All About Essentials Today - Day 16 of the Advent Calendar Event

A Very Good Morning to all my Wonderful Friends & Crafters. The New offers have been added to the Store Today for Day 16 of the Advent Calendar. Today is all about the Essentials, some might think they are boring and there's not much difference between them. I can tell you there is and they can make a huge difference to your Card Making, Scrapbooking, in fact they form the basis of most of our projects and getting it right is essential. Like everything in life you need to get the foundations right if you want things to look good. It's all abut the preparation, they can save you a fortune too, so read on.

Firstly the Triskaidecagon Die Sets, or 'Trisky' for short. This is the name I should have chosen, rather than the tongue twister. I never was a lover of circles or rounds, although this has really changed and you will now find a lot of circles and rounds in some of the designs. I really wanted something different that was circular in shape but not quite, so came this 13 sided shape. Here Nicola Has used them to Create the Hungry Caterpillar, a really great design and such fun.

There are 2 sets, One gives you a perfect matt & layer, with pin detail around the edge, the second gives an inner mat & layer but also a beautiful pin detailed thin frame which all work in conjunction with each other, giving  a huge variety of options. Having started to write this I think the best way of seeing them in action is to watch the launch show, they were launched alongside the Florals. But also a dedicated video might also be a great way of showing them in action, I will set about that after Christmas, whatever happens. So here I will show them in use. In this card Jane has used the Layering Dies with the Floral Companions & Floral Harmony stamp sets. It really is a beautiful colourful card.

This next card also from Jane is using the Nesting Die Set to create her base easel card along with all the mats and layers. These dies are excellent quality and will easily cut your card bases. The decoration for the card comes from the Floral Companions Stamp& Die Set. These leaves stamp beautifully to give perfect image transfer and the words are so crisp, embossed in white.

The next two cards are from Katrina & Natalie, The first has used both sets one to cut the aperture in the card and the nesting set to use the fine pin detailed frame which sets it off beautifully. then a similar look for the sentiment. The decoration used stamps from Floral Harmony and Floral Companions. In the second card both sets have been used again, this time t create a topper, then the nesting set to get the fine detailed pin framed raised edge. The flowers here are from the Floral Harmony Stamp Set.

Next we have a shaker card from Jane, using both sets to create the matt behind, then two dies to create the thicker frame and finishing it off with the lovely raised frame with the pin detail. This is something you couldn't get with any other die set. The stamps used are the Floral Harmony, but you could also change the look completely using the Floral Companions or the leaves from the same set, or any other stamps of your choice.

Here's a really striking but simple card from Nicola, A plain black Background embossed using the Retro Maze Stencils, all of the stencils emboss well into your card stock, so dont ever think of them as just stencils. The a variety of coloured frames cut using the Nesting dies, it really is so effective. A great card to make if you need something quickly as well.

This one uses a mixture of the dies to create an easel card cutting through acetate, Then creating the frames and base matt and Layers in card. The baubles are made from the Retro Leaves.

There are just so many other ways to use them, This is just a small selection to show how different they are. They really are not like all the other dies out there, despite looking exactly the same. Please don't make the mistake of taking everything on face value. The products I bring out will always offer you something different.

Form Natalie, Using the Retro Banner Dies

From Jane, Using the Floral Harmony Stamps.

From Nicolas Using the Floral Companions Stamps & Dies.

Nicolas Using the Floral Companions Dies & Stamps.

This last one is from Natalie, Using the Floral Companions Stamps, Very Clever.

Now moving onto the Rectangles, I made a couple of boards to show these on the show, it was by far the easiest way to show them, They can look rather plain, they have been perfectly sized for all the popular card sizes. They can give a range of Matt & Layers ranging from the finest and for those of you prefer you can widen the border by selecting alternate dies. They had to come in 2 sets as I wanted thicker dies that wouldn't warp out of shape after going through the machine. One of my other sets will no longer cut a perfect rectangle, If I fold the die cut in half it doesn't meet, so no good for cutting notelets. Here is a beautiful piece from Ann, using  a selection of them for a totally different project.

I designed my rectangles as I have 3 other sets in my collection and in each set there are a minimum of 3 dies that I cant use for anything, they are too small for sentiments or anything on another the rectangles get more square like as they reduce in size so weren't perfect for layering. Just because they look simple it's far from easy to design a set, it's simply not the case to reduce them by increments, that just doesn't work. Here is a great card using the Rectangles for matting any layering, such a simple but effective card.

Now gutting card, tis really is must and can save you  a lot of money on Postage, I hear the prices are going up again on January 1st, so we want to save every penny. I have seen lots of gadgets and gizmos to gut card, but they all require measuring or cutting. One you have to mark the card, some use a grid and then have to cut it with a craft knife. None of them are cheap. These are sized perfectly, gutting couldn't be simpler, You just run through your card with the die, no measuring ,no marking, no Craft Knives and no accidents, it's just so simple. These can save you a fortune on all your decorative card and papers. I think this is also something I need to show in a youtube video. I have to say it really infuriates me when I see things being sold, that are just not needed and they aren't cheap either.

It's so much harder to describe the benefits of these Rectangular dies, I really do need to show them, but for those of you who know me, know that I wouldn't try and sell you something that I didn't believe in. I have bee recommending things for many years, even before I had Craftascope, so I think I have a reputation for giving good advice. We have all wasted lots of money on things that we think we want, but then we get it and it's no good. I have been there, I was new too and I dread to think of the rubbish I bought, sadly there was nothing like this when I started, so it really was trial and error. Here are a few more of the projects made with the dies on this blog.

All of these Dies are on offer today as pairs, I do recommend both sets. I believe in them 100% and I know that when you get them home you will see the value in each one of them. If you have had any Craftascope products you will knw that the quality is excellent, whether it's the Stamps, Dies or Stencils. For anyone that doesn't know I would like to point out that I have only ever brought out 2 sets that are the A5 size, those are the Media Dolphin & the Media Profile in the Thermo Plastic Rubber. Then there were 2 other A5 sets made from the Grey Rubber and made for me By the wonderful Girls at Stamp Addicts. Each of the other sets are very large Stamp Sheets, they are not A4 either but some are very close.

Thats all for now, Just to say please continue to add you support to me & Craftascope, your support so far has been amazing but Im not out of the woods yet. If you do need or want any craft items then this is the time to buy, the offers are incredible and until December 31st there's no extra to pay when they arrive in the UK. Etsy will be collecting the VAT on behalf of the UK Authorities from Jan 1st, so you will notice that on any receipt after that date. Even if it's a small order, if a lot of people do then together it will make a big difference. You're probably tired of hearing it but I do want to continue bringing my designs for as long as I am able. If I could reduce the prices any further  to get more sales then believe me I would. For now Take Care and Happy Crafting.xx