These brief videos will show you how to Letterpress with different Die Cutting and Embossing Machines that are out there on the Market. You will be able to see how to do letterpress invitations and cards with the Lifestyle Crafts letterpress starter kit. With the starter kit you will get everything you need to get started in any of the following machines: Sizzix Big Shot, Big Shot PRO, Vagabond, and the Cuttlebug. Lifestyle Crafts formerly known as Quickutz has provided this starter kit with letterpress printing plates,ink,placement guides,roller,mats, and much more!

Click on anyone of the links to view the video demo on how to letterpress with these cutting & embossing machines!

Sizzix Big Shot

Sizzix Big Shot PRO

Sizzix Vagabond

Provo Craft Cuttlebug

Here you can view how to letterpress with the Epic Six machine

letterpress printing

I was playing around a bit last night with some of my “toys” and got wondering if the Lifestyle Crafts Letterpress Starter Kit would work in my Sizzix Big Shot Pro Machine.  So I pulled everything out and went to work!

Okay, so it wasn’t really that much work, it was more play for sure, and really easy! I got everything ready like normal for the letterpress- you know, put my printing plates where I wanted them on the grid then put my paper down where I wanted, inked the plates and I was ready to go.

It wasn’t even a problem figuring out what to do with the machine. I took everything off of the Sliding Tray except the Adapter Pad, put the Letterpress Clear Packing Mat with grid on top and voila! It worked great! If you do not get a deep enough impression, you may want to try running it with a piece of paper as a shim. I think you will be pleasantly surprised! Now you can letterpress all your cards and even scrapbook embellishments right on your Big Shot Pro!

Remember to NEVER, EVER force anything through your machine!

Tip: If you have a hard time starting your bigger dies through this machine, try turning them just a bit on a diagonal to get one corner started instead of feeding the whole side at once.

Thanks and Happy Scrappin’!

Carrie

Although the art of Letterpress has been around for a long time, today’s Letterpress Printing Plates, from Lifestyle Crafts (formerly known as Quickutz), feature fresh, contemporary designs that can be mixed and matched in limitless combinations. Each Printing Plate set is sold in themed packs to enable your creativity and capture your favorite lifetime events. Although the Printing Plates are categorized into five events, most of the designs can be used for a variety of projects-the more Printing Plate sets you have, the more versatility you will enjoy! Lifestyle Crafts printing plates are truly an elegant way to dress up an invitation or card.

New CHA Releases are due to arrive April 1st! These include: Nautical, Botanical and Petals Printing Plates!

What Is Letterpress Printing?

The Letterpress from Quickutz’s Division Lifestyle Crafts (L), sets the standard for easy to use, affordable letterpress printing that’s practical for any home crafter. The standard letterpress process involves printing words, letters, or designs with ink while simultaneously debossing it into a thick, soft paper. Over the past several years letterpress has seen a resurgence in popularity, evolving into a modern art form that epitomizes class and high quality.

Letterpress as an upcoming trend among everyday crafters

Letterpress printing has seen a revival in the past few years, particularly due to the interest created by the use of letterpress for wedding invitations in contemporary magazines and websites. The popularity of this form of printing has continued to grow and become one of the most sought after looks for stationery, invitations, cards, gifts, and much more. Because of the size, price and lack of accessibility to a traditional letterpress machine, this art form has yet to become available to the everyday home crafter…until the release of the Quickutz Epic Six Die-Cutting Tool.

Letterpress printing from Lifestyle Crafts

The Letterpress from Lifestyle Crafts, or L, sets the standard for easy to use, affordable letterpress printing that’s practical for any home crafter. With the L Letterpress product line you can create handmade letterpress projects like cards, invitations, gifts, stationery and more. From simple day-to-day expressions and correspondence to momentous occasions like weddings and babies, the L Letterpress enables you to creatively celebrate every event in life.

L Printing Plates feature fresh, contemporary designs that are divided into 5 categories:

• Everyday
• Baby
• Celebrations
• Wedding
• Holiday

I hope that this has answered many of your questions about the Letterpress Printing Plates! This is a great technique to learn and lots of fun!

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Thanks and Happy Scrappin’!

