Umbrella Craft Wafer Thin Die Review

I have never done a post like this before and all opinions are my own-and very honest ones at that. (If you knew me in real life, you would be rolling your eyes at that because, well, I am VERY opinionated and you will know what I think-even if you don't want to. I don't even have to say anything either-my face will tell you!!)

I was recently asked to review some new dies by Umbrella Crafts that are being sold at Scrapbook.com. After some thinking, I decided to accept and here are some of my thoughts.

When I got my package, I was pleasantly surprised. Scrapbook.com sent me the whole collection below.

At first glance, they look like any other dye set you can buy. However, their construction is sturdier then most of my other nesting dies that I own. I also liked that the largest sized dies are a little larger then what I already have. For example, the largest size in the rectangle is 4" by 6." Most of my other  rectangle dies, the largest size is either A4 sized or a bit smaller.

I am not going to bore you with a bunch of words but am going to show you some projects that I created using some of the dies.

I was originally going to use them to make some scrapbook pages but since I rarely post my pages on here, I figured I would use them to make something that I would blog about, which are cards. I also combined the dies with other products because that is how most people would use basic shapes.

My first card that I created was a baby card. I used the Nested Circle Die Set and combined it with the Nested Flowers Die Set to create a sun in back of the Lawn Fawn laundry from their "Little Bundle" stamp and die set.

I made this card using a sketch over at Scrapbook.com that was for National Scrapbook Day last week.

You might notice that the blue card stock was not cut with rectangle die. That was a conscious choice by me. First, I wanted a stitching around the edge and the Umbrella Crafts rectangles do not have any stitching. Second, the second to largest size is a 3 1/2" by 5" and a bit too small for what I wanted.

All in all, I was happy with the way this card came out. I will be experimenting with these two dies together in the future.

My second card I created is a birthday card. I used the Nested Square Die Set, combined with Reverse Confetti's "Candles and Confetti" set to make a birthday card.

This birthday card was inspired by the sketch below from TGIF Challenge Blog.

I knew when I saw this sketch that it would be perfect to try out the square dies.

I die cut four squares with the smallest square die (1/5" by 1/5") taped them together and then matted them with the second to largest die, which is a 3.5" by 3/5" die.

I adhered the squares onto a white card base. I then layered the cake from Reverse Confetti's "Candles and Confetti" stamp set over the squares.

The sentiment I used was from PaperTrey Ink's "Baker's Dozen" set. I really liked that I could put the smaller square dies together and then matte them like I did on this card. These were the perfect size for what I wanted to do.

For my last project, I created another birthday card using Reverse Confetti's "Candles and Confetti" stamps and dies. I experimented with making an oval frame with the Umbrella Crafts "Nesting Ovals" die set.

I used the two largest ovals-the 2.5" by 3/5" and the 3" by 4" dies- and a piece of My Favorite Things "Dots and Stripes" paper. I wanted the oval to highlight the birthday cake-which it did beautifully.

In conclusion, I really liked these Umbrella Crafts Dies. They are a great deal for the product that you get. My only con is that I wish they had "stitching" or some sort of decoration around the edges of the dies for a more decorative effect. When I scrapbook, this doesn't matter to me but if I use the dies for card making, I prefer a more decorative edge.

I thank you for stopping by today!! Have a great Wednesday!!

Supplies:
Baby Card-Supplies Here

Square Birthday Card

InLinkz.com

Oval Birthday Card

InLinkz.com

Calling All Sistahs Blog Hop

It is the 17th of the month of May and what does that mean? It is time for the "Sistahood Blog Hop" over at CAS-ual Fridays Stamps. You should have come here from Archana's Blog.

I created a simple card using the "Hope Ribbon" CAS-ual Fridays Stamp Set and the "Hope" CAS-ual Fridays Fri-Die to create my card.

I stamped the ribbon in Versamark ink onto white card stock and embossed it using Zing "Grapefruit Pink"embossing powder. I used an craft knife and a bowl to create the curve at the bottom of the white card panel and then mounted it using foam adhesive over an embossed pink card base.

I then used Stickles in "Fruit Punch" to add some sparkle inside the hearts.

While the hearts were drying, I die cut the hope sentiment out of pink card stock four times and glued them together to give it some dimension. I then adhered it to the front of the card.

My last step was to adhere the sentiment with foam adhesive that I stamped in black onto a white card stock strip.

If you would like to join us in our next blog hop, you can click on the pictures above to buy the products used on my card. Michele is donating 50% of the sales of these stamps to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. For more information, please see the blog post here. With your help, we can beat this disease!!

Remember girls, check your breasts monthly!!!

Also, there will be a $15 gift certificate awarded to the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps for THREE lucky winners along the hop. Winners will be chosen randomly from comments along the way. If you get lost anywhere, you can get the master list of hoppers at the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog.

The next stop on the hop is Susan White!

Thank you for stopping by today!! Have a wonderful day!!

Stamping Smiles Design Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #10

Hello everyone!! I hope you are all enjoying your weekend!!

Today I am showing you the card I created for Stamping Smiles Design Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #10.

Can you believe it is Challenge #10 already? I have had so much fun over these months playing along!

For this challenge, I chose the diagonal from the top left to the bottom right-chevron, ombre and vellum.

I started my card by using a Heidi Swapp's Chevron Stencil and using Distress Ink in Shaded Lilac, Wilted Violet and Dusty Concord and blended it to create an Ombre effect. I then mounted the panel onto a purple card base.

Next I die cut a cross out of white card stock using the Paper Smooches "Crosses" die and adhered it to the front of the card.

I stamped, embossed and die cut flowers from Simon Says Stamps "Artful Flowers" stamp set and matching "Designer Flowers" die onto Vellum. I then used Distress Markers in Shaded Lilac, Dusty Concord and Squeezed Lemonade to color the flowers in from the back. I then adhered them to the card overlapping the cross.

I stamped the sentiment in Lavender dye ink onto a white card stock strip and adhered it to the card  front with foam adhesive. I used a clear Wink of Stella pen to add a bit of sparkle to the flowers. My last step was to adhere some Pretty Pink Posh clear sequins around the cluster of embellishments.

I think this card came out so beautiful and it was so much fun to create!! I thank you for stopping by and please make sure to hop over to Stamping Smiles Design Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge Blog to join in the fun!!

Have a  wonderful day!!

Supplies:

InLinkz.com