Cardmaking,  Die Cutting,  Step by Step Tutorials

The Amazing Jack of All Trades Collection (and a Nod to Best Ever Craft Tape)

Joan Bardee here. I’m delighted to share the amazing and unique Jack of All Trades Collection. Designed by the talented Jaycee Gaspar, the theme of this collection is about playing cards. While each item in the collection can be used on its own, this is a collection where “having it all” makes sense as the products work beautifully together for both male and female-themed cards. As of the time I am writing this, Spellbinders is offering the entire collection in a discounted bundle. Please look at Jaycee’s samples with this collection. Truly breathtaking!

Jack of All Trades Collection is available on January 10th

While I was making these cards, I found myself reaching for my Best Ever Craft Tape quite a bit and realized that it has become one of my most used products. Check out the Best Ever Craft Tape section of this post below to see some of the ways I use this tape.

The Amazing Jack of All Trades Collection (and a Nod to Best Ever Craft Tape), S1-159, BP-259

Pip & Rank Grid Style

My husband plays bridge, so this collection is perfect for the members his bridge club, particularly since the sentiments go so well with the card-playing theme.

  • Die cut the Spades and Clubs in Onyx cardstock and the Hearts and Diamonds in Poppy Field.
  • Die cut a few Hearts in Mirror Gold cardstock to add something unexpected.
  • Set aside (or make) a white A2 side folded card.
  • Lay out the top row of die cuts using a gridded mat or paper to help line up. Place a piece of Best Ever Craft Tape on top of the row of die-cut pieces and flip the strip of die-cuts over.
  • Adhere pieces of foam tape to the back of each die-cut piece and remove the liner from the foam tape.
  • Then flip over the strip of die-cut pieces and adhere them onto your card front.
  • Repeat for each row. (You can also do a few rows at once.)
  • Hot foil and die cut a sentiment from Shuffling Sentiments Press Plate & Die Set. Adhere with foam tape.
  • Add a few Gold Mix Color Essential Gems.

The Amazing Jack of All Trades Collection (and a Nod to Best Ever Craft Tape), S1-159, BP-259

Inlaid Kaleidoscope Design

The Amazing Jack of All Trades Collection (and a Nod to Best Ever Craft Tape), BP-258, BP-259

The Kaleidoscope Noble Suits Etched Dies consist of 12 dies – 3 each for Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, and Clubs. When each set is stacked, it creates a beautiful dimensional image (you can see what I mean in the Diamonds card below). For this card, however, I die cut just the outline images and inlaid different colors in the spaces created by the die. Paired with another sentiment from Shuffling Sentiments, this makes a beautiful card for almost all occasions.

  • Settle on a color scheme – Poppy Field, Pink Sand, and Melon for the Heart and Diamond, and Onyx, Fox, and Graphite for the Club and Spade.
  • Die cut the top or most open layer of the heart and diamond in Poppy Field (red) and the spade and club in Onyx (black).
  • Using the narrow Best Ever Craft Tape, put tape across the back of each die cut piece so that the sticky side of the tape is face up. This creates a “landing place” for the die cut pieces to be inlaid.
  • Die cut all the pieces as shown in the various colors and, using a Crystal Katana Pick Up Tool, inlay each piece.
  • Die cut the Heart and Diamond with Gold Mirror cardstock and do the same with Silver Mirror Metallic cardstock for the Club and Spade and adhere those pieces to the top of each suit as shown.
  • Adhere each piece with foam tape onto a white A2 side fold card base.
  • Hot foil another sentiment from Shuffling Sentiments Press Plate & Die Set and adhere with foam tape.
  • No embellishments – there’s already a lot going on in this card!

The Amazing Jack of All Trades Collection (and a Nod to Best Ever Craft Tape), BP-258, BP-259

Happy Birthday Diamonds

The Amazing Jack of All Trades Collection (and a Nod to Best Ever Craft Tape), S7-267, BP-259

Here, I used the Diamond dies from Kaleidoscope Noble Suits Etched Dies as intended, creating that beautiful and unique design. Then they just hopped on the card and formed a pattern!