Carrie

Hooray! The big day has FINALLY arrived! Today is the day that we are showing you ALL of the new releases from Heartfelt Creations, Lifestyle Crafts, Spellbinders, and Quickutz! You will be inspired beyond your wildest dreams with these amazing new products!

Heartfelt Creation’s Dutch Iris and New Life Collections are perfect to celebrate the coming of spring and Easter holiday!

The exclusive Spellbinders Decorative Dutch Iris die coordinates with the Heartfelt Creations Dutch Iris Collection of pre-cut rubber stamp sets: Distressed Leaves, Flora Grande 1, Flora Grande 2, Dutch Iris Medley, Dutch Iris Frame and Dutch Iris Oval.

The New Life stamp set coordinates with the exclusive Spellbinders Decorative Oval Window die-cut made just for Heartfelt Creations and the Heartfelt Creations pre-cut rubber stamp sets: Easter Lilies, Egg-citing Day, Vintage Life Background, Outside My Window, Decorative Vintage Cross, and Stained Glass Background.

Lifestyle Crafts has 5 new amazing Letterpress Printing Plates for the Letterpress Combo including the Nautical Printing Plate Set and Striped Printing Plate Set.

Quickutz’ delightful Fresh Start Collection includes an adorable 4 x 4 Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs that will definitely keep the smile on your face as you create your spring cards or layouts!

Spellbinders additional items bring their new release count to 45! Your head will spin as you make your wish list! They are absolutely incredible!

Most of the New Releases are expected to begin shipping the beginning of February! If you ask me, this is the best CHA Release ever! So many wonderful products to choose from! I want them all!!!! You can see these and much more under NEW PRODUCTS in our store!

Here are a couple layouts I did using just a few of the new Spellbinder Dies.  I used pieces from the S5-043 Fleur De Lis Motifs as well as S5-042 Fleur De Lis Accent and the S5-030 Fancy Tags Two for my first layout, along with the DCWV Black Currant Paper Stack.

For my second layout I used pieces from the S4-318 Fleur De Lis Squares, S5-051 Fanciful Flight and S5-030 Fancy Tags Two. The flowers are Glittered Layered Daisies from Petaloo.

I promise that you will LOVE this release as much as I do, so have fun shopping! You’ll be glad that you can just sit in your chair and push a button to put items in your cart and not have to push that heavy cart around!

Thanks for looking and Happy Scrappin’!

Carrie

One of the most frequent questions we receive is “What is the best scrapbook die cutting machine?”.  Basically, there is not a specific answer to this question, as it is purely personal preference!

We carry a variety of Die Cutting Machines to satisfy the versatility of our customers! You all are unique in your talents and have specific needs as to what  you like to work with, your work space and storage, to name just a few! We want you to have the best machine for you!

We mentioned the new Spellbinder’s Grand Calibur just a few days ago, so I suggest scrolling down to our Jan. 20th post for the latest information on cutting 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper! It is compatible with Sizzlits, Cuttlebug, and Quickutz dies, as well as Cuttlebug Embossing Folders and Fiskars Texture Plates.

Sizzix has several great machines! The Big Shot Pro will cut 12″ x 12″ paper! Constructed from industrial-strength materials, the Big Shot Pro Machine features a 13 inch wide opening to cut hundreds of materials.

The Big Shot is known for being the most versatile machine as far as cutting different materials on the market. This ultimate roller machine cuts everything from cardstock to fabric and many things in between.

The Sizzix Vagabond Machine inspired by Tim Holtz is a portable electronic die cutting and embossing machine. Resembling a well-traveled suitcase on the outside, the Vagabond Machine easily opens up to reveal a portable yet powerful machine that takes you to imaginative new places. It is the latest of their machines and has replaced the Big Shot Express. It has the ability to effortlessly cut and emboss many different materials and thicknesses.

Provo Craft’s popular Cuttlebug has an easy carrying handle making it very portable. The opening is six inches and works well with almost any die and embossing folder.

The Epic Six is the newest tabletop tool from QuicKutz! It both cuts and embosses all QuicKutz products as well as all other leading brand dies and embossing folders. One of its distinguishing features is that when used with the Letterpress Starter Kit you will be able to create beautiful letterpress art!

