AccuCut Craft Blog

Snow, snow and more snow

Posted by Tara Smithberg

Once again, it is snowing here in Nebraska! I think we are supposed to get about another six inches today, along with extremely cold temperatures. And it appears that the majority of the country is feeling the cold too. This lovely winter weather just keeps on coming!

In honor of this wintry weather, I thought I would share with you a super cute window display sent in to us by Jodie Budihas from Sharin' Memories in Olympia, Wash. What a cute and easy way to decorate your store or home window!

She used Tree #2 and Snowflake #4 for the cute winter scene. According to Jodie, it was a great success.

"I cut out tons of evergreen trees in several colors of teal blues and greens to simulate the many forests we have in the Northwest, followed by cutting a ton of huge snowflakes that I then glittered. I attached all of this to the front window of our store. Not only did we get lots and lots of great compliments, but people actually bought a lot of the extras that I cut out!  Good for everyone!  Thanks for all the great ideas on your site."

What a great way to use dies to decorate your store and sell product at the same time!

 

Success story!

Posted by Tara Smithberg

Who doesn't love a success story? Our customer service guru, Tammy Miller, passed these wonderful photos from one of our customers on to me, and I just have to share them with you.

This beautiful wedding stationery was created by Jennifer Dailard, owner of Simply Posh Design in La Mesa, Calif. I just love these photos and how elegant her design is. Jennifer used the Squares-4 3/4" Pinnovation® die to create these perfectly pretty programs. I love the rich colors and the bright bow adds a fun burst of color.

Here's a photo of Jennifer's place card made using the Place Cards #2 Pinnovation® die. This die is so great because you can cut four place cards at one time. And the little tag on the favor box was made with the 1 3/4" Square Seals Pinnovation® die. This die allows you to cut 15 at a time! Talk about increasing your productivity.

We are so happy Jennifer decided to purchase a GrandeMARK™ Machine to help grow her business. She's already seen great success and was kind enough to share her experience with us.

"A few months ago I decided to take the plunge and invest in the GrandeMARK machine and several Pinnovation stationery dies. As the owner of a very small custom invitation business, this investment was substantial.

Luckily, I did not have any time for buyer's remorse. Within 48 hours from ordering the GrandeMARK and dies, I received two orders from clients that almost completely covered the entire cost of my investment. My clients needed a variety of wedding collateral, including menus, favor tags, program fans and place cards.

When my GrandeMARK arrived a week later, I was able to produce these items in no time and delivered both orders, which totaled more than 1,000 pieces, on time. I am so glad I made the decision to invest with AccuCut and have a long wish list of dies that I plan to add to my collection over time. I particularly appreciate the ability to produce a dozen favor tags at a time without needing to hand cut those tiny squares as I have done so in the past. What once took hours, now takes minutes.

Thank you for a fabulous product!"

I hope this inspires everyone to create some fabulous projects this weekend!

Aloha, all you scrapbookers!

Posted by Tara Smithberg

Last week I was lucky enough to take a vacation to beautiful Hawaii! We had such a great time doing all sorts of activities--even taking a helicopter ride, boogie boarding and driving through the gorgeous rainforest.

While I was there, I even found a cute gem of a scrapbooking store called Island Paperie located in Kahului, Maui. They have lots of cool stuff for scrapbooking Hawaiian style, like tropical embellishments in the shapes of turtles and the hibiscus flowers. Here I am, standing outside the store. I love those cute hula girls!

The gals in the store were so friendly and were very excited about their die cutting center and how it's helped their business. They were kind enough to let me take a few photos and post them here. Their die cutting center houses a GrandeMARK and a MARK IV machine. It is very organized and user friendly with a large library of dies, from bags and boxes to note cards.

They even have samples cut, displayed and labeled, like the ones shown here. The labels match up with labels placed on the dies to make it really easy to locate the die you are looking for. 

 

It was so fun to stop in to the Island Paperie and to see how their die cutting center has become a wonderful, profitable part of their business. I was also glad to see they offer custom invitation services, which is a great way for retailers to add another revenue stream. If you check out their website, you can see all of the options they offer for custom invitations and favors.

Mahalo, Island Paperie! (That means thank you in Hawaiian!)

Store Spotlight: The Paperie

Posted by Tara Smithberg

I love seeing retailers using their AccuCut dies to make fabulous projects and to inspire their customers. With that being said, we have to give props where props are due! The Paperie in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada has been creating dozens of wonderful projects using their AccuCut machine and dies. Take a peek at some of these cool projects they've been posting on their website.

This little portfolio is perfect to give as a gift to a mom-to-be. They used the Portfolio #1 die to hold the note cards and accented with the largest inside shape from the Antique Accents die. I love the paper pattern combination and the stamp from A Muse is simply adorable.

Meghan from the Paperie had some very nice things to say about how AccuCut has helped grow their business.

"The AccuCut Blog and website have both provided endless inspiration and ideas for the dies we own. It is more than just a die-cutting system to us, AccuCut is an essential part of our business. Our collection of dies has expanded and we've even added a second GrandeMARK machine to our workshop to meet the growing needs of our customers."

Here's a cute birthday ensemble using several AccuCut dies, including the Tree #1, Black Tie Alphabet, A7 Convertibles Pocket &  Card, Box #4, Bag #1 and Gift Tag #2.

  
We're also glad to hear that The Paperie is embracing the popularity of creating custom wedding invitations. Here is a beautiful wedding invitation they shared with us last spring that uses a variety of AccuCut dies. We just had to show it again.

