I have been drooling over this die for a few months now, and I finally got it.
I could not wait to play with it. I usually try out assembled items first to see how they go together, and try to figure out ways to cut the assembly time down, and any other short cuts. Because you know, I'm all about the short cuts and getting the project done quicker. (read....impatient).
I had some white poster board hanging around.....
It came out pretty nice if I do say so myself. Bland, but nice. A little more sturdy than I thought it would be. I'm not fond of the gaps in the base, and thought maybe if I was a little more careful on the next try I would be able to eliminate them.
I found a CHA video on line with Tim Holtz, where they put the lantern on, what looked like a candle stick, and put a little winter scene on the inside. It was cute, it had a bottle brush tree and a little fawn. Considering the inside working space is a little over 2 inches square, you would have to find some tiny stuff to put in there. A friend of mine does paper quilling, and I think that would look wonderful in there as a Christmas ornament.
A few days went by and I thought I would give it another go. I wanted to make a blue lantern with stars. I thought that would look cute, and I know I have star stamps.......WRONG, no star stamps. :(
I was determined to do silver on blue.
I found in my stamp stash, a few dot and swirl stamps. I like it, looks nice, but ......meh. On the next go around I will embellish it more.
The window part I did with recycled packaging and alcohol inks.
I save the flat part of anything that comes packaged in clear plastic. I LOVE making shaker cards, so I always have a stack of this stuff.
The die was made to hold a battery operated tea light.
I learned a few things, the gaps in the base will always be there. No matter how hard you try or how careful you are to line everything up, there will always be gaps. Thick tacky glue works the best for gluing the eaves to the top. If using StazOn ink, or a thick pigment ink for stamping the cardstock/chipboard before running it through the die you WILL get ink transfer onto the crease pad, I suggest stamping after you cut it. It is a good idea to use a cardstock thickness shim when running the die through the machine, that way you know you are getting a clean cut all the way through the material you are using for the lantern. I didn't do this on the poster board trial run and had to use an exacto to complete the cuts. This is why I do trial runs on scrap.
I have too many ideas for this. And I want to do them all.
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