Cutters Creek Design Team

Rockin' Birthday Card with Lori

2012-02-13T00:01:00.001-05:00

I have a special birthday card I want to share with you today. My big brother turned 55 earlier this month, and you might not think we have much in common since he is the oldest and I am the youngest. But he was my first "bad influence", introducing me to Godzilla movies and Saturday Night Live, The Beatles and Pink Floyd, and Star Trek and Isaac Asimov. (Come to think of it, I think I can blame him for my lack of popularity in high school, and my extreme popularity in college, lol.) And thanks to his guitar-learning efforts, I never want to hear the song "Smoke on the Water" again. But I wanted to let him know that even though he's now eligible for a senior discount a lot of places, he's still a pretty cool guy.

The pattern papers are both from Echo Park Paper - the polka dots are from A Boy's Life and the navy stripes are from the Dots & Stripes Metropolitan collection. The center panel is kraft cardstock, stamped with the guitar image, embossed with an embossing folder, then inked with Distress Inks. I stamped a second guitar image, cut out the guitar only and adhered it using dimensional adhesive. Everything is layered on a kraft card base. Finally, I used my old school Dymo label maker to create the sentiment and adhered it on top.

I love the look of the Distress Inks on the kraft cardstock. I thought I would show you the difference in the same colors on white cardstock versus kraft.

I used Faded Jeans, Peeled Paint, and Ripe Persimmon (from the Fall seasonal set) on both sheets. you can see that the darker tone of the kraft brings out the darker tones of the distress inks, where the white seems to brighten them up a bit. Experiment with your favorite cardstock colors as a base and see what happens!

Products available at Cutters Creek:

A Boy's Life Collection Kit, Echo Park Paper (NEW!)
Tim Holtz Distress Inks from Ranger, Peeled Paint and Faded Jeans
Joy Foam Pads or ASI Kool Tak 3D Clear Foam Squares
Scotch ATG Adhesive Refills
embossing folders

Thanks for stopping by today! If you want to keep up on all of the happenings at Cutters Creek, be sure to subscribe to our blog and/or sign up for the store newsletter (on the right).

My Minds Eye Paper Pads

2012-02-11T00:00:00.000-05:00

I just got my 6 of the 8 new My Minds Eye 6" X 6" paper pads from Cutters Creek and just had to share them with you. While I am a newbie to doing video's I am sure I will get better as I go along. I hope you love the paper pads as much as I do. Take a look.

A Valentine Card For My Sweetie with Chris

2012-02-10T00:01:00.004-05:00

I just love Spellbinders. Mix and match or use them alone, they make simple cards look so elegant. This is a 4.25x5.5 top folded card. I started with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder and ran through a 4.25x5.5 piece of white cardstock. Using my ATG, I adhered it to the front of the card. I then took my Spellbinders Borderabilities edge (Lotus Border Petites), lined it up along the bottom edge of the card, and used some removable tape to hold it in place while I ran it through my Big Shot. Since it was a double thickness of paper, I ran it back and forth a couple of times.

I then took my Spellbinders Shapeabilities (Fancy Tags Two) and cut a piece of red vellum and very carefully used my Tim Holtz Craft Pick to remove it from the die. I glued this to the front of the card with my zig pen (I knew I would be covering it, so I wasn’t worried about seeing glue streaks). Next I used my stylus tool to rub on a Valentine’s Be Mine that I had in my stash and added my Nestabling that I’ve been hoarding, to the label.

I wish I had bought the Imaginisce I-Magicut Ribbon Cutter when Kim first offered it because, of course, the ribbon I choose to back up my border frayed. Guess what is now on my wishlist with Kim!

Hope you and your loves have a wonderful Valentine’s Day.

Two Quick Valentine Cards with Chris

2012-02-08T00:01:00.000-05:00

I’ve neglected my Copics too long and decided that Valentine’s Day was a perfect day to play with some of the colors. Here are two quick cards I colored.

The first one is cut as a 3.5 x4.5 card (7x9 folded at top edge). I layered a scrap of pink paper on the front and then cut the largest Spellbinders Heart Square out of a coordinating paper and cut it diagonally to mat my digi image. The image was cut and embossed using Spellbinders Deckled Rectangles. I rubbed the edge with some Barn Door Distress Ink, wrapped some pink twine around the bottom edge and popped it up off center so the heart mat would show.

The second card is cut as 5x5 card (10x5 folded at top edge). The layered base is a dryer sheet that I cut to 5x5 and sprayed with Tattered Angels. Rum Punch, Jingle Bells, and Santa Baby. I folded my card in half and ran it through my xyron. I pressed the dryer sheet onto the sticky front of my card and quickly sprinkled it with some pink glitter. (Be sure to press the glitter down to get at the glue and tap off the extra glitter.) I cut and embossed another Heart Square and layered my image (cut and embossed with Spellbinders Classic Squares) on top. Easy peasy—two cards done for the grand kids.

Copics:
Reds= R 22, 24, 27, 29
Greens=G 12, 14
Browns= E 53, 55, 57
Grays= C 5, 7

Resources from Cutters Creek:
Copics
Spellbinders Nestabilities: Classic Squares, Deckled Rectangles, Heart Squares
Doodle Twine: Brights
Distress Inks: Barn Door
Glue Dots Pop UP
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists: Rum Punch, Jingle Bells, Santa Baby

Tuesday Tutorial

2012-02-07T00:01:00.000-05:00

So the other night I couldn't sleep and got to thinking about how I have seen people make a marbleized looking paper with reinkers and photo paper. I got to wondering what I could come up with if I used the distress inks on photo paper, so I set out to find out. I started with several different Distress Inks. I used Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, and Seedless Preserves which was part of the Fall Limited Edition colors. I also used my Foam Ink Applicator. I randomly applied the ink to my photo paper. When I finished I spritzed it lightly with water and then went back over the entire area with the Spun Sugar to be sure there were no white spots and to light blend the colors together.

I then cut a mat from the Elegant Edges Cricut Cartridge (I believe Kim can special order this if you are interested) out of the photo paper and also from a dark burgandy scrap paper for the shadow. For my card base, I started with Kraft card stock I cut, scored and folded to make a 4 1/4" X 5 1/2" card stock base. I then cut a mat our of the same burgandy card stock 4" X 5 1/4" and then cut a mat from the Prima Botanical 6" X 6" paper pad. For the image on my card I used an image from the Morehead Decoupage Ecstasy Craft line. While the particular set I used is not available the Ecstasy Craft images are great to put together a quick card. Check out the dimension you get once you are done layering the image.

I really love how the photo paper turned out and it works great with my image and paper. What a great way to create custom back grounds for your images. I hope you will give it a try and tryout the Ecstasy Craft line.

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What's New At Cutters Creek?

2012-02-06T00:01:00.002-05:00

Hello, Everyone! Today I thought I would take a few minutes to show you a few of the products that are coming to the Cutters Creek Store, fresh from CHA! These are a few of the products that I can't wait to get into my hands.. you can check out ALL of the new additions by clicking HERE! *Please note that the expected ship dates are listed in the individual product posts*

First up are the new Graphic 45 papers: Olde Curiosity Shoppe, Little Darlings and Kraft Reflections:

To see the individual papers in the Olde Curosity Shoppe line click HERE and HERE.

To see the individual papers in the Little Darlings line click HERE and HERE.

To see the individual papers in this line click HERE.

Next on my list are the NEW Copic colors... aren't these delicious?

You can purchase them as a set by clicking HERE or individually from THIS link.

Another thing I can't wait to try is...

...the new Spectrum Noir Alcohol Ink Markers from Crafter's Companion. I know they won't replace my Copics anytime soon, but they sure are a nice, cheap addition to help round out my collection. We look forward to giving these a test run very soon! Just click HERE to order up a set to try for yourself.

Finally the last thing on my MUST list is this:

That's right, the Imaginisce I-magicut Ribbon Cutter. If you click HERE it will link you to the video that shows how to use it. After you've watched the video and realize this is a MUST HAVE tool, you can click right HERE to order one! This one is on it's way to me right now! And I will be posting MY trial runs with it, right here on the blog. For those of you that don't know, I hoard my fair share of ribbon... and probably actually a LOT more than my fair share, LOL! I'm looking forward to no more frayed edges!!!

Well, that's all from me for now, but check back often! Or just sign up for the e-mails and have every blog post sent straight to your Inbox, so you won't miss a thing!

K&Company Smash Book Tour With Kim B

2012-02-04T15:40:00.000-05:00

Since a lot of the Design Team has shared their Smash Book with you by K&Company, I decided to do a video and share mine too! I hope you enjoy my little tour and all these items can be purchased in the Cutters Creek online store. Enjoy! And please feel free to leave me a comment or ask any questions.

Mandie's Keepsakes Box

2012-01-31T00:01:00.003-05:00

When I started this project it was going to be a quick and pretty little box. I had a very simple idea in my head for what I wanted to do... and then I found myself adding a little more here and doing a bit more there, and found myself spending many hours creating this little box.

It started lift and a plain wooden "book-look" box that I had purchased a couple years ago, on clearance for $.29. I had purchased several because they were so cheap and cute. Fast forward to a few weeks ago and I decided to FINALLY alter one of them.

To begin, I sprayed the "Pages" part with lots of Glimmer Mist. I started with the Walnut Gold, added some Coffee Shop and then finally some Tattered Leather. Then I used my Black Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber to paint the rest of the outside of the book. Then I decided to work on the inside of the book first.

I started with some fabric remnants that I picked up at a local craft store. I loved the silky patterned one so I simply used my Scor Tape and adhered it to a sheet of chipboard that I cut slightly smaller than the inside measurements (to allot for the fabric's bulk). Then I used my Glossy Accents to adhere this piece to the inside bottom of my box. Did you know that Glossy Accents is an excellent adhesive as well? I then repeated this to line the inside of my lid. Next a grabbed the music note fabric and cut small pieces of chipboard to do all of the inside sides on the box. Since the music note fabric was plain white cotton I wanted to make it co-ordinate just a bit more. So, I grabbed my Bazzill Splat Mat, my Heat Tool, a Mini Mister filled with water and my Glimmer Mists! First I sprayed the ribbon with water to make the dyes soak in better. Then I randomly sprayed Mel's Diner, Wheat Beer and Meadow Green all over my fabric. I used my Heat Tool to dry it and then cut it to cover my chipboard and used more Scor Tape to adhere it. Then used the Glossy Accents to attach all the pieces to the sides. I also used some giant binder clips to make sure my pieces stayed tight to the surface to dry.

Next I started working on my cover. Remember the Mosaic card I posted here a few days ago? Well, this is the original project that I had cut all those pieces for. I just cut strips from my Echo Park Paper "For the Record" 6 x 6 Paper Pad. This technique would really be great with any of Echo Parks lines! Then I inked all the edges of my pieces by swiping them over my Walnut Stain Distress Ink Pad. Then I very sparingly added Glossy Accents to the back of each piece as I created my pattern. I made sure to leave space for my title piece. Then I used my Glossy Accents to cover each piece of paper to give it a glass tile look and let it dry.

For my title, I had picked up these really cute "mistables" at a LSS a while ago and they've been sitting on my desk waiting for just the right project. I think this qualifies. So I used my Wheat Beer Glimmer Mist to cover the whole thing. Then I used my Barn Door and Walnut Stain Distress Inks around the edges. Then I added a layer of the Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint. When it was dry I added more Walnut Stain Distress Ink to the cracks (just liberally apply it with your Ink Blending Tool and then use a damp cloth to wipe off the top). Then I added 2 layers of chipboard behind it to raise it up a bit more. After I adhered it to my box with more Glossy Accents I then added the Glossy Accents to the top of this as well.

So here is where I will mention what I will call my "Glossy Accident"... I had actually already completed most of my box when I was adding that final title "tile". When I set it aside to dry I didn't realize that it was sitting at the tiniest angle... and when I came back to it to take photos I gasped. The Glossy Accents had slowly traveled over the edge of my tile, through the other tiles and down the side of my box. Well, I'd invested too much time in this box to toss it aside and start again, so I decided to roll with it and disguise it as much as I can! So I added Glossy Accents to the whole top of the box. First I very carefully outlined the whole top of the box with it and let the outline dry on a completely level surface (yes, I checked it with a level to be certain). Then I filled in the rest of the "grout" space with a thin coat. When that was dry I added one more layer to all of my tiles to be sure they all stood out. I love the finished effect!

Ok, so now I will tell you how I decorated the back of my book box. I wanted it to sit flat so I needed a flat design. I created a stencil from one of the shapes in one the For the Record papers. Then I used my White Adirondack Paint Dabber to fill in my shape. When it was dry I removed the mask and then I randomly added my Glimmer Mist using the Wheat Beer, Coffee Shop, Walnut Gold and Tattered Leather to it. Then I painted the Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint over the area and when that was dry I added Scor Tape around the edges, peeled off the backing and covered it with antique gold glitter. A quick simple way to make sure your glitter goes on perfectly straight!

Here's a look at the spine of the book. I simply added my paper (this was a 12 x 12 sheet from the same line) and added some May Arts Velvet Ric Rac to the edges. After that previously mentioned "Glossy Accident" I added the Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint over the top as well to mask that little boo-boo.

I's so thrilled with how my little book box turned out, now I just need to find some special treasures to tuck inside!

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Super Fast Valentine Card with Lori

2012-01-30T00:01:00.002-05:00

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 cut the mat with my Cricut), 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.

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Card Making Tutorial

2012-01-26T00:01:00.002-05:00

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

2012-01-23T12:00:00.006-05:00

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

2012-01-21T00:01:00.001-05:00

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

2012-01-19T00:01:00.003-05:00

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....

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Smashing Organization by Laura C

2012-01-17T23:00:00.002-05:00

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

2012-01-17T09:50:00.000-05:00

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.

A Valentine Tag with Chris

2012-01-15T00:01:00.000-05:00

The tag background is colored with Barn Door, Broken China, and Antique Linen Distress Inks. I smeared them on my Bazzill Splat Mat and spritzed them with a bit of water before dragging my tag through it. Once it was dry I used Distress Embossing Pad (Clear) and inked up a quote stamp. I stamped it three times down the card with some of the quote going off the edges. I embossed with Gold Super Fine Embossing Powder. I put that aside and cut a piece of acetate to about the size of the tag and ran it through an embossing folder (any design would work). I flipped it to the debossed side and used Gold Stickles to fill in a few of the spots. While that dried, I painted my chipboard letter with some gesso so it would have some texture—and again waited for that to dry. Once it was dry I inked the edges with Barn Door and Aged Mahogany Distress Inks and set it aside.

