Life's Beginnings by Laura C.

The base of this project is soft cream cardstock. The beautiful background is done by using Olive Vine and Deep Plum Glimmer Mist. I used a Glimmer Screen as a "mask" to create the scrolls in the corners as I spritzed the background. The purple cardstock in the center is an 8 ½” square piece and I used a punch around the entire border. The words were done on the computer in black ink on parchment paper. I trimmed around them, inked the edges, and then put them on the page as shown (I separately matted the beginning sentence and ending sentence, of course!). I then added the finishing touch flowers and bling (more of those petaloo flowers I love!) and then some tissue paper flowers I made (see below!).

Making these flowers is super simple, and it's a big trend right now! Step #1: Olive Vine and Deep Plum Glimmer Mist, and plain white tissue paper. Step #2: Spray one piece of tissue with the olive color and one piece with the plum. They dry super fast (about 5 minutes tops!) and you see the end result. Step #3: Cut off a strip of the tissue with scissors Step #4: Fold and cut out flowers with Spellbinder die in the Cuttlebug. (Any flower die should work). Step #5: Layer them up (I used 3 or 4 layers of each size for a nice full flower). Step #6: Fold them in half, staple, then unfold and crinkle/fluff until you get the look you desire. To finish, use glue dots to put smaller flower (center) in the middle of the larger flower, add a pretty center (I used buttons and the pearl brads) and then hand cut leaves from the green tissue. These are great for any altered project, cards or even scrapbook pages! There are pics to help you out, so grab that Glimmer Mist and! get to creating!

Cutters Creek products used:
Tattered Angels Olive Vine and Deep Plum Glimmer Mist
Tattered Angels glimmer screen (decorative corners)
American Crafts pearl brads--Earth Tones
Kaisercraft rhinestones--yellow/green
Petaloo flowers
Glue Glider Pro (perma tac)
Glue dots (dot n' go mini & memory)

Copic Monday-Hair Coloring by Laura Burleson

If you are like me you wondered how can you give texture and shading for the perfect hair color. What I have discovered is that most hair colors can be broken down into three marker colors. A light color for the highlights, a mid range color, and a dark color for the shadow areas.

For blond hair, I use YR23, Y23 and E35.

For brunette hair, I use E29, E25, and E31.

For auburn hair, I use E13, E17, and E19.

For black hair, I use C3, C5, and C9.

For grey hair, I use C1, C3, and C5.


This is a completed example of blond hair using the Y23, YR23 and E35:

When coloring hair use the same technique used for the skin. Lay down your lightest color for the entire head of hair. Next add in your darkest color, then your mid-range color. For images like the Pink Cat Studios characters, you will not have a lot of hair color definition.

This image shows a completed brunette using E25, E29, E31.

When coloring images more detailed images with more hair color lines, you will be able to add more depth to your hair color. You will have a greater area and more hair texture to cover. When you have images that have definite hair strand lines. Use strokes in those same directions to give the hair flow. Practice making short controlled strokes before starting to color your image.


For this image I started with my Y23 for blond hair. I used strokes that followed the natural hair growth.

After laying down my lighter color as the base. I added in my YR23 color. Again following the lines of the hair growth. Remember you can always go back and add more coloring as you progress through each step.

Lastly I added in my darkest color. I started from the roots of the hair and made it a bit darker using short feather-light strokes. I used more dark near the neckline and back of the hair. Remember your light source like we discussed previously. You want to layer in your darker colors where the hair would naturally be darker.

Here is a second example using the Auburn hair colors and the same image.

Coloring hair is an easy technique to master when you have the right colors. For all of my examples, I used the brush end of my Sketch Copic Markers. Enjoy trying these techniques! Please post your images. I would love to see your work.


Thanks for looking~


Laura


Cutters Creek Products Used:


Copic Sketch Markers - Colors listed above
Pink Cat Studios Stamps
Bazzill (Formly Prism) Cardstock
Memento Ink (Tuxedo Black)

Mother & Daughter Layout by Lori B.

