a Mother's Day project challenge, and the winner is (drum roll, please) Clarissa Romano, who submitted this wonderful lunch box tin and cascading tag album. For being our challenge winner, she will receive a $50 AccuCut gift certificate!

You can read more about her project on her Paper Hostess blog. I try to go to Clarissa's blog at least once a week to see what else she may have created with her AccuCut system. She makes some beautiful projects including these tuxedo boxes.

Back to Clarissa's Mother's Day project... in case you were wondering what dies she used, here they are:

• Album-Lunch Box #1 (2-Die Set): This die set cuts shapes to fit the ProvoCraft lunch tins that are 4"w x 7"l x 3 15/16"h

• Flowers #16: Three sizes of the same flower on a long cut die so you create perfect layers.

• Gift Tag #16: A great basic tag.

Congratulations again, Clarissa. We'll contact you about the gift certificate. And thank you to everyone else who submitted entries. Watch for more challenges in the future.

Tuesdays with Tammy: Arrows

Posted by Tammy Miller

WOW, we had some really great responses to our contests last week. I had a ton of fun contacting the winners. Congratulations to all of you. If you haven’t had a chance to read through the comments, do so, they will inspire you. 

We are super busy here this week as a group of us AccuCut ladies will be traveling to New York for the National Stationery Show that starts Sunday. We'll be showing off our the new dies in our May release, which I hear may be hitting our web site at the end of this week. Keep watching the site and also this blog for more details. We'll definitely post some pics from the show.

So, quickly I’ll show you one of my favorite dies: Arrows. There are three arrow shapes on one jumbo die board and they measure 3"w x 2"h, 5 1/16"w x 2 1/2"h, 10"w x 6 3/16"h. Mix and match them on a page or use them individually.

This die adds so much personality to a scrapbook page, as on this Live Life in Full Color 12" x 12" page.

My daughters, Marissa and Callie, and I have only had one graduation party to go to so far this year, and creating scrapbook pages for the graduate is a perfect gift. Traci used the Arrows in this Class of '08 page. The arrows are a perfect complement to what is going on in their lives.

Retailers: If you have graduation papers or embellishments, cut some arrows out of coordinating paper and chipboard and sell them by the piece by your graduation display. Or use scrap paper to cut out the arrows – scraps turned into profit, imagine that!

Well, if I don’t chat with you next week check out some posts you might have missed by clicking on the links on the right. I just spent a few minutes browsing that myself... we’ve been some blogging fools lately, or at least it feels like it!