Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Putting a Couple of Old Tools to Work

Have you experienced obsolescence in craft tools? If you keep up with the trends by reading magazines or checking out the cool stampers' websites, you may have noticed that certain tools are all the rage for a while, and then, they fade away, rarely to be seen again.

You spend good money on a tool or product, and then it just sits, gathering dust or occupying space in some bin in the basement. At one point, you just had to have it. Now, you can't pay someone to take it off your hands.

It's annoying.

But you just never know when the old will become new. Perhaps we can resurrect an old trend!

So I've decided to pull out some of those old tools and put them back to work. I recently used my Fiskar's ShapeCutter and one of its templates to make THIS CARD. Today, I'm featuring a card with an element run through my Fiskar's paper crimper.

Remember paper crimpers? They are actually pretty good at adding texture to a project, and that's what I was going for.



This card would have been fine without crimping, but I love how the crimper adds a little extra interest. The course of true love never did run smooth, after all.

The cross-stitch lines help anchor the heart and lead the eye to it...and cross-stitch looks so homey and warm. Or you could read it as rows of kisses. That works, too.

Note that I slightly rounded the corners of the "With Love" strip with, of course, scallop scissors. Yep. The second old tool I used that you just never see used anymore. That little touch of snipping those sharp corners softened the focal point and helped unify it as well.

The bling needs no explanation.

Look around your craft space, or do a little digging in your stored stash of old craft supplies. Is there a tool you've neglected? Perhaps a punch or two that were rendered obsolete by your die cut machine? Some funky deco scissors? That weird stapler that was so popular about eleven years ago? Pull those obsolete tools out and play around. It's fun.

And we may jumpstart a new (old) trend!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey
ink: SU Real Red, Memento Gray Flannel
paper: Papertrey white, SU real red
accessories: paper crimper, scallop scissors, dimensionals, heart-shaped rhinestones

10 comments:

  1. HA, oh my. You've actually hit on several upcoming challenges over at Shopping Our Stash. We're all about using stuff that's collecting dust.

    And I did try rounding corners with my scallop scissors. Never worked for me. I have not the steadiness of hand to make it work. YOU, however, nailed it.

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  2. You are so right - we should break out some of the old tools and use them. I actually have been thinking of using my Crimper - LOL!! And like Leslie, I have never been able to round a corner properly with a scalloped scissor :). Your card is sweet and perfect.

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  3. Love my crimper. Fab card, BTW.

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  4. I adore my crimper! I don't use it often , but I love the texture it adds to a card when I do use it. Your's is quite fabulous! Too funny you brought this up. I was just thinking about all my Marvy punches....... I really do need to get rid of them! At this point they are collecting dust quite nicely, thank you very much. :)

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  5. I just used my crimper the other day!

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  6. I think is perfection personified. Love those bling hearts.

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  7. Ah, the paper crimper! My fave. Has been untouched for about 5 years. Maybe I should work that into my homework this weekend for next week's stamp club?!

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  8. I use my crimper when mailing my cards that have a small embellishment. I take scrap cardstock, put it thru the crimper and place it on the face of the card before putting it in the envelope. It still mails for one first class stamp and they don't feel the bump :) Oh , and I love the card!!
    Lu C

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!