Weddingbee

After my wedding passed, I needed a way to fill the void that wedding planning had once occupied. What was I to do with my lonely craft-deprived hands? Well, I recently discovered the wonderful world of stamping and paper crafting. I’ve always been a scrapbooker, but I have developed a new love for stamping and card making. Along with this new hobby, I picked up a horrendous amount of new craft tools and supplies.

Meet my new baby, the Cuttlebug:

What is a Cuttlebug? It’s a die-cutting and embossing tool. The side plates fold up and it takes up no more room on a desk than a portable photo printer. I’ll show you what this little guy can do.

This is an embossing folder. It’s about 4.25″ x 5.5″ (the size of a small greeting card). This particular design is called “Swiss Dots” and it will emboss a dotted pattern onto your paper. Embossing folders for the Cuttlebug cost around $5-6 each.

Here’s another view of the embossing folder. It folds in half and one side of the folder has the negative image while the other has the positive image.

First, insert a piece of paper between the folder like so.

Then place the folder in a “sandwich” between the embossing plates that are included with the machine. The order is: A plate on the bottom, then B plate, embossing folder with paper, and lastly a second B plate on top. The plates are labeled very clearly and it’s more simple than it sounds. The sandwich/plate technique is slightly tedious, but it allows the Cuttlebug to be adapted to other brands of die-cutting stencils and embossing folders rather than being restricted to only Provo-Craft products.

Next, place the plate sandwich onto the Cuttlebug and run it through by turning the crank on the right side.

Remove the paper from the folder and voila! Polka-dot embossed paper.

Here’s an example of a finished “thank you” card that I created for one of my bridesmaids using the embossed paper. I just love the textured element that it adds to the cards.

One last closeup shot.

My only complaint about the Cuttlebug is that I wish they had bigger embossing folders available. 4.25″ x 5.5″ is the size of 1/4th of a regular sheet of paper and it’s limiting in the scope of projects one can create. Michaels sells Cuttlebugs for $89.99, but I’ve seen fabulous deals for these machines. Recently Joann’s had a bug for $49.99 with free shipping. I definitely would not pay full price for one of these. You can find a good deal on one if you look around a bit.

Next, I’ll show you how the Cuttlebug can make ultra-fabulous die-cuts.