Do these dies make my butt look big?

Good day, everyone! It’s Becky, your humble editor. Our fall issue just went out the door this past weekend and we are so excited to share it with you online this Friday! It turned out so beautiful and is definitely one of my favourite fall issues to date.

 

Are you a hoarder collector of metal dies? Do you hoard amass stamps as if there is going to be a run on red rubber in the not-too-distant future? Then welcome to my world, I’m so happy you’re here!

Seriously, I’m pretty fond of both and what I love even more is combining dies and stamps into my projects. One problem I frequently run into is determining if a die is going to work with the stamp image or sentiment I’d like to use on my project. In the past, I’d grab a scrap of paper and die cut a bunch of shapes to see which one fit best with my image or words. Not only was it a huge time-killer but the quickie die cuts always ended up in the trash. What to do?

Necessity is the mother of invention and this is the solution I came up with. To begin, gather your dies and a pile of cardstock cut into 4.25”x5.5” pieces. Punch a small hole in the corner so you can thread them onto a key ring. I tackled this project by manufacturer, so this is my “Stampin’ Up” sample:

Die cut all of your shapes out of the cards, being sure to note the name of the collection on each one. If that manufacturer also makes paper punches, include those, too.

Pretty easy, huh? And the hard part’s over! The next time you want to pair up a die with a stamp image, sentiment, sticker, paper, or other embellishment, just grab your ring of cut-outs and place the shape over what you want to cut. Like sentiments:

 

Or patterned paper:

 

Or stamps shapes:

 

Hope this little tip makes your hoarding collecting easier to manage and use! :)

~  Becky Fleck

 

Comments

[Therese Arsenault]

I have done this with all my punches, but have not thought of doing it with all my dies. Another project to add to my list.

[Lezlee]

That is very clever! Thanks!

[Andrea Jeanne]

My brain just does no think organized -- so happy there are people in the world like you who share these great ideas!!

[jan metcalf]

Great idea!

[Colleen Halpern]

Am I understanding this right? If you wanted a label die to fit a stamped sentiment, you would have to pull out every manaufacturer's ring to see if they had the proper die that fit?

With so many manufacturers of dies on the market today, can I ask how many rings of samples you have?

I am just curious because I am trying to figure out where I would store the rings with the cut out samples and how I would access a particular die if I don't remember who made it. (which I never do).

[Lynda James]

Thanks for a great tip on managing my dies and punches.
I am a Stampin' Up! demonstrator so it goes without saying
I have lots of both.

Lynda

[Boni]

Wow! What a great idea. Thanks for sharing. I can't wait to try it!

[Sheila]

Did this with Embossing Folders, but NEVER thought of it for dies! Silly Moi!! Thank you for the GREAT idea!!

[Carol Carriveau]

Fabulous idea...for me it will take a while for my 'collections' but will definitely take the time to make it easier when creating our cards...thank you!!!

[Michelle Quinno]

Brilliant idea! Thank you so much for sharing!

[Heather K.]

I just started doing this yesterday! I also do something similar with my ink colors so I can choose colors easily without color testing first since it's already in my booklet.