 
Meghan said, "Another major component of our business these days is Custom Wedding Invitations and supplies for DIY brides. With the aid of our AccuCut machines, we can show brides how easy and affordable it is to make their own invitations themselves. We also have several AccuCut templates for favour boxes, menus, place cards, seating charts, or table numbers if they wish to coordinate all the paper elements of their wedding. We would strongly recommend the AccuCut System to other stores for this same purpose because Weddings will never go out of fashion!" 

Be sure to visit The Paperie's blog as they feature an AccuCut project weekly! Thanks so much to The Paperie! We look forward to many more fabulous projects and endless inspiration!

Take a bite out of this cute card idea

Posted by Tara Smithberg

So many ideas, so little time! Tammy Miller, our Craft Customer Service guru, has been sending me so many amazing creations from our customers.

And finally, it's about time I start sharing them with you so you can see all of the cool things our AccuCut customers are up to. Today's blog post features a really cool invitation by Silverbox Creative Studio in Lederach, Pa. In honor of a fun summer-themed party, they created a simple, elegant card with a "shark bite" out of the top using our Pinnovation stationery dies. What a fun idea!

I also had to share the cool card they use to hand out to clients. They made this using our 5" Frames Pinnovation die. This is what Susan at Silverbox Creative Studio had to say about the unique shape and other AccuCut dies.

"We love this shape and actually use it to help shape our Silverbox look/identity. Thanks again for a wonderful product! It means the world to a graphic designer/photographer. The possibilities are endless!"

Thanks so much to Susan for sharing her designs and great experiences with us!

If you'd like to be featured on our blog, please send me an email at tara.smithberg@accucut.com.

About Silverbox Creative Studio:

Silverbox Creative Studio is a graphic design and photography studio that creates custom invitations, announcements, and greetings. We strive to provide you with a unique and beautiful design that reflects your personality. After all, your vision is our inspiration.

 

An AccuCut Fan

Posted by Tara Smithberg

I have another project I need to share with you! This one comes from Tara Franklin and Karen Stelley from The Organized Bride in Frederick, Md. Thanks to Pinnovation™ dies, their company is seeing great success. Here, they share a custom fan program made with the 6" frame Pinnovation die, perfect for a summer wedding.

  
If you're interested in expanding into stationery, take it from Tara and Karen:

"We just want to thank you for all of your help and suggestions with our venture into the die cutting world. We sold a lot of custom place cards in 2008 and wanted to expand our offerings with custom programs, menu's and favor boxes for 2009. We are thrilled with the product, your company and most of all THE SALES it is bringing us!!! My favorite is the fan program using the 6" frame die. It has been a huge hit for our summer brides! We look forward to working with you in the future."

We love hearing stories like these from our customers. Thanks for sharing!

Store Spotlight: "Sew" Creative at Croppinsville + 25% Off All Flower Dies!

Posted by Tara Smithberg

Allie Gower from Croppinsville in Collinsville, Ok. shared this really cool project with us that she made using our dies. I love the old fashioned, vintage feel of this tag.

Here's what Allie had to say about it:

"This tag was inspired by the wonderful memories of my mother's sewing room, the ironing board always up and a myriad of projects going on at once. There was always a pattern in the process of being cut, and the stamp set, Pattern Pieces by Ranger® Tim Holtz™, evoked those memories."

Here are the steps on how to make it:

1)      Cut your tag out of clear plastic sheets using the A6 Tag Cards Pinnovation die.
2)      Remove one side of the protective coating.
3)      Apply alcohol inks of choice. Allie used Butterscotch alcohol ink and Gold Metallic Mixative by Tim Holtz.
4)      Stamp image, if desired, on same side, with an archival ink, and dust with a pearl powdered pigment, such as Pearl by Jacquard or Perfect Pearls by Tim Holtz.
5)      Remove opposite side of protective coating.
6)      Apply alcohol ink and gold mixative around the edges of tag.
7)      Add a backer, a tag cut from paper, if desired.
8)      Add ribbons and embellishments.

Allie used AccuCut Flowers #4 and Flowers #22 to create the fun flower embellishment. (See below! All flower dies are 25% off!)

She uses her GrandeMARK machine and dies to provide inspiration to her customers.

"Because we can cut a variety of materials using our GrandeMARK, such as chipboard and clear plastic, shown here, we are able to create endless opportunities for thrifty creativity."

Allie is also a firm believer in displaying samples to spark creativity.

"We always have all of our cards on display, along with cuts from our larger dies, so customers can see not only what we have, but how to use. While the economy continues to experience a low on its roller coaster ride, you will find that people are still out shopping but spending more time at home creating, and AccuCut allows us to provide quality materials and inspiration at prices all people can afford."

Here are some photos of some great projects using AccuCut dies and products they display to inspire their customers to start creating. 

 

Find featured samples and more tutorials on Croppinsville's blog. Their new Studio Site will be launched soon as well, featuring die cuts and the materials they sell. View more photos of Allie's store.

Allie, thanks for sharing!

Blog Offer Alert: For one week only, all flower dies are 25% off!

View all flower dies

 

Now is the time to stock up. Flower dies are so versatile, you can use them on just about anything. This exclusive sale will only last through Friday, July 10. When placing your order online or over the phone be sure to use code CQZ02. See complete details below.

Use Offer Code CQZ02. 25% off individual flower dies. Valid on new orders not already discounted. Excludes die sets, gift certificates, custom dies and AccuQuilt products. Not valid with other offers. Valid through 7/10/09.