I layered the acetate onto the tag hiding two Super Strength Glue Dots under where the letter V was going. I glued the V down using Glossy Accents and added a scrap border along the bottom. It still needed some pizazz so I cut a heart, smeared it with a lot of flower soft glue and then thickly layered on Ruby (from the Diamond Range collection—wow—it absolutely shimmers!). I had some silver twigs that I broke off and sprayed with some Gold Metallic Glimmer mist and used glossy accents to adhere to the “V”. I finally layered on the hear using a Glue Dot Pop Dot; cut a ribbon from my stash and finished off the tag.

What are you making for Valentine’s Day?

Resources from Cutters Creek:

Tim Holtz Distress Inks—Broken China, Antique Linen, Barn Door, Aged Mahogany, Clear
Super Fine Embossing Powder—Gold
Acrylic Sheets
Embossing Folders—Cuttle Bug or Sizzix
Gold Stickles
Glossy Accents
Glue Dots—Pop Up, Craft Dots
Flower Soft Adhesive
Diamond Range Flower Soft—Ruby
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist—Gold Metallic

Happy Days Layout with Lori

2012-01-12T00:01:00.001-05:00

There are so many style option with the Happy Days collection from Echo Park Paper, it seems like I can just keep making things that look "new"! So I thought I'd share a layout I made last weekend.

The fun retro patterns and bright colors go great with all of those "little kid" pictures I'm trying to catch up on. This is my almost 11yo daughter, about 9 years ago, beginning her art "career". (She is becoming a pretty accomplished cartoonist, so I'm very glad to have captured this!) For a girly feel, I grabbed the small flower print paper from the collection, and add the mini polka dots and just a bit of the stripe. Sticking with the retro feel, I cut my title with my Cricut from the Nifty Fifties cartridge and added some of the mini alpha stickers from the collection.

I wanted to add a journaling block to my layout, but the flower ones in the collection weren't colors I wanted to use, so I picked the one with the big green car on it and just used embellishments to cover up the car.

I used some o the flower stickers in the collection, along with some flowers cut with the Cricut and a flower made with gathered crochet lace. I just threaded some bakers twine through the holes in the lace and pulled it until I could gather it into a loose circle. I threaded the leftover twine through a button and tied it into a bow, and used that for my flower center. The sentiment at the top of the journaling card is stamped, and the rest is stickers from the collection.

Items available at Cutters Creek:

Happy Days collection kit from Echo Park Paper
ATG Adhesive Refills
Nifty Fifties Cricut Cartridge (special request, and Kim can get most cartridges)
Doodle Twine bakers twine

Other items used:

cardstock from Bazzil
brads from my stash
Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge & all other items from CTMH

If you're interested in a just-for-fun challenge blog, this is my layout for this month's Scrappy Frog's "use lace" challenge.

Double Dutch Fold Card

2012-01-10T00:01:00.004-05:00

My Tuesday Tutorial post for you today is a card I saw on Splitcoast Stampers called a Double Dutch Fold Card. Of course I had to give it a try.

This card fits in a standard A2 envelope. I started with a piece of Bazzill White card stock cut at 4 3/16" X 9" and scored at 5 1/2". I also cut a piece of the white card stock 2" x 8 1/2" scored at 2 1/8" and 6 3/8". I used my ATG Gun to adhere the the larger piece to the smaller piece centering it between the folds of the smaller piece. When finished the top folds down and the two smaller sides fold in like a gate fold card. I then cut a dark turquoise mat from Core' denations card stock. For the larger flap I cut the blue mat at 4" X 3 3/4". The smaller flaps I cut the blue ( think I didn't write it down sorry) at 2" X 1 7/8". The polka dotted patterned paper is from the Echo Park Paper Pad. The patterned paper was cut 1/4" smaller than the blue mat. I cut my cupcake from the Sweet Tooth Cricut cartridge at 3 1.2". I cut the heart out of red paper from my stash and then used some Magenta Stickles on the heart to give it some sparkle. Finally I add some faux stitching and doodle dots to the chocolate layer.

I sure hope you will give the card a try. It was a lot of fun to make something a little out of the ordinary.

Love You! Valentine's Day Card

2012-01-04T00:01:00.001-05:00

Well for a lot of us the holiday decorations are put away and the kids have gone back to school. I had to go back to work today (bummer!) So it is time to start thinking about the next upcoming holiday, Valentines Day. It is also time to start using all those new crafting goodies you all got over the holidays. To help you out on both counts, I have this Valentines Day card to share with you all.

I started with a 4 1/4" X 5 1/2" white card stock base. I added a black mat cut at 4" X 5 1/4" and then one more white mat cut at 3 3/4" X 5" and finally a patterned paper from the My Minds Eye Sunshine 6" X 6" Paper pad. I inked the edges of all the mat layers with some Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink. For the image on my card, I used the Paper Trimmings cartridge (a circle exclusive sorry). I cut both layers at 3 1/2" and cut the bottom layer from white card stock and the open top layer from red card stock. Using the same cartridge I cut a circle at 2 1/2" out of black card stock. The Love sentiment is from the Tie the Knot cartridge (which I believe Cutters Creek customer service can special order for you, just ask) and cut at 2". Now to glitz up the card I a bit I sprayed the white background of the heart frame image and the Love with Pearl Glimmer Mist. Pearl is still one of my favorite colors and a great color for those just getting started with Glimmer Mist. It is a wonderful way to has simmer and shine and a glittery look to something without having to break out the glitter and glue. For my black circle I first spritz the black with some Slate Glimmer Mist. Then I used some Oil Slick Glimmer Glaze (this is a special order item again, just ask Customer Service at the Cutters Creek site for help). I am so pleased with the effect I got from the glaze on the circle. It really darkened the color and left the circle with this nice shiny glaze to it. I strongly urge you all to give the glaze a try sometime. Now for the red layer on the heart frame and the heart from the sentiment. To be honest I first spritzed both of them with some Rum Punch Glimmer Mist. While I loved the sparkle it was really just a tad to light and didn't give me the affect I was looking for. So what to do? I took out my Bordeaux Glimmer Glam (another special order item from Cutters Creek) and brush on a couple of coats of it on my two red pieces. Love the look and depth of color I got. One more fun way to add shimmer and shine to a project. I layered all the images together and after adding a piece of red ribbon for color to my card front adhered the heart frame image with some ASI Kool Tak Clear Foam Pads. To finish the card I added some red rhinestones from Want2Scrap and some smaller white pearls from my stash.

New Year's Eve Place Cards with Chris

2011-12-31T00:01:00.002-05:00

Need place cards quickly? Want fancy ones? You can make them in less than an hour using your POW Glitter paper and Tim Holtz Rosette Die. I made 3 black and 3 silver rosettes; used my Scor Tape (1/8 inch size) to join the strips and then a bit of glossy accents in the center to hold the circles so they don’t pop. I cut the hands of the clock freehand out of the remnants, glued them on the top circle (again using Scor tape).

I then cut six 3.5x4.25 rectangles from black cardstock; scored & folded them at 2 1/8 inches and used a Glue Dots super strength dot to adhere the clock face to one corner. Then just using a silver pen I handwrote the names and the year—and voila—snazzy place cards for New Year’s Eve.

Happy New Year to each and every one of you!

Resources from Cutters Creek:

American Craft POW Glitter Paper: Silver and Black
Tim Holtz Rosette Die
Scor Tape
Glossy Accents
Glue Dots
Scor Pal

Paper Scrap Jewelry with Lori

2011-12-30T00:01:00.008-05:00

If you're like me, by the time you've made several projects with your favorite papers, you have a bunch of scraps left that you can't BEAR to part with because it's SO COOL. One of my new favorite paper scrap projects is jewelry. There are plenty of ways to go here, from fast & simple to the limits of your imagination.

So today, I wanted to share a recent jewelry project I made using some of MY favorite papers - Steampunk Debutante from Graphic45. This paper is currently sold out at Cutters Creek, but I KNOW you have your own favorite to work with already! Here's the centerpiece of my project:

While this project is super easy, it is a little time consuming, just because of drying time. Here's what I did: I smashed a bottle cap using a No More Shims mat in my Sizzix Big Kick (this was actually the inspiration for this project, as seeing the smashed bottle cap sitting there the shape reminded me of a gear). Next, I colored/distressed the bottle cap "frame" area using various inks and embossing powders. (Distress inks will NOT work for this project as they bead up.) You can randomly sprinkle on the embossing powders and heat them with a heat tool, then once cool add your ink color(s) and heat again to dry the ink.

Next, I chose the image I wanted to frame, and adhered it to the center of the bottle cap with Glossy Accents and let it dry. Once dry, I squeezed on more Glossy Accents around the outer edge and sprinkled in a micro bead mixture I had in my stash. Suze Weinburg's Beadazzles are a great option for this! I filled the rest of the frame with the Glossy Accents and let it dry over night. IMPORTANT: If you do this all at once, your Glossy Accents will crack as it dries (what I wanted and got for this piece, but for most you will not) - if you want a clean & smooth surface, be sure to fill in layers, letting it dry completely in between each layer.

Finally, I just needed to decide how to attach the piece to my project. For this necklace, I chose to drill holes in the sides where I wanted to attach it to the rest of the piece. An even easier option is to attach a pendant bail to the back of the bottle cap and string it right on to your chain. Here's a view of my finished project:

If you'd like to see a super easy bracelet project I made for my Mom for Christmas, I've got a post today over on my blog. Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to let us know if you have any questions about this fun technique.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-28T00:01:00.000-05:00

I sure hope everyone has been having a great holiday season. I had a little time to craft and put together this New Year’s card to send to a friend.

My card is 4 1/4” x 5 1/2” portrait card made from Smooth Bazzill Card stock. The solid colored paper is from my scrap bin. I cut a purple mat at 4” X 5 1/4” and the patterned paper is cut at 3 3/4” X 5” and is from the Echo Park Summer Days paper pad. Finally I cut a pink mat 1 1/2” X 3/3/4” and a purple mat at 1 1/4” X 3 1/2”. I used my ATG Gun to adhere the layers together. I cut the bird at 4” from the 3 Birds on Parade Cricut cartridge and adhered the layers and added some white stitching with my gel pen. This image has a cupcake it cuts out in the birds hand but I didn’t want the cupcake so I cut it off and did not cut the other cupcake layers. To finish off my card, I added some Want2Scrap Rhinestones to the birds eye and the four corners of the sentiment layer. I stamped the sentiment in some Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I added the bird to the front of my card with some foam tape. I hope every had a great and prosperous new year!
Items from Cutters Creek:
Smooth Bazzill Card stock
Echo Park Summer Days
ATG
Want2Scrap Rhinestones
Memento Tuxedo Black

Mini Album by Chris

2011-12-26T00:11:00.000-05:00

A KaiserCraft Beyond the Page album and lots of goodies from my art room came together as a Grandma album. (Check out these catalogue and idea magazines that Kim has been putting in her packages.)

Albums are a piece of cake to do; you just need some imagination (which every one of you has!), glue, and a variety of supplies. All the pages in this album are covered with Echo Park paper, sanded, coated with some Picket Fence Distress Stain and edged with either Tattered Rose Distress Ink or Mustard Seed Distress Ink. The gems adorning the different pages are I-Rocks and Silver Pearl Liquid Pearls. I used my Alcohol Inks—willow and Citrus to color the metallic letters (grandchildren) and Xmas Red Stickles to outline one rose. The white photomats on the last two pages are edged with Ripe Persimmon Distress Ink and run through either the swiss dot cuttlebug embossing folder or the Tim Holtz Regal Flourish one and the flourish is using the flourish die and white glitter cardstock. To finish it off, I sprayed each page with Tattered Angels Old Lace Mist and used 1/8 inch scor tape to adhere the green ribbon around the edges of the largest page.

What’s on your shelves that you could combine with a Beyond the Page project?

Supplies from Cutters Creek:
KaiserCraft Beyond the Page Album
Echo Park paper
Tim Holtz Distress Stain—Picket Fence
Tim Holtz Alterations—Elegant Flourishes
Tim Holtz Distress Inks—Ripe Persimmon, Tattered Rose, Mustard Seed
Ranger Liquid Pearls—Silver Pearl
IRock
Stickles
AC Glitter Cardstock
Tattered Angels—Old Lace
Scor Tape

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays From Cutters Creek

2011-12-23T00:01:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Cutters Creek Design Team! Your business this year is so appreciated and the Design Team has had a blast bringing you beautiful projects all year long. Have a safe holiday and a wonderful time with your loved ones. And as you celebrate remember, it is not the presents you receive but the presence of those in your life both family and friends.

Taking your Scrapbook Supplies off the page

2011-12-20T23:30:00.001-05:00

We all spend a lot of time collecting scrapbook supplies and most of us got started with scrapbooking because we loved crafts in general. I thought I would share a few ways I use my scrapbook supplies to make things other than paper crafts. Also I would like to apologize for the lateness of this Tutorial Tuesday. I accidentally washed my iphone in my jeans pocket the other day and I didn’t know how to function. I had my calendar in there, all my contacts and everything so I’ve been a little out of sorts for the past few days.

This first project is a flower I made for my daughter to wear in her hair.

I printed the Santa image from Santa’s Village on my Imagine and then punched it out with a 1 inch circle punch. I added it to a bottle cap with a glue dot and sealed it with an epoxy sticker.

My next project and the tutorial part of this post is how to make a glass tile pendant. First, I picked some paper that had a nice small repeating pattern. You pick paper because you think it’s pretty so why wouldn’t you like jewelry made out of it ? I chose this pattern from Echo Park and punched a 1 inch square you could also use your paper cutter if you don’t have a 1 inch square punch.

Here is a picture of my paper square and my glass tile ( you can also use a scrabble tile if you have those laying around).

Next you take some glossy accents and kind of dot it all over the front of the piece of paper. Move slowly and don’t shake it you don’t want to get bubbles.

