Spellbinder's Help- Starting a Collection
 

This is for all the Spellbinder's & Die collecting gurus. I am wanting to start a nice die collection. I have fallen in love with the thin dies.

-What thin rule dies would you start off with?
-Do you know of any resources that would help start my collection?

I do have all the basic shapes of Nestabilities.
I don't need Sizzix Thick Rule dies. I have a nice collection of those.

I do have a Cameo so I can make a lot of my own designs. I want to combine the thin dies with my Cameo & Digital work. I really love the embossing of the Spellbinders.

Thank you for any help. I know I don't ask a lot of questions. I am overwhelmed trying to find a starting point.

Think of the types of cards or projects you make. I try to plan ahead. When I have time I'll look around for different types of cards. Then I'll see if I have what I need. Of course most of the time there is something "I have to have" to make it!

I have a folder on my computer entitled "have supplies". I will put ideas in there. That way when I am making things I can look there to see what I want to make without having to purchase anything.

I have so many Spellbinder dies plus I have been on Spellbinder's design team twice.....that being said, don't limit yourself to just one company! There are tons of companies making the thin profile dies.

Some of my favorite dies are the standard shapes - circles, ovals, squares and rectangles. It doesn't seem to matter how many other dies I purchase I always use those standard shapes the most!


Other companies to look at are: Heartfelt Creations, Tonic Studios, My Favorite Things, Top Dog Dies - I know there are alot of other companies but these are the companies that I have used their dies. I am sure there are others here that can recommend even more companies!


Hope that didn't confuse you even more! LOL

If you already have the basic Spellbinder shapes, then I agree with everyone who advises you to look around at around cards that use dies and find ones that spark your interest and seem like dies you would use. There some dies that I think are beautiful but I know I would not use them because of the kind of cards I like to make.

Do you have just the basic Spellbinder shapes or also the ones that you can layer under them, like the scalloped dies and the lacy dies, etc.? Those dies can really broaden what you can do with your basic shapes.

Do you have the Spellbinder Matting Basics sets for the card size you make? I have both the A&B sets for A2 cards and I can't tell you how handy they are. I use them all the time.

Also, definitely don't feel like you have to stay with Spellbinders. I buy a lot of dies from lots of places. Memory Box, My Favorite Things, and Cheery Lynn come to my mind.

You can go to individual company websites, but some websites carry lots of different brands of dies. I buy a lot of dies from 123 Stitch and Frantic Stamper because they carry a number of companies, ship fast and have great customer service.

I like having dies that match stamps and lots of companies have jumped on that bandwagon!

Thank you so much to all who helped me. I am appreciative.

Which companies have the best dies that emboss? That is what I am really wanting.

I am overwhelmed trying to decide which dies to buy first. I guess I need the Spellbinder's Die's for Dummies guide or something. :)

I did find a beautiful Russian blog this evening that helped me. I put some Spellbinder's books on hold at the library.

I am thinking of buying frames, foliage, flowers, & borders.

RachelRose- I do have the basic matting sets.

123Stitch is bad place for me, lol. I am a cross-stitcher. :) I love 123Stitch and have been buying cross-stitch patterns from them for close to fifteen years now. I know they are carrying so much paper crafting things now. I am like "Don't Look!" :)

I love Frantic Stampers for punches. I also make minatures. Frantic Stampers is a gold mine for miniaturists.

I would definitely start with deciding on your own style. I bought Spellbinders circles, squares, rectangles, oval, petite ovals. Scallops for circles and ovals. Pinked edge circles. I have Lots of the 'labels' too. I find that I use circles and squares absolutely the most.
I actually found that I don't want the embossed edge for lots of cards, and bought a set at Michael's that has Lots more circles in it.
To me the embossed edge has a more formal look. Ovals seem more suited to formal cards, to my eye.
I'm currently smitten with stitched dies.
Think of the effect you want to produce and shop around. Have fun!

I have a heavy Spellbinder addiction, plus a Cameo. I just like the ornate and frilly dies for circles, squares, rectangles and ovals - and the labels. These are the formal/elegant die sets.

I would check out YouTube videos for cards made by ZrobySama, and Christina Griffiths to see if you are interested in this type of card. Christina has a video on starting a Spellbinder die collection and what you should get to benefit the most from the sets she lists. I followed her advise and bought those die sets first and got a lot of mileage out of those. Christina's cards are too formal for me (they all look like wedding cards), but I do use the dies just with different paper/DSP to get a different feel.

Zroby does cards without a ton of dies - but she mixes the sets she has to get unique looks from just a couple of die sets. I mix and match all my dies also.

I like the embossed image I get with my dies - otherwise I would use my Cameo. But I do not buy 'card creater' sets. I just cut my squares and rectangles on the paper trimmer. I do have plain circles and ovals nestibilities because I use them all the time to die cut sentiments.

Now that I literally have a whole wall filled with dies, I would have started my collection differently. I bought a little of everything, when I should have purchased just the rectangles dies sets and labels in that shape. Built up a good collection of those, then moved onto the circle die sets and any labels in that shape. I say this now because I don't make any square cards and rarely use ovals - but I have sets in these shapes = wasted $$.

Of course, I have dies from other companies. Most of my shapes/images are from other companies. I don't have a lot of these since I usually use my Cameo to cut out images for cards.

Good advice but one thing to consider is that buying layered squares & rectangles you can make frames which for me are hard to cut with a paper trimmer or craft knife.

That's a very good point! I have matting basics a&b and now I know I'll use them more! Thanks!

I like the different shapes of the numbered label dies. They start at labels 1, and i think we are up to the 40s now as for how many are available. Look at those to see which ones you may like. They come in sets of usually 5 or 6 nested dies.

I found a link it was help to me when I started
 

I found this one on YouTube. It is older so some of the dies might not be easy to locate. However, I feel that one can improvise with other dies that look similar. Her advise is good.