Okay, several of you have emailed to ask how I get such tight or thin mats on some of my Spellbinders Projects. It’s a quick and easy fix and once I figured out the best way for “me” it’s a method that I use all the time. I’ve tried tracing and and cutting by hand, but my manual cutting is not quite up to par with a kindergartner (thank you Grammar Girl!), lol!! This is a brief one – if you blink you’ll miss it.
See you soon!!
I just LOVE Becca’s bits. Thanks for that!
xoxoxo
Great tip Becca and fabulous video! That gap has bothered me and now I know what to do! Thanks!
I flunked cutting 101. I so appreciate you showing us what you do to get the smaller mat. I just love your Becca Bits, Becca. As always TFS!!! :-D
Wow!! Finally, a method that will work for me! I’ve tried cutting down the mat freehand with scissors. I too am a remedial cutter. Thanks so much for sharing this.
I’ve always wondered how you did that…. what a fantastic tip. I’m gonna save it for future reference… thanxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks, Becca! I always wondered how your tight mats looked so perfect! Definitely going to give this a try!
What a fabulous tip! I can’t believe how quickly and easily you did that Becca.
Many thanks.
Great idea. Thanks for sharing that tip.
Oh , how easy is that! Thanks Becca ! love your bits!
Interesting, hadn’t thought of doing that. Thanks for the tip. Edna
Great video clip, I always learn a lot from you…
hugs, Diana
I use an exacto knife more than scissors. Don’t know why I didn’t think of that technique. Thanks, Becca.
Thanks for the tip. You did it so easily. I hope it goes that well for me.
Thanks so much for sharing that one – gives even more possibilities for our spellbinders! You are sooooo creative!
Thanks so much for this Becca, I just made a card yesterday and was thinking that I would love a tighter mat, so am off to try it out today.
Cheers,
Thank you for sharing beats free hand cutting any day. Another amazing Becca Tip Bit.
Fabulous….it always looks so much better with the narrower mats I think…..thanks for sharing….now why didn’tIi think of that…der! LOL.
Love the tip Becca I had tried trimming with scissors after attaching the top mat but could never get an even mat. You are the greatest and such an inspiration to so many.
Thanks for sharing this! What a fabulous idea! I prefer the tighter mats
Love the Becca Bits they are so helpful. Thanks for taking the time you are so talented thanks for sharing.
Becca
I just wanted to take the time to tell you how much I appreciate your willingness to share these extra “tidbits” with all of us. I really do learn alot when you share them.
Thank you for sharing with us.
Cheryl Randall
oooh thanx Becca – I too hate to handcut around shapes – and often leave pencil marks too – so I’ll be giving this a go soon! You are soo inspiring!
xXx
Becca,
You are fantistic. I look forward to each post with another beautiful card or tip on how to do our craft better.
Wow so simple and yet I never would have thought to do that in a million years. Thanks so much for sharing your ability to think outside the box Becca :)
Wow! I couldn’t believe it when I saw this video. I have been thinking of this for the last few days and here it is. I can’t believe I didn’t think of doing this. Thanks so much for your time Becca. I am just going to do your sketch for Magnolia-licious so will do this nice tight mat.
Hugs Marion
Thank you so much Becca. I never would have thought of that!!!!
Wow, so easy! Whodathunkit! Thanks for sharing, Becca. I love your Becca Bits. I’d been wanting to make a butterfly card like the one you’d made with the large embossed scallop punch… and finally did… it turned out so pretty! I decided I couldn’t give it away! LOL! Many many thanks for sharing your talent and tips with us.
Smacking self in forehead thinking, why did I never think of that! Thanks so much for the lightbulb moment, LOL!!!
Love your Becca bits… thank you for sharing again and again. With practice, perhaps we can be more like you and our cards can look professional and pretty.
Girlfriend, thanks for the video. Love your Becca Bits. I never thought of doing what you showed us. Creatively, you are on a different level than me. Thanks for taking the time to explain everything. God bless and have a great day.
Thanks, Becca, for your wonderful videos and sharing your ideas. I need someone else to “think outside the box” for me since I am quite regimented.You are light years away from most of us with your talent.
Thank you Becca – this is really REALLY helpful. I love how that looks. Thank you also for your videos, you do a wonderful job and I really appreciate all your great tips. 8)
Awesome Beccabit!!! I love that and can’t wait to try this. I always use scissors but don’t often like the look.
Beth
Becca, your cards always look very professional. I had tried drawing around and cutting and I don’t always get the smooth edge. Great tip. Thanks for sharing. Linda C
Thanks for sharing this Becca! I too am a remedial scissor user and tracing the dies and hand-cutting always looks terrible for me! I will definitely give this a try!
Love those Bits, Becca! Thanks!
wow!! I never knew how people did that other than tracing and cutting by hand! how awesome, thanks for the great tip!!
Oh how I agree with all the rest of your “friends”—your bits are just great. I will try this for sure.
Was just wondering—-on the basic shapes ie the square, circle etc.—if we had both the large and small could we use the ones that fit between the others—-hope that makes sence.
You are great , Bless you, Tomi Jo
Hope you can answer this question on the site.
Thanks so much for sharing! I love the look but never thought of doing that. You’re so smart!
WOW! Thanks!
That is such a great tip- thanks for sharing it!
Great tip.. thanks so much!
Love this! Thank you Becca!
Love it! Would never have thought of it. Will use it soon! Thank you!
Why is it that something can be so obvious, and yet we overlook it every time? As others have already said, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Thanks for sharing your ideas and your beautiful cards!
Thanks for sharing that. I’ve tried cutting around it to and it just looks, well, cut out. I’ll try your method. Nice tutorial.
