Where does the time go? October is almost over and it's been months since my last entry. So a bit of catching up is in order. Last month I bought a Grand Calibur (manual die cutting and embossing machine) something I had my eye on for some time. And I love it. The dies are expensive, but I am still hoping to sell some of my cards to finance this hobby There is still a lot to learn, but I am beginning to get adventurous. And for that I must thank some of the demonstrators at Create & Craft (TV channel) especially Sue Wilson for Spellbinders encouraging us to look at dies not just as a whole, but taken bits of it, and Ali Reeves  on inks and stamps. There I am just starting out.
Well the first card with the Grand Calibur is the one below, and I am pleased that it sold very soon after listing it for sale on www.ebid.net. Thank you Jan

Not only is this using a very pretty die, but I have used a stamp without smudging.. Now for the next one. New dies to try and also new stamps. I can't believe that it took me almost a week to put this card together. I started with using a large die to emboss black card with the machine. Nice, but not spectacular. Then I remembered seeing embossing powder being used on embossed card. So I inked the card and used gold embossing powder and the heat gun. What a transformation! Still, the rectangular piece of card was not what I wanted, so just in time I received the set of dies with matching rubber stamps. I used the largest on the black & gold card and cut a piece of cream card with one of the smaller dies. Then I stamped on that and while ink was still wet, embossed it with gold. I like it. The very intricate background is a semi circle die, which I fell in love with and then didn't know what to do with it. For a start, it cuts out the pattern, but still stays attached to the card. I also learned how important it is to use a bit of tape to secure the die. I didn't and the die moved. At least the mistakes are not visible and I have learned a lesson. As I said earlier, I spent days moving the pieces around but in the end I finished up with this:

any comments are greatly appreciated