Dress It Up Valentine

Bells and whistles went off in my head when I saw Sharon Harnist's gorgeous "beribboned" (is that even a word?) creation on her blog the other day. It reminded me so much of the Southern Living "Dress It Up" collection that I believe is now retired and how I need to remember to look to home accents for inspiration - there is so much out there just begging to be translated in to card format. I knew I just had to make a card using the new Hearts and Scalloped Hearts with this design - I just loved it too much. So here is my version of a "Dress It Up" Nestie Heart.

Valentine's are mostly pink, but the soft yellow just seemed like the right touch with the new Basic Grey Two Scoops paper.

I have heard that some of you are having trouble with your dies slipping and so I thought I would share once again how it is that I use the dies and magnetic plate in hopes of helping you. I guess I really need to learn how to make those videos - but I just haven't had the time to learn, so hopefully these photos will do the trick.

To begin with I have cut my magnetic placement mat to be the same size as the white spacer plate. This seems to help me keep things perfectly aligned. I then lay the master plate on the table, followed by the white spacer plate and then the magnetic placement mat. I place my dies in to location precisely as I would like them cut - they "snap" to the magnetic placement mat and have held firmly in place. I do not lift the magnetic placement mat without having a solid surface such as the white spacer plate beneath it. If you do lift it alone it will bend and move your dies.

Next make certain that the edges of the magnetic mat are aligned with the edges of the white spacer plate.

Then place your paper atop this stack pattern side, or right side, facing down. Top this sandwich with your second master plate and send it through the Wizard.

One tip that might be helpful is to note the position of your die on the master plate before sending it through. I typically have the thickest portion of the sandwich towards the back and start my sandwich with the end that does not have as many ingredients. Note how most of my ingredients are towards the bottom of the plate. This allows for the machine to get a good grasp on your plates without shifting the product that is within. I believe that some of the shifting that may be occuring is due to the force that is placed on your sandwich. If the thick part of the sandwich is right at the start the machine may be shifting your layers within. I wish I could observe others working first hand so that I might be able to better figure this out and give better tips.

After passing through the machine I can then lift my plate and the dies are lightly embedded in to the master plate or still attached to the magnetic plate. If embedded in the master plate I use my fingernail to lift the die out, and then flip it back over on to the magnetic placement mat as shown below.

Once again note how the thicker part of the sandwich is located towards the bottom end of my master plate - the end that enters the die cut machine first has minimal product located there.

The detail of your heart should be crisp and clean.

To complete I flipped the heart over and made light pencil marks to locate where I would punch my holes and then using my crop-a-dile punched those holes, threaded a beautiful silk ribbon through them, backed it with yet another patterned paper from the Two Scoops collection, added my sentiment, dew drops and piercing.

I hope these pictures might help some of you with your shifting problem. I would love to see how you "Dress Up" your nestie creations Ü Link me up in the comment section below :D

Comments

[StamperSharon]

Ellen, the lacing is SO sweet on the heart shape! Love the colors you chose -- the yellow really makes that beautiful pink pattern pop! And new BG paper? YUMM!!

[Alli Miles]

Oh I just LOVE what you have done!!!!

[Debbie Olson]

Oh so soft and pretty, Ellen!

[Beth]

This is so sweet and beautiful! I had decided just to stick with the "basic" Nestability shapes but you may have just enabled, er, I mean inspired me to open my horizons- teeheehee. BTW, I use my magnetic mat with my Cuttlebug and it works like a charm. It will even cut and emboss in 1 step, although, the embossed impression is not as distinct as it is with other "sandwiches."

[Anne Barclay]

Does the magnetic pad work in a Sizzix Big Kick?

[Kaylene]

I have the same question about the magnetic pad working with the Sizzix Big Kick or not? I want to order the whole set of the Nestabilities...yes the $339 full set...OUCH..heehee...AND the tan embossing pads AND the white spacer plates AND the magnetic pad too if it works with the Big Kick. :o) In other words I want it ALL! BTW do you have all of these available in your store right now Ellen? Thanks so much for all of your help...and that card is super yummy with the lacing...so sweet. Kaylene

[Beverly A]

I use removable tape to position my Nestabilities die over my paper and then I run it thru my Cuttlebug.

[Rose Ann]

Your card is so beautiful, Ellen!! Thanks for the refresher course too! ;)

[kathynruss]

Yesssss, you gotta learn how to do the cool video tutorials, but even if you're not doing them, you are still my go-to-gal for all things Nestability. Too bad I don't own them, yet, but at least Santa brought me a new Cuttlebug, so I'm getting closer!

[Linda Duke]

Oh my Ellen!!! this is just so cute!! I must give this a try. I'm always lurking at you site ;-) I hope I get to meet you at CHA-W in a few weeks. Beautiful card.

[Judy Johnson]

Where do you get magnetic pad?
I checked Spellbinders and did not see one for sale. Thanks.