AccuCut Craft Blog

Turn a plain box into something special

Make sure you read until the very end for information on a summer sale!

Posted by Jen Cramer

It is safe to say that I have never met a plain kraft box I didn't like. I like to get them (for free!) when I buy jewelry and I like to get gifts packaged in them. If I run across them in a craft store, I will probably buy a few to keep on hand "just in case I need them". Why do I like them so much? Because I can re-use them and make them into even more beautiful gift boxes!

This past weekend it was my mom's birthday. Unfortunately, I was in a rush with the kids and didn't have time to make a handmade card so I thought I would put extra effort into making the gift box more special.

I picked out a plain kraft box out of my stash and found a couple of butterfly dies. In about five minutes I was able to make this simple gift box...

The base butterfly is Butterfly #9 and the top butterfly is the largest of three butterflies on Butterfly #8. Just add some ribbon for a butterfly body and bend some wire to make the antennae and you're done.

The inside was white and a little boring for me so I cut extra pieces of cardstock to fit inside the top and bottom. And then I added a stamped greeting (Savvy Stamps) to the inside top of the box to say happy birthday.

It was a simple box but it was handmade, which means more to the person receiving it. Sometimes they'll ooh and ahh more over the packaging then the actual gift! Start collecting your own boxes (I'm sure many of you do already) and then make your own gift boxes.

PS: Now is a great time to buy a few dies on your wish list... have you seen the sale on our website? Find out how you can get 20% off and free shipping on your order before July 3.

Frame your photos

Posted by Jen Cramer

Today I wanted to share a die that has been around for awhile but it has definitely stood the test of time. It's one of our bestsellers and a great die to have in a scrapbook store die cutting center.

And the die is........Frames! You get four frames on a long cut die, and each frame is 2" wide by 2 3/4" high.

On this A is for Adorable 12" x 12" page, Traci used three of the four frames. The page is clean and simple -- and quick to put together. I think I'm going to have to scraplift this one!

The frames were also used on this Bound by Love album, which would make a great class.

The base of the album is cut out of our Clear Plastic Sheets using the Album Playing Card Tin die. Since you can see through the plastic you may want to put the same frames on the back with different photos.

When your album is done you can fold it up and put it in a Bandage Tin Box made by Provo Craft. You can find them at many local scrapbook stores. Here is the one that was beautifully decorated to match the album.

The album die we talked about above even has a rounded rectangle piece that fits perfectly on front of the tin to make it easy for you.

Have a great weekend! See you back here on Monday.

Flip flops = summer

Posted by Jen Cramer

I don't know about you, but when I think of summer I think of "flip flops" -- the perfect, casual summertime shoe. You can't have too many flip flops, that's for sure.

Have you seen the Flip-Flops #2 die? It comes in three sizes, and the most popular for scrapbooking and cards are the extra long cut, where the shoes are 5" high, and the long cut that has 3" high shoes.

The fun part is that the top parts of the shoes are separate from the bottoms so you can have a lot of fun mixing and matching papers for fun combos.

This Paradise Memory Tin could hold vacation photos that are either loose or put together in an album. Love the bright colors.

And here are the long cut flip flops on a Pool Party Invitation. The little Prima flowers are great embellisments to add to the shoes.

All of those flip flop projects make me miss the weekend already!

June Father's Day Challenge

Posted by Jen Cramer

It's about time for another challenge... and this time you have four weeks to get your project to us. For our June Father's Day Challenge, e-mail a photo of a Father's Day project you made to blog@accucut.com by Monday, June 30. It could be a card, an album, a scrapbook page -- anything is fair game as long as it has to do with dad and if you use at least one AccuCut die to make it. Here are the details:

• You must use at least one AccuCut die (steel-rule).
• The project should preferably have the word "dad" or "father" on it but that doesn't have to be made with a die. Use a rub-on, stamp, sticker, anything! (If the project has a photo of a dad and son or daughter then you may not need the words.)
• In your e-mail, use subject line "Dad" 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, July 2.
• The winner will receive a $100 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. Or have your own store contest -- you will get more people to use your die cutting center (and buy your products) and a friendly yet competitive contest is always fun.

Here's a "daddy" scrapbook page to get you in the mood for Father's Day. See which dies were used on our site. We'll have a couple brand-new Father's Day projects to share this week.

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!