Then you lay your tile on top of the paper and center it. Let it dry for quite a while. I laid mine of wax paper so I didn’t glue it down to my desk.

After it is good and dry, you need to turn it over. If you have any excess paper, gently sand it off around the edges and put a coat of glossy accents over the back of the paper too. When both of your coats are dry, you need to add a bail to the tile with some really good strong glue so that you can attach it to a necklace. My paper tile isn’t done yet, so I’m using Miss Piggy as an example for this step.

Now I’m ready to add it to some chain or a ribbon and wear it as a necklace.

Cutters Creek Shopping List

Glossy Accents

Scrapbook paper

Baby Shower Card by Chris

2011-12-17T00:01:00.000-05:00

I love my Nestabilities Labels Four and have used 3 graduated sizes here to make this shower card. I cut four labels—2 from the largest die, skipped a size and did one each of the next two dies. All edges were inked with Tattered Rose Distress Inks.

To assemble the card base I scored the back piece straight across the top of the side parentheses. I then used my ATG gun to glue above the score line and glue the two pieces together and trimmed off the bottom of the card so it would stand as an easel. The yellow layer was glued down next and the green swiss dot layer was mounted with pop ups. I wrapped the bakers twine around the top and bottom.

To make the stork and baby I used New Arrival Cricut Cartridge and cut the baby at 2 inches. The face is one of Peachy Keen stamps. (I used Just Baby Face Assortment which I bet Kim can get for you if you want.) The stork was cut at 3 inches. To make this stork I cut 2 extra body pieces because I wanted to make the wings look as if they were flapping in flight. All three pieces went through my Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls embossing folder. I didn’t want the neck and face to have the swirls so I left those parts hanging out as it went through my Big shot. I glued the first layer down. The next two layers I trimmed off the neck and head and glued down only the part closest to the neck. I inserted pop ups between the wings to raise them up and then layered the baby bundle over his beak. The top of the bundle is glued down, but the bottom is raised on another pop up. (Lots and lots of dimension in this card.)

To finish off the card I made a rosette using Tim Holtz Alterations Paper Rosette (which Kim had special ordered for me) and a Winter Twinkle Jewel on the outside and a sentiment on the inside.

These Products can be found at Cutters Creek:
Spellbinder Dies
Tim Holtz Distressed Inks
Twinkle Jewels
Peachy Keen Stamps
Doodlebug Bakers Twine

Ho Ho Ho Garland

2011-12-11T00:01:00.001-05:00

I have a garland or banner that I made to decorate my office at work. All of the colors and patterned paper were printing and cut on my Imagine using the Snow Angel Imagine Cartridge and the Mr Frosty Patterned Imagine Cartridge. The stocking is cut at 5" using the Simply Charmed Cartridge. This picture was taken with my cell phone at work hanging on my white board in my office.

Here is a close up of one of the stockings. I adhered all the layers with some Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive. The letters were added with some ASI Kool Tac Clear Foam Pads. I cut the patches for the toe and heel of the stocking out of white card stock as well as the top cuff. I used my Xyron to add some adhesive to the top of each of these white pieces and then covered them with Ultra Fine White Flower Soft. Finally I used my Crop-a-Dile to punch a hole at the top of each stocking. I ran someDoodlebug Twine through the holes to hang my stockings. Below are close ups of the other stockings.

Telescope Card by Chris

2011-12-09T00:01:00.000-05:00

I used my Spellbinders Nestabilities to cut three graduated circles. The smallest (3 inches) is the large circle of the Nestabilities Standard Circle set; the second circle (3.5 inches) is the second to largest of the Petite Scallops set; and the largest one (4.25 inches) is the largest of the Lacey Circles set. I inked up the recessed side of the Cuttlebug Snowflakes embossing folder with Tim Holtz embossing ink and after running it through my big shot I sprinkled it with white embossing powder that I heat set and then sanded. It gave it a nice glossy finish and (I hope) looked a bit like snow. I edged the circle with iced spruce ink from the Limited Edition set. The 3D snowflake is from Joys of the Season cricut cartridge, cut at 2 inches. (I bet Kim can get it for you if you don’t have it.) Both layers were sprayed with Tattered Angels Pearl Mist, mounted using ASI’s Kool Tak 3D Clear Foam pads and a Twinkle Jewel (Winter) added to the center with a Mini Glue Dot.

Next I used Spellbinders Fancy Tags Two and a Let It Snow stamp that I had in my stash. I embossed it using Tim Holtz’s embossing pad and white embossing powder. I glued this with my zig pen across the center of the second circle. For the third circle I again used the embossing pad and covered it with silver powder. I didn’t worry about keeping the inside edges neat as I knew I would cover this with another white circle (3.5 inches) on which I again stamped with the embossing pad, but this time I used clear embossing powder and heat set it. I made a second snowman on a scrap piece of paper and cut it out and used as a mask. With the mask covering my stamped image, I brayered on layers of distress ink, starting with Tumbled Glass, then Broken China, and finally, Faded Jeans. I used a wet watercolor brush to blend the inks a bit more and create some shadows inside the snowman. To give it some more dimension I cut one more 3.5 circle and tore off the top edge of it to set before the snowman. It’s edges were also inked with Tumbled Glass.

To put it together I centered the medium circle so the image was upside down over the large circle with its image right side up and pierced a hole. I put aside the large circle and centered the top circle (again upside down) over the middle one (right side up) and pierced it. The final hole at the top was made through the circle and a ribbon loop to pull it open. After all holes were punched, I lined the holes back up and used small brads to join them and voila—folded it looks like a stacked circle, open--a tiered card.

These products can be found at Cutters Creek:

Spellbinder Dies

Tim Holtz Limited Edition Winter Ink Pad Set

ASI (Kool Tac)

Glimmer Mist

Cuttlebug Embossing Folders

Twinkle Jewels

Quick & Easy Cards with Lori

2011-12-07T00:17:00.001-05:00

So, we're getting closer to Christmas here - who else needs some quick & easy cards? Ecstasy Crafts to the rescue! Some of my favorite images are "Gorjuss Girls", and Cutters Creek carries a beautiful sheet of "Winter Friend" images to make two cards. Best of all, they are currently on sale for 15% off - but you better hurry, there are only 4 left in stock as I type this! Of course, if those are all gone, there are lots of other awesome choices from Ecstasy Crafts available; just have a look around.

Here are the two cards I made, keeping it simple:

Using a white 5"x7" card base, I assembled my EC image. Then I used a pin clip to hold my "title" like a sign, and added a little bow of Doodle Twine to it. I added some black organdy ribbon beneath the image, then layered on some ribbon printed with a sentiment from my stash. I colored over a few little details in the image using a Copic Atyou Spica glitter pen in Black for a tiny bit of bling, but it doesn't show well in the photo.

Again I chose a 5"x7" white card base and layered my image onto it. I repeated the layered ribbon and added an accent made of white & black paper flowers and a blue plastic flower, held together with a black brad center. I again posted my "title card" in a pin clip and tied it with some Doodle Twine. This time, I highlighted some areas of the image using a Sakura Jelly Roll Stardust pen in clear.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my quick Gorjuss Girls! I have a more time-intensive, stamped and colored image over on my personal blog today if you'd like to check it out.

Do You Play??? Tutorial Tuesday by Laura C

2011-12-05T23:06:00.002-05:00

Today's "Tutorial Tuesday" is really going to be
"Tim Holtz Tuesday"....lol. Many people play
along with his "12 Tags of Christmas". Do you?

I love the inspiration, and I love trying to use
my "stash", but ok, I always need to pick up a
FEW new goodies too.....lol.

Now it IS day 5.....but I just had my Thanksgiving
company leave yesterday! So my take on Tag #1
is above. Now Tim can give you the directions much
better than I....lol....you can see them HERE.

But I can tell you....don't be overwhelmed, it's fun
to improvise! I love bling, not really the mess of
glitter, tho'....but I do love Stickles!! So the Noel
chipboard letters are done with Silver Stickles.
I made my own music paper also....using the
Holiday Wishes Stamp Set from Stampers
Anonymous....by stamping the sheet music in
the set twice, right next to each other, and
centering the banner die over the notes.

I hope you all are inspired to play today....
maybe go and get a little inky....just pick a
tag and have fun! And if you do know you
just can't live without one of the cool products
on this or another tag.....Kim's got your back
over at Cutter's Creek.....just let her know,
and she'll help you out! She's awesome that
way, ya know!

Items from Cutter's Creek:

Stampers Anonymous Holiday Wishes Set
Silver Stickles
Rock Candy Distress Stickles
Paint Daubers in Snow Cap
Limited Edition Winter Distress Inks
(this tag used Iced Spruce)
and Kim is glad to special order items
for ya too--just ask!!

Smash Books

2011-11-30T09:56:00.003-05:00

Hi and welcome to Tutorial Tuesday a day late. I'm sure all of you have heard people talking about Smash books. They are the latest thing in scrapbooking and allow you to have fun and not stress about your scrapbooks. The pages don't need to be perfect, just have fun. I have made this brief video to try and explain some of the smash products and hopefully inspire you to smash your memories into a journal.

Simple Christmas Ornaments by Deanna M

2011-11-27T00:00:00.000-05:00

To help get your holiday decorating started, today I have for you some ornaments for your tree. I found these wooden ornaments at a local store and picked up several. I started by painting them, the tree and wreath I painted green and the candy cane I painted red. The gingerbread man I did not paint. I used my Crop-a-dile to punch a hole in the top of each ornament.

For the tree ornament, I covered it with some Flower Soft glue and generously covered it with some Pine Ultra Fine Flower Soft. I used some Gold Stickles on the star and then added a bunch of different sizes and colors of pearls to the tree for decorations. I added a piece of red and white striped twine to hang the tree and it was finished.

The wreath ornament was done similarly to the tree. However I used some Vintage Christmas Flower Soft on the wreath. I added some Candy Cane Stickles to the ribbon and finished it with some tiny red pearls that I applied in groups of three and again added the twine to hang the ornament from my tree.

First, if I had to do the candy cane again, I think I would paint it white instead of red. For the candy cane I used some Candy Cane stickles to the ribbon. I used the Christmas Red stickles to add some red stripes and used the Frosted Lace stickles for the white stripes. This was a hard one to get a good picture of because of all the sparkle. I added the twine to hang this ornament as well.

This little gingerbread man is probably my favorite. Instead of painting this guy I sprayed him with some Sugar Maple and Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist. He sure does sparkle. I then added some faux stitching with my gel pen. I stamped his face using the Snow Cuties Peachy Keen stamps. I added some little pink cheeks with a Copic marker. I gave him a little bow tie and used some black pearls as buttons.
Items available at Cutters Creek:
Flower Soft Glue
Vintage Christmas Flower Soft
Pine Ultra Fine Flower Soft
Pearls
Stickles
Peachy Keen Snow Cuties Stamp
Blush Copic Marker
Crop-a-Dile
Twine

Asian Themed Birthday Card by Chris

2011-11-25T00:01:00.003-05:00

I decided not only make a gatefold card, which I haven’t done in a while, but also, to use my neglected Copic Markers. I had a free digi image already printed and some paper that had an Asian flavor to it—a perfect match.

I started with a 5.5 x 12 inch piece of plum Bazzill Card Stock and scored it at 2, 4, 8, and 10 inches with my Scor-Pal and creased the folds. On the front panels I layered black Card Stock (1 ¾ x 5 ¼ inches) and decorative Card Stock (1 ½ x 5 inches). Inside I put another piece of decorative Card Stock (3 7/8 x 5 7/16 inches). All the decorative panels were edged with Tim Holtz Milled Lavender Distress Ink.

I colored the geisha; then hand trimmed her and mounted her with my Zig Glue Pen onto some black Card Stock, which I also hand-trimmed with my Cutter Bee Scissors. She was mounted with Pop Up Glue Dots on a two-layer panel. The black piece is 3 1/8x 4 ¼ and the plum piece is 4 1/8 x 3. Using my ATG, I glued one half of the panel she was on and set it on the left front of the card. To finish the card I added some red Twinkle Jewels (Skittles) on the front panel, and used one of my Parisian Accents from the Spellbinders Shapeabilities set to cut a black Card Stock label for inside. The sentiment was printed on my computer using a free font.

The geisha girl is colored with:
Hair: C5, C7, C9
Skin: E00, E000, E50
Teapot: C1, C2, C3
Kimono & hair flower: R29, R39, R46
Flowers and butterflies: YR21, YR23, BG72, G82, YG61
Socks & Cat: C1
Sandals: E13, E35
Shadow: BG000

Happy Thanksgiving From Us To You!

2011-11-24T00:01:00.001-05:00

While cleaning and reorganizing, I came upon this photo of myself and some of the Cutters Creek Design Team Members at CHA Summer 2011. Maybe this would have been better if I found it at Halloween……………lol! From left to right: Laura C, Kim B. Mandie W, and Lori B. We were goofing around a bit and let our hair down! Don’t you just love Laura’s pink hair?

I am thankful for all of you wonderful customers and crafters that come to the Cutters Creek Design Team blog and check out our projects each week. Thank you!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy your families during this wonderful holiday of thanks and giving.

Mandie's Tim Holtz Inspired Tags

2011-11-22T00:01:00.000-05:00

I will admit, I look forward to seeing what Tim Holtz comes up with each year for the Tags of Christmas Past. So this year, before he begins, I decided to review some of the previous years tags for some inspiration and here are a few of the tags I came up with (please excuse the iPhone photos)

For this first tag I used Walnut Nut Stain, Frayed Burlap and Gathered Twigs Distress Inks. I used the direct to paper method and just kept adding ink, strait from the pad onto the paper, until I was happy. Then I stamped my deer onto Kraft Cardstock and cut it out. I coated it with my Rock Candy Crackle Paint for a bit of bling. Finally I tore some strips of natural denim and stamped the music notes. I stuck them down with some Scor Tape and attached the deer with some foam adhesive. I added a cool strip of fabric (from the remnants section at a fabric store) to the top and called it done!

For my "Autumn Splendor" tag, I used Festive Berries, Ripe Persimmon and Peeled Paint Distress Inks with my Blending Tool to create the background. Then I used a set of leaf stamps and stamped my images with Distress Inks. On a piece of scrap cardstock I stamped "Autumn Splendor" with Embossing Ink and embossed it with Gold Embossing Powder and my Heat Tool. Then I blended a bit of ink over to top of it. I attached my phrase with some foam adhesive ad added an acrylic acorn.

