Happy Memorial Day by Sandi

What a great card using the Stand & Salute Cricut cartridge! Sandi also used an orange and silver sakura pen to give the eagle more detail. The Cutters Creek Design Team wishes everyone a wonderful holiday weekend!

Cutters Creek products:

Stand & Salute Cricut cartridge

Sakura pens

Hot Rod Dad Card by Lori

Do you have a dad in your life who enjoys motorcycles or hot rod cars? Here's a super simple Father's Day card to get his engine revving!

First, I used the Moroccan Screen embossing folder from Cuttlebug to emboss a 4" x 5.25" piece of black cardstock. Next, I used a clear ink pad and completely coated the dry embossed cardstock. I sprinkled on clear embossing powder and heat embossed the entire piece. In person, this gives a great powder-coated metal look.

For my DAD cut, I used Make The Cut software for my Cricut and a free font called Hot Rod Gang BV cut at three inches from orange CS. I moved the letters close together, and created a shadow layer at 0.05" from red CS.

I inserted matte silver brads in the corners of the black piece, then layered everything on a red A2 card base. Another quick & easy project!

The following products to create this card are available at Cutters Creek:

cardstock
clear ink pad (Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Clear)
Super Fine Embossing Powder 1 oz. - Clear
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Moroccan Screen
Make The Cut software
Cricut Expression

Father's Day Cards with Melissa

So one neat benefit of making cards for the Cutters Creek Design Team is that I can get holiday cards completed early. Like today, I am showing my Father's Day cards and it is still MAY!Yoohoo!! Hopefully today's post will inspire a few of you to get your cards completed early too!For my cards, I started with a stamped image from my stash. I knew it was the PERFECT representation for Father's Day and what the men in my family mean to me and my children. I didn't want everyone to be the same, so I used cool greys and blues to color the suits. All I did was include more or less of the middle shades and they each turned out looking completely different from one another which is fantastic! The markers I used are towards the bottom of the post, but if you want to know specific groups used, just leave a comment with a way to contact you and will send the info :o)

I wanted to personalize a few of the "D's" on the front so I roughly (I am a colorer NOT a drawer!) drew a Batman emblem for my dad, after all he is Bruce Wayne, and a toilet and plunger for my Grandpa - -He and my Grandmother owned a Plumbing business for 20 years. I decided I wanted to make an easel card after all of my figures were colored. I loved Beate's tutorial on SCS, but I didn't want to waste any paper. I found a more economical way on Created by Katie Cotton. I folds great and stands nicely - -I didn't have to weigh down the face of the card so that it wouldn't flip up! I cut the layering pieces with my We R Memory Makers Ultimate Cutting Kit. I cut in 1/4" increments so the layers were vi sable but thin. I pulled some phrase stamps from my cabinet, crossing my fingers I had something for Father's Day......humm . . . . maybe I should post about organization later . . . . .

Back to the card :o) I found a PERFECT stamp set from ages ago that is from Close to My Heart. It says "You are my Hero" How great is that!?!? It also had a matching design that said "Happy Father's Day" for the inside of the card. I used 2 different sentiments for my husband's card and my dad's. Yes, I am a Daddy's girl thru and thru!

Next, I assembled the card, barely resisting to add more embellishments as this is a Man's Card. . . spoken in a deep voice :o) And tada, a quick, simple, meaningful Father's Day card! I hope this gave you some ideas!

Here are the Copics I used I forgot to include the Spicas so those are listed as well:

Copic Atyou Spica Glitter Pen Gold, Silver, Sky Blue, Red

Copic Q & A: Refilling your markers ~By Laura Burleson

The first question I received before going to my certification class revolved around refilling your markers. Almost all of the Copic markers can be refilled. The exceptions are the Atyou Spicas and the black barrel liner pens. The silver barrel liner pens are refillable.

There are three basic refill methods:

Method One:

Add drops of refill ink slowly to your chisel end of the marker. Allow the marker to absorb the inks. It will drink and drink until it is "full".

Method Two:

Remove the chisel nib, and add drops of ink into your marker. Use the Copic Tweezers to remove the nib to prevent damage. Never refill your marker by removing your brush nib. The brush nib is much more delicate than the chisel end.

Method Three:

Copic makes a needle attachment that screws into the refill bottle. You can inject ink into the chisel end of the marker using the needle. The needle can be re-used, but it must be cleaned completely after each use to avoid cross contamination of your inks and markers.

A completely empty Copic Sketch marker will take 2 c.c.'s of ink. If you over-fill your marker, you can absorb some of the ink out of the tips by using an old towel or paper towel. Overfilled markers will blob when you color with them. If you know your marker is not overfilled, but it is still "blobbing", you may have a pressure problem. Remove the caps from both sides of the marker to allow the marker to equalize its pressure. This usually happens due to changes in temperature, climate, or altitude.

How do you know your marker needs to be refilled? When your nibs are white, and ink isn't flowing to the tips.

Do you have more questions about Copic Markers? Please post them! I will be happy to answer any and all questions!

Laura B. - Copic Certified Designer


Items available at Cutters Creek:

Copic Ciao and Sketch markers
Refillable Copic Liner Pens
Copic Ink Refills
Copic Replacement Nibs
Copic Nib Tweezers

Baby Card by Lori

I needed a new baby card for a friend, and immediately thought of the Mother's Day mini cartridge. There's a really sweet and simple baby carriage on there along with all the other good stuff, and I knew it would be perfect!

