AccuCut Craft Blog

The 2nd Annual GrandeMARK Challenge begins today!

By: Traci Armbrust

The 2nd Annual GrandeMARK Challenge kicks off April 17, 2012. Designers can enter their projects in six different categories for the chance to win the Grande Prize, a $500 AccuCut Craft Shopping Spree. Six others will win $100 AccuCut Craft Shopping Sprees. You can enter as many entries as you like.

Remember, the more entries you enter the better your chances are of winning!

Here are the Categories:

1.Cardstock-Stationery

2.Cardstock-Non-Stationery

3.Recycled Media

4.Plastic

5.Chipboard

6.Fabric

All entries are due by Midnight CST May 31, 2012. Please be sure to read the rules and check out our "How To Enter" page below.

GrandeMARK Challenge Flickr Group:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/2012-grandemark-challenge/

 

GrandeMARK Challenge Official Information Page:

http://www.accucutcraft.com/grandemark

 

GrandeMARK Challenge Official Rules:

 http://www.accucutcraft.com/grandemark-official-rules

 

GrandeMARK Challenge FAQ’s:

http://www.accucutcraft.com/grandemark-how-to-enter

 

Click on the banner on the right side of this blog to see entries and the winners from last year.

Good Luck everyone! You're Crafty and We Know It 



 

If the shoe fits, design with it!

By: Traci Armbrust

 

I'm so excited to announce a reintroduction of a fabulous line of shoe dies we created about 7 years ago. As you will see, they are timeless and a must have. Almost all the shoe are available in small (3"), Large (4" to 5") and Jumbo (8" to 10"). These are some of my favorites.

This is Shoe #7 and I created this fun album using the Jumbo size die.

I also used our Black Chipboard and our new 1" Vintage Alphabet. Flowers #6 worked awesome with Bazzill's Antique Micro Dot Paper. The paper is thin so you can distress it or in this case I sprayed shimmer mist.  The spray curled the petals and gave the flower awesome dimension.

 

There are a few other dies I used like the words You & Me and Life which are such versatile words to have for any occasion.

Check out this cute vintage shoe, Shoe #10 in small.

I used Bazzill Basics Paper's new patterned paper called Vintage Street Market. Added little eyelets to bring the shoe to life.  What I love about these shoes is you can add as much detail as eyelets or as little as a dusting of glitter to these shoes.

So check out our shoes!  I promise just like the real ones you won't be able to buy just one.

I wanted to leave you with a fun picture of me trying on shoes in Anaheim before the CHA show. These shoes had 5" heels on them and I'm bent over because that's pretty much all the farther I could go in them. I guess you can't call me Traci GaGa

Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but she did it backwards and in high heels.      -Faith Whittlesey

Bigger Dies=Bigger Possibilities

By: Traci Armbrust

I had many store owners and designers approach me at CHA (Craft and Hobby Association Show) about how excited they were about Bazzill introducing 24" x 12" paper. AccuCut Crafts offers Bags, Boxes and stationery pockets/envelopes that require larger than 12" x 12" paper.  Now the shapes that you might have shied away from can be easily cut using these popular papers.

Box #18 measures a wonderful 7 3/8" high

Bag-Tuck & Close #2 is also a stylish larger bag that measures 11" high

A7 Pocket Card #2,is the perfect large pocket for elegant wedding invitations. This card folds into an A7 (5" x 7") but you need the slightly larger paper to have that fabulous fold over flap.

This is one of my favorite envelopes, Envelope-A7 #2 .The rounded flap requires you to have larger than 12" x 12" paper. But it is so worth it. I created this envelope out of 15" x 18" paper from The Paper Cut and used fabric for the liner

So don't be afraid to use these big beautiful shapes. The possibilities are endless and now easy as ever to design with.  Just remember the bigger the box, the bigger the gift!

New Dies Are Online!