For this tag I used only my Winter Seasonal Distress Inks for color. I added the Festive Berries and Evergreen Bough to the background. Then I spritzed it all over with my Mini Mister and crumpled the tag. I dried it a bit with my Heat Tool while it was still crumpled up and then carefully smoothed it a little. I used the Iced Spruce and ran it over the top of the tag, catching the raised wrinkles. Then I used my hands to smooth it a bit more. On some scrap paper I stamped my Santa and my "Merry Christmas". I inked Santa with the Evergreen Bough and then coated him with the Rock Candy Crackle Paint. When he dried, I added the Festive Berries to the rest of the piece. I tore it out and then matted it on a piece of torn Kraft Cardstock. I also inked my Merry Christmas with the Festive Berries and Iced Spruce. Then I attached both pieces with foam adhesive. I inked up my piece of mesh ribbon with Festive Berries too!

My last tag is my favorite. I used Broken China, Evergreen Bough and Seedless Preserves to ink up my background. Using the same colors, I stamped snowflakes all over the background. Then I used some Stickles and smeared them across the background with my finger for a bit of sparkle. I stamped my deer with Evergreen Bough, coated it with Rock Candy Crackle Paint and fussy cut it and attached it with foam adhesive. I had the "Season's Greetings" epoxy sticker in my stash and added some tinsel ribbon.

For clean up when you are done playing with your inks, I HIGHLY recommend the Inkssentials Craft Scrubbie! It get all of that ink off of your fingers!

A Beautiful Autumn Card by Chris

2011-11-21T00:01:00.001-05:00

I am still working on ways to use and reuse many of my cool items from Kim. One that kept looking at was the Cuttlebug Owl Flourish Embossing Folder, which I just didn’t want to do as an embossed card front again and I wanted to try out a new technique I learned, but what to do, to merge them?

I started with a center step card. The base was 11 by 5.5 inches and I had some cute paper that looks like tree bark. I decided to use my Scor-Pal and I cut both sides one inch in from the edges and from 1-inch mark to about 6.5 inches. Both sides were then scored between the cut line and the edge at 1 inch (mountain), 2 inch (valley), and 6.5 inches (mountain) and the center piece was scored at 5.5 inches (mountain). I then folded them to make my card shape.

I used my Cricut cartridge Stretch Your Imagination (check with Kim if she can get you this one) and cut the squirrel and nuts with the shift key at 4 inches. I made a shadow piece and using Pop Up Dots raised the acorns up slightly. I used my ATG to glue it down to one of the side steps. I then took my Owl Flourish and embossed some Core’dinations Cardstock, sandpapered the raised image, and fussy cut the owl and flourish out of the paper. I glued this right along the top of the lower fold in the center and added some Cinnamon Stickles for the eyes. I then cut the word "Autumn" from the Stretch Your Imagination cart at 5 inches and rubbed the edges with some Walnut Stain Distress Ink. The shadow is cut from Chestnut American Crafts Glitter Cardstock. I did a multi-cut of 2 to get this out and inked the cut edges with Walnut Stain. I used my Zig Glue Pen to attach the word to the shadow and then pop dotted the shadow up along the base.

The card needed a sentiment and I decided to use my Spellbinders Labels Twenty Three, printed the sentiment with my computer and inked the edges with Vintage Photo, Mustard Seed, and Ripe Persimmon Distress Inks and glued it to the back of the card.

The card still needed some pizzazz. Taking a fall leaf stamp, a Clear Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad, my Embossing Magic pad, and some white embossing powder I stamped and embossed the image several times on cream cardstock. I then used several of my Distress Inks (Dried Marigold, Mustard Seed, the Limited Edition of the Fall Colors, Walnut Stain, Spiced Marmalade, and Crushed Olive) and applied them directly to the paper smearing them alongside of each other over the leaves. Then I took my Tattered Angels Dazzling Diamonds and sprayed the heck out of each of the leaves. It looks a mess but be patient. Set them aside and let them dry—totally dry, no rushing. You get a blended, shiny and crisp texture to the cardstock when it dries. (It works terrifically on watercolor paper too.) When the leaves were totally dry, I fussy cut them out and used pop dots to arrange them on the card. I do so hope you can see the shine in the pictures, but if not—take my word for it, it’s great!

I’m thinking that this might look lovely as part of a table centerpiece rather than mailing it out. What do you think?

It's Leftover Time....

2011-11-19T23:50:00.006-05:00

Well, it's time for the end to our series, on the
amazing Echo Park paper packs! I made the
card above with a kraft cardstock base, the
chipboard santa, "tis the season" sentiment,
and button, the "north pole" sticker, and the
"nice list" is a journal box. Some twine and
some Want2Scrap pearls, and it's a quick,
cute card for the holidays.

Then, I just still had so many goodies, I
thought I'd make some tags too.....

I used a few stamps from my stash, the tags are
inked with Distress Ink in Walnut Stain, the
Happy Holidays is from the journal box sheet,
the noel and poinsettia are from the sticker
sheet. A pretty punched edge on red cardstock,
some red pearls and bling, and yes, my fav, a
bit of twine finish them off.

And in honor of the upcoming Thanksgiving
holiday, I thought it was only fair that I
share my leftovers.....

This week you saw 11 cards and 3 tags....and there is still
this much of the papers and stickers left....to make more
cards, to scrap with....so many options!

Hope you enjoyed this week, I sure did.....but time to
use up my leftovers.....to finish making my holiday
cards!!

Stop by Cutter's Creek to find:
Echo Park paper packs
Echo Park Chipboard
Want2Scrap Bling
Distress Inks
Doodlebug Twine

Are We There Yet? EP Cards day 5!

2011-11-18T23:54:00.004-05:00

Are you tired of me yet??.....lol. I hope not!!
Today these are really two of my fav cards.
And still so easy to make! Both cards are just
a layer of pretty paper from yes, again, the
Echo Park Season's Greetings collection
(the 2nd card, I roughed up the edges a bit),
on a base of kraft cardstock. Both cards have a
second layer of paper, corners rounded, inked
with Vintage Photo ink (the top card, kraft
cardstock, the bottom card, the gorgeous stripe).

For the bottom card....that center piece is just one
of the journal boxes in the collection....it's so
pretty on it's own! A little twine, the wreath
and sentiment from the sticker sheet in the
collection, a bit of glossy accents on the berries
on the journal card and wreath, and it's done.

The finished project is here:

Now the top card....yep, another journal box....
those things, truly make card making a snap!!!
I added crinkle ribbon (I pleat that using score tape)
and bow, and topped it with a snowflake sticker,
the large chipboard snowflake, and a chipboard
button from the collection as well, tied up with twine.
A few of the red Want2Scrap Pearls scattered,
the "happy holidays" sentiment from the alpha
sticker sheet in the kit.....and it's also complete!

Hope you are inspired to get in some crafty fun
time this weekend!

Let me know what you think of the series....
would you like to see something like this again
with a different collection? Was it helpful?

All your cardmaking needs are available at Cutter's Creek:
Echo Park 12x12 paper collections (Season's Greetings)
Echo Park chipboard
Distress Ink (Vintage Photo)
Want2Scrap Bling
Glossy Accents

Ode to Cardmaking Joy.....

2011-11-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

Cardmaking joy, is buying one AWESOME kit from
Echo Park....yes, that wonderful Season's Greetings
Kit, adding a fav punch, a little bling, a little ink, and
making quick, beautiful cards!!

The first card today, used the gorgeous burgundy
swirl paper, on a black cardstock base. Then just
a 1&1/2" strip of black punched with a lacy punch,
the black polka dot banner strip from the border
sheet, the JOY and tree stickers that are in the kit,
the tree layered on the burgundy swirl and then
black cardstock, frames it just right, and then a bit
of Black Soot Distress Ink around the edges, and
a bit of bling, and it's a finished, simple, but very
elegant card!

Next up is this "picture postcard":

Love that swirly background paper, and the pretty
tree stickers from the sticker set! I ripped a piece
of brown paper, and a piece of kraft paper that I then
inked with Vintage Photo Distress ink. The stamp
sticker on a square of brown cardstock, and then
placed in the upper right corner....and how simple
is that??

Hope you enjoyed today's cards.....I've got to say....
I think I saved the best for last....so come back
tomorrow and Saturday, and see what you think!

And remember, I have a giveaway on my blog HERE,
so please stop by to comment....you can't win unless
you comment!!

And while you patiently wait for tomorrow....check
out Cutter's Creek for all your cardmaking/crafting
needs!!

Available at Cutter's Creek:
Echo Park Season's Greetings 12x12 kit
Want2Scrap bling
Distress Inks (Black Soot & Vintage Photo)

Frosty Fun....EP Cards Day 3

2011-11-17T00:00:00.002-05:00

Wow, day 3 already!! And here are 2 more simple card
ideas!! And both use the EP Season's Greetings 12x12
paper, the EP chipboard, twine, and Want2Scrap bling.

The card above, used a kraft cardstock base, the
stripe and burgundy swirl papers, and a strip of
kraft cardstock punched with a pretty lacy punch.
The "Merry" and the "Christmas" came from the
journal box sheet in the EP set, the 2 ornaments
are from the chipboard set. The bling and twine
bows, add the finishing touch. All papers were
inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

The next card, as cute as it is, is just so simple!!

A soft aqua blue base, layered with the soft swirl
background paper, the stripe is layered on that.
The piece with the holly and the aqua border...
it's a journal box!! It's layered onto a piece of
kraft cardstock, and then the aqua again. Frosty
is a sticker, and the "Seasons Greetings" is a
sticker....I layered it on kraft cardstock cut into
a banner. A punched border from the red swirl
paper, and some Want2Scrap red pearls finish
this one off.

Wow, just gotta say....hope you are seeing how
easy is it to grab one of these Echo Park kits,
and really run with it.....you add a few minimal
embellishments, and get major impact!!

Remember, Kim has all these goodies at
Cutter's Creek:
Echo Park paper collections (Season's Greetings)
Echo Park chipboard (Season's Greetings)
Want2Scrap bling and pearls (red pearls, silver swirls)
Doodlebug Twine
Distress Ink (Vintage Photo)

Holiday Cards....Day 2

2011-11-15T23:00:00.001-05:00

Today's cards.....more simple easy designs, and
again, all from that same awesome paper set...
the Echo Park (EP) Season's Greetings collection.

These 2 cards are a similar design....but have a very
different look.

The card above, starts with a kraft base. The strip
on the left, with the poinsettias, is from the border
strip paper in the set....I just love the variety on
that sheet for making cards!! The punched edge
adds a bit of elegance to the card, along with the
pretty bling swirl from Want2Scrap. I used the
"Merry Christmas" sentiment, from the EP
Season's Greetings chipboard.

I did "fussy cut" the large poinsettia that is
under the word "Christmas" from the same
poinsettia paper the base piece is cut from.
The papers were inked with Vintage Photo
Distress Ink.

The next card:

starts with a red cardstock base, I added the green/dot
paper, a rectangle of red in the middle, and then layered
on another piece of the border strip....that pretty holly,
then simply added the Season's Greetings sticker from
the set, a bit of Doodlebug Twine wrapped on the left
side, and Want2Scrap red pearls finish the card off, as
yummy berries, and an accent on the upper left corner.

Hope you enjoy today's cards....and maybe get a little
inspiration to make your own cards this year! It can
be a fun, quick project, and friends and family
will appreciate the special touch!!

Come back tomorrow to see what's in store....and
make sure to leave a comment here AND on my
blog HERE for a chance to win some blog candy
this week!!

Shop Cutter's Creek for all your cardmaking needs!!
Echo Park Season's Greetings 12x12 paper
Echo Park Season's Greetings chipboard
Distress Inks (Vintage Photo)
Want2Scrap Bling (Pearls and Swirls)
Doodlebug Twine

Tutorial Tuesday....and a week of "leftovers".....by Laura C

2011-11-14T20:03:00.006-05:00

It never fails, every year I say I'm making my own
holiday cards....and every year....it's Thanksgiving
before I know it.....and then December is a blur.....
and yep.....I end up sending store bought cards!

But not this time! And the difference is a "new" idea
that I've started using. These beautiful collection
packs from Echo Park are AMAZING. Not only do
you get beautiful papers, but also a sheet of journal
boxes, a sheet of border strips, and TWO sticker
sheets....with alphas, and so many great shapes
and designs to play with!

So I am going to show, this entire week, how to
take ONE paper pack, a few embellishments,
(twine, bling, buttons, ribbon, and chipboard)
and make quick and easy, beautiful cards!!
This works great for your holiday cards, but
this can work for ANY of the paper packs, for
ANY type of cards!!

The first card is this beauty:

Talk about quick and easy!! All cards are the 5&1/2"
by 4&1/4" size. I just made a kraft cardstock base,
and cut 2 of the border strips to fit (5&1/2"), cut a
strip of black cardstock, the "banner" is cut from one
of the papers in the pack, and the "Merry Christmas"
is on the border paper as well. I used the Echo Park
chipboard embellishments (the ornament and the
star "button"), pearls, a button from my stash, and
a bit of twine to finish this card off.

Next card:

Even more simple....this uses a red cardstock base,
layered with black cardstock (trimmed to see a thin
frame of red), and the poinsettia paper on that (inked
with Black Soot Distress Ink), then one of the journal
boxes, framed on the red cardstock. The "tis" is from
the alpha sheet, "The Season" is from the sticker sheet
(foam dotted) and the corners and poinsettia in the
upper left corner, are from that same chipboard sheet.

And just that easy....2 complete cards....but cards
definitely worthy of giving!!

Stay tuned all week long for more card ideas....all
made with the same Echo Park Season's Greetings
paper pack, the one Echo Park Season's Greetings
chipboard set, Doodlebug Twine, and a little bling!
We can get that task checked off of your holiday
to do list!!