The Silhouette SD from Silhouette America is a digital cutting tool for personal use. It connects to your computer just like a printer, but instead of printing designs it cuts them with a small blade. With the machine connected to your computer, you’ll get access to all of the fonts on your PC plus the thousands of cuttable designs.

Making Memories Slice ELITE Cordless Digital Design Cutter has a hardware upgrade allows the ELITE to cut more precise, 40% faster and twice as deep. Cut textured cardstock, vellum, vinyl, acetate, foam sheets, thin metal sheets and photos up to 1mm thick. A large 2 inch window allows a preview of the shapes before cutting. Slice Elite weighs less than 2 pounds, measures less than 5 inch square and works with batteries or power cord.

For more information on these and other machines, click here – Die Cutting Machines. You can also watch videos on most of our machines here: Die-Cut Machines Video

I hope this helps you make your decision for the perfect machine for YOU!

Thanks and Happy Scrappin’

Carrie

It is official! According to the July 8 press release, Lifestyle Crafts (the makers of the Letterpress) has entered into an asset purchase agreement with QuicKutz Inc. to purchase the QuicKutz and Letterpress brands and products.What does this mean for our customers? QuicKutz will start back with their monthly product releases and start shipping all the back orders! It may take until fall to get all the back orders back in stock, but eventually they will have all their dies and accessories back in stock. My rep informed me they do plan on carrying less inventory than they have previously, so you may want to keep that in mind when you find something you HAVE to have. Get it while you can so you don’t have to wait And even if you do have to wait, it shouldn’t be months like before. Hopefully, no longer than six-eight weeks. We are very excited about this, and hope we will all benefit from QuicKutz reorganization very soon!

Happy Scrappin’!

Marcie

The Lifestyle Crafts (formerly known as Quickutz) Epic Six is a die cutting and letterpress machine on the market. The name comes from its 6 inch wide opening. It is actually very similar to the Cuttlebug in design, portability, and function. Except Lifestyle Crafts states that the Epic 6 was made to distribute the pressure more evenly on the cutting surface so the user can get more of a clean and even cut on your dies. It will cut and emboss ALL Quickutz and Lifestyle Crafts dies unlike their old machines as well as other consumer dies. The unique feature of the Epic Six is that it can be used for doing letterpress printing on cards. If you buy the letterpress printing plates along with the ink these will fit in the machine. See video below on how to make a letterpress effect.

To read more or purchase the Quickutz Epic Six click on link below:
Quickutz EPIC SIX
Letterpress printing products

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View Epic Six on youtube

Here is another video showing how the epic six can be used to do letterpress printing right from your own home. No need for big bulky letter press machines. With the epic 6 from Lifestyle Crafts you can do all the cards, invitations, scrapbook pages that you want.

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How do I use the L Letterpress?

1. Open the letterpress and place an adhesive-backed printing plate on the clear lid.
2. Ink the printing plate evenly with the brayer tool.
3. Place paper in desired location on base of letterpress tool. (Use registration grid and Paper Placement Guides for greater accuracy and alignment.)
4. Close lid and roll letterpress through Epic tool. (For a deeper impression, add additional packing sheets.)

SEE A VIDEO DEMO ON THE LETTERPRESS MACHINE:  See Quickutz Instructions for Letterpress Printing.

How do I prep the printing plate?

1. Remove liner from double-sided adhesive sheet on one side only.
2. Place printing plate on sticky side of adhesive sheet.
3. Use scissors to cut around the edge of the printing plate.
4. When ready to use, remove the liner from back of printing plate and stick plate on clear lid of the L Letterpress.

How do I apply the ink?

1. Place a small amount of ink on ink base.
2. Roll brayer tool through ink until evenly coated.
3. Roll brayer lightly over printing plates until evenly coated.

*Very little ink is required to achieve a quality print. If projects are not drying well, there may be too much ink on the plates.

How do I create custom colors?

Mix inks using the palette knife found in the Accessory Tool Kit to create a myriad of eye-catching colors.

How do I clean off the ink?

Ink can be removed from ink base, brayer and plates with L Cleaning Cloths.

