Super Fast Valentine Card with Lori

If you're like me and short on time, it's great to be able to get a card made RIGHT NOW.  But I'm sure you still want it to have some WOW factor.  Cutters Creek to the rescue!  All you need are some Reddy Pyramids from Ecstasy Craft, some Joy Foam Pads or ASI Kool Tak, and scraps of your favorite pattern paper and American Crafts glitter cardstock (or POW!).  This card literally took me no more than TEN MINUTES to put together.

Note: This particular Pyramid image is no longer in the store (I've had it for a while... things go missing around here sometimes), but I see some awesome flower Pyramids that would also be great for Valentine's day.

So, punch out your Pyramid image, layer it up with the Joy Foam Pads or Kool Tak, then add a mat of the American Crafts glitter cardstock (or POW!).  I used lavender glitter cardstock, and my pattern paper is from the Echo Park Paper Springtime collection.  I stamped a quick sentiment on my paper (stamp from Close To My Heart), then adhered everything to a 5"x5" card base.  Quick, simple, and beautiful!

You still have plenty of time to get an order in time to make some great Valentine's Day cards - here's what you need to look for in the Cutters Creek store:

• Reddy Cards Pyramids from Ecstasy Crafts
• Joy! Foam Pads or ASI Kool Tak Clear Foam adhesive
• American Crafts glitter cardstock or POW! glitter paper
• Springtime collection (or pick a great 6"x6" pad) from Echo Park Paper

Thanks for stopping by to see us today!  We love to read your comments - and be sure to let us know if there is a product or technique you'd like to see us feature.

Card Making Tutorial

I've just come back from vacation and I am exhausted, so I thought I would do something a little different for this Tutorial Tuesday. The other day we were having a conersation about the different steps we go through to make a card and how everyone does it a little differently. I thought I would share my process with you in case you ever get stuck and don't know where to start.

The first thing I do when I'm making a card is to pick my image this can be either a stamped image I'm going to color with copics or an image I'm going to cut with my cricut. Once I have decided on my image, I choose a sketch. I visit several different sketch blogs and print out the sketches I like the most, sometimes I draw them when I can't print them. A Smash Book would be perfect for this. You can redraw the sketches yourself directly in the book or you can print them and smash them in whatever works for you. Keep your image in mind and think it will work with a circle or if it needs to be a rectangle or a square. For this project I knew I wanted to make a birthday card so I chose this adorable little house mouse image. From the size and shape of the stamp I knew it would work best with a square mat so I chose this sketch from my sketch notebook.

Looking at this sketch, I knew I needed 2 different patterns of paper. I love to use the 6x6 paper pads to make cards because I know they are full of coordinating papers. The Echo Park pads Cutter's Creek sells are perfect for this. After I decide on my patterns, I pull out my copic markers and start trying to find colors that are closest to the colors in the papers and then I color my image. On this one I switched it up a little by adding some embellishments and a sentiment that weren't in the original sketch.

This also works on cards you make with your cricut. I love the egg and bacon happy face image on Kate's Kitchen and I was dying to use it on a card. Since the plate is round, I looked for a sketch that featured a circle as the main element.

Here is a sketch I pulled off one of my favorite blog sites a few years ago. Once I find the sketch that I think will work best with my image, I look and see how many different paper patterns I think I will need for the sketch. For this card I used 3 different patterns of paper from the Kate's Kitchen Imagine cartridge. I added the papers to my card base as they were in the sketch and then added my image. I changed this one up a bit by putting the sentiment on the bottom instead of up higher as it was in the sketch.

I know some people feel sketches limit them, but for me they are just the jolt I need to get my creativity flowing. Next time you find yourself stuck in a creative rut, try changing up your usual process and see if that helps any.

Echo Park A Boy's Life LO by Laura C

Have you seen the brand new Echo Park in Cutter's Creek?!!

This LO was done using the new "A Boy's Life" collection....I
thought this was a perfect way to show....it's definitely NOT
just for little kids! It has some great paper designs! Great
for cards too! This page used 2 of the patterned papers from
this kit....several of the stickers, and the orange alpha on
the 2nd page are from the kit too! Always soooo much in these
kits....a great value for sure!

Here's a close up of some of the stickers....and a few metal
gears I threw in there for embellishment from my stash...

And if you see the close up of that raised dot paper....
that's the Core d'nations Cosmo Cricket pack....
and guess what, I found!! This cardstock goes with
this Echo Park kit perfectly!!

And can I tell ya...I have so many "old"
plain chipboard letters....what?? You do too?!!
LOL....seems those old supplies get lost in the
shuffle sometimes. I've decided to USE this
stuff this year!! I used a gear embossing folder,
then used Distress Ink in Black Soot (chipboard
takes distress ink REALLY well!) and then brushed
that with an Adirondack Paint Dabber to give the
look of metal gears (like the ones in my pics). Just
think of all you could do with this....emboss with
snowflakes, ink in blue (or RED!!) and brush with
a Snow Cap paint dauber, you could emboss with
anything, and do any color.....soooo many ideas for
this technique!

And here's a close up of those letters....


And one final peek at the full LO.....


Would love to hear what inspires you most here
on our blog....would you like to see more LO's,
cards, techniques, videos....we're here for you,
and I know we'd all love to give you what you're
looking for!! Leave a comment and let us know!

