Congratulations to Mary in Chicago! Please email me with your snail mail address and we will get your prize out to you promptly! Mary wrote:
"I like the idea. When you heat set the embossing powder did the leaf become pliable like an acrylic piece that you can mold it and it holds the shape? I would have a lot of fun working with the product. Thank you for the inspiration. M - Posted by:Mary in Chicago | July 31, 2008 at 08:31 PM "
Thank you to all who shared your questions with me - I hope to try and begin answering them and sharing more information regarding the Craft-a-Board as time allows. It is already up for sale on our store - just follow this link and it will take you right to our site. We have located it in a couple of different sections of the store - Alterable Items and Die Domain: Accessories. There are 12 sheets per package, with each sheet measuring approximately 9 1/2" x 13 1/2". You will most definitely be able to cut it into smaller pieces using a rotary cutter such as a Carl Cutter or a guillotine style paper cutter. I even use my small Tonic guillotine style cutter to make smaller cuts. I didn't have one of my old Fiskars at work, but I will take it with me tomorrow to see if it will cut this material as well.
The above picture shows Craft-a-Board next to medium weight chipboard. As you can see it is considerably thinner. The neat thing about Craft-a-Board is that it is heavy enough to act similar to a "book board" or chipboard. One layer of Craft-a-Board makes for a lightweight book, but if you want your book covers to be thicker you can adhere two pieces together after cutting.
When looking at the picture above you will note the "cutting line" of the dies. It is imperative in selecting materials to be used with these dies for the material to be no thicker than the height of the "blade or cut line". This is the main reason for my quest - I wanted to find a material that the Spellbinder dies would work with. I wanted the added value of being able to use my dies to create books and other projects that typically use chipboard.
The use with embossing was one that I just happened upon after determining that it would cut shapes for books and mini albums. The embossing became this amazing added bonus!
I can tell you that Craft-a-Board is nothing like Grungeboard. I do not know what Grungeboard is made of, but it leaves an almost glycerine like feeling on your fingers after you run your fingers over it. Grungeboard is very "bendy" and will not crack when wrapped around items. From what I can remember Grungeboard is also not stable enough to be used as a "Book Board". Now I need to order some Grungeboard to really make a comparison - LOL! I will most definitely make a comparison when I am able to pick up some Grungeboard. Now you have me wondering if the Spellbinder Dies will cut through Grungeboard!!! Does anyone have an answer to that question?
UPDATE: Cutting Craft-a-Board with the Cuttlebug
Guess what - having a B plate that is not already cracked makes a WORLD of difference Ü! As I said in my first experiment my B plate was on it's last legs and well... you saw the disaster. I picked up a new B plate and tried it all over again. Easy peasy this go round! Please be aware that I do want to test this further, but just haven't had the time yet. So watch for more information to come on this category.
The first time through I used the following sandwich to cut my label die (note this is not a highly detailed die):
- A plate
- B plate
- Craft-a-Board
- Spellbinders Die - blade face down
- B plate
To emboss the Craft-a-Board I used the following sandwich:
- A plate
- B plate
- Spellbinders Die - blade face up with Craft-a-Board inside die
- Tan Embossing Mat
- Extra piece of Craft-a-Board cut to the same size as the Tan Embossing Mat
- B plate
This time there was not even a cracking sound. I think the difference was that I had the sandwich correct this time. The last time I wasn't getting a nice embossed image and so I ended up using (2) Tan Embossing Mats and that is when my plates splintered. I will test this some more and make certain that this information is accurate, but with all the different things I was trying and the limited amount of time I had I have not had an opportunity to try this with a variety of dies yet. So please know that I will do more testing when I have the opportunity.
I then applied Crackle Distress paint to my cut out and look how cool it is! Now I just need to stamp on it and make it into a project. But who has the time - LOL!
Being that I was also wondering about the Cuttlebug embossing folders, and this being a question that many of you had, I decided that would be my next test. The piece on the left was embossed using the Cuttlebug and the piece on the right was embossed using the Wizard. TOTALLY COOL!!! I am going to warn you that the pressure exerted when using my Wizard was incredible and so I was very careful to be ready to catch this project as it exited my machine. The difference in detail is not as obvious in this picture as it is in real life, but I can tell you that you will more than likely be thrilled with the result no matter which machine you happen to choose to use with the Cuttlebug folders. This texture is wicked cool!!! AND you can use it as a book cover!
I then proceeded to do a couple more tests with these boards. Using chalks I quickly colored the image and then added crackle paint around the edges to define them. Next I punched it with my Bind-It-All. Using the new Bind-It-All corner rounder I softened the look of the corners (these will be available in our store hopefully by September - they are on order and just awaiting shipment from the manufacturer).
As you can see in the above picture and the post that I shared last week I used the Bind-It-All on "My Christmas Wish List" book as well. This book was created using the Craft-a-Board. The interior is filled with Natural White cardstock pages and the cover with Craft-a-Board. As you can see I first added color to the board using my Copic Airbrush system. I then stamped it using Distress Ink and the Vintage Ledger ScrapBlock. The next layer was added by selectively covering it with Basic Grey's paper. Many of you asked if it can be glued and the answer is a resounding yes! I used Perfect Paper Adhesive to adhere the paper to this project and ribbon glue to adhere the twill.
Cuttlebug dies work like a charm, or should I say tag - LOL!
Unfortunately Sizzlet's just don't cut it - ha, ha! Sorry I just couldn't resist the stupid pun - it is most definitely a sign that I should not be working right now - LOL!
Sizzix dies work great! So I am only guessing here, but my guess is that Big Shot dies will work awesome as well. I will test it though and communicate that in a future post to be certain.
The question was asked about flexibility. I have found that once the Craft-a-Board is inked it becomes much more pliable. This particular piece I used my Adirondack Red Pepper Dye ink pad to completely cover both sides with color. I had a couple of different tests in mind when doing this with the first being flexibility.
After releasing it you can see that it still had some of the curve still in it. I have found that I can flatten it back out again, but left to it's own accord this is how it reverted to shape.
I then did the tear test. As you can see you can get a very interesting look with this technique. I added a brad and though that this could make a cute napkin holder, or ???
The last test I am going to share tonight is the scoring test. I only own a Scor-It because of the true score that I can achieve with this tool. When using cardstock I have never had any cracking on the backs of my cards and I have crisp, precise folds - so needless to say I'm a huge Scor-It fan. What I found is that the Scor-It did a fairly decent job of scoring this material, but it is just a hair too thick to achieve optimum results. As you can see there is slight cracking at the top and bottom of this fold and with time I am wondering if it might totally fall apart. I guess I'll just have to try that when I have nothing else to do. Perhaps when I'm on our roadtrip to Canada in a couple of weeks, I'll take this little guy along and just bend and unbend to my hearts content Ü
Thanks for stopping in again tonight to learn more about Craft-a-Board. Thank you for your questions! I will continue to peg away at determining answers and hope to share some actual projects with you soon. My mind is abuzz with ideas - now for the time to create them!!!