AccuCut Craft Blog

Friday's free treat wrap die and a Maya Road album

Posted by Jen Cramer

The winner of the Treat Wrap die we talked about on Friday is Nancy C.!

While I love the new treat bag and cupcake box, my customers love the scalloped box:
http://www.accucut.com/BoxScalloped_3D-p2851c79-path8,277,79.html?
Customers have used it for wedding favors, treat or candy boxes for Halloween, small Christmas and birthday presents, baby shower favors, and so much more.

Posted by: Nancy C. | May 09, 2008 at 11:20 PM

We'll contact you to make sure where to send your free die. Congrats!

I hope all of the moms out there had a great Mother's Day. I wanted to share a few photos of a gift album that I made for my mother in law with pictures of our 4-year-old twins. I used the Maya Road 4" square binder dies to cut out shapes to fit on the binder. I couldn't imagine cutting those pages by hand -- the dies made it so much easier. The die on the front of the album is the small Antique Frame. All of the papers are from the Creative Cafe Lucky line.

There are two dies in the Maya Road 4" Square Binder. The great thing about these is that you can use them to cover the binder and then you can also use the shapes to make your own "flat" album. I used the dies to make a second album for my mom... I used the larger shape that would have gone on the outside of the binder to make all of the pages, which I cut out of heavy white illustrator board and a variety of papers to cover them. (It's not done yet... mom is out of town and I have a few days to finish!) I think I'll bind my pages with metal rings but you could also use a Zutter or other binding system.

Tuesdays with Tammy: Sell More Maya Road Products

Posted by Tammy Miller

One of the best parts of my job is sharing with customers the idea of how to use your AccuCut machine and dies to help sell more product in your store. Not only do you want to cut scrapbooking shapes out of cardstock and chipboard to sell, you can use our machine to cut cardstock in just the right shape to layer over tins and chipboard books.

In our new 2008 Craft Catalog we just announced our new line of Maya Road dies to coordinate with 18 Maya Road products. (Retailers buy the dies from AccuCut and buy the Maya Road "bare" products from Maya Road.)

Some of my favorite new dies in our Maya Road line coordinate with their tins and coordinating chipboard books. For example, the Maya Road Coffee Tin die cuts three shapes, the top of the tin (which also fits the inside of the lid), the front panel (with a notch for the latch), and the back panel. The Maya Road tins are great because the handles are removable and you can put them back on after you layer the top with paper.

Here is a finished project using the tin decorated with die-cut shapes:

And the Maya Road Coffee Break Chipboard Book die can be used to cut the pages for the book that fits inside the tin:

Here are what the shapes on that die and the "bare" chipboard book look like (below). Cut two of the top shape to wrap around the outside of the book and then the rectangle piece fits on the spine. The bottom two shapes are nice because you can cut more pages faster, plus you can have a continuous pattern across the inside of the "spread". You get all of that on just one die!

If you buy any of the Maya Road dies, here are ways to use them in your store:

1. Offer classes on Maya Road projects. Teaching a class with a bare Maya Road Tin could be time-intensive, but with the die to match the tin you can quickly cut the kits for the class, giving the instructor and the student more time to be creative. The great part about classes for tins is that students will need to buy more product to decorate the tins. Plus, it's a great way to show customers what the purpose is for these dies and they'll want to make more.
2. Pre-cut paper and sell kits to decorate the tins. Display the pre-cut package and a sample of what it creates near the tins so your customers can just grab and go. Make kits for upcoming holidays (Easter is around the corner!) or for events such as "back to school" (teacher gifts).
3. Let your customers’ creativity shine -- and sell more tins! -- by having a contest. We all love to show what we have created. Get your customers involved in your store and inspire them to make something by offering the chance to win a store gift certificate or other prize. Plus, everyone loves a friendly competition where they can see everyone else's ideas. Whether it is for Mother's Day or celebrating the upcoming seasons, adding ribbon, stickers and rub-ons to Maya Road tins can be fun and satisfying to any artistic individual.

I know you can be very successful with these dies. Good luck!

Love the new Maya Road dies

Posted by Jen Cramer, Craft Division Director

We're always on the lookout for products that make you say "Wouldn't it be great if there was a die for that?" When I saw some of the fun Maya Road binders and chipboard books that's exactly what I thought to myself.

So after a few months of working with Caroline at Maya Road I'm excited to say that we have EIGHTEEN new Maya Road dies that we released this week. You should see how fast you can embellish their chipboard books, binders and tins when you have the dies.

Here are some projects that were done by the MR Design Team that are featured in our new catalog. This one uses the Modern Purse Album 3-die set.

And this Moments album is the 4" square binder.

   

Here it is open... (I have to make one of these!)

   

And one more... here is the Maya Road Tea Break Chipboard Book. Love it!