Trick or Treat

I've been spending a lot of time trying to get my scrapbook room organized and put everything in a place that makes sense. In doing that, I've become reacquainted with things I haven't used in a while or, even worse, forgot I had. I found this little Tilda holding a pumpkin and knew I wanted to color her. 

She's so cute and perfect for Halloween time. I colored her with copic markers to match the colors in my favorite My Mind's  Eye paper. It's hard because the colors in the paper are so muted. I matted the image with a couple of rectangle nestabilities and then finished the card off with a Cutters Creek gardenia.

I guess it's time to put my Halloween images and paper up for another year. I've had a lot if fun playing with some old friends. 

Think Pink

October is breast cancer awareness month and you sure to see a lot of pink. We're honoring breast cancer with pink projects all month. I chose this cute image from La La Land Crafts that I've had forever and never inked up until now.

I colored Marci with my copic markers to match the colors in the Echo Park paper. The frame around the image is a nestabilitie and I sanded it to make the polka dots stand out more. I finished the card off with some silk flowers and a cutters creek gardenia. 

Remember to think pink this October and  protect yourself. 

Products I used Echo Park Paper La Land Crafts Cutters Creek Branded Flowers

Cuddly Koala

I have had this cute cuddly koala Marci stamp from La La Land Crafts for a while and I decided it was finally time to ink it up.  Koalas were my favorite animal as a child and I think this image is adorable.  I recently got a new 6 x 6 My Mind’s Eye pad from Kim and thought this image would go great with it.  I love how soft the colors in this pad are.  The pad is called lavender, but there’s actually no lavender it’s pinks, blues, and yellows. 

I colored Marci with my copic markers to match the colors in the papers.  I love chevron right now, so I had to make that the background.  I picked a few more patterns to add and then finished the card off with one of my favorite Cutters Creek branded flowers. 

Shopping List

La La Land Crafts

My Mind’s Eye

Copic Markers

Cutters Creek Branded Flowers

Celebrate

Hi, it's Mindy and it's my turn to post a project today. I recently got a new puppy, so I've been spending a lot of time with her and my other little dog outside in the backyard. They love chasing each other and barking at birds. I found this little bird digital stamp and thought it would make a nice bright summery card.

I've colored my image with my copic markers to match the bright colors in the Echo Park paper. This is an older pack, but they have several others that are just as cute. To finish the card off, I added some Cutters Creek brand flowers. I always like having these on hand to finish off my cards. They come in a large variety of colors and styles and if the color isn't exactly what you're looking for, you can modify them with your copic markers or some stickles. 

I hope you have enjoyed my bright summery card and that your summer isn't too hot to enjoy. 

Wedding Card with Lori

Hello! Seems it's been a while since I've been here; the germs have been rocking our house a little hard this month.  Anyway, today I have a pretty wedding easel card to share with you.  The hubs came home last week and told me he needs a card for a coworker getting married.  Since he'll be delivering it in person, I was happy to make it thick and chunky because I don't have to deal with mailing it, lol.  Here's what I came up with:

I pulled out one of my few wedding stamps (I think it's Bildmalarna) and my Copic Markers.  I knew I wanted to use that beautiful doily die again, so I cut a circle from Xpress Blending Card to fit the center. I stamped my image on the circle and colored it with my Copics.

I made my 6x6 easel card using CTMH cardstock and Authentique papers from my stash.  I placed the stopper for my easel near the top of the inside instead of the traditional placement near the bottom so it would stand up almost straight. I made sure to pop up the top strip with foam adhesive to keep it from popping closed.  I also added some rhinestone brads for bling.

I raised the doily off the card front using more foam adhesive for added depth and interest.  I embellished using Prima Fairytale Roses and Cutters Creek branded flowers.  I inked the CC flowers to darken them a bit since they were the same shade as the darker Fairytale Roses, and I wanted to add a little more color variety. The flowers are all adhered using Glossy Accents.

It's hard to see in the pictures, but I added sparkle to the eyelet areas of the wedding dress using a clear Copic Spica pen. 


Supplies available at Cutters Creek:

• X-press Blending Card
• Copic Markers
• Copic Spica pen in Clear
• Prima Fairytale Roses in Baby Pink
• Cutters Creek branded flowers Micro Roses in Pink Shades
• Memento ink in Tuxedo Black
• Cheery Lynn Designs Doily Die (I used the English Tea Party design)
• Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents
• Foam Adhesive (your choice of 3M or ASI Kool Tak)

Other Supplies Used:

• Cardstock
• Pattern Paper (I used Authentique)
• Ink to sponge flowers & paper edges (the Tim Holtz Distress Ink pads in the store would work great)

 

March Is National Craft Month!!! Graphic 45's Secret Garden with Kim B

Happy National Craft Month everyone!  For the first week of March, the Cutters Creek Design Team will be bringing you a project every day to inspire you to get crafting.  Hopefully we have a good mix of projects that will appeal to all levels and types of crafters.  I will be kicking off the week with a scrapbook page using the newly released Secret Garden by Graphic 45.  So, on to my project!

