USING STENCILS IN CUTTLEBUG

MACHINE EMBOSSED STENCILS

One of my on-going resolutions regarding my craft supplies is to "use or lose it."   Now of course I don't want to get rid of anything potentially useful - which is just about everything, so I've been raiding the shelves and re-discovering some almost forgotten "toys."

In the olden days (i.e. a few years ago) machines like the Cuttlebug and Bigshot were rarities and when we wanted to emboss a pattern we used either a lightbox or a window and a brass or plastic stencil combined with a stylus to hand-emboss our paper.

With the advent of embossing folders my collection of brass and plastic stencils has stayed unused and unloved for a very long time.  I've just bought a new rubber embossing mat for my Cuttlebug so I thought it was a good time to try it out with these stencils.  Previously I hadn't been overly impressed with the results but this mat is fabulous and suddenly I'm all enthused about using all my long-neglected stencils again, especially as I don't have to laboriously trace around them all by hand!!  The main thing I have learnt is that the type of embossing mat used DOES make a difference.

The stack I used was A, B, stencil, paper, rubber mat, B.  Do be aware though, that despite a lot of info around that suggest otherwise, there is no magic combination that suits all situations - it really depends on the thickness of your paper/card, the thickness of your rubber mats, whether your plates have a bit of a bend or not etc.  The trick is to do a few trial runs before the main project, and never force a stack that feels too thick through the machine.  The examples shown in the photo were my trial runs and hence they aren't properly centred etc.  I had anticipated having to muck around with bits of cardboard etc. and was pleasantly surprised to find it worked first pop with both kinds of stencil!