So, here's this beautiful Spring layout I created from a mother/daughter event I attended a couple of years ago. I used Design Studio with my cartridge to create a fence border and a grass border (both images are on pg. 78 of the handbook). I actually cut my grass in two colors, a lighter green in front of the fence and a darker green behind the fence. My Spring tree is actually from the Halloween images on pg. 52 of the handbook. I sponged the tree with brown ink to give it more dimension. I used a small flower punch and my two shades of green CS to create the leaves for my tree. (Just snip the flowers into 2-3 pieces each.) I really wanted clouds on my layout, and that is the one thing I couldn't find on the cartridge, so I used the clouds from Mickey & Friends (pg. 127 in the handbook). They looked perfect style-wise with the PDDU images. For more detail, I used Flower Soft in Fuchsia along my fence and at the base of my tree.

For my title, I used Design Studio again. This time I used the Lyrical Letters font cartridge. Using the Loop Dee Loo font feature, I welded each word in my title. This font has a bit of a playful feel to it, so it matched well with my PDDU images and our casual pictures. I kept it toned down by using one of my green CS colors that would blend in rather than jump out from my patterned paper.

Cutters Creek products used:

Cricut

Design Studio

Ink

Flower Soft

Cardstock

It's All About Me by Laura B.

Have you ever thought about doing a layout just about you? It is a bit harder than I thought it would be, but it was very rewarding.

I pondered what I really wanted to say about me. What was my life like right that very minute. What did I want to remember? How did I feel? What were my favorite things?

I decided not to use any photos of me, but to instead include my favorite things. We all have those papers, embellishments, stickers, brads, ephemera, etc., that we just love. If you are like me, you save the small bits of your favorites, because you know you will find somewhere else to showcase them! For me, this became my showcase.


For the first page, I used journaling strips to describe me today. The date was November 15, 2009, and these were the things that really struck me as important facts, thoughts, and feelings I was having right now.

I typed all of my journaling onto my Bazzill cardstock, and then cut it into strips using my Cutter Bee Scissors. I ran strips of Scor Tape on the back of each strip for adhering them to my layout later.

Next I got out my 12x12 white Bazzill cardstock and started by drawing my grid. I wanted to have a grid and block system for this layout.

Each block measures 2.75" x 2.75". I used a 1/4" frame around the page and then a 1/8" space between the interior blocks. I drew my grids very lightly with pencil so they could be erased later.

For page one, I used 14 patterned paper squares from a paper collection in my stash that had been very well loved. Pink, black and white were colors that were currently my favorites. I adhered all of my blocks using my Glue Glider Pro. I left two spaces open for my title *see photo below*. I erased all of my pencil lines at this stage.

Next I added my journaling strips to random blocks. I left some blocks blank for embellishments. I added in buttons from my granny's button box, flowers from various sources, brads, Kaisercraft pearls and Kaisercraft rhinestones, ribbons, lace, pearl strands, and even staples.

I cut my title from thick cardstock and then used my Fiskars Corrugator to give it texture. I added the date using my Copic fineline marker in black.

For page two, I wanted to just have fun with it. I used the exact same layout for my page, but this time I only used nine 2.75" x 2.75 inch blocks.

This is where all of my favorites from my stash came into play. Everything on here was something I loved at the moment. Everything from paper, buttons, ribbons, pearls, rhinestones, stickers, pins, rub-ons, ephemera, and on and one was used to make this page. I was so grateful to have so many types of adhesive to use! I used my Glue Dots, Scor Tape, Glue Glider Pro, Fast Dry Adhesive and Beacon 3 in 1 Adhesive.



Just have fun and make a layout that says this is me. It is fun to look back and see how much I have changed in such a short period of time. My thoughts, concerns, worries and favorites are all different today versus just a few months ago.

Enjoy yourself and let your creativity flow~

Stop by Cutters Creek for these products:

Copic Markers, Scor Tape, Kaisercraft Pearls & Rhinestones

Bride & Groom Card by Sandi S.

My card this month is for the Bride and Groom. I designed the dress using ‘Make The Cut’ and exported it as an svg cut. I edged the dress with flower soft. It is in two pieces with the top layer being just the skirt so it could be fan folded. The Satin Ribbon and flower hide the seam and add a delicate look to the skirt.