Available at Cutter's Creek:
Echo Park Season's Greetings Collection
Echo Park Season's Greetings Chipboard
Doodlebug Twine
Want 2 Scrap (bling and pearls)
Black Soot Distress Ink

Honeypop Cards

2011-11-12T23:00:00.000-05:00

Honeypop paper is one of my favorite new products. I love pop up cards and this stuff makes some great ones. Honeypop paper is honeycomb tissue paper. There are stamps that are made to coordinate with the honeypop paper and they are adorable. For my first card I chose the stamp set Cupcake Birdy.

The paper for this card is from the Echo Park. I stamped the little bird with the cherry in its mouth and colored it with my copic markers. The Happy Birthday sentiment is also from the Cupcake Birdy set. Here is a picture of the inside of the card.

When you open the card, the cupcake spreads out. The stamp set also comes with a stamp of half a cupcake to stamp on the honeypop paper. The paper has a black arrow on it to show you which direction to stamp your image. You need to make sure the arrows on your stamp are going the same direction as the arrow on the paper.

I love this technique so much, I wanted to try a Christmas card with it. For the background paper on this card I printed one of the paper patterns from the Santa’s Village imagine cartridge on some kraft cardstock. This gives it a vintage feel which is perfect for the images on this cartridge. I added a poinsettia and an image of Santa checking his list.

I had a pack of green honeypop paper and thought I would try to make my own Christmas tree. I drew half a Christmas tree on the paper and cut it out. It worked!

I had so much fun with these projects. The best tip I have for using the honeypop paper is to have some good scissors. The paper is pretty thick.

Cutters Creek Shopping List

Honeypop clear stamps

Honeypop paper

Echo Park Paper

cricut Imagine

Teacher Gift with a Sense of Humor from Lori

2011-11-10T00:01:00.001-05:00

I will be the first to admit that this is not an appropriate gift for every teacher - heck, probably not even most teachers! But you know the one: the teacher with a great sense of humor, who's probably been around the block a few times... she's the one who will appreciate this.

(I'm thinking I may keep this one for myself and use it for PTO meeting notes!) I think these papers from Graphic 45 with the oversized images are perfect for covering composition notebooks. After trimming down the main image to fit, I added a "ruler" strip along the binding edge.

I find this portion of the image pretty hilarious, so I wanted to highlight it. I used an old paper tole technique, and cut around a portion of the image then adhered it using the Kool Tak clear 3-D foam squares.

Finally, I wanted to add a fun touch and cover some extra images on the main paper. I cut out some of the flash card images from a paper, and adhered three of them directly to the paper below. I wrapped the remaining two with Doodlebug Doodle Twine and popped them up using the 3D clear foam squares.

I can't wait to make another of these with the Christmas papers to keep me organized through all the shopping, baking, and entertaining coming up!

Supply List:

ABC Primer 12x12 paper pad, Graphic 45
3D Clear Foam Pads, Kool Tak
Cutter Bee Scissors, EK Succcess
Advanced Tape Glider, 3M
Doodle Twine Assortment in Primary, Doodlebug Design
Composition Notebook

Thanksgiving Place Cards by Chris

2011-11-09T00:01:00.001-05:00

I just love my Cricut Cartridge Paper Doll Dress Up and I know you have seen me use it before. I’m sure Kim could help you get this cartridge if you don’t already have it. This time I made place cards for my Thanksgiving Table. I purchased these small, galvanized pails over a year ago and decided it was time to use them. I covered them with Bazzil paper and then wrapped the rims with yarn and the Doodle Twine baker’s twine. I started by using my hot glue gun to attach them, but was all thumbs with it and switched to using Glossy Accents. That worked like a charm and left no unsightly lumps or bumps (LOL).

Using Bazzill Simply Smooth Ivory Cardstock, I cut the paper dolls at 3 inches. The first few I cut, I forgot to select Blackout, so the faces cut; once I realized what I had done, I switched to blackout because I wanted to use my Peachy Keen Face Stamps. I then tinted the faces, hands, and legs with Tattered Rose Distress Ink, stamped the faces and after which I cut out the pilgrim boy and girl outfits from scraps in my stash. I used my Zig Glue Pen to glue the outfits together and adhere to the paper dolls and then adhered them to the pail using Glue Dots Pop Up Dots. I added a few accessories like a bow and arrow, blunderbuss, pies, turkeys, and more, using the function keys and keeping the size at 3 inches (Make sure the "Real Dial Size" key is off). To brighten them up a bit I grabbed my Black Diamond and Golden Rod Stickles — just can’t seem to do a project without Stickles — and added a belt to the boys and buckles to all.

Then I turned to SCAL - Sure Cuts A Lot to create the Pennants in the shape library and I just adjusted the nodes on one end to be straight and lengthened the pennant (be sure to take off the “keep proportions” key). I set my Cricut to outline the pennants with my Cricut Color Inks and then wrote the names in each one, and finally cut them out. I rolled them around a pencil to “wave” them a bit and glued them around the handles. Now all I need to do is fill each pail with candy corn and everyone will know where to sit. How are you decorating your table?

Fall Thanks by Laura C

2011-11-06T23:00:00.003-05:00

I'm thankful for so many things....family, friends, home, and
so much more!! And then in the crafty realm.....I am sooooo
thankful for Tim Holtz.....ok, silly, I know.....but do you love
his inks as much as I do? And how amazing are these limited
edition fall colors?? I paired these with the awesome Mariposa
papers, and came up with this:

The soft look of these inks and the colors, are the perfect
match for the Mariposa paper!

The details: Using the 12x12 Mariposa Solid Cardstock,
I made a 4&1/4"x5&1/2" card base. Next was 2 of
the mats from the Mariposa Mat Stack. The peachy
patterned paper was the first layer (cut at 4"x5&1/4"),
Next was plain black cardstock cut to a 3&7/8" square.
The botanical "print" is from the mat stack as well (see
first pic above), I used the Ripe Persimmon and the
Gathered Twigs Distress Ink on this piece, then
trimmed it, rounded the corners and layered it onto
the black cardstock.

Finishing touches, of some seam binding ribbon, a
button, some Doodle Twine, Want2Scrap pearls,
and a stamped sentiment, and it's a sweet little
thank you....or it would make a great card for
any occasion....just depending on the sentiment.

Hope you get some fall scrappy time and can find
some inspiration here on the Cutter's Creek blog!

Available at Cutter's Creek:
Mariposa 12x12 cardstock
Mariposa Mat Stack
Tim Holtz Distress Ink
(Ripe Persimmon and Gathered Twigs)
Doodlebug Twine
Want2Scrap Pearls
(Many in store, Kim can order black)

KAISERCRAFT Advent Calendar by Deanna M

2011-11-03T00:01:00.002-04:00

I am sure by now many of you have received a copy of one of the KAISERCRAFT Workshop Magazines that Kim at Cutters Creek has been including in some orders as she ships them out. I happened to get the one for September and new immediately I wanted to make the Advent Calendar that was in the magazine. Did you also know that Cutters Creek, carries some of the KAISERCRAFT products and that she can special order most of the items that are included in the Workshop Magazines.

Now that you know how to get the products let me show you what I made.

The kit came with all of the pieces necessary to assemble the wooden box and the chipboard drawers and numbers. All I needed to supply was paint, paper, and embellishments.

To get started I painted all the wooden pieces of the calendar with some green acrylic paint I had on hand. The green was a little too bright for me so after it completely dried I sprayed all the wooden pieces with some Jingle Bells Glimmer Mist which gave me the look I wanted. (It is hard to see in the photos.) I then sprayed it with a sealer to protect the wooden sections. I painted all the pieces before cutting them apart. I used my Tim Holtz Scissors to cut the little sections apart and they worked wonderfully.

I had some help from my son in assembling the wooden part of the box. While he worked on putting that together I went to work on the little drawers. I used Scor-Tape to hold my drawers together and to help hold my paper when I covered the drawers. I used paper from the Graphic 45 Christmas Emporium 8" X 8" paper pad to cover my boxes. I cut my paper in two sections. I cut a piece 1 5/8" X 6" and covered the back and sides of the box and wrapped it around the front to cover the two outer edges of the front. I then cut another piece 1 5/8" X 1 5/8" to cover the front. This gave me enough pieces of 5 boxes from each piece of 8" X 8" sheet of card stock. I had the hardest time with the little U shape on the front of the drawers. I tried measuring it and thought for sure a 1" round punch would work perfectly to punch the holes, nope, just a little too big. I think a 3/4" circle punch might work though. I ended up tracing the cutout on to the back of each piece of paper and hand cut them. Of course some of them ended up slightly off center but that is okay.

Using the Scor-Tape I adhered the paper to the boxes and placed them in the wooden slots. I then decided to run all the numbers through my Xyron upside down so I had the adhesive on the fronts and glitter them with some red and green glitter I had in my stash. I adhered them to the drawer fronts with some Scotch Quick Dry adhesive.

For the center of the calendar I found this piece of We Wish You A Merry Christmas paper in my stash. Sorry there was no name on in it and I don't remember where I got it. But I thought it went great with the calendar so cut a piece 8 3/4" X 8 3/4" and adhered it to the center of my calendar.

Of course while I was working on the project my new Cricut Imagine Santa Village cartridge arrived and I had to use it. I love the buildings in the cartridge and chose what I took for Santa's house. I cut the house at 5" using the layers feature on the Imagine and used the clear 3D foam pads to adhere all the layers together which gave the house some great dimension. To further jazz up the house I applied some Ultra Fine White Flower Soft to the snow on the ground and chimney of the house. Along the roof line I just sprinkled some clear glitter to add some sparkle. What is Christmas Countdown calendar without Santa himself making an appearance. I cut the Sleigh at 2 1/2" using the layers feature and also assembled it with the clear 3D pads. I again used my Ultra Fine White Flower Soft and Flower Soft Adhesive, and applied it to the trim on Santa's coat and hat as well as his beard.

Finally using the flip feature on my Imagine I cut the reindeer in layers and adhered it with the clear foam pads as well. I then cut a short piece of the Doodlebugs Twine from the Christmas Assortment, in a red/green/white pattern and adhered it to the the reindeer just under his harness and also just under Santa's hand so it looked like Santa was holding the reins to his sleigh as he took off for his one night of adventure.

Items available at Cutters Creek:

Jingle Bells Glimmer Mist
Christmas Emporium Paper Pad
Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive
Tim Holtz Scissors
ASI Kool Tak Clear Foam Pads
Flower Soft and Flower Soft Adhesive
Doodlebug Design Twine
Xyron

Also please remember that Cutters Creek can special order most KAISERCRAFT products and many of the Imagine Cartridges.

Melissa's Halloween Door Hanger

2011-10-31T00:01:00.002-04:00

I started with an inspiration from the Sept/Oct issue of PaperCrafts Magazine (from page 60 if you have it). I loved the idea of a holiday door or wall hanger. My project ended up being 12" tall by 4" wide if you want to make one of your own.

I took the cardboard from some empty cereal boxes and double layered for extra thickness. I than cut some black paper from the Bazzill Dotted Swiss Pack and filed it down to make the dots pop. Using my Spellbinders Labels 18, I cut out the largest shape on a sheet of orange paper from my Echo Park Apothecary paper pack. I trimmed off the edges and added it to the top and bottom of my hanger.

I took a cream piece of paper from my stash and traced the edges of it with my copic YR18 for some added pop and added 3 squares of paper from the Echo Park Apothecary pack. I added holes and eyelets with my big bite as the thickness of the cardboard and paper made it a little difficult with my cropadile.

I added buttons from my stash and colored some white ribbon with my Copic 110 to add some black. I printed the sentiment for free from here, trimmed and lined it with some left over black paper and used Kool Tak to make the sentiment pop up.

Then for extra, I went over the sentiment with my Spicas and the birds in the trees.

Hope you like it!!

Image: PaperCrafts Magazine Trick or Treat
Paper: Bazzill Dotted Swiss, Echo Park Apothecary
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics, Spicas
Embellishments: Spellbinders Labels 18,
Other: ATG, Big Shot, File Set, Kool TAC, Big Bite, Scor-Tape
Stash: buttons, ribbon, eyelets, cardboard, cream paper

Glittery Christmas Ornaments

2011-10-30T01:11:00.001-04:00

Last year I went a little crazy making glittery Christmas ornaments out of the clear glass balls you can get at craft stores. This year I wanted to try something a little bit different. I wanted to find a way to use my Cricut Imagine to print some holiday images on vinyl and add them to the ornaments. I found these square shaped ornaments and they were perfect. This is what I came up with using the Snow Angel cartridge.

To start this project, you need clear glass ornaments which you can find at most any craft store, some floor polish, and glitter. The floor polish I used for this project is

Pledge Future Shine. You won’t use a lot of it, so one bottle will last you quite a while. Pour some of the floor polish into the ornament and carefully swirl it around to coat the inside of the ornament. I cover the opening with a baby wipe. Try not to shake it or you will get bubbles which can be harder to get rid of. Pour the remaining floor polish back into the bottle. Let it dry a little bit and pour your glitter in. Shake the glitter all around making sure the entire ornament is covered. The great thing about these ornaments is that all the messy glitter is on the inside of the ornaments you don’t have to worry about it rubbing off.

Next, I cut come of the adorable designs from Snow Angel on some printable vinyl in my Imagine and then stuck them to the front of the ornament. A little bit of ribbon is the perfect finishing touch.

For this cute little snowman ornament I used green glitter to match the green in her hat. I added a little bit of polar white flower soft to make it look like she’s really sitting in the snow.

I thought this Happy Holidays image would be perfect with some blue glitter. I finished this one off by adding some diamond stickles to the snow on the ground and on the house.

I hope I have inspired you to grab some floor polish and get creating. It’s much more fun than using it to polish the floor!!!!

Cutters Creek Shopping List

Cricut Imagine Snow Angel cartridge

Polar White Flower Soft

Diamond Stickles

Chris' Beyond Birthdays Cricut Card

2011-10-26T00:01:00.000-04:00

Need a quick and easy card? Use the card foundations on your Cricut cartridges. This one is from Beyond Birthdays.

I started with my papers. I knew I wanted to use the floral piece as the card base, but the blues and greens I had for accents were a bit too bright. To tone them down I rubbed Peeled Paint Distress ink on the green and Weathered Wood on the blue and misted them.

