Hello, how are you? Despite some plumbing issues that we are dealing with at the current moment, I am actually feeling great. But repairs goes with owning a home and I have no regrets. I love our home and enjoy renovating it with my husband. It’s been a lovely journey watching it evolve as well as our tastes.
But I digress so let’s talk craft stuff. As you know, I have curbed my craft budget and spending habits so I don’t feature as much stuff on this site. But I recently came across a tool I thought I could use quite nicely for some projects. I also don’t mind spending money on tools because they can be used again and again.
The Product: WPlus9’s Large Butterfly frame die
For this test, I used the WPlus9’s steel die with two types of paper. I used the Recollections’ paper pack called Soda Pop. I also used Georgia Pacific Cardstock. Although the Georgia-Pacific did not work well the Reflections worked smooth like butter. The beauty is that out of one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet I was able to cut one full die frame and then use the remaining as a contrasting background for a card. The nice thing is that the colors all coordinate quite nicely. So less time hunting for colors that go together. Then there is still a small piece of paper left that I thought would be great to use to punch out coordinating tiny butterflies with one of my Martha Stewart punches. I laid out the frames on the coordinating colored paper scraps but could easily cut them down and stamp a sentiment and stick them on a card.
My thoughts:
I own a load of dies and some I like and some I rarely use. But let’s talk about the die.
The Design:
What I like:
- The fact that the butterfly frame is a standard A2 size (4 1/4 x 5 1/2) so it can rock the front of a card.
- The steel is thick and not flimsy so it produces a nice clean cut.
- The framing of the butterflies leaves room for sentiments which is very important if you want to make cards.
- They include a lot of holes so that if your paper should stick, it’s very easy to use a pin to poke them out without tearing the paper.
- The die was made in the USA. It’s really great to know it’s made here and reduces our carbon footprint as well as provides jobs in local factories.
What I don’t like:
- I tried using it with the inexpensive Georgia Pacific cardstock from Walmart and it ripped. So you will need to try out a few types of paper to see which works for you.
- That even when I used paper that worked, I had to run it through a few times to ensure all of the detail in the butterfly wings were cut.
Overall:
I love this die and see that it will be a versatile tool for my projects moving forward. I like the sturdiness and I found that the oh so inexpensive paper packs by Recollections that you can buy at Michael’s works beautifully with the die. The paper pops out easy and the cost per sheet is so inexpensive, you can make a large number for a few dollars. I love that I can use it with my sentiment stamps and custom one’s that I design on the computer. If you look at the first set of photos the white one on the left was cut using the Georgia Pacific and it didn’t cut out all of the butterfly detailing. But all of the other ones were cut using the Reflections paper.
Product reviewed: Large Butterfly Frame by WPlus9
I love using mine and will share some finished cards with you soon.
Have a blessed day!
Belinda
On Wednesday, I spent more than half the day with some of my crafty girlfriends. I have been making an effort to insert fun with friends into my crazy schedule. I realized a while back that I missed the quality time with friends and that if I wanted it to happen, I needed to literally put it in my schedule like an appointment and treat it with as much importance. Five of us spent the time working (or almost in some cases) on some of our craft projects and catching up. I always walk away feeling light. By that, I mean less burdened. 
Before we left, we decided we would take a photoshoot with the cute picture frames they had in the room. Having them in the room with us was like leaving a child alone in the room with candy – irresistible! We even solicited a person from the store to come take our group shot. In another post I will share with you what I worked on so I won’t burden you with too many photos in this post. 
In our busy lives, we have to really make time for ourselves. Focusing on fun is healthy for everyone and I am going to be sure to integrate more for myself moving forward.
We woke on Sunday and went for a nice walk on the track and then headed to one of our favorite breakfast spots to eat all the calories we just burned and then some. It was quite yummy. It’s just so much fun to have time for just the two of us. We always appreciate it because we don’t do it as often as in the past. So we are always grateful for the time.