Thursday's gift certificate giveaway and a butterfly favor

*** Entries are no longer being accepted. ***

Posted by Jen Cramer

If you're looking for a unique idea for a small favor container you may be able to find something in the travel items section of your local Target, Wal-Mart, any dollar store, etc. Traci found these cute little screw-top containers last year and turned them into Butterfly Favors.

On the top of the favor she used the Butterfly #6 long cut die to make the layered butterfly. The die has three "wing" shapes in different sizes ranging from 2 1/4" wide to 3" wide, perfect for layering. The extra long cut version has larger sizes.

I know that butterflies have been very popular this summer and have popped up on a number of scrapbook papers and embellishments. Over the past year or so we've also seen our fair share of birds, cupcakes, skulls, robots, owls, pirates and a few other suddenly "it" shapes.

So what is your prediction for the next "it" shape for this fall/winter? Click on the comments link below and tell me what your prediction is and you'll be entered to win today's giveaway... a $75 AccuCut gift certificate. You have until 9 a.m. CST Friday, May 9, to post your comment. *** Entries are no longer being accepted. ***

Wednesday's giveaway: Two dies to one winner!

*** Entries are no longer being accepted. ***

Posted by Jen Cramer

Is everyone enjoying our National Scrapbooking Day giveaway spree this week? I've had so much fun giving away free products! Everyone is so creative and it's great to hear your ideas about how you would use the dies.

I'm feeling especially generous today so let's give away not one but TWO dies to one lucky winner. Both are new dies that were introduced in January and will work wonderfully together.

The first die is Birds #1 (the long cut size). I know we've given this one away before but everyone loves it so much I thought we should give away another one.

This Maya Road Half Circle Binder album uses both the jumbo and the long cut sizes of the die. (The long cut bird is the smaller one of the two and is a little more than 3 1/2" wide.) I also have to mention that decorating the Maya Road binders is so easy when you have the die to match. You can see all of our Maya Road dies on our site.

Here's one more project that shows another bird that's on the Birds #1 die. This Thinking of You card is so sweet. The bird is placed on one of our new Convertibles cards using a new Brackets insert. If you haven't seen them you can learn more about Convertibles cards and albums here.

And the "bonus" die is our new small Flourishes #4 die. They are the perfect size to put a bird right on top of them!

So how can you enter our drawing to win these two dies? Just click on the "comments" link below this post and let me know one thing that you'd like to see more of on our blog or what we can add to it to make sure you keep coming back (except giveaways...we already know you like those!). Do you want to see more techniques? How about videos? Guest bloggers? More scrapbooking or more cards? You name it. Leave your comment by 9 a.m. CST tomorrow morning (Thursday 5/8) to be entered in our drawing. Good luck! *** Entries are no longer being accepted. ***

Vintage (and a reminder about our Challenge!)

Posted by Jen Cramer

Sorry we were a no-show yesterday... we are crazy busy getting ready for the National Stationery Show in a few weeks and putting together our May supplement (can you believe it is May 1st today?!). I can't wait to share what we've been working on -- you will really love the new dies. Keep watching the blog for sneak peeks.

And speaking of watching the blog, I want to make sure you didn't miss our "mom" CHALLENGE that was issued on Monday. You could win a $50 gift certificate so be sure to check it out here.

Now back to our featured die of the day: the Vintage long cut die that was released in January.

It has two wonderful shapes on the single die. The shape on the left is 4" wide x 2 7/8" high and the second shape is 4 3/8" square.

I love the intricate curves and the antique feel to these shapes. It's just one of those dies that make you say "I have to make something with this"... something sanded or inked on the edges to really show off the shape.

Here is a Love Notes Card that Traci made. You can see that the "square" shape fits perfectly on top of our Ribbon Card.

And then here is the same card die and square Vintage shape used with fun bright colors on this Birdy card. Same dies but totally different look.

The more horizontal shape is a lot of fun too. In this Love You Grandpa standing album, the Vintage shape is used to frame two photos. See how the inking really makes that shape "pop" from the background.

And one of my favorite recent scrapbook pages is this simple wedding 12" x 12" page: Love You Like Crazy. The small shape features a rub-on and see the sanding on the edges. 

Also used on this page is the 11 1/2" version of our square Vintage shape that comes on a giant die. They are a perfect complement for each other.

You can see a few more projects using the Vintage long cut die here. I think it's a wonderful die that could be used to create beautiful cards, albums, page embellisments... you name it. I also think stores should use this die to make and sell their own cardstock and chipboard shapes.

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!