Wheres a best place to buy shims & embossing mats

[karen147145]

So i have an Big shot express machine and was told to get shims and embossing mats so i could use nestabilities with my machine. however i was wondering where can i get these shims from, because ive been looking and i cant find them. are they called something else? Plus im from the UK so where would be good to get both these items, shims and embossing mats? hope someone can help me!!

[Sheena74]

Most people make thier Shims by with using Cereal box or several pieces of CS stuck together. Embossing mat I use is thru Spellbinders but I also have the cheap plumbers gasket that can be purchased at a hardware store which is very similiar but I like the spellbinders embossing mat better.
Hope that helps some

Sheena

[cat_woman]

I cut up a silicone cookie sheet to use as my embossing mat and I use a few pieces of scrap cardstock as my shims.

[Scor-Pal]

With the NO MORE SHIMS embossing Mat you no longer need shims. We demonstrated it at CHA and everyone was amazed at the deep embossing detail it achieved' You can emboss with very thin materials like lace, textured fabrics, plastic stencils, brass stencils to name just a few. We have it in the Scor-pal store. NO MORE SHIMS Embossing Mat [Item 404] - US$15.99 : Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce
Diana

[cobby]

Just to be perfectly clear. A "shim" is simply an extra layer of some material to add to the "sandwich" going through your Big Shot. It is there just to create extra pressure to ensure a good deep embossed impression.

As others mentioned, you can use a piece of heavy card stock, or a piece of cardboard cut from a cereal box. Whatever is handy. But you want to be careful not to force through a sandwich that could damage your machine. If you think you can get a deeper impression when embossing start with something thinner as a shim and add to it if need be.

OR....try the "NO MORE SHIMS" mentioned above. It's a new product so I can't say anything about it except Scor-Pal is a great company with wonderful customer service and if they are carrying it; I can be sure it is a good product.

[MommyScraps]

I use two pieces of cardstock as a shim and found the embossing mats at AC Moore. I think they were ten bucks... Good luck!

[suplayingwithpaper]

The nomore shims is sold in the uk by onceuponastamp Karen. Or try the tan mat from spellbinders with 2 or 3 sheets of card or if it's just to emboss nesties once cut I often just whizz round the inside with an embossing ball tool rather than hunt out my tan mat.