I created a 5"x7" card layered with a 5"x5" piece and a 2"x5" piece of patterned papers. Using my Cricut and the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge, I cut a circle to 4.25" with Real Dial Size turned on (you can also use George or any other cart with a circle). Next I switched to the Mother's Day cartridge and turned OFF Real Dial Size. I cut the baby carriage and its shadow at 3.5" from two shades of pink CS. I cut the lace strip at 1.25", large enough to be able to cut the ends off after I adhered it to the card so it looks more like a piece of lace or eyelet ribbon. I lightly sponged the edges of both carriage layers with matching pink stamping ink.

After adhering the paper lace strip, I adhered my circle, then the shadow layer of the carriage. I applied foam adhesive to the back of the top carriage layer and adhered it to the shadow layer. Finally, I adhered some Dew Drops to the wheel hubs using Glossy Accents and stamped a sentiment across the bottom. Quick & easy!

Products available at Cutters Creek:

Mother's Day Mini Shape Limited Edition Mini Cartridge

Ranger Glossy Accents

Dew Drops from The Robin's Nest

Tombow Adhesive

Spring Card For A Friend by Chris

I am loving trying different techniques for making background papers and just knew I wanted to do the Brayer Resist that was on Paper Imagery Designs. I gathered some glossy magazine paper and my three distress inks (yes I do need to get more colors), a flower stamp, clear embossing pad and powder. Once I made my paper, it needed something more. I decided to deboss using my new Butterfly Impressability and my cuttlebug. I inked up the back of the metal plate with the Memento Bahama Blue ink, layered my sandwich: the A plate, B plate, Spellbinders embossing pad, cardstock and then my Impressability, inked side down. I topped it with another B plate and needed to shim it a bit more and used two old cards. Love how it came out. I cut it to 4.25 x 5.5 and then glued that paper to a sturdier piece of cardstock (5.75x 4.5).

To embellish the card I decided to make a stacked acetate flower that I saw on a blog. It’s super easy. Take a transparency sheet and rub it with a Magic Embossing Pad (anti-static). Then, using any solid stamps you have, ink them and stamp on the acetate sheet. I used my distress inks, a stazon white and my clear embossing inks. I then sprinkled them with the clear embossing powder and heated it from underneath. To deepen the color I used my copics and colored on the back (B06, YR16, R24). I cut them out with my cutterbees and stacked them with pop dots, made a pearl drop as its center and mounted on the card. I love the bumpy texture and the mix of five different flower stamps.

I cut out the “thinking of you” border from Walk in My Garden (3” length), glittered it with fruit punch stickles and mounted it between two ribbons from my stash. Added three more pearl dots and its done—a flowery, spring card for a very good friend.

Cutters Creek Supplies:
Liquid Pearls—Baby Blue
Walk in My Garden Cricut Cartridge
Superfine Embossing Powder Clear
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad-Clear
Spellbinders Impressabilities Dies—Butterfly
Tim Holtz Distress Inks—China Blue, Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade
Stickles Glitter Glue—Fruit Punch
Memento Bahama Blue Dye Ink
Cuttlebug
Spellbinders embossing pads
Magic Embossing pad
Cutterbees

A Special 50th Anniversary with Melissa

So this year is my grandparent's 50th Anniversary. On Mother's Day we surprised them with a visit from Elvis (my grandmother LOVES Elvis) and a book telling them about what they will be doing for their anniversary this year. My grandparent's were married in the Little White Wedding Chapel off of the strip in Las Vegas. My aunt and sister were also married there so it has become something of a family tradition! We are having them renew their vows as well as providing their room, gas money, gambling money AND tickets to their favorite show, The Price is Right! Aren't they a cute couple!! You can see more of their SURPRISE here!


I made the book inspired by the tutorial found here. I chose golden papers that I picked up at my LSS, as well as the Core'dinations Gemstone papers and Bazzill Dotted Swiss Paper. I think it only took about 10 minutes to make the book and an hour to beautify it. I chose to use a golden vellum for the front and back as I used some cereal boxes to make the heavy duty covers. I stamped “Congratulation” in Versamark and embossed with Ranger Super Fine Clear Embossing Powder. You can see the words a little in the picture below. I was trying to make it look reflective. The stamped images are some from my stash, stamped on Prism paper and colored with copics. Also, the ribbon on the front and used for binding are from my stash. I used 1/2” pop up dots to make the dove's and corner ”Congratulations” stand out a little more. What do you think so far? I had a really hard time giving this to “Elvis” to give my grandparents; I wanted to put it on display!

You can see how I used Smooch Accent Ink-Moonlight to highlight the dove's a little. First I used my C00 and C1 copics to add a little dimension and finished with the Smooch! I also used Smooch ink on the veil and the carriage. FlowerSoft Fuschia was used on the back of the carriage as well as my Atyou Spica pens. I also assembled the whole book using Scor-Tape in 1/4” and 1/8”. The Inside: My LSS had a small section of Las Vegas themed papers and it was PERFECT for what we needed. I just have to say I LOVE the internet!! I found a lot of my pictures and logos on the web and was able to print them out for the book!

Slide Show: click here


Additional Items used:
Inkssentials White Pen
Liquid Pearls Baby Blue
Scor-Pal
Souffle Pens
Multiliner SP Pen 0.3 Black
FlowerSoft Glue
Fingertip Control Craft Knife
Ultimate Cutting Kit
Copics
Multipurpose Heat Tool