By: Traci Armbrust

All 19 new dies are up and on line, ready for you to order!!! I wanted to share with you some of my personal favorites that I didn't previously sneak peek before the CHA show.

Album 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" (2-Die set). This project also has the Blossoms (3-D) on it and our new Vintage 1" Alphabert

I love this album because you can use those fabulous 6" x 6" paper packs, except on the pocket page which you would need a larger piece of coordinating cardstock to use.

I also adore these MIni Cards-Apron & Cupcake, which were inspired by larger vesions of the same cards.

These are great for tags attached to food inspired gifts, or as interactive inserts inside albums and on scrapbook pages. Wouldn't they be adorbale attached to the front or inside greeting cards. Oh, I could go on and on but anyway you slice it, these are a must have.



Just one more of my favorites the Box-House #3 comes in two sizes and are perfect for favors or little villages at Christmas time.

You can decorate the houses with two different choices of doors, add a roof and windows and viola! You've got yourself the cutest little houses ever!

 

Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Pinterest, plus check out all our videos on our video community. Happy creating everyone!

Sneak Peek: You can never have too many SHOES!

By: Traci Armbrust

Here's another sneak peek of a brand new die designed for us by Jing Van Opstal. The Party Shoe is a beautiful, classy, yet fun and chic way to create unique favors, place cards, and as Jing shows us, mini invitations. The Party Shoe is available in Jumbo and Super Jumbo sizes

The shoe can be simple yet elegant.

It can be a place card with beautiful flowers or candies placed inside.

My heart would skip a beat if I received this beautiful invitation to Champagne Afternoon Tea. Wouldn't yours?

What I love most about this Party Shoe is that it can be decorated and fancied up with literally anything, Flowers, ribbon, charms, brads, feathers, and I could keep going and going.  Remember this die along with the 18 other new dies will be available on our website the week of February 6th.  Champagne dreams and caviar wishes everyone!

Let the Sneak Peeks Begin!

By:Traci Armbrust

We have 19 new dies coming our for CHA and I want to show you all of them so bad, but one will have to do for today.  Designed by Cheryl Mezzetti, the Blossoms (3-D) is such a fun way to add dimension to all projects. Plus the simple fact that you can never have too many flowers is reason enough to get this die.

When I use these Blossoms, I like to layer two on top of each other and curl the petals. There are two choices of centers for each size of the Blossoms but those centers can be used as small flowers or little berries on their own. I used the Core'dinations line of paper so that I could sand the edges, but they also look awesome inked or layering two different colors of papers.

If you are wanting more of these blossoms check out the Luminarte Blog today featuring a project created by Cheryl Mezzetti.

The new dies will not be available for purchase on-line or by phone until the week of February 6th. Stay tune for more sneak peeks in the weeks to follow.

 

Store Spotlight: The Wedding Company

By: Traci Armbrust

I wanted to spotlight these incredible projects created by the stationery geniuses (Angela Troia and Laura Troia) at The Wedding Company in Manhasset, New York.  The wedding company was founded in 2004 and they create everything from save the dates, invitations, place cards, menus, favors, and shower gifts.

They used the A7 Cards-Dress Pinnovation die and beautiful trims, jewels and tulle on these exquisite birthday and shower invites.

I love the versatility of AccuCut dies and so must Angela and Laura. Look how they used A7 Cards-Frame Pinnovation dies a formal wedding invite then as a birthday invite for a young boy.

 Last but not least, creating unique Save the Dates are a breeze using the Circles-5 3/8" Pinovation die.

You can also follow the Wedding company on Facebook.

New Tips and Techniques!

By: Traci Armbrust

I wanted to post a few videos that are being created for us by Bona Rivera-Tran.  I love her unique and fresh approach to dies.  Whether she is creating her own personal custom die or just discovering and creating multiple uses for AccuCut Craft's standard die shapes, she truly is a Die Cutting Diva!

This first video was created using the new A6 Purse Pocket die.