 

 

I first have to say, this new release is awesome!  I love French Country and Secret Garden by Graphic 45, although Secret Garden was really calling my name.  I used my new favorite subject for my page.  This is Oliver, the kitten I received from my mom for Christmas.  He is approx. 10 weeks old in this photo and one of my favorite photos to date.  (He is now 15 weeks old.)  Since Oliver is a boy, I decided to pick up some of the blue in the patterned paper I chose.  I did the matting using my favorite tool, Perfect Layers (see my coupon code on the right side bar to get a discount!).  I also used some lavender because let's face it, I like girly, girl stuff.  I cut a 4" piece for my border on the left and then I punched a few butterflies with the leftover piece and ran them through my xyron and added crystal glitter to them to tone down the paper a bit and add some bling so it would not take away from my border piece.  I added some pearls to each of them and used micro foam squares to attach them to my layout so they look like they are in flight.  Also, in the right top corner, I used a pocket and tag from the tags and pocket set that came out with this release to do some hidden journaling and inked the edges of both the pocket and tag a bit. 

I used my Perfect Pearls Mist to color some Color Me White Cutters Creek Branded Flowers and then attached some Cutters Creek Branded Micro Roses in purple to them.  I put down some rhinestone flourishes for some more bling!  I also attached one of the chipboard tags from one of the chipboard die cut sets, added some peel offs around the edge of the photo (you can find additional peel off stickers HERE), and then added a pretty blue bow.

I hope you enjoyed my project as I sure enjoyed making it!  Please leave a comment regarding my project and tell our readers what you are doing for National Scrapbook Month.

 

Glimmer Mist Background by Chris

The background was done on a 4.25 x 5.5 inch piece of cardstock. I pooled several different colors of Tattered Angels (Electric Blue, Pomegranate, Dragonfly, Sun Sisters) on the cardstock—no soft sweeping here--and used my heat gun to dry them. Once the background was dried, I stamped the image using Staz-On ink and used my ATG to adhere it to the card base. I then cut a length of white seam tape and dyed it to match the card with Electric Blue Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist. A multi-loop bow with a Cutter’s Creek Flower glued in its center was adhered to the card base using Glue Dots. The embellishment is a Sizzix die cut with my Big Shot, slathered with Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint and set aside to dry. Once it was dried and crackled, I used the same Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists to color the heart. (This Technique called Shattered Stains. It is in T. Holtz’s second compendium, page 48, if you’d like the specifics.) I wove one ribbon tail through the heart and used mini Glue Dots to loop both tails in place, added a sentiment inside, and my mother’s card is done.

Birthday Card by Deanna M

I have for you today a birthday card I made for a friend to give to her Mom. My card base is a piece of green cardstock cut and scored to 4 1/4” X 5 1/2”. I added a mat from the Mod Squad Cut and Emboss paper pack cut to 4” X 5 1/4” and then a patterned paper mat from the Prima Botanical paper collection cut to 3 3/4” X 5. I then used Elegant Edges to cut a mat for my butterfly at 3”. I used the same paper as my first mat for the base layer of the mat for the butterfly. I then used a piece of paper from the Whitewashed Cut and Emboss paper pack for the top layer. I ran that layer through my Cuttlebug and embossed it with Sizzix Embossing folder called Dots and Flowers Embossing folder and sanded it so the colored green core showed through (and yes, Kim can order this for you. You get two folders in the package).
My butterfly on this card is once again one of the laser cut embellishments by Kaisercraft. I am so loving these embellishments. (And, yes Kim can order these for you too!) They are so easy to work with, are not too think and add a great dimension and elegance to a card. For the butterfly I started off by using my craft mat and rubbing some different colors of Distress Ink on my mat, spritzing with water and them placing the butterfly in the ink on my mat. I used Persimmon, Concord Grape and Broken China Distress Ink. I let it dry for a bit then spritzed it with similar colors of glimmer mist. Again I let that dry and then added some Glimmer Glam in Violet and a Copper color. Once again I allowed that layer to dry. I then added some Glimmer Glaze to the antenna’s and around the orange areas of the butterfly. I then went back with a bit more Persimmon distress ink. I let all that dry overnight (only because it was bedtime). The final layer I added some Pearl glimmer mist. This butterfly is so iridescent looking in person. I adhered my  the butterfly to my mat with some of the ASI Kool Tak tape clear gel foam tape.
The flower I added to the card is a Cutter’s Creek Gardenia. The flower was actually yellow but it just didn’t go with the card as well as I likes, so I spritzed it with some Honey Dew Mist glimmer mist, and problem solved. It softened the butter yellow of the flower and gave it a light green color which went much better with my card. I then stamped my sentiment with some Rusty Hinge Distress Ink. Finally I added some Copper Pearl liquid pearls to the tip of each antenna. Sure hope you have enjoyed my project and that I have inspired you to get out your goodies and make a project.

