You Are Totally Amazing

Hi my friends, I've been on a mission to clear my desk and use some more of the newly released products from Simon Says Stamp before I start on another mega exciting die-cutting adventure with Tim Holtz and Sizzix and today I'm sharing a card I made with Simon Says Heart Mandala Cling Stamp, Clean Line Stacks for the sentiment and one of my favourite dies from the Handmade Holiday release, Etched Berry Branch with Shabby Shutters and Picked Raspberry Distress Oxides, a favourite Distress colour combo.I began by trimming Distress Watercolor card to 4" x 5.1/4", smooshed the Shabby Shutters Distress Oxide ink pad on to the craft mat of my Glass Media Mat, spritzed with water and laid the panel into the ink, dried and tapped back in to pick up the remaining droplets of colour. I inked Simon Says Heart Mandala Cling stamp with Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide, spritzed lightly with water and stamped on the panel. I stamped the sentiment from Clean Line Stacks with Simon Says Intense Black and the smaller sentiment with Versamark ink on to a scrap of Simon Says Black cardstock, sprinkled with White Embossing Powder, heat set and trimmed. I die-cut the Etched Berry Branch die from Distress Watercolor card and fixed in place with Distress Collage Medium and foam adhesive underneath some of the leaves.I matted the panel on to Distress Watercolor card, trimmed to be 1/8" larger, coloured with Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide ink using the direct to paper technique and fixed to an A2 white card blank. To finish I added splatters of Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide ink, fixed the embossed sentiments in place with Distress Collage Medium and added Glossy Accents to the berries.

The title of this blog post is totally appropriate to describe the newest member of the Cubbyhole Die-cutting Crew, the Big Shot Switch Plus, so sleek and sexy, decked out in the Tim Holtz brand signature black livery.

I spent the weekend having lots of fun putting the machine through it's paces and although I love my Foldaway and Sidekick, it's a case of having right tools for every job and this guy is the absolute boss when it comes to mass production die-cutting, thanks to the larger sized plates, cutting multiple dies in one pass, goodbye to wasting precious cardstock and woohoo only one pass required for 3D Texture Fade Embossing Folders. Life is short my friends, so what's not to love about a machine that makes the  creative process faster and simpler.

I will confess I was sitting on the "do I need another machine" fence until I watched the YouTube Live launch with Tim where he did a walk-through of the Big Shot Switch Plus and shared so many great die-cutting hints, tips and tricks. If you are also on the fence, you can watch the demo HERE and it may help you make up your mind. It is a considered purchase but if you have ever owned a Sizzix Die-Cutting Machine, you'll know that the Sizzix name is synonomous with quality and if treated with respect, you and your new friend will have many many years of die-cutting fun.

I'll be back soon to share my DT project for Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, in the meantime, have fun with whatever you are making.

Hugs Kath xxx