My Valentine and I love dad jokes, especially puns. We also live in a pine forest in the mountains. So I when I came up the “I pine for thee” pun, I decided to put some of my steel rule dies to use making him a Valentine.
The paper on the interior map is of mountains, the hearts are purple woodgrain and pine tree toile. The interior sides are night sky/constellation and the bottom is a plaid in coordinating colors. It is the back of the exterior side paper which is stylized pine twigs.
The base is a copper cardstock on chipboard. A wood bead topped with a copper-y paper brad tops it off! A piece of wood stained with green ink holds the box off the base.
The shadow box, pinecone, and tree slice area all cut with Sizzix Bigz Tim Holtz steel rule dies. The letters are also Tim Holtz dies, but not steel rule.
Thanks! There’s a running joke where I will say something, like “that’s a big loaf of bread” and he will say, “I’m a big man” or “the snaps look shiny” followed by “I’m a shiny man” and that kind of thing, so when I read your response, I thought, “He’s a masculine man.”
@TheMistressT Really great project! My favourite part is the wood circle as the base and the great papers you chose
I have a couple of die cutting questions for you if that’s ok?
The things you’ve cut look quite thick, did your die cutting machine do that? Impressive! Can I please ask which one you use? I currently have an OG red sizzix machine which needs lots of jiggery with shims and things to get the super thin dies I have to work, because of this I hardly use all of these dies that I’ve bought. I think I really need to invest in a new die cutting machine. I’ll never get rid of the old brick though, because it was really expensive and I asked for it for Christmas one year from my parents
And yes, the box and the base of the slice are both cut from thick chipboard. The steel rule style dies (Sizzix Bigz) allow for cutting that kind of material with a Sizzix Big Shot which is what I use. Not sure if other Sizzix will work with steel rule dies. It comes with a base that is a flip-book-style for using different types of dies, embossing folders, etc., but you also use cutting pads to “sandwich” your die/folder and your material. It was also kind of expensive, but it is a real workhorse with so many uses! And, of course, lots of teachers are using them. They do go on sale at their various authorized dealers, sometimes with bundles, so you could keep an eye out for a deal.
PS: The die for the shadow box is actually designed for use with chipboard for the bottom. So the “tabs” for gluing are very small and it scores a nice deep line for folding.
