Nancy...GOT IT!!!! Thanks everybody for participating and hope you all got something you could use. Nancy thanks for your special additions, they will all get used, and as for everything else...it has either found a home in my supply closet or will be set aside for the next Craft Supply Robin. THANKS Nancy...and thanks eerybody else. I will be sending Janet another email...we'll see what happens....this is just a little frustrating since she was the last stop before the Robin comes home. Cross you fingers for me! Netta

I have embossed on copper many times, as well as other materials, it is great fun. You can obtain tooling foil at a craft store like hobby lobby. I comes in different gauges or thicknesses, choose the heaviest thickness you can still work for your design. Tools can be anything-they sell special embossing tools but you can use orange sticks, chopsticks, dried up ink pens, pencil erasers, whatever seems to suit the need without scratching or puncturing the copper. Lay the copper on a soft surface-I use several craft foam sheets stacked up, but you can also use several thicknesses of newspaper. This allows the design to form. You can draw your design lightly onto the copper, or tape a paper template to the copper and cover that with a piece of waxed paper that will allow you to glide over the template with your tool. then simply press hard and trace the design. You can then turn the copper over and lightly trace the edges of the raised design to give it more sharpness. You can practice with aluminum foil pans before you start on the copper- simply buy a disposable roasting pan made from aluminum foil, cut out the bottom with ordinary scissors, flatten with a rolling pin or by scraping with a credit card or spatula and play! I used this material to create angel tree toppers for christmas this year, it is easy cheap and fun. Here is a link to a page with a project similar to what you want to do that might help. Here is a link that might be useful: copper embossing

Oddie, I'm game, would love to be on your craft show!! I think we could all do as good as job as the guests Carol had - I especially loved that crazy one who does the embossed velvet, can't remember her name but she was always so funny. I can't remember what Carol actually did in the way of crafts but she was a great hostess. Oddie, I don't know all the abreviations for computer talk yet, either. I am a perfectionist and after years of typing at my job, I naturally type out the whole word. I was never sure if LOL meant laughing out loud or lots of laughs. I even had to ask my grandson what OMG meant.

Yes, I did take a quick look at the link. The machines they listed are more like the high end models. They're more for someone that do papercraft as a business rather than just a hobby like me. I've been doing more online searching and finally found some real good advises and tutorials on YouTube. I was able to narrow it down to 2 machines, the Sizzix Big Shot (hand cranking) and the Sizzix Vagabond (electric). While looking at these models, I spotted the latest one: the Sizzix Big Shot Plus. It is basically the same as the Sizzix Big Shot but much wider and steadier. One nice thing about YouTube, I was able to see that it didn't take much effort to manually turning the hand crank. Looked like something I can manage with. Bic Warehouse (through Amazon, Walmart & eBay) had a fairly good deal on this model so, I went ahead and purchased it. Now, I just need to start looking for the different embossing and die cutting designs. Oh, and to answer your last question. I don't know about cutting paper strips with these machine. I do have a shredder that can be used to cut paper strips for quilling. However, the pre-cut paper strips aren't very expensive when purchasing them overseas. The paper strips are more at a proper weight for curling, and are acid free. Nevertheless, your thought/idea to use the cut die machine is very appealing. I need to research on this a bit more. Thanks for the idea!