How do I position the plate?

1. Place adhesive-backed printing plate in desired location on clear L Letterpress lid.
2. Establish where paper should go on clear packing of L Letterpress base and stick placement guides next to paper to hold in place.
3. With guides in place, easily place paper in the exact location for multiple prints of one design.

How do I change the depth of the impression?

The depth of impression of the printing plate can be adjusted by adding or removing packing sheets. One packing sheet comes with the L letterpress tool. Simply use plain white printed paper if additional packing is necessary.

To achieve a deeper impression, add additional sheets of paper below the clear packing mat on the L Letterpress base. To reduce the depth of impression, simply remove sheets.

If the printed impression is not as crisp as desired, try removing packing sheets or make sure you’re using the correct inking technique.

Can I use other types of ink with my L Letterpress?

The L Letterpress Ink has a specially formulated tacky texture, which will give your design a crisp and clean impression. Other inks are often water-based and may run beyond the line of your debossed image.

Can I use any type of paper with my letterpress projects?

Letterpressing is characterized by its impression on soft, thick paper. Our L Letterpress paper was created to give you the best possible impression. Though other papers may reflect your design, it may not have the same deep impression into the paper which defines the letterpress style.

Can I use any type of cleaning cloths?

The L Letterpress Cleaning Cloth is best able to remove the thick, tacky, oil-based ink from both the ink base and the printing plate. Though other cleaning cloths will not hurt the product, they will not clean as thoroughly.

How long does my finished project take to dry?

Your finished project should completely dry within just a few minutes from when it was pressed.

Can I use embossing folders with the L Letterpress?

The L Letterpress was not designed for use with embossing folders. Typical letterpress projects show an impression on only one side of the paper. If you use embossing folders, the impression will be visible on both sides of the paper.

Courtesy of Lifestyle Crafts, which is a part of the Quickutz, Inc. family of crafting products
www.lifestylecrafts.com
Source: http://lifestylecrafts.com/faq.aspx

What Is Letterpress Printing?

The Letterpress from Quickutz’s Division Lifestyle Crafts (L), sets the standard for easy to use, affordable letterpress printing that’s practical for any home crafter. The standard letterpress process involves printing words, letters, or designs with ink while simultaneously debossing it into a thick, soft paper. Over the past several years letterpress has seen a resurgence in popularity, evolving into a modern art form that epitomizes class and high quality.

Letterpress as an upcoming trend among everyday crafters

Letterpress printing has seen a revival in the past few years, particularly due to the interest created by the use of letterpress for wedding invitations in contemporary magazines and websites. The popularity of this form of printing has continued to grow and become one of the most sought after looks for stationery, invitations, cards, gifts, and much more. Because of the size, price and lack of accessibility to a traditional letterpress machine, this art form has yet to become available to the everyday home crafter…until the release of the Quickutz Epic Six Die-Cutting Tool.

Letterpress printing from Lifestyle Crafts

The Letterpress from Lifestyle Crafts, or L, sets the standard for easy to use, affordable letterpress printing that’s practical for any home crafter. With the L Letterpress product line you can create handmade letterpress projects like cards, invitations, gifts, stationery and more. From simple day-to-day expressions and correspondence to momentous occasions like weddings and babies, the L Letterpress enables you to creatively celebrate every event in life.

L Printing Plates feature fresh, contemporary designs that are divided into 5 categories:

• Everyday
• Baby
• Celebrations
• Wedding
• Holiday

[Much of this information was taken from Lifestylecrafts.com, a division of Quickutz, Inc.]

Here are some helpful resources and instructions dealing with Quickutz products. Quickutz is the maker of the universal Epic Six die cutting and embossing machine. This tool also has the capability to do letterpress printing also when using printing plates and inks by Lifestyle Crafts.

EPIC SIX Letterpress Printing

Frequently Asked Questions About Letterpress Printing

Quickutz Epic Six Instructions

Here are some Instructions for How to use Quickutz 12-inch platform.

revolution-12-inch-platform-instructions.pdf

Here are Instructions for How to foam Cookie Cutter Dies

howtofoam_cookie_cutterdies.pdf