Blast from the past

Good Morning Ladies,

Well I really did dig to the bottom of the cupboard for the die set on today's card, it is an old Spellbinders Antique Frames and Accents.  I even used one of the first Embossing Folders that I bought, which is the very popular 'Tied Together' Embossing Folder by 'Couture Creations'. I have to say I had forgotten how lovely it is and when put through my Gemini gives a really good deep emboss.
I added a bit of modern however by using Stampin'Up 'Berry Burst' Card stock and matching Seam Binding Ribbon, I just can resist the colour. 
I added a few pearls here and there and some matching coloured roses, the foliage die was also a Spellbinders Foliage die, the first one I ever bought and boy have I got my money's worth out of that die, I remember being so excited about having a Die to cut out leaves. 

Spellbinders Foliage die set

Spellbinders Antique Frames and Accents

One thing that surprised me when I was looking through my old Spellbinders was how many of the dies in the sets that they were sold in on Create and Craft were almost the same, I have a lot of 'Fleur de Lis' circle frame dies, all very similar but some are called frames and some 'accents'.  On reflection I feel like I was robbed, hahaha, I swear they are the same dies with different names, the Fleur De Lis' border dies are the same too, I was chuckling to myself as I was sorting through them, I also couldn't find a photo of a single card that I used them on!

Did any of you buy the Bundles that Sue Wilson sold on Create and Craft (I am talking about years ago). ?
I hope you all have as much fun as I did digging through my old die folders, some of them I have put to one side as they are timeless and would work beautifully on cards today, so I'm glad I haven't sold them.  I really can't wait to see what you all dig out to use!!

I will say that my first die cutting machine was the Original Sizzix machine, it cost a lot of money too, it used to cut both thick or 'Big' dies as they are now known as well as the thin dies.....

The Original Sizzix

After a few years I upgraded to a Cuttlebug, what a brilliant machine and still is, I gave mine to my sister but kind of regret it now as I could use it for small flower dies etc.  While we were at Ally Pally we saw a Brand New Cuttlebug, obviously had a colour change to blue, how much do you think it was selling for?????
£150 !!!! £10 less than my Gemini!  I was gobsmacked, as it looks identical to the original design.

I also had a couple of small machines ......

The Sizzix Sidekick

Sizzix Texture Boutique

The sidekick was the first Mini die cutting machine, created to work alongside the bigger machines, the Texture Boutique, designed to look like a handbag was purely to use with Embossing Folders.  As we know now, these machines were ahead of the game, when you think that these are early Versions of the Spellbinders Sapphire and the Baby Blue machines.

After these Machines I started my journey with Spellbinders with the Grand Calibur, sadly nowhere near as long lasting as these early machines, in fact I think I bought one Grand Calibur and had 3 replacement machines due to faults! 

Then came the Platinum which was sold with the promise of a powered handle attachment, to this date they still haven't produced one, which leaves me feeling very let down as this was the key reason I purchased the machine!  They have however launched newer machines since the platinum, which I find VERY frustrating!

I hope you have enjoyed this little journey back in time through die Cutting machines.

Did any of you have any of these old machines? I still do, somewhere in my craft room!

Have a lovely day ladies,

Love and hugs,

Sandra

xxxxxx