Fancy Tag Frustration

Hello my friends and followers, Friday is almost here, hang in there.  This morning I have three cards to show you.  This first one I created by rotating Card Positioning Systems' Sketch 213. 90 degrees to the right:

Since the challenge was sponsored by My Favorite Things (MFT) Stamps, I wanted to thank them by using one of their images in the card.  Everyone knows that MFT has tons of adorable little girl and 'Who's that Girl?' images, so I wanted to throw a little love in the guy's direction using Who's That Geek Guy:

That yummy patterned paper is from DCWV's Generation Tech Stack that I LOVE (can you tell that the red aliens are foiled?!!).  The chair, tee shirt and laptop were paper pieced with Going Grey, Real Red, and Brushed Silver cardstock respectively, and I added a hint of shading to the skin, background and table using Prismacolor pencils.  I LOVED this set when it came out because a lot of male relatives of mine are HUGE computer jocks and have fond childhood memories of gaming on their computers and Atari systems.  this card also fulfills the following challenges:

• Crafty Creations Challenge 114 - to use paper piecing on your card,
• SCS' Ways to use it Challenge 318 - Hey people! (to use a person on your card), and lastly
• Paper Sundaes Challenge 64 - Childhood Memories. 

My second card was created for this week's sketch spotlight challenge at Stamp TV.  I rotated the sketch 90 degrees to the right, used the colors from Crazy for Challenges' Challenge 82 - to use the colors green, brown and cream and created this card using Gina K. Designs' "Owl Always Love You" set, which I think is the first GKD set I added to my collection:

That corner was kind of tricky for me, being a lover symmetry, but I added the 'Owl' in the corner and the rest of the sentiment (always love you) inside the card.  :)  I used Gina's tutorial on coloring with Odorless Mineral Spirits to color in the image (I am really enjoying this technique and showing my Prismacolor pencils some love, the poor things have been a little neglected since I purchased some copic markers, it is nice to mix up coloring techniques every now and then) and sponged a little Creamy Caramel ink around the edge while the Nestabilities' die was still in place to create an extra layer.  The DP (designer paper for any new readers) was from a Christmas stack from the Paper Studio and I embossed the brown strip of cardstock using Cuttlebug's Forest Branches folder, which is also a favorite of mine.  Since this card has an owl on it is also fulfills the requirements of this week's Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge 129, dedicated to 'our feathered friends'.

Okay, this last card is the reason for this post's title. I have seen SO MANY LOVELY cards created using the Fancy Tag dies by Nestabilities, but I have to tell you - I was ready to throw this particular set across the room yesterday.  I tried to create the card below, made form this week's color spotlight challenge on Stamp TV, red hot, sweet corn and sweet mango, using Gina K.'s touching set 'You Are Not Alone' and one of the fancy tags for the sentiment and the die would NOT cut all the way through the cardstock.  Yes, I tried running it through twice.  Yes, I tried running it through twice in both directions.  Yes, I tried using a shim, destroying perfectly good cardstock in the process which angers me because I detest waste of all kinds.  Yes, I attempted to pick the die cut out from the die with a stylus and craft knife and after several tries I just could not justify the strain on my back (which still hurts, good job CMC!) or sacrificing any more cardstock and simply cut the mangled ends off the lable and tried to hide them behind some big rhinestones with this card:

This card was supposed to be for one of my closest friends on the planet and now I totally feel it is not good enough for her!  Hmph!!  Maybe the 'you are not alone' sentiment was trying to tell me I am not the only one who has had problems with this set?  I tried to distract from the the carnage by adding petite red rhinestones to various flourishes created by the 'Birds & Swirls' Cuttlebug embossing folder, thus meeting the requirements of this week's Tuesday Throwdown Challenge 44, to use sparkle and bling, and used the thumping technique on the pretty flower image as well.

Thank you for letting me vent.  Any other suggestions or tips you have regarding this set are greatly appreciated, I really like the shapes of the dies of the set and would love to be able to use them.  I have never had this issue with any other spellbinders set before, and the company I ordered it from will not take it back or send me a replacement because I ordered it too long ago.  Maybe I can try it with my old original Sizzix?  Don't know that sandwich though...   You may see more from me later this afternoon if I am able to let this go already, it is blocking my mojo...
~Crafty Math Chick