National Craft Month Day 4

I know that my Sizzix dies, and even the Nestabilties dies, can cut through almost anything.  But I haven't tried cutting thin acrylic packaging with them yet.  And that gave me an idea on what to do for day four of National Craft Month.

I have been saving the packaging of my scrapbooking supplies for a while now, because I know I can make good use of them in the future.  The packaging you see here are those from Nestabilities dies and Cuttlebug A2 folders.  I cut them to size with regular scissors then fed them to my Big Shot machine with some of the dies that I own.

For this one, I cut with the Nestabilties scalloped heart.  In the back, I dabbed Adirondack Alcohol Ink for some color.  Alcohol ink is good for coloring non-porous surfaces like plastic and glass.  But you don't want to ink your stamps with them because they will dry and crack the rubber.  Then in the front, I stamped a background image with black StazOn ink, which is also good for non-porous materials, and at the same time can be used with your rubber and acrylic stamps.  I just realized that my black Stazon inkpad needs more juice so I need to buy a reinker soon.  In other words, the image didn't show up so well.  But then, this is just an experiment, so moving on...  Then with Pilot Latte, I wrote on the edges.  I also added embellishments like black flower sequins, and a Cricut die-cut phrase "I Love You".  This can be used as an embellishment for a card or a scrapbook page.

For the next project, I cut a tag with a Big Shot die.  Then I put that and a die-cut of the same shape, together with a ribbon - just like a bookmark.  But before that, I did some touch-ups with the die-cut by inking the edges with black ink, and adding glimmer to the word "love".  Then for the acrylic tag itself, I just added letters I and YOU, so that when it's on top of the die cut, it says "I love you".  I tied a ribbon in the bottom for a finishing touch.  You can use this as a bookmark in itself, or also as a scrapbooking or card making embellishment or insert.

For the last one, I cut with a Purse Thick Cut die, also from Sizzix.  I assembled it with glue dots, then embellished with ribbon, button, brad and a Prima flower.  The size of this bag is perfect for my Pullip doll.  This is my favorite among the three, and it didn't take long to finish.

After playing with product packaging, I realized that there are no limitations to what you can do.  You can cut flowers, alphabets, various shapes with whatever die that's in your stash.  You can make clear embellishments, or even make mini acrylic albums.  So much more to think about in the future!

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