It's New

Hi Everyone,
Grab a coffee or tea or a drink of your choice, this is going to be a long post.Hopefully you will think it's worth it. LOL

Remember that new product I mentioned on the last two posts??!!? Well here is the card from the last post.

What did you guess it was?? A die, a punch?? Well if you guessed a punch you are right. The cool thing about this punch is that it punches in a circle. I know, my card has no circle on it. Well I'll get to that a little later in this post.This new tool comes with a chargeable punch(cartridge) and what I call a base and a platform. The platform is what the punch actually sits on. Now as I looked at the design (diamond lace), it dawned on me, triangles, trees, Christmas trees, and wella.... the card above came to be. But let me show you more.

First here is the punch. You see there is a base sitting on a platform (and it slides up and down based on the size circle you want to make), a trun handle on the left side in this photo and a punch design (cartridge)

Here is a closer view of the punch design (cartridge) that I will be working with in this post.

The punch (cartridge) comes with a cover on the bottom and a plate that matches the design on the punch

The plate fits into what I call the base and it's the movable part on the platform. It will come completely off of the platform as well.

 Here is a view of the punch ready to be used

 Notice the numbers on the side of the platform, they correspond to the size of the doily you are making, between 6-12"

 There is another gauge you need to set at the front of the platform. This is used to actually turn the paper when making the doily.The paper turner knows how much space to turn based on the number you dial in, here. So its important to dial in the correct number.

See those 4 round button looking things, they are really strong magnets and hold the punch and the paper to the punch base.These remind me of the magnets on the punch around the page punches.

Well I have the tool set to make a 6" doily. I cut my CS into a 6.6" square. Next, I have to find the center of the paper I am using so I mark the center of the paper with a light mark. I use a pencil and I made it darker here so you could see the mark. Usually my mark us very light. 

 Hope you can see the mark I made

 This is the turning handle. It too comes off the platform and the handle itself is held in place by two strong little button like magnets. The paper/CS is positioned under it and you use this to turn the paper. It is calibrated to coincide with the size of the circle you chose on the front of the base.

 You can see the cross hairs inside the turn handle. You position the cross hairs right over the center mark you've made on your paper/CS.

OK now I have the platform set at 6" circle, the front of the platform is also set at 6" and I have positioned the turn handle over the pencil mark and I have placed the punch on the base. Phew, I'm ready. LOL

 Here is my 1st punch.

 Next I turn the handle one turn.

 After the turn is made you can see that a little bit of the corner of the open part of the punch plate is showing.

 You now put the punch back over the plate and punch again.

 OK, two punched areas are done.

 You continue to punch, remove the punch, turn the paper and place the punch back in place.

 Here is the doily with one punch left to make. See the little bit of the open part of the plate peeking out of each corner. 

 Here is the doily after the last punch is made.A perfect match up!!!

 Here it is after the surrounding CS is removed.

Here is a close up of the finished doily.

Well I know you are probably wondering what else you can do with this new tool. If you are a card maker like me, you are probably thinking these doilies/circles are going to be too big for a card. Well you might be right about that. However I have been trying a few things and here is what I have found that can be done.Also in doing this I came up with that tree design I made on the card at the beginning of the post, today.

OK lets take the punch base off the platform.(it comes off easily and goes back on really easy as well)

 Don't forget those magnets are there and will hold the punch to the base and will hold the paper between the two.

 When I make a border I like to use a reference to make sure my paper is straight, etc.

I line up my CS with the top of the punch base.

 Since this tool was not designed to make a border and move the paper like it does when making the doilies, you will need to slide the CS over, manually. In this example I wanted the bottom of my punched image to be overlapping a smidgen, so you can see that I lined up the edge so you can just see that open part of the punch plate in the corner of the triangle.

Here is the border I made after punching the Diamond Lace 4 times. 

Here is another way using the Diamond Lace punch(cartridge). I make my first punch, next, instead of just sliding the CS over, I flip the CS and line up the punched image with the top of the base. I leave a little space between the punch design on the base and the punched out portion of the CS. I continue to punch and flip, til I run out of room.

Here is this finished design.

OK One more thought I came up with, remember the punch base comes off the platform completely, so what do you get if you put it on backwards?? Well you no longer have the ability to choose the size of the circle using that gauge on the side of the platform. And, I just left the gauge in the front of the platform at 6" so it will  turn the CS in the increments that will work with this size paper I am using. I marked the center of the CS and I am using an 8.5" X 11" sheet of CS. I lined the handle up with my center mark and made my first punch. I continued punching around the whole page as I did before and when I got done, here is what the center looked like. Hmm....

But here is the area surrounding that center cut out. Now this is pretty cool looking. Great if you are doing a scrapbook page and want the center only cut out.

 (Sorry this pic is blurry)

I have a few other things(tricks) up my sleeve using this cool new tool but they will be coming up in future posts, so stay tuned for those. 

And if you didn't know by now, this is a new tool coming out after the 1st of the year, It's the Martha Stewart Circle Edge Starter kit.and its by EK Success. They really make great punches, in my estimation.

Additional cartridges(punches) will be coming out as well. Today I just showed you the Diamond Lace cartridge. I have two more cartridges, so I will be using those when I show what else I've come up with.

Here is a little info about this kit I have.

Martha Stewart Crafts Circle Edge Punch and Cartridges Kit . Quickly and easily punch perfect circles with decorative edges for round placemats, delicate doilies and curved coasters. Add ribbons, stamps or glitter for a truly tubular treat. 

What You Get (I got this in my kit)

Circle Edge Punch Starter Set    - Circle edge punch base    - Rotating knob    - Eyelet doily punch cartridge    - Punch cartridge sleeve    - Instruction insert Circle Edge Punch Cartridge - Flower Arches Circle Edge Punch Cartridge - Diamond Lace

Martha Stewart Crafts Circle Edge Punch and Cartridges Kit Features 

Punch continuous die-cut circle borders in 7 sizes out of paper up to 12" square Creates 5-1/2" to 11-1/2" circles Trims paper while punching so there's no need to cut the paper first Other design cartridges sold separately Punch base measures approx 11-1/2"L x 4"W x 2"H Cartridges measures approx 3-1/2"L x 3"W x 2-1/2"H I know I mentioned this was a long post. I do hope you found this fascinating and worth your time.  See you soon,