Back In The Groove!!! And For Joan (Devon)

This is going to be a big post today...a two for one kind of deal as I have at last managed to put together a post about die cutting for Joan.

Anyhoo....yesterday was quite a productive day after my fairly lazy day on Sunday.
Lots of niggly little jobs finished off and a plan made to start on clearing the freezers ready for cleaning them out before restocking them....although the calendar panels are still sitting on the airer awaiting sewing.

Andy and I had a quick ride up to the garden centre as I needed a bottle of glitter glue and while we were there we picked up two Christmas gifts. Luckily they have not finished the Christmas displays yet so I couldn't waste any time looking around them.
On the way out we stopped the van to collect some more conkers and got some absolute beauties for our spider scaring mission.

This is the Christmas dec I picked up from Poundland

The letters have now been filled in with wood filler and it's been put on one side to dry. Once dry I will give it a light sanding and then I'll be covering that panel with some decorative paper and adding die cut letters and some more snowflakes.

A good start on the freezer plan today as tea will be all made from leftovers from the freezer. So a lasagne made from leftover fresh pasta sheets which I froze, a tub of spicy mince and beans and a half jar of white lasagne sauce which had been frozen too. This will be served with roasted cauliflower and green beans sauteed with garlic and black pepper.
Should be quite tasty.....and it has freed up quite a bit of space in the indoor freezer so I can move some stuff in from the one outside.

.....and on to the post for Joan

Unfortunately Joan if you want to get into die cutting you do need a machine to do it.
This is my machine of choice

Image from Sizzix

This is the Sizzix Big Shot and the cheapest I can find it currently is The Range at £54 and the dearest I have seen it is £109.
It comes with all you need to get started but this does not include any dies.

The Works has a small range of dies at the moment and these are what I have purchased from there

These are low profile dies and can be used for cutting paper and card....although not chipboard. You can also with some of the less complicated dies cut felt and fabric although you may have to run the die stack through the machine a few times.

You can also buy sets of stamps with matching low profile dies. These were free with magazines.

For using low profile dies you get a platform with the machine and two clear plates. So you layer the plates as per instructions place your die and paper on one plate and cover with the other....roll it through the machine and out comes a perfectly cut shape.

Also in the machine you can use steel rule dies. These are completely different to low profile dies and can be used to cut a much wider range of materials including chipboard, this includes leather, balsa wood, sticky back plastic, fun foam and many others.

A steel rule die comes fixed into a tray and is covered with a dense foam which helps to release the shape after cutting.
The die above will cut out everything you need to make the gorgeous gingerbread man. I am going to be making some in both felt and fabric which cut very easily with these dies.
To cut these you only need to use the two clear plates and not the platform.

This die is also a steel rule die but is longer (about 13") and does require a pair of longer cutting plates. It too will cut out everything you need to make these stockings.

I should also add that steel rule dies can cut multiple layers of paper and card which can save lots of time.

Well I hope this was useful to you Joan....and I am so sorry it took me so long to sort it.
If you need anymore help or information just ask.

Right....there is a kitchen floor needing mopping and a couple more jobs to do while I wait for Andy to get up so that I can hoover.

Hope you are all having a fab day.
Sheila-x-