Available at Cutter's Creek:
Echo Park Page Kits (A Boy's Life)
Core d'nations Cardstock (Cosmo Cricket)
Distress Ink (Black Soot)
Adirondack Paint Daubers
Embossing Folders

Almost White On White Card with Chris

This 5x7 card is made layering different Nestabilities over Cuttlebug’s embossing folder (Madison). The layers cut and embossed are Labels Ten, Labels Twenty Three, Small Deckled Rectangles, and the smallest Labels Four. The deckled rectangle was also run through the Madison folder and the smallest label was embossed with an Impressabilites Flourish. (Just cut the nestability and then lay cut side up on the impressibility with the embossing pad over it and run through your machine.) After all were cut and embossed I sprayed all with Tattered Angels Pearl Mist and let dry. The large Madison embossed layer and the Label Ten layer were glued with my ATG. Each of the other layers were added with pop dots, centering each above the previous one.

To give it some elegance I added pearls on the first two layers and cut a piece of pearl art on the deckled rectangle before I popped up the littlest layer. I just couldn’t bear the starkness of it—I love the look, but it just seemed to be missing something. So out came my jewels and Copic Markers. I colored the heart with two coats of R46 and adhered it with glossy accents. Now here’s a Valentine’s card fit for my mom!

Resources from Cutters Creek:

Nestabilities: Labels Ten, Labels Twenty Three, Labels Four, Small Deckled Rectangles
Impressabilities: Flourish
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist: Pearl
Cuttlebug embossing Folder: Madison
Self-Adhesive Pearls: Champagne
Glossy Accents
Copic Markers: R46

Mandie's Mosaic Card

Hey everyone! I wanted to share a card that I created with some leftovers from a really fun project that I've been creating! I used free-hand cut squared from the Echo Park Paper's For the Record 6 x 6" Paper Pad (but really you could use ANY of their beautiful lines for this project). I just cut up a whole bunch and then inked the edges by running them across the Walnut Stain Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad. Next I started randomly gluing them down to form this the mosaic pattern. Well, that of course wasn't enough so I used a few stamps from my stash to add a little bird here, a butterfly or five there and the word "Hi!" so I can use this card for any occasion.



Well, it looked pretty cool but of course I felt it needed more... so I pulled out this package of "spritz screens" that I picked up on clearance somewhere I decided to use the bird shape. I just wanted a subtle pattern so I grabbed my Walnut Gold Glimmer Mist... and after 2 spritzes I realized - I'm going to need ANOTHER bottle, LOL! Well, I grabbed the plain gold and misted and then got called away buy the kids. Well, there my card sat for several days, with the screen on top and the Gold Glimmer Mist in blobs all over the screen. Well, when I came back and took off the screen I thought the effect just wasn't big enough, so I laid my screen back down and grabbed the Walnut Stain Distress Ink again.



This time I used the foam applicator to add a bit of ink around the image so it would pop more and still have the beautiful glimmer. Well, I liked it but... I thought, "I wonder if I can use the screen like a stamp and put some of that Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint on my card? That would REALLY finish it off nicely!" So, I grabbed the bottle, coated my screen really well and slapped it (carefully) into place. Then I smooshed it down REALLY well to make sure I got the Crackle on good. Well... I must had waited a tiny bit too long (like 10 seconds) because when I started to peel my screen up, the paper started to come too. Luckily I had started pulling up slowly and when I realized what had happened. I simple smooshed that screen right back into place and LEFT it there! Well, I LOVE the way it turned out! The Glimmer Mist that had dried onto the screen looked like I was trying to do it that way. And inking around it really made it pop just right. It's funny how some times the accidents in crafting and experiments really can make all the difference! Oh, and for those who were worried that I no longer have that screen... you can all sleep easy because I had purchased two boxes thinking maybe I could use one as some sort of page accent! Yep, my inner hoarder paid off... now I've gotta place an order for some more Walnut Gold Glimmer Mist....

Pin It

Smashing Organization by Laura C

Click on the arrow above to see a quick...and definitely
unedited...lol....video about using the K&Co Smash Books
as an awesome way to get yourself organized in the new year!!

And here are some of the goodies I used:




And a close up of some of the pages....you can really let loose
and have some fun with this!!! I had the best time doodling
and drawing on the pages!!

See that awesome washi tape that K&Co made?
All different kinds are available, and it's really fun to use!!


And those cute little labels too....


Soooo, what are you waiting for??? Kim's got these goodies and
more in the store....whether you document a trip, give it as a gift,
or use it to organize....Smash Books ROCK!!!! Make sure to check
out Cutter's Creek selection of these awesome products HERE!

Hello Kitty Action Wobble Card

So I heard that Cutters Creek was getting in more Action Wobbles and thought it would be fun to share I card I made this afternoon using an Action Wobble.

I started with a piece of what Bazzill Card stock cut and scored to make a 4 1/4" X 5 1/2" card base. I added a hot pink mat cut at 4" X 5 1/4" and then the patterned paper mat cut at 3 3/4" X 5". I cut the Hello Kitty Image at 4" and adhered it to my card front with an Action Wobbles. I added some Glam Pink Stickles to the heart. Finally I stamped my sentiment with the Festive Berries Distress Ink that was part of the Winter Limited Edition colors released in November. It is a great red.



Not sure what an  Action Wobble is? Let me show you.

They have a little spring in them that allows movement on the object they are attached to. Here is a quick video (my first) of the action wobble in action. Aren't they fun.