Baubles...

...from a Steampunk die.

I'm sure we all have craft items that we just had to have but once we used it (if we used it) it got put away - never to see the light of day again??? After all, some things are quite stylised or specific so they can have quite limited uses...or can they?

One thing about Andy (Pinnacle Crafts) is that he likes to get his money's worth out of a product and is always looking for new and unusual ways to use things.

If you like Steampunk, you will know that in addition to the cogs, metal & grunge, hot air balloons are a regular image that appears - but just how many hot air balloons are you going to want to die-cut...and dies can be rather expensive.

Take a look at these two die-cuts - once again the 'waste' was swapped to back-fill but can you tell what the die was...

...yep, it's a hot air balloon with the basket part snipped off.
Trimmed and turned around...

...and you have a couple of elegant baubles.
With the addition of some more miri card die-cuts (branches and holly leaves), some chain and a couple of bows...

...it doesn't take long to create a pretty Christmas card.

Andy is a clever old thing but I'm sure many crafters could produce some pretty amazing stuff - just by thinking outside of the box - and look at all the extra use you can make out of those crafting products.

I love this hot air balloon die set but probably would not have thought to buy it because it would have limited use for me - however, turn it into a bauble...oh dear, another item gets added to my wish-list LOL...........................................................