Welcome back to another installment of In Detail. In my last post, we took a look at a broad product category, adhesives. This week, I’m reviewing specific Sizzix products from the Stephanie Barnard Collection, the Flowers and Butterfly Triplits die sets along with the Elegant Stand-Up die set. Why am I reviewing two different sets of Triplits, you ask? Well, if you haven’t already figured it out, I like to analyze things, and I wanted to see the differences in the two images.
The Flowers and Butterfly Triplits die sets are a combination of Framelit and Thinlit dies. For both sets, there are three variations of the same image, hence the triplits name, that can be mixed and matched in a number of combinations.
Before we look at the designs, let’s look at the die sets.
The Flowers die set includes seven dies – five Thinlits (1, 4-7 in image above) and two Framelits (2,3). The Thinlit flower die (1) cuts and embosses. The dies come in their own storage envelope along with a diagram showing various combinations of the die cuts.
The shadow Framelit (3) can be combined with the flower Thinlit (1) to cut a thin open flower.
Now let's look at the Butterfly die set.
The Butterfly die set includes thirteen dies – six Thinlits (1, 4-7, 13 in image above) and seven Framelits (2, 3, 8-12). Like the Flowers set, the dies come in their own storage envelope along with a diagram showing various combinations of the die cuts.
To achieve a thin butterfly, the Framelit (2) can be cut with the wings (4-7). The resulting thin butterfly is shown in the photo above that includes all of the die set pieces and cut cardstock.
I had difficulty die cutting the Triplits dies. In particular I couldn’t get out the cardstock cleanly from the Thinlits dies in either the Flowers or Butterfly sets. However, by adding a sheet of waxed paper on top of my cardstock, I was able to get clean cuts. I've actually taken to cutting all of my die cuts with waxed paper as it keeps the cardstock clean and the dies cut more easily. However, it is time consuming!
After wrapping up the research for this post, I purchased a new Big Shot machine. With a new machine and my old cutting plates, I did not need the waxed paper to cut the Thinlit dies.
I found it simplest to cut my cardstock into 4 ¼" x 11" pieces and place all of the dies from the Triplits sets on the cardstock and cut all at once. I cut the pieces out of a variety of cardstock and patterned paper. Once cut, I played with the various combinations. {There are some pieces in the photo below from the Stand-Ups die set I'll be discussing later on in this article.}
To note, I had to do a fair amount of sanding away the little bits of cardstock that are left after die cutting on the edges, particularly on the butterfly antennae. I glued the pieces with the Zig Memory Two-Way Fine Tip Pen. (This product was included in my recent In Detail article on adhesives.)
Now let’s talk about the Elegant Stand-Up die set. In a previous In Detail post, Interactive Card Die Sets, I reviewed the Sizzix Stephanie Barnard Triple Circle Flip-Its Die Set. Same as that die set, the Elegant Stand-Up comes in its own plastic storage pouch with all of the dies separate. There’s no need to cut anything apart. The instructions include a diagram showing the measurements of the individual pieces which include the card base, the card front pieces, a border die, a decorative strip, word dies with shadows/bubbles, and two labels.
The base die measures 5 ½" wide x 8 ½" long. I cut the base cardstock 6" wide x 9" long. As you can see in the photo below, the base just fits on the magnetic platform. (In the photo I placed the die on top of the cutting plate without a piece of cardstock for illustrative purposes.)
I had difficulty running the base die through my Big Shot. My plates are slightly warped and this may have been part of the issue. It also might be easier to cut the base die using an extended platform. At any rate, I staggered my plates off of the platform and was able to pass under the rollers. However, that meant I had to flip the die around to get the back half of it to cut. I put washi tape on the die so that it would hold as I flipped it around.
As I mentioned above, after wrapping up the research for this post, I purchased a new Big Shot machine, which came with an extended platform. I also purchased extended cutting plates. I was able to easily cut the stand-up die with the extended platform and extended plates. The Big Shot machine comes with a standard-sized pair of cutting plates. The design of the new cutting plates is different than the other pair I had; the front and back edges are tapered. With the magnetic platform and the brand-new tapered cutting plates, I was able to easily cut the stand-up die as well.
I constructed two cards with the die set. For the first, I cut the base in white cardstock, and then cut the card front pieces out of patterned paper and colored card stock.
I cut the base again out of patterned paper. I assembled this card, but I didn’t decorate it.
For the second card, I cut the card base from a double-sided 6" wide x 12" long scrapbook paper. (I cut a scrapbook paper I’ve had in my stash for several years in half). I was able to create the card base and cut a label from the same paper strip. Using double-sided paper eliminates the need to cut the base a second time.
To the card, I added a label cut from solid cardstock, a few of the Triplit flowers I had created, along with a sentiment cut with one of the stand-up set’s word dies. I cut the sentiment three times and glued the pieces together for some depth.
Obviously, there's lots more that could be added to the card using pieces from the Elegant Stand-Up! Sizzix has also recently released two other Stephanie Barnard Stand-Up die sets, the Regal Stand-Up and the Royal Stand-Up. Similar to the Elegant Stand-Up, the sets contain different word and accessory dies, as well as slightly different shaped labels.
--Jean
