Playing with Sizzix Die Cuts

I'm experimenting as I prepare for an upcoming Big Shot - Next Step class.

This is for people that have their own Big Shot and want to learn more than the basic die cutting and embossing.

I thought it might be nice to throw in a few of the Sizzlit paper piecing dies to show how to "finish" them off. I think that some people might buy these dies and don't use them or avoid them all together because they never look as nice as the example on the packaging.

I'd like to show you in today's post how I've finished off mine.

Here is the Sizzlit Girl in Ballerina Costume:


Isn't she cute?

On the left she's just cut out of plain white paper. You could do this and colour her in with your markers - working with just 1 layer.

OR you could run her through your Big Shot a few more times with different coloured cardstock and piece her together like I've done on the right.

I first cut her out completely in Blush Blossom cardstock and then cut her tutu out of pink and her hair out of black. I didn't use a big piece of pink - just a piece big enough to cover her entire tutu area. Same for the hair - just a small piece of black was all I needed.

This is a great way to use up all those carstock scraps you've been saving!!

I pieced all the parts together using the Sakura Quickie Glue pen. I added some shadowing with a pink & blush marker and some highlights with the white gel pen.

Here's a close-up:

Next up is the Sizzlit Boy with Skateboard :

Again I cut him out of white plain paper first to show you how it looks as a single layer.

I followed the same process as for the Ballerina. The base is Blush Blossom and then I cut coloured pieces and added them to the base. The t-shirt, shorts, skateboard and helmet were all cut using small scraps of paper.

While I was working on these my 13 year old son walked into the room. Once he saw what I was doing he wanted to give it a try.

Mine is on the left and my son's skater is on the right. I think he did a fantastic job!

A close up of mine:

I used coordinated markers to shade and a white gel pen to highlight. I like to use the Sakura Clear Gelly Glaze pen to add gloss (helmet) and the Black Gelly Glaze pen to add glossy black accents (eyes, pads, shoes & wheels).

Here's my son's Skater Boy:

I'm not sure I'll use these particular dies in the class - it's hard to work with these in a sharing class situation. I only have 1 die and you need to run it through multiple times to cut each coloured piece. That would take up too much class time!

I'll bring them along for "Show and Tell" and explain the process for sure!

This next die was a quick one to cut. Here is the Sizzix Medium Bunny die:

This one was definately easier than the previous Sizzlits dies!

It actually doesn't look too bad cut out of solid pink but I think it looks better with added shading and highlights.

I hope you've enjoyed this post - I had fun making them!