You are the best with sahring famtastic tips. I have tried to figure this out many times. You made it look so simple so :) Now to put it into action!
Wow,….I didn’t know that……I learn so much from you Becca…..thank you so much and I can’t wait to try this……
Thanks Becca so much for this technique going to try this one.
Thanks for the wonderful tip! You’re a genius!
I can cut pretty good, but it’s tedious and I’m all about fast (and simple) tricks. I’m going to try this soon!
Well I have to say “Thank You”.. But you know what?! I never noticed :). I thought you just had spell binders that I did not have, what I nut I am.
Thank you for a great tip !! I also LOVE ” Becca Bits”
Brilliant! And so fast, too!
greetings from the uk Becca, you said this tip isnt new, but thank you so much as it is new to me, and like many others I have tried to cut it out with scissors and made a mess of it Dorothy xx
What a great Becca Bit…having the frame there really will help me to stay on the line better..Now why didn’t I think of that..
I needed the Becca Bit to tell me.. ha ha ha ha
pat
Hi Becca – Thanks for the video, using the knife is much easier than cutting round the embossed image. Like everyone else says ‘why didn’t I think of that….’!!
You are so savvy.
HW(UK)
I too love the look of tight mats, but it never entered my poor mind to do this! Thanks for the heads up!
I love Becca Bits! This is a really great one. I wondered how you got your mats so much smaller. Thanks!
Great tip! I love that you are able to show your readers how to get more milage out of their tools. These Becca Bits are fantastic!
Becca, thanks so much. I’ve traced and hand cut with various results, but never thought of using the knife – great idea. Love your work!
As usual, you have provided a great tip that is ‘doable’ and is economical. Thanks, Becca
Becca, thank you! This is a wonderful tip :D
Thanks for this great tip. I just asked a group the other day how to get more out of the dies you have and now this tip. I have labels 8 and wished they had more sizes to make mats and now I know how to do it. This is a gem.
I am a good cutter, if I do say so myself, but it is very hard to get smooth curves unless you have a guide, such as you demonstrated. Thanks for letting us in on this little secret. I love it and will use it soon!
Hi Becca… Thanks for that great tip and tutorial. I’ve been trying to figure out how to do that for sometime now and like others when I tried cutting with scissors it just didn’t turn out right.
Oh, yeah. One more way to get a thin mat/border/outline is to ink the edge of your die before you cut and emboss. Some folks call it a “letterpress” technique. That makes the inked outline on the actual size of the die…from the embossed border out to the edge. That’s good for times when you want a border, but don’t have the space to spare to make everything larger. Becca, I can’t remember if you showed this technique at some time, or if I saw it somewhere else.
I have just had another one of those questions to myself :”why didn’t I think of that?” Thank you Becca for being the one who thinks of all these great ideas! Love them al! You are an inspiration and I am so happy that I am one of the lucky ones who discovered your blog!
THANKS!!!!!
Desert wishes
Lizette
Love this tip! So glad creative types like you are there to help some of us who need it!
Thanks! I have always thought that the sizes needed to be closer together – now you have solved that problem!
Great tip Becca! TFS!
I always wondered how that was achieved! So wanted slimmer mats for my labels sets. Thanks.
Becca ! Thank You SOOOO Much ! I’ve been looking for help!
You’re WOnderful !
OH OH OH OH! ! ! ! Thank you soooooo much for that tip WOW!!!!
Ditto with the “why didn’t I think of that?” That’s like a DUH!!!! I am anxious to use that tip. Thanks again for sharing alllllll of your B-U-T-FUUUULLLLL cards.
Jean McGee
Thanks for sharing a great tip!
Thanks for sharing that tip. I will certainly use it, as my collection of Spellbinder nestiblilities grows. I usually like to have the narrower mat, so this will work great.
Left handed crafters have always got to come up with ways that do not involve cutting with scissors. Thanks for this great idea Becca.
stamp on…
Genius!
I’ve done that the blonde way : trace around that very edge with a just sharpened pencil ‘then’ cut it out all squiggely-like by hand :D
Go figure. It’s natural so I can’t hide it-lol!
Thanks for sharing your oh so useful Becca Bits!
Thanks for all your “Becca Bits” you seem to come up with all the solutions that I am looking for!!!
Ann in the U.K.
Love it, girlfriend! I will be using this tip to the max, as I love Spellbinders. Blessings!
What a great tip! Thanks for sharing.
WOW! You sure made quick work of that!
Thanks for the ‘Spellbind’ ing video tutorial.
[…] the labels #9 nesties. Then I used Becca’s technique to cut the 1/8″ mat below it. (see Becca’s tutorial here) The gold panel was punched with a Fiskars punch around the edges. And I added some coppery […]
What a fantastic tututorial. I’ll definately be following this for my cards from now on. Brilliant.
Dang! This is so simple! Thanks, Becca! Now I have another great technique to add to my “arsenal”….you rock!
[…] on how to create the tight mat around the Labels Eight die cut, I have a tutorial for that HERE. If you’d like to know how to make a double tied bow, I have a tutorial for that […]
Thanks so much. I have always admired that matting and suspected that you did it that way, but really wondered HOW…how could it be so neat!
TFS…as usual…gorgeous :)
[…] that I thought would fit well with a flower girl. I cut a Spellbinders Labels Ten panel and cut a tight mat to frame her with. Lastly, I took two ribbons – the lace ribbon is slightly wider than […]
Becca, you are my favorite person of all on the Splitcoast site. You make the most incredible cards, you have amazing ideas and techniques that you generously share and your sweet spirit comes through in everything you say on your blog. Thank you for sharing your many gifts with all of us.
Peggy
What a great tutorial, Becca! Thank you!
Thank you for sharing your tips and tricks. You are such a talented and generous person! :o)