leaders are in the midst of an amazing informative fun show for the industry, Creativation.
I love watching the early peeks at these new and innovative ideas via Youtube. Because they represent both the art and craft world you will see fine art tools and the latest and greatest crafters tools
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If you enjoy sneak peeks into these new products take a look at this video...warning it is an hour of footage sharing more on the fine art products.
Below was a bit of footage from Ranger last year, always bringing fun products out that we just *must* have.
My interest in the arts and my desire to create has followed a very long history of new to me and exciting innovative ideas. Todays post though is somewhat about innovative products but more about some really fun "solves" to a question..."How can I?"
Back in the day when Cricut and others introduced their electronic craft cutters it brought out so many fun possibilities for us makers.
Tools like the Sizzix Big Shot had to re-invent themselves to stay abreast of this fast moving creative surge....so many wonderful ideas were on the scene. The light box and brass plates that had been used to emboss designs suddenly were being replaced by embossing folders for the Big Shot. Thin dies also emerged, the days of huge dedicated cabinets to house the thick dies now gone! On a side hote I love those dies and still treasure their ability to cut multiple cutouts at once :)For folks still loving their old brass plate for tracing, brass plate embossing etc. even the light box was reinvented...the Bright Pad emerged on the scene. USB powered, thin and super light weight AND easier to store...super nice!
Personal electronic cutters rocked the scrapbooker world in the early 2000's and continue their evolution. Check out this older but fun article about it. Historically they are a bit behind but still it is interesting! I started my electronic cutter with this product. Today I use two models; one model, the Explore Air 2 is not the newest offering but still can do so-ooo much and I also recently purchased a Cricut Joy for its portability.
Earlier I mentioned that today's blog post was really more about some really fun "solves" to a question..."How can I?"
When I first developed an interest in stamping but before I had purchased many stamps I signed up for a herb card swap. Now how on earth did I manage if I didn't have any herbs in my stamp set, you may ask? My solution: I took a craft foam sheet, heated it with my embossing gun then pressed it into a mint leaf from my garden. Here is a sample of the card I created. I still love how this card turned out and the only stamp on it is my hand made mint stamp and the butterfly corners printed the words on my computer.
A couple years ago Simon Hurley along with Ranger introduced a product called Stamping Foam. (Actually a reintroduced product from the 1990's but I'm not telling :) Simon is demonstrating some fun ways to use it in this video. Look at how this is being used today! I still have my original foam blocks and still use them. Being thicker it is much easier to work with than the thin foam craft sheet I used to make the card above.
Remember those brass plates used for dry embossing? They took a bit of effort but they produced a lovely embossed area.
Ah-hhh you say, FINALLY! Yes I really did want to share some of these solutions, so on we go but before I do let me share a favorite quote.
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9
I bring this up because this is what I observe... so many wonderful ideas are not necessarily NEW but they are nonetheless very helpful, creative, fun and there YUP are NEW ways to use these ideas!
So here we go...on with these old new ideas!
Remember those brass plates used for dry embossing? They took a bit of effort but they produced a lovely embossed area.
For many of us that have the Big Shot, Cuttlebug and other similar tools for crafting we can use those brass plates along with some cushion like gasket material from our local hardware store to produce some lovely and fast embossed results. It takes some experimenting with the "sandwich" to send the layer through smoothly but I had good results following along with this video.
Gina K also shared a similar technique but using flexible vinyl stencils. The results were equally effective and so-oo expands the possibilities with my craft collection.
I tend to hang on to my craft supplies, maybe you do too. I loved working with pastel chalks, foils and pigment inks to name just a few of my older supplies...now I just need to finf NEW ways to use them. I so enjoyed this blast from the past and hope you'll all grab some of you craft stash and see what old NEW things you can create.