I used the Martha Stewart Lace punch on the background papers which are from the Cricut ‘Reds and Pinks’ paper collection. The words ‘Happily Ever After’ are from the Cricut ‘Storybook’ cartridge. I used Ranger Diamond Stickles to outline the words and Ranger Magenta Stickles to outline the word ‘EVER’.

The dress pattern is attached in .svg format so you can use it with MTC or SCAL, feel free to use it and share it.

Cutters Creek Products Used:
Cricut
MTC or SCAL
Stickles
Punch
Flower Soft
Cardstock

Once Upon A Princess by Melissa

Hi everyone! For my project, I decided to share my birthday gift for my *nieces* this year. Between March and October every year I have 9 birthdays in my family for little girls. This year, with the release of Once Upon A Princess, I knew it was the perfect gift for these girls ranging from 2-7 years. Today I am just going to share one set I did this week as it can be a little overwhelming seeing all 9 sets together!!! I had a handful of DVD tins in my stash so i am using these to store the dolls and outfits in as well as using the Cricut magnetic sheets so the dresses stick right on with no tearing! The whole back of the paper doll is a magnet, but each of the outfits is only a strip. To preserve the doll and outfits from wear and tear, I put 2 coats of Mod Podge I picked up at Michaels over it and let it dry over night for each coat.


I cut out the doll shape on Prism White and colored in the skin tone using my copics to add in some detail. Her outfit is cut with Bazzill Dotted Swiss cardstock . For the other 3 outfits, I used Core'dinations Gemstone cardstock as you can't have a princess outfit without sparklies!!! For the pajamas, I used Core'dinations Core Impression and Basic Grey Nook & Pantry. I colored in the bunny slippers with copics as well.

Additional Cutters Creek Products used:
Quickie Glue Pen
Scor-tape: 1/8" and 1/4"
Textile Embossing Folder
Atyou Spicas set A
Copic Sketch; 100, BG18, C2, C4, E00, E02, E50, R24, R81, R85

Copic Mondays Installment #3

I cannot even hope to fill Wendy's shoes, but I have been doing my studying on these wonderful Copic Markers. Wendy shared with you the basic coloring techniques in her last installment, and some of her favorite color combinations. At first glance, all of those colors are so intimidating! As Wendy showed us, we can create so much depth with just three markers in the same color family.

One of my first questions was, "Well, that is great, but how do I make the skin look like skin or the jeans look like jeans?" Like many of you, I wanted to be able to color basic images I had in my "stash" or ones I had traded with others.Today let's start with the skin tones. I had heard I needed E000, E00, E11, R20 (Blush) for skin, but how do I combine those to really make it look like skin? Could I do it? I was surprised the answer was yes. Let me show you what I learned!

First stamp your image on quality cardstock using a good ink like Memento Black Ink. I love the Bazzill cardstock at Cutter's Creek, and that is what I used. The stamp in this project is from Pink Cat Studios (Enchanted Lily Collection).

First you want to cover the entire area using your E000 or E0000. You don't have to worry about perfection, here. You are putting down your "base" coat. Work in small circles to get good coverage. Take your time, and get the feel of your pens.

Next we are going to add in E00. Again working in small circles. Choose where your light source will be, and leave those areas of the face lighter in your coloring. For my project, the light was coming straight on to Lily's face. I let her nose and forehead be slightly lighter than the rest of her face.



Next I added my facial shadows using E21. Around the hairline, the lower part of the face and ear area would all be the darker parts of the face. This is a a subtle variation in color. I lightly outlined the areas I wanted darker. Go sparingly. You can always return and add more color if you feel your shadows aren't quite right.

To give her cheeks a cute "glow", I reached for my R20. I made two small circles of blush area on her cheeks. I like this technique for cartoon type images.

Next I returned to my E00 to blend the colors together. Again, I kept the areas of the nose and center forehead lighter.

For her arms I used the E00 and the E21 for some shadow with the same technique.



