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Tuesday 9 September 2014

Fun with Dies

Handmade Chariot 1
3 D Chariot
           Dear friends Dr Sonia here with a special post showcasing some beautiful dies.First of all Thank you so much for the fantastic support you gave for my Flower punch board projects.This month Shalini sent me a beautiful Marianne die set to play with. Marianne designs have such intricate beautiful designs especially in their Petra series and I had never mustered the courage to buy them as these dies spelt “elegance” and elegant projects are not my forte !! [ you will have to rely on Crafters Corner DT Anchal and Arjita for your dose of crafty glamour and elegance!]
Handmade Chariot
But as many  of you know I have a little girl who is very much into princesses and fairy tales and so most of my crafty projects are influenced by her! I used the Marianne Petra Corner Die set  to make this glittery chariot !
Handmade Chariot 6
Marianne Petra Corner Die Set
This is not a detailed tutorial to make the chariot but just giving you some ideas to get the maximum potential from intricate stencil- emboss style dies such as the Marianne or Spellbinders dies.The set had 5 dies and looked so beautiful !
Handmade Chariot 7
Marianne Petra Die
But I was disappointed to see the die cut didnt actually wow! Has that happened to you with a new product ?
Handmade Chariot 8
Marianne Die
Well inks seem to add oomph to any die cut ,so back went the die cut into the die, and inked the diecut using the die like a stencil.
Handmade Chariot 9
Inking Diecuts
Looks so much better doesnt it!! Ha Ha I did feel foolish and clever at the same time[LOL!!]. Many dies are actually meant to be inked-- so dont hesitate to bring out those inkpads to your dies!
Handmade Chariot 11
Embossing with Dies as stencil
I just recently got the Ranger heat embossing gun from Crafters Corner and I love how heat embossing can glamorize any project..so of course I had to try heat embossing the intricate die cut. With the die cut still in the die ,run your watermark pen on the design[easier than freehand drawing on the die cut], pour embossing powder,remove the die  and heat with your heat gun.
Handmade Chariot 13
Heat embossed Die cut
Dont you just love the shimmer and texture! You can directly use the watermark pen or even run the embossing ink pad on the die-cut while its in the die and omit the inking step but if you do that tiny errors will show up more! If you ink and emboss- most errors are hardly noticeable!
Handmade Chariot 10
Heat embossing a diecut design
The picture above shows the contrast between the  un-embossed and the heat embossed designs
Handmade Chariot 14
Die cut layering
Well if you want to play with your die cuts even more- how about layering them!
Handmade Chariot 15
Die cut layering
This set has 2 matching outline dies and I popped up the intricate die cut atop its matching outline using foam tape.
Now on how I made the 3 D Chariot
If you dont plan to buy this particular Marianne design--not to worry-- the purpose of the step by step photos in this post is just to entice you to play with your die cuts and challenge you to maximize how you use your dies!
Just play with your die cuts like you would do with a jigsaw puzzle- rotate and match and also cut a bit here and glue a bit there and you can make entirely new designs!
Handmade Chariot 16
Die cutting tips
The pic above shows the die cuts from the Marianne Petra corner set I used to make the body of the chariot. As I said Rotate  a little,Cut a little, Glue a little, and you get new designs!
Handmade Chariot 17
Fun with Dies
I used Spellbinders Asian accents die cuts [again inked and embossed] to make the wheels.You could of course use circles or whatever lovely die cut design you have to serve as wheels
Handmade Chariot 18
3 D chariot
Joined 2 of the above 2 dimensional chariots using a folded rectangular piece of card stock and also added a roof made using 4 of the 3rd die cut design. I joined 2 Spellbinders Majestic labels 25 die-cuts to make the steps [seen in the earlier photo of the chariot] and the seat within the chariot
Handmade Chariot 4
3 D diecut chariot
You could use some beautiful eyelets [ I am eyeing some of the new brads and eyelets in Crafter's Corner] on the center of the wheels and connect them with skewer sticks/toothpicks or just roll paper rolls to  form the axles of the wheels!
Handmade Chariot 5
3D Chariot
         I hope you enjoyed the run through on how you can have so much fun with your dies. I know I have shared fairly simple ideas for the seasoned crafter but hoping it will help at least a teeny bit to many!
And I know many will make some  mind-blowing elegant projects with such beautiful dies!
But for now hope you liked my kiddy inspired 3 D Chariot!Currently the chariot has been hijacked by my daughter and Princess Indumathi from the  Chota Bheem cartoon series is riding in it!!

35 comments:

  1. wow!! very elegant indeed!! very beautiful color Sonia!! love the intricate die cut!!
    -Berina
    Moxie Craftie

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  2. Brilliant idea of making 3D Chariot using Marianne dies!!! You are very talented and innovative:)
    Keep good crafting!
    Hugs

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    1. Thank you so much Vinita....these dies would look awesome in elegant projects but since that's not my strong point this was the best I could come up with! Was not too sure how it would be received so am so thankful for your appreciation!!

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  3. Such an inspiring post dr sonia
    I can never think of doing so much with dies.
    Tfs

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    1. Oh my ...Mallika!!! You are the ultimate professional crafter in my eyes and coming from you.......Ooh you've made my day!!

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  4. Holy moly... you leave me speechless.. mind blowing stuff doc..

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    1. Ha Ha Thank you so much Khush.Good you didn't stay speechless but wrote me such a super sweet comment!!

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  5. As I always say you think totally outside the box and this is no exception. I get so intimidated with such fancy dies that I never buy them..and now i know what to do...turn rotate and flip!! 😀

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    1. Yes Tejal...the Marianne Petra dies do look scary ...my post just shows you can make fun things too!!

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  6. Sonia....I m there to say something to you.....
    You are really blessed with creativity......u r into wrong profession of dentist :P
    you can make this world upside down with your creativity.......I cant tell you how blessed I feel to have you with crafters corner family...

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    1. Ha Ha Shalini I very much enjoy being an ENT Surgeon...if I made my hobby my profession what will my hobby be !!

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  7. Wow ! This chariot looks amazing !

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  8. Its gorgeous Dr. Sonia!!! I am just amazed at the way you use dies to create such wonderful things!!! TFS!!!

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    1. Thank you so much Neha! Neha I am addicted to dies...I have to exercise extreme self control to stop myself from buying up every die that catches my fancy!!

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  9. Wow!! its Amazing Dr Sonia..love the gorgeous chariot.. you are just wonderful u can fancy up anything.. want to see all your die cuts collection.. :D

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    1. Ha Ha Radhika I dont get tempted to buy stamps, papers or embellishments but dies are my weakness!!

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  10. Wow , this is truly amazing . Love your creativity and this chariot is one more example of how you conjure the most fabulous object from somple things .:)

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    1. Thank you so much Motidana....ha ha I have seen very elegant cards made with the Marianne dies but since I know I couldnt make such beautiful cards I had to think of something else!!

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  11. U r soo innovative...awesome work

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    1. Aww you are so sweet Shalini...Thank you so much .

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  12. Extraordinary work asusual mam ...... No words to say :)

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    1. Thank you so much ...these words are more than enough Dharshana!!

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  13. This is super glamorous doc !! :) you are always an inspiration

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    1. Oh....Thank you so much Bipasha..you are an inspiration yourself to so many of us!!

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  14. wow , beautiful chariot,my sis inl aw daughter adhisa saw and she want this ...........awww little girl , i said sorry ,i cant make .

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    1. Megha you will surely be able to make.See a simpler version here:
      Chariot Shaped Card and in the background you can also see the 3 D chariot made by my little girl

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