Once that was done the card was a breeze. I set the dial size to 7 inches on my Cricut Expression and kept it there for all the cuts. I then chose the Foundation key: card and the “hugs to you” image. Once that cut, I chose the Foundation key: Framed and the “hugs to you” image. I now had the card with a circle opening, the words “hugs to you”, and a circular frame. I cut the blue paper to fit the inside of the card (about a 4.75 square) and glued it down with my ATG. I then glued the circle frame around the opening with a Zig Glue Pen. Using Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Small Circles, I cut a 2.5-inch circle from black cardstock, and a 2-inch one from Apricot POW! Glitter Paper. I centered the black circle in the opening and glued it down with my ATG. I mounted the words on the smaller circle using my Zig Glue Pen, and then used pop dots to mount it on the black cardstock circle. The final touch was a Lemon Lime Cutters Creek Gardenia flower.

Transform Your Die Cuts - Deanna M

2011-10-25T00:01:00.004-04:00

I have a Tuesday Tutorial post for you today to show you how you can transform your simple die cuts. I got my inspiration from the trees I could see on the other side of my fence, aren't they beautiful? I decided to make a fall card with leaves and I wanted to incorporate the colors from the trees into my leaves. I started by cutting a leaf from the Straight From the Nest Cartridge at 6" out of white card stock.

Next I pulled out a bunch of my distress inks in fall colors. I chose Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick, and Crushed Olive. Using my foam applicator I randomly applied some of the ink to my leaves.

To give my leaves a more realistic look I went into my backyard a picked a few leaves off of a small tree and using my No More Shims Embossing Mat and embossed my leaves using the veins and stems on the leaves from my backyard. Finally I spritzed everything with some Glimmer Mist. I used Rum Punch, Honey Dew Melon, Jingle Bells, Sun Kissed Peach, and Sugar Maple to layer on some additional color and some glimmer to the leaves.

I then pulled some ivory card stock from my stash to make a 4 1/4" X 5 1/2" card base. My mat and patterned paper are from the My Minds Eye Sunshine Paper Pad. I pop dotted the orange leaves to the card and the attached the yellow leaf to the orange ones. I added my sentiment stamped in Distress Walnut Stain ink. The little nail heads and ribbon are from my stash. I am really pleased at how realistic the leaves ended up looking and love how easy that embossing mat was to use to get this look.

Merry Christmas Card - by Deanna M

2011-10-23T00:01:00.003-04:00

Today I have for you a simple and quick Christmas card. I got the idea for this card from a magazine where I saw that they had stamped a simple Christmas tree shape on patterned paper. Of course I looked at that and said, I can recreate that with my Cricut and this is what I came up with. All of the patterned papers is from the My Minds Eye 12 Days of Christmas 6" X 6" paper pad which is two sided paper and I used both sides of the paper on my card. I started with a 4 1/4" X 5 1/2" cream colored card base. I cut a mat from some red paper, which is the reverse of the middle tree, from the paper pad at 4" X 5 1/4" and then cut a mat from the Merry Christmas paper at 3 3/4"X 5". My trees are cut at 3 1/4" using the base layer of the Christmas Tree on the Celebrate With Flourish Cricut Lite cartridge and the reverse of the two red mats. My small red mat is cut at 2 1/4" X 5" and I used a scalloped border punch on it. I then cut a blue patterned paper, which is the reverse of the Merry Christmas paper. This was cut at 1 3/4" X 5" and I used the same scalloped border punch on it. I added the trees with foam dots and finished them with some Golden Rod Stickles on the stars and I painted the tree trunks with some Cowboy Glimmer Glaze (Kim from Cutters Creek will happily special order this item for you). This card is colorful and went together quickly so would be easy to produce multiples.

Bee-utiful Thank You by Laura C

2011-10-18T00:00:00.001-04:00

Tutorial Tuesday is a simple way to take your cards or
any project up a notch......using Want2Scrap's nestabling
and nestaboard!! You can see the pieces you layer up
for easy impact, in the pic below:

On the left....the nestaboard, the middle, the piece cut out of
cardstock that matches this set, and the nestabling on the right.

The card is a simple 5&1/2" by 4&1/4" base of kraft
cardstock. The beehive and bee paper is from the
Echo Park Country Drive 12x12 collection, and layered
with solid black cardstock. The flowers, bees and the
"thanks a bunch" sentiment are all from the Echo Park
set as well and layered with foam tape. The die cuts
are made with the Spellbinders Fancy Tags 2 set and
the piece behind is cut from black cardstock using
Spellbinders Labels 22.

The papers were inked with Black Soot Ink and
the Doodlebug Bakers Twine touches finish it off.

Hope you enjoy this quick tutorial idea....and check
out Cutter's Creek for this awesome product....it
will add dimension and sparkle to your project!

Available at Cutter's Creek:
Echo Park Country Drive 12x12
Want2Scrap Nestaboard and Nestabling
Distress Ink (Black Soot)
Spellbinders (Fancy Tags 2 and Labels 22)
Doodlebug Bakers Twine

Cricut Thanksgiving with Lori

2011-10-17T00:15:00.000-04:00

Welcome! I have another Cricut project for you today, using one of my favorite seasonal Cricut cartridges. The Thanksgiving Mini cartridge is useful for all kinds of goodies. So far this month I have made a pretty garland and some Thanksgiving helpers, and I'm sharing them all with you here.

First up, my leaf garland. I have a grapevine tree in my kitchen; it's a bit like a Christmas tree made of grapevine, but it stays out all year long. I just got it last year, so I am slowly adding to my stash of decor for it to wear. This year I made a garland of leaves using the leaf cut on the Thanksgiving cartridge.

Using my Gypsy, I hid all of the interior cuts on the leaf so I was left with just an outline. I then copied it multiple times on my virtual mat so I could cut several at once. I pulled a variety of papers from my stash in Fall colors, including some colored vellum, some suede-finish paper, textured cardstock, and some American Crafts glitter paper in Leaf. (I used a stamp pad to ink the back side of the glitter paper in case they flipped over some.) After the leaves were cut, I used various colors of Stickles to add some swirly veins to the leaves. Once the Stickles were dry, I punched holes in all of the leaves, then tied them onto some hemp cord a few inches apart. Then all I had left to do was wind it around my tree!

Next are my little Thanksgiving helpers. Did you know that this cartridge comes with napkin ring and place card designs? (In fact, the place card is useful for any occasion as it has a simple flourish design.) Here's the napkin ring and place card design:

To fit my paper napkin & plasticware, I cut my napkin ring at 1", but I would definitely go larger for a cloth napkin or larger paper napkin. They are easily joined together at the back with Scor Tape. I cut the place card at 2.5", as well as the place card layer. I cut the layer from black CS and adhered it to the card, then added Stickles to it. I used Distressed Stickles in Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade, and Fired Brick.

When we celebrate at my parents' house, there are usually over 40 of us with an equally large amount of food. It gets hard to keep track of what everything is, so I thought the place card would also make a great way to label the various foods:

Using my Gypsy again, I hid all of the interior cuts on the place card layer. I copied it to a second one then resized the copy slightly smaller to fit inside and joined them together. Then I selected the pie cut and fit it into the place card layer cuts and welded it there. I also cut the pie layers at the same size as the pie. After adhering the various layers to the place card, I dressed it up a bit. I again used the Scattered Straw and Fired Brick Distress Stickles on the pie, and I added Frosted Lace Stickles to the steam. I plan to make more with some of the other cuts on the cartridge to take with me so everyone can label their not-so-obvious dishes!

Elegant Edges Christmas Cards

2011-10-14T00:01:00.006-04:00

One of my favorite things to do with my Cricut for cards is to make nice mats or frames for images. So, I thought I would show you one of each on some Christmas cards I made. Just a quick note: I use my Gypsy for this purpose, but if you have Design Studio or Cricut Craft Room, you can use them in the same manner.

First up, an elegantly simple card using papers from Graphic 45's Christmas Emporium paper pad.


5x7 card base

I started with a kraft card base. I chose my design from the "Santa Express" sheet of images, cut it out, and measured its height & width. Using my Cricut Gypsy, I chose a frame I liked from the Elegant Edges cartridge that had a similar height/width ratio. (Remember, Kim can special order just about any cartridge you want!) I then "unlocked" the height and width fields so they wouldn't adjust together. I then adjusted the height and width independently until the inner opening of the frame was approximately the same size as my cutout design. (Slightly larger is great!) I then cut the frame using some coordinating cardstock.

I then cut a 4.5"x6.5" mat from the green side of the "Merry and Bright" sheet. I distressed the edges of all of my papers and my card bases using a sponge tool. I adhered the green paper to the card, then layered on the frame using the ASI Kool Tak clear foam squares. Next, I adhered the cutout design within the frame. Finally, I added a touch of Polar White Flower Soft to my holly for added dimension. VERY easy!

My second card takes a bit more time, but totally worth the effort for its beauty!

5x7 card base

I began with my vintage Santa stamp. Mine is from my stash, but you can find a similar feel using the Crafty Secrets Vintage Christmas clear art stamp set. Using the transparent ruler in my Cricut Tool Kit, I measured the approximate size of my stamp image. I then chose a doily mat I liked from the Elegant Edges Cricut cartridge, and used my Gypsy to resize it until it was an appropriate size for my image, and cut it out.

I stamped my Santa image with Memento Tuxedo Black, colored it with Copic markers, then added his hat band and pom pom using white Liquid Applique sprinkled with clear glitter. Note: to get this effect, sprinkle the glitter while the Liquid Applique is wet, then let it dry for a couple of hours before you heat it with your embossing gun. I then distressed the entire image by sponging on some distress ink. I also used the ink on my Doodle Bug twine so it would match better. I stamped a small holly image on scrap as well, and colored & cut it out to use as an accent.

I used papers from Echo Park Paper's Season's Greetings 6x6 paper pad to create my background. I used a brick Texture Fades embossing folder to create my accent piece on coordinating cardstock, then added additional dimension by distressing with multiple colors of ink. I edged all of my paper pieces in black ink, since my image was stamped in black - it helps tie everything together. I assembled the card, and popped up the image using the Kool Tak clear foam squares.

If you're interested, here's a list of specific Copic colors used in the Santa image:
E000, E00, E11, R20, R24, C2, Y17, YR04, YG63, G99, R29, R35, R39, and 0 colorless blender

Ghostly Greetings

2011-10-12T23:00:00.002-04:00

This card was so fun to make! Have you ever just
started pulling out different things and see how
they all come together? That is just how this
card happened!

It starts with a simple 4&1/4" by 5&1/2"
black cardstock base. Next, a 4" by 5&1/4"
piece of white cardstock...inked up with
Black Soot and Dusty Concord Distress Ink
and then distressing the edges of this piece.

Then I pulled out some Tim Holtz/Sizzix goodies.
The Spooky Tree Die and the Picket Fence
On the Edge Die . After I cut out the tree on
white cardstock, Black Soot Crackle Paint gave
the tree it's spooky texture. But I wanted to
add more to the background....the tree die cut
negative shape made a great stencil with some
Black Soot Ink.

The fence was cut from white cardstock, and
then heavily inked with Black Soot Ink. The
tree and fence are foam dotted to the card.
My little ghostie stamp on vellum and then
on cardstock (and colored with Copic C3
and blender) finished it off.

Next time you are "stuck" for a card idea....just
pull out a few items and see what you can do....
you never know where it might take you!

Available at Cutter's Creek:

Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Dusty Concord, Black Soot)
Sizzix On the Edge Dies (Picket Fence)
Crackle Paint (Black Soot)
Copic Markers (C3, blender)
Sizzix Branch Tree Die....Kim can order this!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month with Kim B

2011-10-12T00:01:00.003-04:00

October is breast cancer awareness month and as a breast cancer survivor myself, I try and do anything I can to promote this cause. If I had been diagnosed twenty, or even ten years ago, who knows where I would be now or if I would even still be here with my family and also my friends. So much has changed due to research and funding through so many foundations and organizations. It is hard to believe that there was a time when a woman would have her breast(s) removed and if she wanted to “replace” them, she would have to spend thousands of dollars for plastic surgery. Thank goodness those days have passed and treatments have gotten better by leaps and bounds. I know, because I am a breast cancer survivor of six years now. So don’t be one of those people that just don’t want to know. Early detection is the key! The earlier breast cancer is detected and treated, the more your chances go up for survival. So all you ladies out there, go have your female health checked regularly and don’t be one of those people who think it can never happen to you. I was one of those people. I have no breast cancer history in my family, however it has to start somewhere and for my family, it has started with me. So on with my project for breast cancer awareness month!

For my project, I decided to make a card for someone who has be recently diagnosed with breast cancer:

For my card I used both stamp sets from the Ink Pink Collection by A Jillian Vance Design. One of the great things about these two sets is that there are a lot included (each set includes a 4” by 8” sheet of stamps in your choice of round or rectangle, a pink acrylic block, 5 pewter charms, 5 pear pins, a sample of wrinkle ribbon, and a free Vera Bradley Zip ID case) and part of the proceeds will be donated to breast cancer research. Also, something of note: this is a Limited Edition set, so please grab one or both if you really love these! There are a lot of images that can be used all year around and for any cause (just stamp your ribbons in the appropriate color). I stamped my black frame using black ink and then used the “Hope” sentiment to stamp in the center of the frame and then also stamped the “Think Pink” sentiment. I got out my Cuttlebug and Spellbinder dies and cut them out and then went a bit further and cut some additional decorative elements with my Spellbinder dies to mount these too. I then decided I wanted some bling, so I decided my card base would be POW! glitter paper in charcoal and added some Kaisercraft rhinestones to the pretty black frame that I stamped. As you can see, Spellbinder dies work wonderfully with this set. After all my pieces were assembled, I wanted something else and that is when I spied the border stamp on the rectangular set! I used a border punch to have a fancy border and them stamped the ribbon/pray for a cure border twice across. They matched end to end perfectly! I glued everything down and I have just a beautiful card! I hope you enjoyed my project and please feel free to leave me a comment regarding the card or the subject.