Next time we are going to do the hair colors. I am going to cover the basic colors you will need for blond, brunette and auburn and black hair colors. I will be making Lily a blond, but you can do any hair color you choose.

Thanks for following along! I can't wait for the next installment!


Cutters Creek Products Used:

White Bazzill Cardstock
Copic Sketch Markers, E000 (or E0000), E00, E21 and R20
Memento Black Ink
Pink Cat Studios Stamps - Enchanted Lily

Confirmation Card by Vicki

Here is a card that can be used for a multitude of religious occasions, by simply changing the front and inside sentiments. This sentiment is for a Confirmation celebration for a family friend.

The base purple of the card is Bazzill 12x12 paper, cut down to 8 1/2 x 11, and then folded in half using the Scor Pal. The weave background, ribbon slide at the bottom of the card and the 'Congrats' sentiment are all cut on the Cricut using the Wild Card cartridge on Core'dinations Black Magic Hocus Pocus paper. I used the full color side of the cardstock for these items.

The cross is an SVG file that can be found on Penny Duncan's website (http://www.pennyduncancreations.com/PDC%20Cut%20Files%20Christian.htm). This file was cut using SCAL, also on Core'dinations Black Magic Hocus Pocus yellow cardstock. I embossed the black side of this cut in my Cuttlebug, and then used an emory board to 'file' the embossed areas to make the color show thru the black. I attached the cross to the card using 3-D dots.

To make the sentiment stand out more, I used a simple black grosgrain ribbon thru the cardstock ribbon slide, and attached the ribbon using glue dots. Again, the sentiment is easy enough to change to make this appropriate for a sympathy, communion or even an Easter card.

Cutters Creek items used:
Cricut Expression
Cricut Cartridge - Wild Card
SCAL
Core'dinations Black Magic Hocus Pocus paper pack
Cuttlebug
3-D Glue Dots
Glue Dots
Glue Glider Pro

A Beautiful Thank You by Chris

Thank you cards are always needed, so I looked in my stash of Copic-colored images and found these butterflies (Phee McFaddell’s Coloring Page) and knew they were perfect for what I wanted. Cutting the butterflies out was a breeze with my new cutterbee scissors.

I wanted to keep the colors soft for the background, so I took my glossy cardstock, cut it to 5x7 inches, and began playing with colors. I streaked 3 colors (Broken China, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick) on my nonstick pad (Bazzill Splat Mat), spritzed them with a mister and then blotted up the colors onto the cardstock. I repeated this twice and set it aside to dry. I then cut white cardstock to 10x7 inches and scored it with my Scor-Pal and set that aside. Don’t know how I managed to live without one before. It’s probably my favorite and most used tool.

To make the sentiment I wanted to use the new American Crafts Glitter Paper. I have absolutely fallen in love with this paper. I took the aqua and my Beyond Birthdays cartridge and began playing with sizes on my Cricut Expression. I finally settled on 2” and used my deep blade set to 4. In the future I will set the size a little larger for this sentiment or find a chunkier lettering. It cut easily with no mess; I just had to lift the words very carefully to keep them together and put them through my xyron. But I love the way it looks!

Next I decided that the butterflies needed some glitzing and took out my stickles. (A girl cannot have too many stickles!) Following the patterns I used Fruit Punch on the top butterfly, Waterfall on the middle one, and Lavender on the bottom one. Then I decided to add some dimension to the ribbon and used the Scattered Straw for this. I set this aside to dry.

Then I glued my 5X7 piece to the front of my cardstock, added 4 Twinkle Jewels. And my finishing touch was to stamp the back with the “Homemade” Image Tree Stamp and voila a finished project!

Cutters Creek Items Used:
•Ranger Glossy Cardstock white
•Cricut Cartridge: Beyond Birthdays
•Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads: Broken China, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick
•Ranger Stickles: Waterfall, Lavender, Fruit Punch
•Ranger Distressed Stickles: Scattered Straw
•Copic Markers
•Cutterbee Scissors
•Scor-Pal
•Twinkle Jewels
•Bazzill Splat Mat
•Image Tree Clear Stamp Card Set-Handmade

Happy Birthday by Laura C.

