How to Find the Center of Spellbinders Dies

Sometimes I need to know how large a Spellbinders die is and sometimes I want to know where the exact center is. I could eyeball this but I am a bit of a perfectionist, control freak, geek (you pick the description) and would prefer to have a permanent guide on my dies. I've figured out how to do this once and for all and thought I would share it with you. 

 

How to Find the Center of Spellbinders Dies

You will need 

•  a Spellbinders die with a symmetrical shape

•  your die cutter (I use a Cuttlebug)

•  a piece of copy paper

•  a thin point, permanent marker (I used a Sharpie)

Cut the shape out of copy paper.

 

Fold the paper in half.

 

Fold it in half again. Make sure you have a nice crisp crease.

 

Unfold the paper and put it back inside the die. Turn the die over so you don't see the cutting edge.

 

Use your marker to draw four lines on the edge of the die that line up with the four folds on the paper.

Take the paper out and refold it along one of the creased lines. Measure the width of the paper along that creased line. This is the size of your die, write it directly on your die and you will never be guessing again.

When you want to line up the die with text in the future you have a guide. When you want to cut a half or quarter of the design you have guidelines.

If you need to find the shape's center all you need to do is get out a pencil and a ruler. With the paper still in the die, line up the ruler with the guides and draw a faint line near the center. Repeat with the other 2 guide lines. Where the two lines intersect is center.

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Happy Crafting,

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Cupcake Liners instead of Rosettes

I love the look of a well made rosette but I have trouble getting them into envelopes and scrapbook sheet protectors. I also have trouble with them staying together. I must be doing something terribly wrong because I know NO ONE else has this problem. I have been using cupcake liners instead of making rosettes for a while, they are quick, easy, thin, and stay together better. Unfortunately they only come in a couple of sizes, or do they.

Recently I was in Micheal's wandering in the $1 aisle and I saw the cutest cupcake liners by Studio 18. They had a bit of a nautical feel on the sides, even though there were and I thought I could use them on cards or scrapbook pages and if I lost interest in crafting with them I could always make cupcakes in them. 

I wanted them to lay flat and these liners were having none of that so I cut them. That sounds so cruel, if something doesn't cooperate with me I go to "I cut you man" but I digress. I folded them in half and then in half again and cut the center circle out. Then slit the side so it would lay down making a semi circle then I did the same with another liner. I glued the two together to make a circle. There is an overlap on both ends of about 6-10 pleats, depending on the size of circle you want.

When I made the circle it reminded me of a circus tent and I just happened to have a Circus stamp set from TPC Studio in stash. It also reminded me of the onesie my son was wearing when he first stood on his own. I had to find those pictures. Dig. Dig. Dig. Eureka!

The elephant's frame is overlapped by 6 pleats on each side.

I colored all the circus image before I found the picture, what great luck that the "extras" in the picture were yellow. I cut all the circles on the page with Spellbinder's Circle die. The journal circle was cut out of a divider that comes with Recollections photo boxes from Micheal's. I used a thin marker to draw the outline which gives it a much more finished look. I glued the images to the liners then glued the images to my page making sure that only the center of the liner/image piece was glued.

After I finished the page I poked around the interweb a while and looked for other ways to use cupcake liners. I pinned them all to a Pinterest board. Yes I've finally climbed aboard the Pinterest bandwagon. I resisted for a long time because I already had a Visualize.Us account and didn't see the need but I couldn't resist any longer and signed up last week.  If you'd like to see the other ways to use cupcake liners check out my Cupcake Liners Board.

InLinkz.com

Working on a couple of tutorials so keep an eye out for those. Better yet become a follower so you don't miss them.

Happy Crafting,

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Click here to help my son pay his own way through scouts. Order Trail's End popcorn using code 79936evan674 and great tasting treats will be delivered to your door.