The following products used for this card can be purchased at Cutters Creek:

Ink Pink Stamp Collections by A Jillian Vance Design
American Crafts POW! glitter paper
Kaisercraft rhinestones
Memento Ink
Bazzill Simply Smooth cardstock

Chris' Nestabilities Halloween Card

2011-10-11T00:01:00.000-04:00

Getting the most out of your die cutting tools, including Spellbinders Nestabilities is our goal this month. I decided to play with Labels Four for another Halloween card and since I have both the Large and Small Labels Four Sets, I decided to see what I could come up with. To start I made a shape card using the largest die. I folded a piece of the Graphic 45 Hallowe’en in Wonderland Collection (about 5 x 6 inches) in half and placed the die cutter so the top edge was above the fold (see the picture). I ran that through my Big Shot machine. After cutting it, I inked the edges first with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and then with some Black Soot Distress Ink.

Then using the third die, I cut a cream colored label which I color dusted with Antique Linen Distress Ink to tone down its brightness and bring it more into the range of the base paper’s tan coloring. I then cut a frame from some leftover Bargello strips (a previous card technique I shared) by nesting a set of two of the smaller labels four (the third one from the large set (same as my tan piece) and the third one from the smaller set. (See Picture) This I glued down using a Zig Glue Pen. Using Peeled Paint Distress Ink, I stamped the sentiment and glued it onto the front of my card base.

I then took out my Cricut Cartridge October 31st so I could cut the web and the spider. The web was cut at 4" and the spider at 2". Both papers are scraps from the Graphic 45 set. I trimmed and ripped the web a bit before gluing down to the card and then glued the spider on top of it and overlapping the sentiment.

Inside the card I cut one more Labels Four (second to largest of the Large set), color dusted with Antique Linen, and stamped my sentiment with Peeled Paint again. To finish off the card I added two tiny clear I-rock gems as the spider’s eyes.

I think I cut more Labels Four for this card than I have used since I got the set. Happy Halloween to all!

Spooktacular Stackers by Laura C

2011-10-08T23:00:00.000-04:00

This "spooktacular" Halloween decor was made
using the Echo Park Apothecary collection and
a few embellishments!

Here is a close up of the top of the stackers.....

This project started with 3&1/2" and 5" paper mache'
round boxes. The top box, was made by inking all the
edges of the box and it's lid, with Black Soot Distress Ink.
Then I cut out one of the labels on the EP journal box
sheet in the kit...it's a perfect fit! I did distress it up as well.
Then I just covered the box lid's edge and the box, with 2
different Pretty Papers (PP's) from the set (I measured
these to fit my box, the lid was 3/4" the box was 2").
The additions.....a 1/2" strip of the diamond pattern paper,
a tag cut from the journal sheet, I added some black brads,
the star sticker, bat sticker, and lizard legs sticker, all from
the sheet in the kit, and a tiny twine bow to finish it off.
I did ink all the paper pieces with the Black Soot ink and
the result close up is here:

Next was the bottom box....pretty much the same drill....
PP's cut to fit (1/2" for the lid, 2&3/4" for the box) I cut
the poison label out of the journal sheet (all pieces inked),
and the bottles and 31st October are stickers. The twine
and seam binding ribbon in grey, pleated and bowed.

Here's the close up:

The finishing touch was Doodle Bug baker's twine
to tie the 2 boxes together.

Hope this project inspires you to do something crafty today!

At Cutter's Creek:

Echo Park Collections
Doodle Bug Twine
Ranger Distress Inks

Chris' Faux Bargello Background Using Graphic 45

2011-10-08T00:01:00.001-04:00

This is a great way to use up strips and scraps and make a variety of backgrounds. I started with four different papers (3 from Graphic 45 Hallowe’en In Wonderland Collection and one orange from my stash). I then cut the paper into strips about 3/4" wide by 8" tall and fiddled around with them until I liked the sequence of the strips. (You could possibly cut to six inches, but that limits how much shifting you can do with the strips later.) Using my Pink ATG, I glued them down on a thin piece of cardstock. (See figure 1)

I then turned the paper with all the strips sideways to cut through the 8" lengths, so when I cut the next set of strips they would have all the colors in them. (See Figure 2)

I cut these at random widths from 1/2" to 1". Now putting them next to each other on the table I shifted some strips up and some down until I had the pattern I wanted. (See Figure 3)

I transferred these strips to a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" piece of cardstock that I had run through my Xyron. I made sure that I covered the whole piece and kept my pattern. Now all I had to do was trim off the excess paper and finish my card.

I used Happy Hauntings Cricut cartridge to make the tree at 4 1/2". The background layer was yellow Bazzill card stock and the top layer is a piece of Graphic 45 paper. I inked both layers with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and staggered the top layer as I glued it down with my Zig Glue Pen. The ghost is cut from mulberry paper, using the same Cricut cartridge, cut at 2 1/2". “Beware” is cut at 1". The green trims are remnants from a border I had made for another card, but that just set off the top of the card and under the tree.

Card 2 of 7 for Halloween done…how many do you have to make?

Holiday Crafts

2011-10-05T23:01:00.000-04:00

This month we are focusing on die cutting machines. My favorite die cutting machines are my cricuts. I thought I would take a little time to show you how your cricut can help you make some Holiday Décor items. Since Halloween is right around the corner, I have a couple of Halloween projects to share with you. These projects were made using the Pumpkin Carving seasonal cartridge.This cartridge has some great designs to help you create the perfect Jack-O-Lantern. First, we picked our design and cut it out on the cricut with vinyl.

We placed the vinyl design on the pumpkin and traced around it. Then we carved it out and Voila- a very scary jack-o-lantern.

If you don’t feel like carving an actual pumpkin, there are other ways to use this cartridge. I used some orange vinyl this time to create a jack-o-lantern out of a glass block.

I cut the design out of vinyl on my cricut and placed it on the front of the glass block. I put an led tealight candle in the bottom and wrapped some tulle around it. Here is what it looks like in the dark.

This would also me a great project to do for Christmas with a snowflake or another Christmas element on the block. Speaking of Christmas, I have one Christmas project to share with you.

I made this wreath with my Hello Kitty Greetings cartridge.

When it’s time to decorate your house for the holidays, don’t forget about your cricut, it can help you make some great décor items.

A Peachy Keen Tutorial Tuesday

2011-10-04T00:01:00.000-04:00

For this Tutorial Tuesday, I wanted to show you how easy it is to your Peachy Keen face stamps with your cricut die cuts. How many times have you struggled with the little tiny pieces your cricut cuts for the eyes, nose, and mouth of your die cuts? With Peachy Keen face stamps,you don’t have to worry about that anymore. Peachy Keen makes some stamp sets that are designed to coordinate with certain cricut cartridges.
For this project I have chosen the Monster Mash face assortment. I love the assortment packs because they give you a variety of sizes to use with different sized die cuts. This set is perfect for the Mini Monsters and Bump in the Night cricut cartridges. To make it easier to use the stamps, you need to either cut your base layer in blackout or hide the cuts it wants to cut for the face. You can do this with Design Studio, the Gypsy, or the new cricut craft room. I did this on my gypsy. Here is a picture of the button you need to do this.
When using the gypsy, the hide contour button is on the advanced menu and looks like 2 right angles. Here is a picture of the Dracula cut when I have told it to hide the face cuts.

It has greyed out the cuts it would make for the eyes and mouth and will not cut them. This gives me enough space to cleanly stamp my face.
With Halloween on the way, I know I will need some treat bags, so I decided to use my Mini Monsters on some goody bags.

For my first little goody bag, I used this little round monster. The paper is a mixture of Echo Park dots and stripes and some random cardstock. The bag is cut from the Spring Holiday cards seasonal cartridge. I outlined the monster with some purple stickles to give her some bling.

For this next box I used a box from the Imagine cartridge All Wrapped Up. This time I cut it on my cricut Expressions 2 since I only wanted to use plain cardstock. I cut the box at 8 inches and it is a really nice size. The box also has a scalloped rectangle you can use for the top. I placed my sea monster on top of that.

For my final goody bag I used the vampire cut I showed you earlier in the tutorial. Once again this box is from Spring Holiday Cards. I ran some orange cardstock through my Cuttlebug using the Spots and Dots folder and then sanded the embossing.

Dracula’s shirt is from Echo Park and I added some more stickles to his bow tie.
Remember, the next time you think you can’t cut paper dolls and animals on your cricut because the facial features cut just too small grab your Peachy Keen stamps and use them. They’re easy and super cute!!!!

Lori's a Real Witch Today! - with Echo Park Paper

2011-09-29T00:27:00.000-04:00

Hello and welcome to one more project for Echo Park Paper month here at Cutters Creek! I've been feeling a little witchy lately, and I LOVE the Echo Park Apothecary Collection, so I thought I'd sneak in a Halloween decor project that is super easy.

Ta-da! Are you impressed?! The bottom circle for the hat brim is 7.5", but you can make this any size you'd like. The top of the hat is just a cone rolled from an arc of cardstock. If you don't have a compass (arc? compass? what's with the geometry today?), which I don't, you can make your own with a pen or pencil with string tied to it (I used ribbon). I did not measure; I just guessed and eyeballed it. Hold the end of the string on the corner of the paper, stretch it taut, and use the pencil to draw a curve (arc) on the cardstock from one side to the next. Once the cardstock is cut, line one straight edge with Scor Tape. Roll it into a cone and press the Scor Tape to seal.

The fancy design on the hat brim is actually a leftover negative piece from a previous Cricut cut. (You can see it on this project.) After adhering the design to the cardstock base, you'll want to adhere the cone. The easiest way to do this is with the iBond cordless hot glue gun. I used a black glue stick from the Solid Color set, figuring it would blend in with the dark purple cardstock and black sheer ribbon I was using. After adhering the cone, I added a 3/4" strip of the orange diamond paper as a hat band then glued down the sheer black ribbon, rolling it as I moved around the hat.

I used another 3/4" strip of the same paper to add a ribbon to the side of the hat. On top of that I layered a cobweb cut from the cobweb pattern paper and a rolled ribbon flower using sheer black ribbon and a 2" Gluber, then embellished with some clear sparkly adhesive gems. I added a couple more cobwebs cut from the paper as well. I used Black Diamond Stickles to outline all of the cobwebs, and added some more sparkly gems to the other two webs. I created the spider by tying pieces of black hemp cord, then unsticking enough of the Scor Tape to stick the end of the hemp cord down into the top of the cone and readhering the Scor Tape.

Finally, I cut a label from the "Labels" sheet, curled the ends slightly, and adhered it to the front of the hat. Other than drying time for the Stickles, this project took very little time - I just played and enjoyed myself! I'm already thinking of what I can make for Christmas next...

Chris' Echo Park Halloween

2011-09-28T00:01:00.004-04:00

I started with an image I’ve had for a while and the idea that I wanted to practice brayering some more (is that even a verb?). The image is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black, cut using Spellbinders Nestabilities’ Small Deckled Rectangles, and then colored with Copics (YR07, YR18, YR68, YR14, G94, C5, and Y06). Next I embossed the image using clear embossing powder, my Inkessentials Embossing Pen, and my heat tool. Once that was cooled, I inked my brayer with Wild Honey Distress Ink and rolled from the bottom right diagonally across the image. Inked my brayer again this time with some Spiced Marmalade and lightly went over the corner and partially into the image. I then turned the image around and did the same thing starting with Stormy Sky Distress Ink followed by Black Soot. I then spritzed some water into the air and waved the image card through the mist. I love how this helps blend the inks. I wiped off excess ink using a paper towel and set aside.

My card base is all built using Echo Park Papers from the Apothecary Emporium Collect ion Kit. I cut a one inch strip of Wicked Potions and a 3.25 block of Full Moon and attached them using my ATG gun. I cut 2 flourish brackets from Spellbinders Shapeabilities Parisian Accents from Wicked Potions and 2 graduated sizes of the Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Twenty-Three from the backside of Full Moon. All edges were inked with Wild Honey and Black Soot Distress Inks. I layered these on the front of the card and used pop-ups on the two top layers. It still needed something…so out came my I-Rocks and added a few gems around the brackets and the corners of the second label layer. Still not quite happy with the results, I added a Happy Halloween ribbon swatch to cover the seam of the two papers and then wrapped some fibers from my stash along the top. Finally I inked the inside and used a frame and letters from the Apothecary Kit to finish the card.

Now to get started on the rest of my Halloween cards—it’s a big celebration in our house because it is my DH’s birthday and we always tease him that the holiday started when he was born!

Mandie's BOO Sign and a Blog Hop Winner!!!

2011-09-27T11:09:00.007-04:00

I just wanted to say a big "THANK YOU" to all of you who hopped our Echo Park Paper Blog Hop over the weekend from ALL of us designers! We hope that we inspired you to play with your paper too. Remember, Kim has lots of beautiful Echo Park Paper for sale in the Cutters Creek online store. You can click HERE to buy some of your favorites!

This "BOO" sign is one that I created last Halloween with the Echo Park Happy Halloween line. I bought the wood letters at JoAnne Fabrics and painted them black. Then I Mod Podged the letters with some of my favorite sheets of the patterned paper. I really wish the D'Stress tool was out then, it would have been handy for sanding the edges! Then I used my Cricut and the Happy Hauntings cartridge to cut a variety of shapes, as well as the stickers from the collection kit to decorate the letters. Then I added the ribbon to hang it and promptly hung it by my front door. I'm looking forward to pulling this out of the box again this year!

You could easily create a beautiful sign for your home with any of the great Echo Park Paper Collection Kits that are available in the Cutters Creek store! I'm thinking that I want to use either the Season's Greetings or Holly Jolly Kit to create something special for Christmas...

Now, I bet you are wondering WHO our Grand Prize winner is....

I used random.org to select our winner from all of the eligible blog comments on all 8 blogs and it chose....

And lucky commenter #16 was....

Congrats Mommakatx6!!!! I will be emailing you for your information shortly for your information. And thanks again to all of you that hopped!!!

Mandie's Brew Crew Layout

2011-09-26T00:01:00.002-04:00

Today I have a layout that I created using my FAVORITE Echo Park Paper Collection - Happy Days! I am in love with the vintage flavor that these papers have.

I started with a Kraft Cardstock base and used 5" x 5" squares of the Happy Days paper for my background. Then I simply mounted all of my photos (2 - 4" x 5", 1 = 4" x 6") to a couple of cardstock strips and lined them up on my paper. (Note - the only change I would have made would have been to not line this up right in the middle, I had to cut my daughters face in the photo). I used my Pink ATG to adhere every thing. Then I cut the title "Brew Crew" from the Nifty Fifties Cricut Cartridge and ran the letters through my Xyron 150 to add the adhesive. It's a quick and easy way to add your adhesive and there's no mess! I used the stickers in the Happy Days kit to spell out my other words and then added a few embellishments from my stash with Glue Dots. Finally I added my journaling with the Inkssentials White Pen. I'm really happy with how this layout turned out, but Echo Park's gorgeous papers make it easy to create works of art!