The card base is a “standard” 5 ½ by 4 ¼” in a soft blue. The brown is 5 ½ by 3”. The next piece is Core’dinations Chocolate Box in soft blue. It is embossed with the Moroccan A2 folder, and trimmed to 2 & 1/8 by 5 ¼” and lightly sanded to “pop” the design. The next 3 layers are cut with Spellbinders labels 9, out of gorgeous American Crafts glitter paper (Ocean), brown cardstock, and the sentiment on white in brown ink (printed on computer). I inked all pieces (except embossed and glittered) in brown chalk ink, then assembled using the Glue Glider, Pop Dots, and foam squares to pop up the “Happy Birthday to You” piece.

The finishing touches--Petaloo Flora Doodles (LOVE these!!) and a bow (the bling is a Flora Doodle center). The altered Making Memories jar is made almost the same, the soft blue piece is 9 ½ by 3” and the brown is 9 ½ by 2 ½”. The band only goes around the front and side of the jar. I added a strip of the paper and! some extra bling to the lid for fun, but you can leave it plain, too. This is an awesome matching gift set for anyone….and it can easily become a “Thank You”, “I Love You”, or “Just Because”! These altered Making Memories jars make great gifts! Who doesn’t love a jar filled with goodies??

Check out Cutters Creek for all your crafting needs!

Products Used:
Core’dinations Chocolate Box cardstock
Cuttlebug Moroccan A2 folder
Spellbinders labels 9
AC glitter paper (ocean)
Petaloo Flora Doodles
Making Memories jars (30 oz)
Glue Glider Pro (perma tac)
Glue dots (dot n’ go mini & memory)
Scotch foam squares

Annoucing Sandi S.!!!!

Have you ever had a song stuck in your head for days?? Or had a recurring dream?? Since I picked my new Design Team members, I could just could not get Sandi's card out of my head! I even dreamed about it, and gosh darn it, I could stand it no more! Sandi is such an incredible artist and she is so worthy, as all my Design Team members are, as they are all so very talented. So Sandi is my newest Design Team member and am so blessed to have her. That said, I am truly blessed to have all my wonderful and talented ladies. They always make me feel like a very proud "Mom" and a ROCK STAR, although they are the true rock stars.

Please welcome her with open arms, and post a comment and welcome her!

Mandi's Bunny Card

I began by printing out my bunny image onto plain white cardstock. Next I traced the egg the bunny is holding onto thin printer paper. Then I traced it through the paper on the opposite side. Then I made my original line a very thick, dark pencil line. I put this paper with the thick line side down on to the back of my American Crafts Glitter Paper. Then I pressed fairly hard and traced the image again and it made a great transfer. Then I cut my egg out of the American Crafts Glitter Paper. Next I colored the bunny’s whiskers black. Then, I adhered the Baby Pink Flower Soft to the bunny’s feet, nose and ears with the Flower Soft Glue. When that was dry I applied the Polar White Flower Soft to the rest of the bunny. When that was dry I applied the glitter egg piece with my Tombow Mono Adhesive. Then I made my card base from a 6” x 12” piece of brown cardstock. Then I cut out my image. I used the Mini Monograms Cricut cartridge to cut out the scalloped circle from the pink gingham paper and used the shadow feature to cut out the brown scalloped circle, both at 5”. Next I cut my paisley paper to 5 ¾” x 5 ¾” and adhered everything to my card base with my Tombow Mono Adhesive. I gave it a little extra dimension by using Pop Up Dots on the back of the bunny. I think this card would be great for many occasions besides Easter, like Birthday, New Baby, or just a Hello!

Check out Cutters Creek for all your crafting needs!