The Amazing Jack of All Trades Collection (and a Nod to Best Ever Craft Tape), S7-267, BP-259

  • Planned this card for a spring birthday and selected a color palette of 3 shades each of aqua, green, pink, peach, and yellow.
  • Die cut all the pieces from the Diamond set and adhered them together with Bearly Arts Glue to form 5 Diamonds.
  • Hand cut a white background for each of the dies and adhere the die cut Diamonds to the white backgrounds. The Diamonds are beautiful without that layer, but I wanted the back of the Diamonds to be white and set on a cream background.
  • Trimmed Alabaster (cream) cardstock to an A2 size.
  • Adhered (starting in the center) each diamond with foam tape onto the Alabaster cardstock.
  • Hot foiled a sentiment from Shuffling Sentiments Press Plate & Die Set in gold onto white cardstock and trimmed.
  • Adhered sentiment with Bearly Arts glue.
  • Realized that I adhered the sentiment upside down, meaning that the aqua and green diamonds were on the top of the card, rather than on the bottom where intended. That’s a lot of work to ruin.
  • Decided to go with it. Because this is a symmetrical design, I just flipped it and voila – a saved design.
  • Added Gold Mix Color Essential Gems to add some interest to the card. The Diamond dies are so detailed that the card didn’t need anything else.

Best Ever Craft Tape

The Amazing Jack of All Trades Collection (and a Nod to Best Ever Craft Tape)

Note: Photo from Spellbinders.

Best Ever Craft Tape comes in 3 widths – .25”, 5/8”, and 1.25”. I use the middle size most often, but the narrowest is a close second. This tape is my favorite because it is sticky enough to adhere to paper but doesn’t tear the paper when removing it. However, I use the same pieces of tape multiple times and eventually, after a few uses, it will tear paper.

Here are a few ways I use this tape.

  • HOT TIP: Sometimes stray pieces of foil remain after hot foiling. Yana Smakula shared a tip to use the Best Ever Craft Tape to remove those strays. Just lightly dab on the excess foil and the tape will pick it up and leave the paper clean. Also, occasionally I’ll foil an intricate lined image, and it will come out with excess foil on parts of the lines, giving almost a blurry look. This can also happen occasionally with a sentiment. Take the Best Ever Craft Tape and gently dab it onto the image or sentiment. It will remove the excess foil and leave behind a clean perfectly foiled image. Repeat if needed. This has saved me so much time and paper.
  • Adhere hot foil and a Glimmer or BetterPress plate to the Glimmer base to make sure nothing moves when using the Glimmer Hot Foil or BetterPress LetterPress Systems.
  • Adhere cardstock to the Better Press Platen.
  • Adhere the BetterPress Chase to the system to keep it stable when rolling a plate through the machine.
  • As in the Pip & Rank grid card above, line up those die cuts, adhere with Best Ever Craft Tape, flip, add adhesive, and place. Ensures straight lines when using small dies in a row.
  • As in the Diamonds card above, put narrow pieces of Best Ever Craft Tape on the back of a die cut, with the sticky side of the tape face up. Insert die cut cardstock pieces into the empty places. This also works well with tiny pieces like the eyes in an animal.
  • Loop a piece of wide Best Ever Craft Tape and use as an anchor to keep small die pieces in sight so I don’t lose them, or to anchor die cut pieces for ink blending.
  • Adhere stencils to cardstock for ink blending.
  • Loop a piece of Best Ever Craft Tape inside a card to keep it flat while photographing.
  • When I’m done crafting, I take a (usually used) piece of Best Ever Craft Tape and lift off all the tiny pieces of stuff on my table and floor. I’ve saved quite a few gems and sequins.

I hope you enjoyed the Jack of All Trades Collection, and the Best Ever Tape discussion. Thanks for reading and thanks to Spellbinders!

Spellbinders Supplies:


Other Supplies

Assorted cardstock

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