Die'sire Create-A-Card Die from Crafter's Companion

I hardly write any product reviews, mostly because I love most of the stuff I buy, and I am brand loyal. I stick to brands I like and I've never really been disappointed with whatever they come out with. One of the brands that I've supported is Crafter's Companion. My very first markers were Spectrum Noir, and I loved them. That is until I gave in and spent on Copics. But still I bought the Spectrum Aqua when they came out, which I've also now ditched in favor of Zig Clean Color Brushes. And since I'm really brand loyal, I splurged on the entire collection of Spectrum Noir Blendable Pencils. Even though I think it's ridiculous that they don't sell the pencils individually, for the love of Crafter's Companion and Spectrum Noir, I bought it anyway. I was fairly satisfied with it, until I tried Prismacolor to see what the fuss was all about. And as if I haven't been burned enough, I just recently purchased all the Spectrum Noir glitter pens. When will I ever learn??? What is wrong with me?

So last week, when HSN was having the papercrafting special on TV, I again bought in to the much raved about Ultimate Tool. What can I say, Sara Davies is just way too good! How can you not give in to what she was selling? I couldn't resist. I bought the Ultimate Tool with the bonus DVDs, and I also bought the Create-A-Card Swirls and Curls. I would've bought the Garden collection, which is really what I wanted, but they sold out, and at $34.95 I figured I'd settle for the Swirls and Curls.

Like any other crafting sisters, I was so excited when I got the email notification saying my order has shipped, and I'm getting them in 2 days. The package arrived Saturday, perfect timing! I couldn't wait! I opened up, checked out the Ultimate tool, popped the DVDs to make sure they play on my Mac. I've seen reviews on HSN about these DVDs not being Mac compatible, but fortunately, they worked fine for me.

I then opened  the Create-A-Card, so excited to create my first card using this unique die that supposedly does not cut the entire thing, but allows you to die cut only one side, leaving the other edge as part of your card. Here's what it looked like the first try. You'll see some overlapping, because after running it once on my Big Shot, it didn't cut through. So I positioned it again and tried to run in through my machine 3-4x again.



It still did not cut through. As you can see a big portion of it was not cut through. So I turned it upside down and tried to redo it again using my other end of the cardstock, this time continuously for 8x at least. Each time looking to see how far it went. If it cut through or not. After 8x, I thought this should be pretty cut through nice and clean already.



But look! It still did NOT cut through! I decided to take a blade and slice off the rest, but then the white core of the cardstock started to show, not to mention the back part of it tore as I punched through those holes. And who am I kidding, why bother when I can't use this piece to make a card anyway. I decided to just ditch it.

I am very disappointed. I remember on HSN Sara was saying these are high quality dies, that it can cut through these intricate designs. I remember hearing that even the Cricut can't do this. I didn't buy these because of that statement. I honestly bought it because I liked how it only cuts one side/edge. I loved the samples shown on air. I really wanted the Garden collection, but settled for this. But if this is how their dies are, I think I'm not even going to bother waiting for the Garden collection to become available.

I am a big Crafter's Companion fan. I own a lot of their stamp sets, and truly believe their items are really nice. This is my first die purchase, and probably will be my last. I've never been this disappointed with a die I've owned. And I have 5 full Artbin Die cases full of dies. At some point I wondered if it's user error, but then why would it have cut the rest?

I've yet to try the Ultimate tool. Will post what I think of it when I get the chance to create a project using it.

Just A Note - Get Well Soon

Hi everyone! It's a rainy cold Sunday here in SoCal. While most dread this weather, I actually love it! Love the breeze, and love the coolness of the air rather than dry and hot.

My share today is a get well soon card I made for my daughter's teacher. She's going to be out for awhile and my daughter and I wanted to give her a card to cheer her up and wish her well.

I used My Mind's Eye Now and Then paper pad for the background paper. The stamp set I used is from Crafter's Companion Moonbeam Meadow collection - Just A Note.  I colored the image with Zig Clean Color Brush and added a ribbon to top it off.

The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn Get Well Soon. It seemed to fit the box perfectly!

Hope everyone has a great Sunday! Keep warm!