Product used:

Baby Pink Flower Soft
Polar White Flower Soft
Flower Soft Glue
Bunny Digital Stamp
American Crafts Glitter Paper
Mini Monograms
Pop Up Dots
Tombow Mono Adhesive

Vicki's Spring Card

Here's an easy card for a lovely spring thought! It was made from a pre-folded card & envelope set, so I didn't have to fuss with envelope sizing. First, I stamped Lily from Pink Cats Studios - Billy & Lily Sweethearts on my Prism paper with Memento Ink Tuxedo Black, and colored her with Copics. I cut her out really close with Cutterbee scissors...I love how sharp those little scissors are! Next, I used two embossed borders from the Cuttlebug Emboss A2 Border Frills set. The lace-look border was set at the bottom of the card, and I cut around the embossing to show the curved edges on the bottom. I placed the pink floral border slightly above the bottom, and used a fun, decorative ribbon between the two borders. The ribbon is held in place with Scor-Tape. I tucked Lily in to the top of the pink flower border. To show off the lace border, I used a piece of the same pink cardstock on the INSIDE bottom of the card. I highlighted a few of the flowers in the middle pink border using Flower Soft Summer blend and Flower Soft Glue. The pink hydrangea flowers are set in place with Glossy Accents and a Twinkle Jewel. I have discovered that many 'dimensional' items can be 'glued' in place with Glossy Accents - it sets up hard, so that your embellishment won't fall off! Finally, I cut my title phrase with my Cricut and the Lyrical Letters cartridge. The shadow of this font is clean, and easy to cut very small - this one was cut at 3/4".

Cutters Creek Items Used:
Pink Cats Studios - Billy & Lily Sweethearts
Prism Paper
Memento Ink - Tuxedo Black
Copic Markers
Cutterbee Scissors
Cuttlebug Emboss A2 Border Frills
Scor-Tape
Flower Soft Summer Blend
Flower Soft Glue
Glossy Accents
Twinkle Jewels
Lyrical Letters Cartridge

New Design Team Members Announced!!!!

WOW! WOW! WOW! What a hard job it is to decide from a bunch of talented ladies! The fun part is picking new members. The bad part is that I have ladies that did a lot of hard work and they were not picked this "go round". I have two members right now, that were not picked in my first selection, when I started my first design team call. They were asked to join after new members decided that a design team was not for them for many reasons. I emailed these ladies later on, and asked them to "hop on board". I was a little nervous, as I thought they might have felt a bit "slighted", as they were not picked the first time. These two ladies accepted and are now a couple of my "best girls", but all my design team members are also my "best girls"! So here we go!!! the ladies that I would like to join my team are.......................................

Chris P.
Laura C.
Lori B.
Melissa S.

Congrats ladies! Please email me for futher instructions!

Use Those Scraps! Cards by Kim B.

So I have been doing some Spring cleaning in my scrap room. I save all those scraps (like we all do) and throw them in a storage box. Well, those scraps were out of control so I decided to take charge and bought some 12X12 envelopes, got out my label maker, and started sorting and organizing scraps. Some of the little pieces I was saving, I just could not believe! I have a scrap room full of paper, so once I saved the usable pieces and sorted them, I was still shaking my head. So I decided to go on a campaign to use some of these scraps and now that they are organized, I am going to keep using them instead of continuing to cut full sheets 12X12 sheets when I really don't need to. So I inked up my Anna Griffin stamp and took my lonely copics out and colored. They were really quick to color and I had fun doing it. I used chalk ink to ink the edges of the colored images, after cutting them out. So then I grabbed my newly sorted envelopes and picked some complimentary colors to mount my stamped images onto my card fronts. I used my Cuttlebug to emboss and adhered it all together. I used pop dots to mount the stamped images, added ribbon, and added rhinestones. Now I have four cards that I can use for anything: note card, birthday, Mother's Day, etc.... I really enjoyed this project as I kept it simple, it did not take me long, and I was using up my stash of saved papers. I hope I have inspired all of you to sort and use those scraps!

Products can be purchased at Cutters Creek!

Supplies:
copic markers
pop dots
card stock
ribbon
rhinestones
Cuttlebug
Anna Griffin stamp

Design Team Entry-Melia R.

I love this card because it reminds me of warm weather and tropical drinks. I love the bow and the bling. What a nice combination of colors and elements. Please leave a comment and she Melia some love and route her on!