Love Bunny with Mindy

Mother's Day is approaching and I thought I would make a sweet little Mother's Day card. I love this House Mouse image called Love Bunny. I colored the image with my copic markers.



After I colored my image, I matted it with one of the fleur de lis square spellbinders. I embossed the square and then ran some ink ove the edges to highlight the embossing. I also inked the edges of all my papers to give it more of a shabby chic look. To finish the project off, I added a Cutter's Creek gardenia to the corner in yellow and grey to match the colors. I wanted to keep the card simple, so I didn't add a sentiment to the outside.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I hope everyone is having a great St. Patrick's Day! My project for today is not a St. Patrick's Day project, but it does have some green in it in honor of the holiday. For this project, I really wanted to focus on the paper. If you're like me, one of the first things that attracted you to paper crafting was all the pretty paper. I used to love to go to a Scrapbook store and load up on different sheets of paper. The problem was when I got home and got ready to use them, none of them matched. I was always scrambling and trying to find a pink close to the shade of pink in the paper I just had to use. Now, I buy packs of paper. I buy the 6 x 6 size to use for card making and the 12 x 12 packs for scrapbooking. I made this little card using several different patterns from one of the Echo Park 6 x 6 pads.

All the color matching and the pattern picking has been done for me. I know all the colors in this pack coordinate perfectly, the only thing I have to do is narrow down which ones I want to use. I especially love how they give you a few solid sheets in the same colors to use as matting like I have done in this card. The only color matching I need to do is to pick copics close to the colors in the papers to color my image. I added a bright yellow Cutters Creek brand flower to the right corner and I was done. It doesn't take long at all to make a card when you don't spend 30-40 minutes trying to find the right shade of cardstock.

Cutters Creek Shopping List
copic markers
Echo Park paper
Cutters Creek branded flowers

Happy Birthday!

We have so many February birthdays in my family, it seems that's the only kind of card I can even think of during this time. For this card I broke out my trusty Cricut Imagine . This is my go to machine when I need something done quickly. The octopus is from Birthday Bash, but I filled it with colors and patterns from one of my Imagine cartridges.

I thought this little octopus was perfect for a peachy keen face stamp, so I added one and I think she looks so sweet. Cutters Creek sells a couple of different face stamp assortments from Peachy Keen and they're perfect for adding just the right facial expression to your die cuts. To finish my octopus off and give her some style, I added some faux stitching with one of my copic spica pens. I wish you could see the shimmer more in the picture it's just the right amount of bling. I also went over her face to give that a little more shine too. No self respecting octopus would head off to a birthday party without the perfect accessory and I though she would look adorable with a flower on her head. This little lily from Cutters Creek's own brand of flowers was just the perfect touch. The final element for my octopus was to attach her to the card with an action wobble so she can move like a real octopus. I finished the card off with some more faux stitching and a sentiment and it's ready to be sent off!

Melissa's Summer Cards

 So I was looking through my Color Inspiration Magazine that came out earlier this year and I got an idea.  Not so much the colors but the layout.  If you have it, it's on page 46 - Spread Sunshine.  I just love this simplicity of it, so here are some simple birthday cards I came up with.


I really like the look of white ink on black paper, so I wanted the white to look a little messy on the embossed images.  The first card I used Flourished Frame and added the white ink and flowers after stamping my words on some Kraft paper from my scrap paper.  Who says brown and black don't go together :o)  I topped it with someCuttersCreek branded and Prima flowers.

This card I also embossed, but with one of the images from the Organic Flourish Collection.  I also used white to enhance the embossed image but no where else.  I just really like the simple feel to it.  Both cards took maybe 10 minutes total so this was perfect for a card in a hurry or  making some for your stash of birthday cards.  And they look completely different!

thanks for looking! 