Time Out by Moonbeam Meadown

Moonbeam Meadow must be my favorite collection from Crafter's Companion. I've had these images for awhile now and have been debating whether to color it with alcohol markers, colored pencils or watercolor. Since I've been playing a lot with my Faber Castell Gelatos lately, I thought I'd do a pure gelato watercolor technique on one version.

The image I used is Time Out, and it aptly fits what I've been feeling lately. How I wish I have the luxury of time to just sit back and relax, and idle the day away.

Here are the materials I used:

Cardstock - Close to My Heart Juniper color cardstock
Background Paper - Jillibean Soup
Colors using mix of  Faber Castell Gelatos:
Blues - Cotton Candy, Boysenberry, Blueberry
Greens - Gree Tea, Lime, Iced Pear
Purples - Metallic Grape, Lavender
Red - Red Cherry
Browns - Chocolate, Butterscotch
Oval Dies - Silhouette Die Cut
Round Sentiment Die - My Favorite Things Stitched Circle STAX

Lastly, I brushed the red mushroom cap with Wink of Stella Red and White brushes.

My second version uses Derwent Inktense Pencils.

Background Paper - My Mind's Eye
Dies - Simon Says Stamp Postage Dies
Derwent Inktense Colors Used:
Reds - Poppy Red, Chilli Red
Purples - Thistle
Blues - Iris Blue, Lagoon, Navy Blue
Browns - Willow, Baked Earth
Greens - Hooker's Green, Apple Green
Mushroom Stem - Neurtral Gray, White

And last but not the least, I brushed the red mushroom cap with Wink of Stella Clear.

Bebunni Birthday

Hi All! One last birthday for this month of August! Here's another birthday card I made for a dear friend of the family.

I used Crafter's Companion Bebunni Hip Hip Hooray. I colored the bunny with W0, W1 and W3, with the pinkish ears using RV000 and RV00. I used scrap Confetti Wishes paper to put over the word Birthday, and cut up the borders from Confetti Wishes paper to and scattered the sentiments all over the image. I used Prismacolor pencils to form the warm gray shadows around the bunny.

Happy Happy Birthday to our dear friend! Hope you like it!

S.W.A.L.K. Valentine's

Crafter's Companion used to have these S.W.A.L.K. and Humphrey's Corner Collection stamps and I love how cute they are. I also love using these stamps when I'm in the mood for some serious coloring. I've recently purchased these Chameleon pens and have been practicing on getting the hang of how to blend using a single pen. Since it's Valentine's and these stamp sets are screaming to be used, I figured I'd make some Valentine's Day cards to go with the season.

This is the Humphrey's Corner Collection - Flowers For You

This is the Humphrey's Corner Collection - Hugs For You

S.W.A.L.K. - Love You

S.W.A.L.K. - Quackers

I hope you enjoy them! Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Distress Markers - Watercolor

I've been trying my hand at the watercolor effect by using Tim Holtz Distress Markers. I signed up for Online Card Class Watercolor and have been experimenting a few of my stamps last weekend. Here's a couple I made.

The stamp set is from Crafter's Companion. It's from Angelica and Friends set, and she is Isobel. I used a mix of Tim Holtz Distress Markers - the dress is Picked Raspberry, the hair I think is Brushed Corduroy. The sky is Stormy Sky, and the accessories in Barn Door and Chipped Sapphire. The sun and sentiment are from a retired CTMH C1364 TLC stamp set. I used Mustard Seed on the sun. The grass is from Lawn Fawn and I used Crushed Olive. Instead of using a real brush, I used Pentel Water Brush, and I really can't tell you how awesome these brushes really are! You just have to try it for yourself! I love you easily in control you can be with the water, and it seems to just always be wet enough but not too wet. I just love it!

My apologies but I just don't remember the name of this stamp set. I've had this for awhile now and it's just sitting in a binder without its original packaging so I cannot remember what it's called. I'm pretty sure though that it's from Stampendous. It's a background cling floral stamp.

I used Mowed Lawn for the leaves, and for the flowers a mix of Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry, Tattered Rose, Tea Dye and Ripe Persimmon. I used Scattered Straw for the yellow halo-ish background effect.

I still need a lot of work, but for a beginner this is what I've come up with. I've been very busy lately and hopefully soon can post the reason why, so I haven't been creating a lot lately. I have yet to try watercolor pencils and have yet to christen my Spectrum Noir colored pencils! Oh how I wish I have time!! For now, this is what I've done.