Grand Caliber Embossing & Die Cutting

To make it easier for me to remember how to use my Grand Caliber, I created a reference sheet for cutting and embossing.  Most of the information is on the Spellbinder's site, but I pulled it together in a format that is more helpful to me.  I typed it up, laminated it, and keep it beside my machine for easy reference.

This morning it occurred to me that it might be useful to someone else, so I'll post it here.  I make no guarantees for how it will work in your machine. And as always, never try to force something through your machine.  You don't want to damage it.  Anyway, here is my compiled reference sheet:

CUTTING:

• Thin Metal Dies:

1. A-Base Plate (grey)
2. Die with cut ridges UP
3. Paper, cardstock, craft foil, etc. (pattern facing down)
4. C-Cutting Plate (white)

• Sizzlets or Cuttlebug Dies:

1. Grand Raspberry Plate
2. Die with cutting side UP
3. Paper, cardstock, craft foil, etc. (pattern facing down)
4. C-Cutting Plate (white)

EMBOSSING:

• Thin Metal Dies, Impressabilities and Brass Stencils:

1. A-Base Plate (gray)
2. Die with cut ridges UP (or Impressabilities template, or brass stencil)
3. Paper, cardstock, craft foil, etc (pattern facing down)
4. Tan embossing pad (for brass stencils you can cut the embossing pad just smaller than the stencil to avoid lines around it)
5. B-Embossing Plate (pink)

• M-Bossabilities

1. A-Base Plate (gray)
2. Embossing Folder with paper inside of it
3. Grand Raspberry Plate

• Standard Embossing Folders (Cuttlebug, Sizzix, etc):

1. C-Cutting Plate (white)
2. Embossing Folder with paper inside of it
3. Grand Raspberry Plate

• Cuttlebug Embossing Plus Folders:

1. A-Base Plate (gray)
2. Embossing Folder with paper inside of it
3. Tan Embossing Pad
4. Grand Raspberry Plate

• Fiskars Texture Plates & Found Items (coins, lace, other thin textured materials):

1. A-Base Plate (gray) (or B-Embossing Plate (pink) for some found items)
2. Fiskars Texture Plate or Found Item
3. Paper, cardstock, craft foil, etc.
4. Tan Embossing Pad
5. Grand Raspberry Plate (or B-Embossing Plate (pink) for some thinner found items)

I really like my Grand Caliber now that I have an easy way to remember what sandwiches I need to use to do what I'm trying to do.  I LOVE that I can use larger dies and media with it.  There are some card techniques I just couldn't do with my Big Shot unless I made much smaller cards.

However, sometimes I find my dies don't cut all the way through in spots.  This is especially true if I'm trying to cut a large die or a large number of smaller dies all at once (perhaps for a full 8 1/2" x 11" sized sheet).  While often if a die doesn't cut well, I can just rotate paper and die together so they go in at a different angle and send it through again, sometimes that won't work because of the size of my paper/cardstock or die.  In that case I've found I need to use pieces of lightweight cardstock as shims under sections of the die that aren't cutting well.  I just have several of these pieces beside my machine so I can use them as needed - works great!