Country Companions Hedgehog Die & Sizzix Die Sale

Finally got a hedgehog die :o) taken me nearly an hour to make though after putting the bits together and figuring which bit went where!

I didn't have brown card so used my letraset stamp pens for the body, then red and purple card for the boots and flower.

I have put some Sizzix Dies on eBay which finish on 6th June. These are ones I won't use much and they came with my machine so thought I'd sell them to make room for my new dies :)

One of the items is here http://bit.ly/Ne8Oer and just go to my page to look at my other items

My First Makes on my Sizzix Big Shot

I received my Sizzix Big Shot on Wednesday morning, but unfortunately had lots to do so didn't get to play with it until later in the day for a short while, but had a proper play with it yesterday morning.

I brought a second hand Big Shot on eBay with some die cutters included. The one thing I would say is to be careful when buying Sizzlets second hand, or as part of a bundle as the ones I got were not smooth on the spongey background so left a pattern on the pieces I cut so they weren't smooth. This isn't a biggy though as the Sizzlets were a nappy pin and a bouquet of flowers (which are a bit abstract....you can't really tell what they are).

At the same time as buying the Big Shot I brought 2 Marianne Designs die cutter sets, a cupcake and a flower (shown above). With these I made the below cutouts.

It was only while showing my husband these that he said he thought that the cupcake would have the patterns on as shown on the dies. I was a bit confused to but after looking online found that I needed an embossing mat for these type of dies and purchased one from ebay. It came yesterday and I'm getting much better results now! Just have to remember to cut first and THEN emboss as I did it the other way, forgetting it wouldn't cut it out and had to then fiddle getting the paper and die to line up. The embossing mat I purchased was £8 and does not need extra card to thicken the 'sandwich' up so it's much easier to use.

You may notice in the background of the photo a very heavily used cutting mat. The Big Shot I purchased came with 3 cutting mats, 2 heavily used and 1 new mat. This was due to one of the ladies original mats shattering so she brought a new set and just used one new one and an old one. I have purchased another set of mats as the old ones look like they're going to break at any moment, but I did pick up a great tip online. I found that it was hard to lay the dies and card easily on the mats before cutting as both plates were warped, but a video online said to use a new mat on the bottom and never to use it on the top as the bottom plate will then not warp and also not get scratched! This means the mats/plates will last much longer.

I also received my GlossyBox yesterday and after packing away my items, I used the packaging to make the below flower!

The pale pink back petals are from the information card, the smaller petals are from the tissue paper the items are wrapped in, and the GlossyBox logo button was from the information card. (I was still using two warped plates/cutting mats, so the card slipped while going through the Big Shot so it wasn't perfectly in line).

I am going to have a massive Big Shot day over the Jubilee Bank Holiday I think! I purchased another die yesterday of a hedgehog, and holographic and glitter card from Home Bargains (79p for 16 holographic sheets and 79p for 6 glitter sheets!).

Now off to make Sunday dinner! Not sure I really want to in this heat but it'll be nice once cooked.

Just purchased my Sizzix Big Shot! YEY!

After much deliberation I finally decided last week to buy a die cutting machine for card making. I had originally looked at the Sizzix Big Shot but reviews said how big it was, and it was also quite expensive so decided to look at getting a Cuttlebug. After looking around for these someone advised me that the Big Shot was a great machine and did much more than the Cuttlebug (such as cutting material) so I went ahead and started looking for Big Shots.

Online they retail for round £70-£80 for a starter kit but thought I would try and get one on eBay with other dies (as starter kits come with hearts and some basic shapes which I wouldn't particularly use). I found one with lots of dies, some of which I would have sold, and waited a whole week until it was ending today but at the last minute it went for over £100 including postage!!!! Luckily for me one ended 2 hours later and I got it for under £40 plus £12 postage! It comes with a few dies of bears hugging, presents, the word party and a nappy pin (which I may sell). Due to it being much less than I was going to pay I've also treated myself to an embossing folder with different greetings on, and I'm currently bidding on cupcake dies (where you can have different toppings) and flowers. The flowers I'm looking to use with material to make a floor mat (which I started at Christmas with my sewing machine but haven't got far with it due to our wedding).

My mission this year is to make my own Christmas cards and also my parent's cards. I've got lots of ideas and will be on the look out for the dies I want in the next few months to try and grab a few bargains.

Now it's just a waiting game until my Sissix machine arrives!

Nails Inc's New Nail Jewellery!

I am loving Nails Inc's new nail jewellery but wasn't that impressed initially until I tried it!

I went out shopping with my husband to spend out wedding gift vouchers and wanted to buy a black OPI nail polish in order to do Louboutin style nails properly (black on top and red tips under the nail), but forgot while in John Lewis so went to the Nails Inc bar while in House of Fraser. I picked up Black Taxi then saw the Nail Jewellery, a range on different glitter polished, and picked up the diamond one. Using both polishes together gives me, what I like to call, a granite look. The black doesn't look harsh and the glitter looks almost 3D. 

This polish also lasted the longest I've ever had polish last! Over 2 days, this doesn't sound much for most people but for me it really is. The only downside to this polish.....the elbow grease needed to remove it but it really is worth it.

I'm not sure what the other colours would be like but I'm loving the diamond version and at £11 it's not bad at all!

From Nails Inc

I'm back! and now a Mrs!

I've not been on here for a little while as I've been busy getting married! I will be posting more on here now since I have a little more time....well on my days off (since my job moved so more commuting and we now have a little pet pygmy hedgehog which takes up my evenings).

I'll be posting shortly reviews of my March and April Glossy boxes and my wedding make up kit (Elizabeth Arden products).

Mr and Mrs Stacey