Cutters Creek Echo Park Blog Hop!

2011-09-23T00:01:00.004-04:00

Hello and Welcome to the Cutters Creek Design Team Blog Hop! Today's hop features one of our favorite paper companies, Echo Park Paper! Each member of the Cutters Creek Design Team has created special projects using some of our favorite collections from Echo Park! When you are done checking out Chris' beautiful project here you will hop on over to Mandie's Blog and there you will find the link to the next blog in the chain!

Do one Layout, Get 1 (almost) Free by Chris

Looking at the Echo Park paper and knowing I needed to do a new baby LO, I chose two sheets, one from the Country Drive collection kit and one from the Victoria Gardens collection kit. I wanted a split background so I cut both sheets four inches from the top. I flipped one sheet and lined the two up again. Now using my Scor Tape and cream seam tape I glued the two pieces back together. Flipping the paper over, I repeated the process using a piece of red ribbon. Now, to decorate.

I used SCAL (Sure Cuts A Lot software) to create a looped mat using some borders and corners shared online. The inside of the mat is approximately 5x7 inches and fits my photo perfectly. Before adhering the photo with Scor Tape, I raided my mom’s sewing stash and glued the lace trim along the bottom. Finally, I took a Tim Holtz Memo Pin and an Adage Ticket and pushed it into the top left corner, spray glued the back of the mat and adhered the mat to the background.

I used my printer to print the text on cream CS and used the Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Ten set to cut both out. Both got inked with Spun Sugar Distress Ink. I saw this button trim on a card online and decided to “lift it” for this LO. So I trimmed off the top of the smaller label and carefully marked where it would line up with the larger background one. I then glued down some buttons with Glossy Accents, punched the holes with my Tim Holtz Craft Pick and used embroidery floss to sew the buttons on. After gluing this down, I put some pop up dots under the smaller label and lined it up to the buttons and the end of the larger label. To finish off the journaling box I added three pearls to the top loops.

For the bottom of the picture I again cut another Labels Ten and added three small homemade roses, but you certainly could use the Cutters Creek Brand Flowers and color them any color you wish. To finish the page I again took my Glossy Accents and made some dewdrops on the handmade roses and the printed roses in the corner.

Now, of course I have a blank canvas on the other side—well, not so blank any more. Here’s the LO for that side. The EP paper is the background and the Title is a sticker from Victoria Gardens. Everything else is from my stash and I used Spellbinders Nestabilities Ovals and Scalloped Ovals for the title. I must admit I am an avid scanner of page sketches and PageMaps these days. It helps me pull everything together so quickly.

Make sure you are a follower of our blog and leave a quick comment before you hop on over to Mandie's Blog to qualify to win one of the Echo Park Collection Kits! If you also sign up for the Cutters Creek Newsletter (in the sidebar at the top) you can leave a second comment here for an extra entry into the drawing!

Here's the Hop Line-Up:

Cutters Creek Blog (Chris)
Mandie's Blog
Lori's Blog
Deanna's Blog
Mindy's Blog
Laura's Blog
Melissa's Blog
Kim's Blog

Mandie's Cool Cat Card

2011-09-22T00:01:00.002-04:00

Today I have a quick and easy card that I made using one of the papers from the Echo Park Papers Happy Days Collection!

I love these beautiful papers! The vintage 50's style of these papers is one of my favorites so I grabbed my Nifty Fifty's Cricut Cartridge and cut this awesome "Cool Cat" shape. The background paper is a mirror finish paper that I have been hoarding for quite some time!

I think this is a great any occasion card and I'm planning on creating a few more to put together as a gift set for some one special!

Come back tomorrow to check out the FABULOUS Blog Hop! All of our designers have made some great projects using Echo Park Papers! Rumor has it there may be prizes involved...

Echo Park Joy Fold Card Tutorial

2011-09-20T00:01:00.002-04:00

Hi, it’s Mindy and it’s my turn to host Tutorial Tuesday. As you know we are featuring Echo Park products this month. I have made a Joy Fold Card using the Echo Park Country Drive Collection.

It’s hard to tell from the picture, but this card has a very unique fold . Here is a picture of what the card looks like when it is open.

The little car on the front opens up to give you lots of room to write a message to your recipient.

To make this card, you will need to gather your supplies. You will need a piece of cardstock 4 1/4 x 8 1/2, a piece of cardstock 3 x 8, 3 pieces of patterned paper 2 3/4 x 4, a piece of patterned paper 4 x 5 1/4, a scor pal and adhesive.

You need to score your larger piece of cardstock at 5 1/2 inches and your smaller piece at 4 inches. Then you can cover the cardstock in the paper of your choice. I matted my paper to give it an extra layer. You only decorate the outside of your smaller card and leave the inside blank for a message.

These are my cardstock pieces after I had them decorated. Then you put adhesive on the back side of the smaller card and stick it in the middle of the larger card.

If you are confused by any of my steps, there is an excellent tutorial on split coast stampers with a video. The main thing I changed from this tutorial is the way I kept the card closed. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to use the new craft velcro I got.

I love this stuff! I cut one of the ovals in half since I only needed a small amount. I stuck it to the inside of the flap while it was still attached. I pulled off the backing and pushed the card together. This is much easier than trying to make sure you have the pieces lined up perfectly.

That’s it a really simple way to make an interesting card. Here is a picture of the finished card again.

I have a couple of friends who have been sick and when I saw this yellow VW bug the sticker on the sticker elements that came with this pack, I knew it would be perfect. I've had the sentiment "caught a bug..." for a while and I knew they would go great together. I added a strip of ribbon and this was it. I really just wanted this card to be clean and simple.

Echo Park Country Drive

2011-09-16T00:01:00.000-04:00

We are featuring Echo Park this month at Cutters Creek and it’s my turn to post a project. I have used one of the new collections Country Drive. This pack is full of bright fun colors and great patterns like birds and butterflies. I used the 12 x 12 kit which comes with some great sticker elements.

Here is the card I made with the paper and the included elements.

I used the butterfly pattern for the base of my card. The large butterfly in the center was cut with my cricut. The pink pattern used for the butterfly is actually the reverse side of the butterfly paper. I love when both sides are really cute. I used the new Sophie cartridge which is a circle exclusive, but there are several cartridges with butterflies that would work just as well. I added 2 of the sticker borders that came with the paper pack across the center of the card and then I pop dotted the butterfly oval up off the card with some clear foam tape. I finished the card with some flower stickers in the corners. These were also part of the element sheet included in the pack. I put some green adhesive pearls in the center of the flowers.

I made this card an easel card. It folds flat to be a normal 5x7 card, but when you open it up the strip across the bottom holds the front in place. This border strip is popped up once again and decorated with more flower stickers and pearls. I then added the sentiment which is also a sticker from the element pack.

I hope you have enjoyed my echo park project and that I have encouraged you to take a look at the 12 x 12 packs. The paper is adorable and the included elements work great with cards as well as scrapbook pages.

Life is Amazing Card - Deanna M

2011-09-14T21:02:00.001-04:00

I have for you today an elegant looking but very quick card I made using the new Victoria Gardens Echo Park paper and stickers from the 12 x 12 kit. These papers are beautiful and also come in a 6 x 6 Pad. To make my card I started with a white card base 4 1/4" X 5 1/2". I then cut a mat from this gorgeous pink and white patterned paper that was in my kit. I added a pink ribbon and bow from my stash. Using the Elegant Edges Cricut cartridge to cut the scalloped rectangle. I cut the base layer and shadow layer at 3 3/4". (Kim at Cutter's Creek can special order this cartridge for you, just ask). I just loved this framed sentiment and designed my card around it. The scalloped mats are cut from more patterned paper from the Victoria Gardens Echo Park kit. I adhered the scalloped rectangle mat together and attached it to my card using foam tape. Last I added the framed sentiment and some pearls in each of the scallops. I am so pleased how this turned out. In case you can't read it, the sentiment says, When you stop and look around, this life is pretty amazing. If you haven't had a chance, be sure to stop by Cutters Creek and check out all the Echo Park paper available. Rumor has it that some of the Christmas pads have just arrived and their are a few remaining, so grab yours quick. Be sure to come back and visit again for more great project ideas.

Tutorial Tuesday: Echo Park Paper Bead by Laura C.

2011-09-13T00:01:00.002-04:00

This "yummy" LO was done using the Echo Park "Happy Days" 12x12 paper collection. The paper, stickers, and journal box are from this collection. The candy jar is from the sticker sheet, and I added Glossy Accents and a bit of twine to dress it up. The twine at the top is held tightly in place with none

other than Scor Tape. The bottom of the page is a layer of paper beads....remember those? They are one of the "new" trends to use on your cards and LO's!! Here is a close up of the beads and the candy jar....and it shows the title I added:

And if you aren't familiar with how to make these "sweet" little paper beads.....here is a super quick video on how it's done:

Thanks for stopping by today....try out this fun technique for yourself! And make sure you stop by my blog, www.scrapaddict4life.blogspot.com for yummy blog candy this week!!

Available at Cutters Creek:
Echo Park 12x12 (Happy Days)
Glossy Accents
Scor Tape

Graphic 45 To The Rescue with Chris

2011-09-12T00:01:00.000-04:00

Did you ever forget a birthday of a dear friend? I did and needed something quick, easy, and nice, so I turned to my Graphic 45 The Magic of Oz Collection. My pad is 8x8. I fussy cut the scarecrow with the sign “Wanted a Brain”, aptly named for this project, don’t you think?

I used a cardstock base of 4.25 x 5.5 and layered a 3-7/8 x 5-1/8 inch black rectangle from my stash and a 3.75 x 5 inch green one from the Oz pad. I used my gold leaf pen to edge the green rectangle and then used ScorTape to adhere it to the card.

I wrote the sentiment on my computer and printed out on cream cardstock. The clip that is holding it was originally baby blue. I sanded it first and then, used Lettuce, Latte, and Cloudy Blue Alcohol Inks to change the color. I then edged the sentiment card with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, slipped it into the clip and used Glossy Accents to attach it. The scarecrow is popped up. I used the ASI Kool TaK Clear squares where they would show and regular pops towards the middle that you couldn’t see. Now all I need to do is write a note and the card will be in the mail.

Remembering 9/11...........................

2011-09-11T17:30:00.000-04:00

The Cutters Creek Design Team sends our many thanks to our American Heroes and those in our Armed Services, Fire Fighters, & Police Officers. We also send our heartfelt prayers to all those who lost their loved ones on 9/11/01. We will never forget...............................

Happy Days Layout with Echo Park from Lori

2011-09-08T00:08:00.001-04:00

I am absolutely LOVING this Happy Days collection from Echo Park! The bright cheery colors make it great for so many projects. I don't know about you, but I still have about a ton and a half of photos from my kids' younger days hanging around. I thought these pictures from my now-5th-graders 3rd birthday were a perfect match for these papers.

Totally loving this! Here are a few ways I added some dimension with these fun papers:

Using a black distress ink pad, I edged all of my papers (I used a black marker around the shield shape). Then, I popped up some of the pieces using some dimensional foam adhesive.

Finally, I added a few dimensional embellishments, like these bottle caps I smashed using the No More Shims mat. I simply added some of the sticker elements from the collection mounted on cardstock in the centers.

Items available at Cutters Creek:

Echo Park Happy Days Collection
No More Shims mat from Scor-Pal
Kool Tak 3-D Foam on a roll - Clear
Tim Holtz Distress Ink, Black Soot
Scotch ATG

To see some add-ons I made for this layout, you can visit my blog. Thanks for checking us out today! Don;t forget to check back all month for projects featuring Echo Park Paper products.

Echo Park Happy Days LO by Laura C

2011-09-07T00:01:00.003-04:00

Ok....I gotta say....I think I am in LOVE!! With this new
EP "Happy Days" paper collection!! It's so fun with so
many options!! And just to show you that it doesn't have
to be for "nostalgic" pics (but those look awesome too!)
This LO used the collection pack...the words are all from
the journal and word strip sheets, the record, music notes,
title letters, and black diamond strip are all from the sticker
sheet. A few buttons with twine finish the page off. A super
simple and super cute way to show off a fave pic (like this
one of my son in the "Sundae Relay" at youth theater camp!

Make sure to check out this awesome Echo Park Paper
at Cutters Creek!!

Available at Cutters Creek:
Echo Park "Happy Days" 12x12 collection pack
Glue Glider Adhesive

Patchwork Kitty-By Deanna M

2011-09-06T00:01:00.001-04:00

So for Tutorial Tuesday I wanted to give you an idea on how to use some of those scraps building up in your scrap bin. If you are like me, you hate to recycle a piece of paper that you just might be able to use on another project. Here is what I have for you.

To make my patchwork kitty, I started with a 4" X 6" piece of regular bond, printer paper and ran it through my Xyron. You could also use a large adhesive label but I didn't have any so had to improvise and it worked beautifully. I then cut 2" X 2" squares from some of my scrap paper. My paper for this project is from several Echo Park Paper Pads.

I then randomly picked up my squares and attached them to my paper using the adhesive applied by the Xyron. Here is how it looked.

I then selected my image which was the Kitty from Create-a-Critter. I cut the base layer out of black card stock (another scrap) and then the top layer from my patchwork paper I made. I grabbed a scrap of pink for the bow and the kitty's nose. My card base is 4 1/4" X 5 1/2" white card stock. The yellow and purple paper are from the Echo Park Summer Days Paper Pad. I used my white gel pen to add some faux stitching around the outside of the card as well as to "stitch" all the seams and along the outside of the kitty. I added some black nail head embellishments from my stash for her eyes and a silver rhinestone from the new Want2 Scrap embellishments, to the kitty's bow. I used some Memento Tuxedo Black Ink to stamp my Hello. I attached my kitty to my card front with an Action Wobble I hope I have inspired you to trying something new with those scraps. Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to come visit us again as we will be featuring projects using the Echo Park Paper Pads all month.