Epic Archives - Crap I've Made

Easter Mantel, with the Epic Letterpress

March 20, 2011 By Char @ Crap I've Made 25 Comments

Remember how I mentioned that my Epic came without a cutting mat? One call to the folks at Lifestyle Crafts and they got one out to me ASAP! I decided to use the die cut feature to make this Easter banner. I printed the damask background that I showed you here on several squares. Then, I used a square die with rounded corners to fancy them up.

I used a circle die to cut pieces of white cardstock. The lettering is black vinyl I cut with my Silhouette. I only did this because my printer was out of ink. My initial plan was to print directly on the cardstock and then die cut around each letter.

The letters circles are attached to the damask backgrounds with glue dots. I punched holes and tied the squares together with ribbons. And then I used thumb tacks to attach them to the mantel. I’m classy like that.

The grass came from Hobby Lobby in sheets like this:

I cut them in half and laid them on top of the mantel. I used a little bit of that white tacky stuff that I cannot think of the name of right now to keep them from moving around.

The wreath details are here and the chick came from Pier 1. The carrots are from Shopko. The plastic white eggs are also from Hobby Lobby.

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY to pick up your own Epic 6 (letterpress/die cut machine from Lifestyle Crafts for 25% off. Use code “BLOGCRAP” to take advantage of the deal!

Check back tomorrow to see a fun project using Silhouette’s new fabric interfacing and to get the details on this month’s Silhouette promotion!

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Filed Under: Epic, home decor, letterpress, mantel, paper, Pier1

More on the Epic Letterpress

March 16, 2011 By Char @ Crap I've Made 12 Comments

I wanted to try something else (i.e. not a thank you card) with my letterpress. The printing plates that Lifestyle Crafts sent me were this set

and a wedding set, which I cannot find anywhere on their site.

I’m not actually getting married again, so I don’t need any “save the date” cards. I decided I’d rather print some stuff I could enjoy, even if that meant spending a little money (just keeping it real). My pal Lara (who also has the Epic) mentioned that Hobby Lobby had supplies, so I went to check them out with my 40% off coupon in hand.

The heavens parted and angels sang when I found ONE of this set on clearance:

I’m not sure what that was all about, because none of the other identical sets were marked down. SCORE! All the letterpress papers were 40% off, too. SCORE! So, I picked up a couple of different ink colors and came home to play.

There’s the plate all inked up and ready to go. It doesn’t look like it has enough ink, but it totally does. Putting much more than that will give you a design that bleeds.

I’m not sure if there’s a learning curve and I’m getting better or if the bigger plate is easier to work with (although way way WAY harder to crank through the machine). Maybe it’s a combination of the two? Look how awesome the damask pattern prints!

If you look really closely you can see how the printed part is actually indented. LOVE that.

And I did the same thing in a couple more colors:

I took this shot to show you that the ink color on the label is a very accurate representation of the print color. You can also mix ink colors to get a custom shade. I haven’t gotten brave enough for that yet…

So, what am I going to do with all that damask-y goodness?

Stay tuned.

And remember that if you’re interested in picking up your own Epic and/or supplies, Lifestyle Crafts is offering all Crap I’ve Made readers 25% off through March 20th using code “BLOGCRAP”.

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Filed Under: Epic, letterpress

Meet the Epic

March 14, 2011 By Char @ Crap I've Made 3 Comments

First of all, if your name is Lisa or Kelly, you should check this post to see if you’re one of the LUCKY pillow pattern winners.

Second, I’m closing down the GiftCardRescue giveaway around noon MST. GO ENTER NOW if you haven’t already.

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Lifestyle Crafts contacted me recently and asked if I’d like to review their Epic Letterpress and Die Cut machine. I love crafty gadgets, so I jumped at the chance.

My box was missing a cutting mat, so I haven’t tried the die cut function yet. Hopefully I’ll be able to talk about that later this week! Today we’re talking about letterpress.

Letterpress is so fancy, right? And I am so not! What’s a girl to do?

Well, I checked out the Lifestyle Crafts blog and read up on how to ink.

I love the little legs on the brayer so you can set it down!

And then, I recruited help. I put Macy in charge of the Epic.

She took her job VERY seriously. Note the tongue sticking out of her mouth.

Our first attempt was pretty good:

See that part where the arrow is pointing? My printing plate actually had a little plastic chip missing. None of the others did, so I think that was a fluke.