Image:  Stampin' Up -retired
Paper:  stash

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, white ink from stash
Embellishments:  Prima Flowers: Dimmet, Aurora. CC Flowers: Aqua Marine, B, W, G.  Organic Flourishes, Flourished Frame.
Other: ATG,  Glue Dots, Big Shot

Precious Tutorial Tuesday

Continuing with our Irock Tutorial Tuesdays, I decided to make a precious little baby girl card to show you how I like to use my Irock. Here are a picture of the Imaginesce supplies I used on this card.

In this picture you can see my Irock tool, a compact full of rhinestones, a couple of lip gloss like containers full of gems, and my little tray which lets me keep track of all my gems. In the tray you will see one of the applicators that comes in the lip gloss tubes. When you wet the end of the applicator, it can be used to pick up the gems and place them where you want them to go. This is a lot easier than trying to pick them up, especially if you have long nails.

Here is a picture of the card I made using the Irock gems and my Teresa Collins Baby Boutique Imagine cartridge.

I like to look for obvious places in the die cuts themselves or the pattern that look like a rhinestone would fit. In this case, the middle of the wheels was perfect for a rhinestone, as well as the point of the sentiment, and I also mixed a few into the polka dot pattern on the stroller randomly. To finish the card off, I added a couple of Cutters Creek branded gardenias. The flowers come with stamens in the middle of them. I didn’t think it really went with my bling theme, so I carefully cut them out of the flowers and added an Irock rhinestone to the center of each flower.

Using the Irock is extremely simple. First, you need to place your gems where you want them using the applicator I told you about earlier. Then you place you Irock tool on top of the gem. Here is a link to a video showing you how to use the Irock. You can feel the gem move just a little bit when the glue has melted, that’s the best way for me to know it’s done. It will go a little quicker after the tool is completely warmed up. Your first few may take a little longer. If you are looking for an easy way to bling up your projects, then the Irock is the tool for you.

Cutters Creek Shopping List

Irock Tool

Irock gems

Irock tray

Teresa Collins Baby Boutique (available for special order)

Cutters Creek Branded Flowers

Melissa's Favorite Things

Hi!  I'm keeping it really simple today since I'm having some technical difficulties with my internet . . . But, I decided for my favorite item this month to use my Graphic 45 Once Upon a Springtime paper - -I have been using this for everything!  I kid you not!! 

I used some scraps of my Cosmo Cricket paper for the background and sanded it.  Over this is one of the images in the back of the paper pack.  I popped out the center image and used pop dots to raise it slightly.  I then added some of the fantastic CuttersCreek and Prima flowers to add some contrast.  It was still missing something, so I used my new love, stickles, on the wings.  I love how it makes them look 3 dimensional too!!

I hope you like it!!!

 


Stamps: none
Paper: Graphic 45, Cosmo Cricket
Ink: none
Embellishments: Stickles, CuttersCreek: Aquamarine; Prima Flowers:Splash,
Other: ATG, Scor-Pal
Stash: Pop Dots

Favorite Things

Hi, it’s Mindy and it’s my turn to tell you about some of my favorite things. I love my cricut, but I have a few other favorite products as well. I LOVE stamps and copic markers. Coloring a great stamped image can be very relaxing and I don’t think anything makes a stamped image look as good as copic markers do. For this card, I used one of my favorite stamp companies- House Mouse.

House Mouse has so many adorable stamps it’s hard to pick a favorite, but I think this one called You Snooze You Lose is really sweet. The image is of course colored with copic markers. I chose the background paper I used because it reminds me of ice cream.

Patterned paper is another one of my favorite things. I can’t get enough of it. I especially love this Echo Park paper. The pack is called Dots and Stripes and it is the Candy Shoppe collection. This pack is awesome! It is full of different colors of stripes and polka dots and to make it even better- it’s double sided! I used the front and back sides of these papers to showcase the stripes and the dots.

Another one of my favorite things is Nestabilities. I just can’t get enough of them. I love how easy it is to mat your image and make it look great. This image was actually a little large and if I matted it, it would take up almost the entire card front. I cut the image, embossed it, and then went over the embossing with some pink chalk. This not only highlights the embossing, but it kind of makes the image look matted.

My final favorite thing is embellishments and one of my favorite types of embellishment is flowers. I love flowers and there are so many different types available. The new Cutter Creek Flowers are my current favorite. They come in several different types, sizes, and colors. I never have a problem finding the perfect one. For this card I used one of the gardenias up in the left corner and two of the lillies down on the bottom. I love how these flowers are not flat and add decoration and dimension to your projects.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about the design team’s favorite things as much as we have enjoyed sharing them with you.

Embossing With A Twist by Chris

This month’s tutorials by the Design Team will focus around the Cuttlebug. Join us as we explore different ways you can use your tool and discover its power!

