AccuCut Craft Blog

Tuesdays with Tammy: Give away a free die?

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

Posted by Tammy Miller

Is it someone's birthday? At the Miller house, it is a week-long celebration when it's someone's birthday. Grandma loves celebrations so the party just keeps going. I sorta get the same feeling for National Scrapbooking Day -- a week-long celebration! So I've chosen a great die to give away with today's post: the AccuCut A2 Card-Gift Card die.

This cute little card has two slits to hold a standard gift card from just about anywhere. You can use it for any occasion: birthdays, graduations, Christmas or even for a baby gift.

I have a great story I want to share. At Christmas I was trying to get the girls to tell me what they wanted, and the standard answer was "gift cards". But I just wanted to give them something that they could open and play with just like they did when they were little. After the fourth or fifth time I asked, Marissa finally said in a teary voice, "But, Mom, I just love to shop." Well, gift cards it was.

You know that a gift card is always appreciated by the person getting it, but as the "gift card giver" sometimes you just want to dress it up a little to let the person know that it wasn't just a last-minute decision. For a Christmas gift, you can make something like this Oh Christmas Tree Gift Card Holder that was made with BasicGrey Figgy Pudding cardstock. The paper is so pretty you don't even need to add anything to the outside of the card.

And here is the inside. The trees were cut out of the same cardstock and glued to the card that fits on the inside top panel. Add a holiday rub-on or stamp and you're good to go.

So back to my story... When Marissa's birthday rolled around I thought I'd try again. Same answer. "Mom, all I want are gift cards. I want to buy my own swimsuit and I want to pick it out." Anyone else out there have a 12-year-old daughter? : )

Here is an example of a gift card for a special birthday. (See Enjoy Gift Card Holder.)

And the inside reveals the rest of the message...

If I were a store owner I would have a "Gift Card Holder" class and show them how to make 4-5 cards. Maybe a couple birthday cards, a graduation one and one for Christmas. Show them how easy it is so they will want to make more. (It really is addictive once you start!) During the holidays, make sure you have some kits or some even already made for people to "grab and go". You could do that with birthday card holders too.

I bet you want to win this die now! Post a comment by 10 a.m. CST tomorrow (Wednesday) and tell me how you would use this die. I will randomly pick the winner and send the die to you!  *** Entries are no longer being accepted. ***

PS: Don't forget about our "Mom" challenge. Entries are due Monday, May 12.

A weakness for ribbon... and ribbon slides

Posted by Jen Cramer

I have many weaknesses when it comes to scrapbooking -- or I should probably say "buying scrapbooking products" since I rarely find time to scrapbook for myself. One of the items near the top of the list, right up there with paper and rubber stamps, is ribbon. For some reason, if you have a little girl I think there is an internal magnetic draw to ribbon spools. Can you believe that my husband doesn't understand that theory? Someday I will use that ribbon, I tell myself... you better give me 2 yards, please!

And now I have to share one of my favorite dies that goes hand in hand with ribbon -- our Ribbon Slides die.

You get four wonderfully versatile shapes on one die FOR ONLY $50, can you believe it? The holes in each shape are just the right size to thread 3/8" wide ribbon through them.

SMART BUSINESS TIP ALERT
You could put this die in your die cutting center for everyone to use but for this die, at least for a few months, I would cut my own shapes out of chipboard and sell them for 25 cents each or whatever I think people would buy them for. Put them in cute little baskets right by the ribbon or at the cash register and show at least one example of how they are used. It would be a great idea to show a scrapbook page but also show a card, since they are a perfect size to put on the front.

At 25 cents a piece you would have to sell 200 pieces to pay for that die (not including the chipboard or whatever material you cut them out of). How long would it take you to sell that many? You could even package them in packs of 10 or 12 to sell more at one time. Or cover the chipboard with cardstock or patterned paper before cutting to add some interest.

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog post... I bet you want to see some examples. You can tell that this die is one of our designer's favorites too since there are at least 22 projects on our site using this die!

Here's an 8" x 8" page, Sasha, that uses three of the shapes:

And here is the heart slide used on a Shower Invite using narrower ribbon. I like the way she wrapped the ribbon through the shape and tied it on the front.

 

And one last project... Here is the rectangle slide on a Thanks a Bunch tag.

I hope you enjoyed the projects today... and the smart business tip. Remember, that tip can be used on any die you have. Some people don't have time to use your die cutting center (or don't know what they're missing!) so give them another way to buy that shape from you.

Tuesday's with Tammy: Know when to hold 'em

Posted by Tammy Miller

The AccuCut GrandeMARK machine and dies have been a source of income for store owners in a unique way for many years. More and more I have been impressed with the creative ways they have used our system to make money. Nothing has proven that to me further than the smart business ideas that were posted on or around March 11th.  If you haven’t read all of them you should take some time and do so. I'm sure you can find some ideas for your store if you have one!