 

 

The second video Bona takes some classic standard dies, Envelope #10 #1 and the Dress Form and transforms them into a clear pocket album.

  

   

If you have an idea for a video or have done a video using AccuCut Craft dies and products we'd love to hear about it or see it.  Post it on our facebook page or post a link onto your You Tube video.

"Life is Sweet" Cupcake Mini Album

By: Angela Kelley

Thank you so much Accucut Craft and Traci, for inviting me to be a guest blogger (WOW!), and to share a fun project with you today! My name is Angela Kelley, and I absolutely love, love, love paper crafting!  I am completely addicted to paper, stamps, ribbon, buttons...ok,  I love it all! Oh and the tools, I love my tools! I teach paper crafting and stamping classes monthly here, in Northern California where I live. My GrandeMark Machine not only saves me time, but helps me make really unique fun projects for my classes.

 
The project I would like to share with you today is this fun mini album that I made using Cupcake (NC624 CJ) 2 die set. This die is normally used to make a cupcake card (adorable!), but with some chip board and a small modification to the "wrapper" I created this sweet mini album.

 
Here is what I did. I cut five cupcakes from a thin or light weight chipboard. You could even used a double layer of card stock for your pages. When using chipboard I ink around the edges with a walnut ink before applying my patterned paper, you could use any ink or even paint. Personally I just like the walnut ink with a dauber on the top, makes this step quick. This step is completely optional, I like to do this because I think it just looks a little more polished when finished.

 
I cut the cupcake wrapper from thin chipboard (a cereal box works great for this!) and ink the edges. I also inked around the opening about 1 inch down on the inside.  Cut and adhere the patterned paper of your choice to the outside of the wrapper.Score across the front of the "wrapper" (chipboard and paper) 1/4 from the original score line on the bottom.  Next I cut two pieces of Kraft card stock  1 1/4" x  2 1/4" and scored them both at 3/8" along the 2 1/4" side.

 
 
Now you are going to glue one piece ot the Kraft card stock along the 3/8 " side, to each flap of the wrapper. I prefer liquid glue for this step just because it seems to make a stronger bond. Something that dries fairly quickly is a good thing too. Now instead of an envelope for a card, you have a pocket for a mini album!

 
 
Now the fun part decorating your pages!! I like to mix and match my papers and add interactive pages with pockets, and flaps to open. This not only adds more options for photos and journaling, but it is fun and adds an element of surprise. Just remember that this album needs to be kept "thin" so it will fit into the "wrapper" nicely. Also, I always use the same "wrapper" paper on the front cover of the album as I have used for the wrapper pocket that the album slides into. Mostly because the album does not slide all the way into the pocket, and the top edge of the wrapper paper on the front cover is visible outside of the pocket.

 

 
 
I hope I have been able to inspire you in some way, maybe you will make a cupcake album of your own or maybe you will look at your dies a little differently. How many different ways can you use your fabulous dies?! The possibilities are endless!!

If you would like to see more of my creations, please come and visit my blog Artistic Detours

Have a wonderful day!!

 

National Stationery in NYC

 
By: Traci Armbrust

I wanted to post some photos of our booth at National Stationery and some other fun pics I took at the show and on the streets of NYC.  This show is packed full of beautiful and innovative products and the atmosphere is so electric and exciting.

 
Our booth was 40' x 12' and as packed full of projects as always.

 

One of our most popular new dies was the A7 Card-Foldout #1. I also used A7 Cards-Frame on the inside to create a fun and hip Bar Mitzvah invitation.

 

I also love the new A7 Cards-Victorian. Such a versatile shape and can be an invitation one day and a table number the next.

 

Here are some pictures of gorgeous fashion creations created entirely from paper by different companies in the industry. I took pictures of my favorite three, but there was a hallway filled with about 30 mannequins with amazing outfits.

 

 
Nothing like going into the Godiva store in Times Square.

 

Times Square, still packed full of peple even though it rained the whole 5 days we were there.