Embossing with the Cuttlebug is a piece of cake—cut paper, insert into embossing folder, set up your sandwich, roll it through the machine, and voila—an embossed piece of cardstock. But what if you want part of the cardstock to stay blank or flat so you can stamp a sentiment or image or highlight an embellishment? It’s easy and just takes a bit of prep work, but once that’s done, you’ll have templates ready for the next time.

You can cut the templates either with your Cuttlebug using your Spellbinders Nestabilities (or with SCAL or MTC) and chipboard (or scrap cereal boxes). To start decide what size embossing folder you will be using. For this tutorial I used a 5x7 folder (Oriental Weave) and a 4.25x5.5 folder (Divine Swirls). You will have to experiment with your Cuttlebug to determine how many layers of chipboard you will need to stack for the embossing; it will depend on their thickness. For my Cuttlebug I cut three cereal box sides at 5x7. Decide what shape you want “open” within the embossing pattern—I made a set of a circle, square, and oval. Line up where you want the “hole” to be in the embossing. (It is important to measure carefully here as you will cut the oval from the next two rectangles and want them to be in exactly the same place. If you are using SCAL or MTC, you should be good to go once you design the rectangle as long as you tape down the cardstock so it doesn’t move.) Using removable tape, I taped my one of my Nestability Classic Small Ovals down on one piece of cardboard and then layered my sandwich: A plate, thin adaptor plate, my cardboard with attached oval—flip the cardboard so the oval is on the bottom side and its cut side is up—and then my two B plates, and ran it through. Repeat this two more times. You now have three rectangles with an open shape. Glue these together and set aside to dry. I used Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive. I repeated these steps using a Square Nestability Die and a Circle Nestability Die.  Now you have your templates.

I then cut a 5x7 piece of cardstock and used my template to determine where to stamp my image. I put small pencil dots to indicate the corners of the open square and then stamped using Black Memento Ink and colored using my Copics. Okay so here comes the magic. Put your card stock into the embossing folder (colored side up and name side of folder up). Put your template on top of the folder and make sure the opening lines up with your design. To keep it from sliding I again tape, securing the template to the folder. Create your sandwich—A plate, Cuttlebug embossing folder with attached template, and plate B—and roll through. If it is not tight enough, shim with some thin pieces of cardstock. When you remove the template and open your folder your cardstock should be embossed all around your image. (Note: sometimes I do my image after embossing.) I do trim any unembossed cardstock from around the piece using my ScorPal cutting pad and finger trimmer.

It’s now just a matter of finishing your card. Here are two I did. One is simply enhanced with a Cutters Creek Gardenia glued down with some Inkssentials Glossy Accents Precision Tip on a blue mat with its edges inked—Tumbled Glass. The other is matted on green cardstock inked with Forest Moss and trimmed with Flower Soft Silver Peel Off Stickers , a ribbon, ribbon slide (cut out of some silver packing foil), a button, and bakery twine. Copics: Y17, Y15, Y0000, B24, YG23, YG61, E25, YR18, and YG00. Finally I added a few dots of white ink to the flower centers.

Cutters Creek Treat & My Fabulous Design Team!

A couple weeks ago, I sent my entire Design Team a little "treat" from me and asked all of them if they would be kind enough to create something and let me show off their talent.  They were all so very excited and I told them that they could use anything they wanted to use and my only stipulation was they used the product and do something geared to all those Moms out there, as Mother's Day is quickly approaching.  My hope is all their moms will be getting the gorgeous things they came up with!

As a side note, I would like you to take a moment to think of one of our Designers, Laura.  She is dealing with and ailing parent and she felt horrible that she did not get a project done.  In my book, family ALWAYS comes first and I know she would have something wonderful to show me and all of you.  The entire Design Team sends you hugs Laura, and we are all here for you and hoping you are well........

So what did I send the Cutters Creek Designers?  I sent them each a set of Cutters Creek Branded Flowers!!  They all got the Micro Roses and I sent each one of them a different color.  So here are your Cutters Creek Designers!!!  Please leave them all a comment to let them all know that they did an awesome job.  I know I think so!!!!

Mandie:

Vicki:

Lori:

Chris:

Melissa:

Mindy:

Deanna:

Laura:



Didn't they do a wonderful job?  I know I am so very proud of each and everyone of them!  Cutters Creek Branded Flowers come in many colors and the Micro Roses have 15 stems (grouped in three bunches of five) that you can pull apart or leave them together with three complimentary bows.  To see them, please click HERE!  I hope everyone enjoyed the challenge I gave the Cutters Creek Design Team!!!

(Laura's project added 4/28/11)