Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Christmas Bag Toppers using MDS


This year I have been helping at the boys Primary School to make craft items for the Christmas Stall and the Twilight Markets.  It started off a small affair with a couple of eager ladies coming along to help and get crafty.  It has turned in to a full on production line and was beginning to get a little out of hand.  It soon became clear that we were not going to be able to make enough items for the stalls by making everything by hand.  Then I remembered we have MDS.   What a wonderful tool.  I was able to design bag toppers and then simply have them printed onto card stock and then cut out using dies with out Big Shot.  So much easier and quicker than the traditional way.

Here you can see I've Lined up the card stock and cut out the label using one of our framelits.  So easy using the Magnetic Platform as well to hold it all in place.


When designing the label I made a template the size of a quarter of a sheet of A4 knowing that I would be printing 4 to a page.  I then went about choosing background papers and fonts then finally the stamp image.  I had so much fun choosing all the elements.  Lots of fiddling but I'm really getting the hang of it now.



We also wanted to make these tubes of jellybeans.  The bag toppers were again used making MDS.  I started with a blank A4 template and then added the scallop punch to the page.  I then added the circle punch and centred it ontop of the scallop punch.  Then I added a matt to the circle and made it thicker to look like a second circle.   I then chose an image from the Jolly Bingo Bits and coloured it in.  That was FUN.  If it didn't like it I just stared again.  Once i had designed my topper I copied it and pasted it on the same page.  Changed the colours and image and then copied it again.  Once I had 4 images I centred them across the top of the page and spaced them evenly.  I then copied the 4 images and pasted them down the page until the page was full.   I also made sure when printing them that the image was printing at 100% so that the scallop punch would cut precisely.  Unfortunately, a friend printed these for me and I think she printed them at 97% as they were slightly smaller but they still look good.  So much easier than making them individually by hand - especially when we had 100 to make.


We also made some Elf Legs.  I designed the pants using MDS so it was quicker to get 60 made.  I added stitching and pockets using a Tag Punch shape.  Adding a bit of shadow also creates depth and makes them look very professional.  Then I printed 4 to a page and cut them out using the Top Note Die.

A few of our children saw us making these during their lunch break at school and all wanted one.  I think these will be a hit.  Maybe we should have made more than 60.   There's always next year.

You can simply download a 30 day trial version of MDS for yourself to have a play with it.  WARNING - its totally addictive and very easy to use.  The programme is only $24.95 and comes with heaps of content ready for you to start playing.

Visit my shop to download MDS today and any of the other products I've mentioned for that matter.  Products get sent straight to your door (for Australian residents only).



No comments:

Post a Comment

You might also like:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...