There seems to be this craze lately around felt animals and shapes and the newest dies on the market are $25-$30 right out the gate, not to mention the cost of shipping them. It seems like a lot of extra money to spend when you should be able to use any of your current dies and felt in your die cutting machine.  I personally use a Cuttlebug and just ordered a Big Shot, but the Sizzix Bigz will fit in the Cuttlebug and they cut felt just fine, and they come in lots of varieties.  I decided to add the Big Shot to my arsenal because I love my Cuttlebug and I have had it since I started crafting, but I wanted something a little bigger that would still work with the dies I own.  As I was doing research for this I watched an amazing video for the Big Shot where a lady cut perfect quilting strips and then turned them into squares, it was amazing, because I also sew and that was an unexpected bonus. I have only used it once so far, but the cut was fantastic, also satisfying because my plates are new…unlike my poor Cuttlebug plates, hahaha.  I will be keeping my Cuttlebug though, because I still love it, and it is more portable than the Big Shot, plus it’s still fully functional.

As a side note, I popped into Tuesday Morning and found some really nice combination Die and Stamp sets that were Sizzix and Hero Arts team-ups for a great price.  I used one of them to make this card.

I used patterned paper with a "retro" feel because my theme was "Style is Eternal", I used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens to color the stamp.  I stamped the sentiment in Versamark ink and then used silver embossing powder. I  hope you find the die-cutting machine of your dreams, happy crafting.