The concept we call "Know when to hold ‘em" is one of my favorites and is one that I suggest all the time to store owners. You can also find this suggestion on page 6 of the 2008 Craft Catalog... if you don’t already have one, you can request the catalog online. Basically, the thought is to keep a few strategic dies in the back room or office (not in your die cutting center) and use them to create pre-cut shapes, kits and themed packages. You could keep the die in the back indefinitely or add the die to your die cutting center when it pays for itself.

So how do you decide which dies to do this with? Album dies, oversized shapes and frames are a good place to start. Let's look at a couple examples.

This is our Mat-Circles-11" die with an example of it used on a scrapbook page (see Sweet Giggly Funny page). It would be a good die to keep back and use to cut out chipboard or any plain color of cardstock and then sell that in your store.

Here's another idea... AccuCut sells four different metal tins that each have a coordinating die. For example, here is a Color My World album using our Large Hinged Candy Tin and the Rectangle Accordion Album die that goes with it.

These are the three shapes you get on the die (with a mini pic of how they fit together):

You could sell the tins and then use the die to cut blank albums in a variety of colors. The accordion album shape is 11 1/4"w x 3 1/4"h so you can get three albums out of just one piece of paper. I would bet that you could charge at least $1.00 for a blank album die cut ($3.00 out of that one piece of paper), so you do the math figuring out the profit you will make. Before long you will pay for that die.

Best of luck, and keep posting your comments. I have heard from many store owners they love to read all of the ideas being shared on our blog.

Offer favor box dies for weddings

Posted by Jen Cramer

If you are a retail store with a die cutting center, be sure you are offering dies to tap the wedding market. By having a variety of dies for invitations and favor boxes -- and making sure you let people know you have them -- you will be able to sell more cardstock and other embellishments.

Here is a new die that came out in January that I just love for wedding favors: Box #26.

It comes in two sizes, is a nice "squatty" (is that a real word?) shape so you don't have to spend a lot of money to fill it up with candy, and it has the most adorable scalloped top. Let's look at two projects showing the two sizes.

The jumbo-size box is 2 1/2" wide x 2 1/2" long x 1 1/4" high. This Monogram Favor Box is a classic example using a monogram letter on the top -- this one uses a 2" Uppercase Roman alphabet. The bride can also make her own seals for the top of the box using a computer or rubber stamping a letter on the top or simply add a die-cut or Prima flower.

I also like the super jumbo size for a larger favor box -- it's 3 1/4" wide x 3 1/4" long x 1 5/8" high. It would also make a nice size for attendants' gifts to hold jewelry and other smaller items. This Happy Couple Box shows how you can incorporate a photo of the couple into your favor. Black and white photos are always a nice touch.

 

Want to see more boxes? Go to the AccuCut site to see all bags and boxes.

Tell us your favorite smart business tip and be entered to win a free die!

Posted by Jen Cramer

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UPDATE: We are having such a great response with TONS of smart business tips that I changed my mind -- we'll be giving away THREE dies instead of just one. Keep 'em coming and make sure that you check back and read all of the ideas!
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UPDATE #2: This drawing is now closed and the winners were announced on March 17. We would still love to hear your smart business tips though!

Let's give away one of our new dies this week! First we'll talk about the fabulous die you can win and then I'll tell you what you have to do to be entered to win (it's easy!)....

The die up for grabs is the long cut version of our Birds #1 die, which has three different bird styles on it. I love the fact that there are two separate wings on the die so you can cut those out separately to add dimension to your birds!

Here you can see an example of one of the birds used as a hanging element on this Bare Elements Spring Purse:

How can you win this great die? Just post a reply and share your favorite "smart business tip" for how to make money with an AccuCut die cutting center. You have until the end of the day this Saturday to leave your answer and I'll announce the winner on Monday!

Need some help figuring out what a smart business tip is? Most of our craft customers who buy the AccuCut GrandeMARK machine and dies are business owners who are looking for a way to offer more services for their own customers and to help drive sales of other products.

For example, a scrapbook store owner may cut out their own chipboard shapes to sell or they may offer a die cutting club to help pay for new dies. If you're a scrapbook store owner, tell us what works in your store... if you're a scrapbooker, tell us how store owners could get you more interested in a store's die cutting center.

People also use our AccuCut GrandeMARK machine to make custom invitations and favors as well as other stationery items. How do you get the most out of your machine? What do you make? How does it save you time?

There are no wrong answers... just a lot of great ideas to help use an AccuCut die cutting center to work smarter. So let's hear your ideas!