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

Mandi's Baby Card

Today I have made a super cute baby card using the New Arrival Cricut Cartridge! This card is super easy to make and the recipients LOVE them! To begin I cut a baby carriage out of the orange card stock at 3 1/2". Next I cut the carriage parts (use the shift key and select the carriage) from each of the 3 patterned papers. I used the Basic Grey Oh Baby! line for this one.

You will have to trim the top from one and the bottom from another as shown in the picture. The "blanket" cuts separately. To layer them, apply glue with the Quickie Glue Roller Pen to the blanket and stick that down first. Then glue down the top and bottom of the carriage too. Then pull out a great ribbon off of your Ribbon Ring. If you don't have your ribbon stored on these great rings you might want to think about investing in them! For just $7.99 you are on your way to having all your beautiful ribbon nicely organized. For this project I chose a nice light green ric rac. Trim it to fit along the edge of the top and across the middle as shown. Then add a beautiful button or brad to cover that hole in the middle and your ribbon end.

Now you have an adorable carriage! Since this card is going to a beautiful baby girl I decided your never too young for a little bling! So I grabbed a sheet of American Crafts Glitter Paper in the Raspberry color. I used the George and Basic Shapes Cartridge which comes with the Cricut Personal Cutter to cut a rectangle silhouette at 5" from my glitter paper. Then I cut a solid white rectangle at the same size and applied the glitter piece like a frame. I adhered them both to the front of my card, which I made from the same orange card stock, with my Tombow Mono Adhesive. Then I applied a couple of Pop Up Dots to the back of the carriage to pop it up a little bit. Now it's on it's way to meet a brand new baby in Texas!

Please stop by Cutters Creek to purchase products used in this gorgeous project!

Spring Has Sprung with Chris

Flowers, flowers, and more flowers. I just love them and never know what to do with all the pictures I take. Today I got out my SCAL and Cricut Expression and decided to make a 12x12 LO. I started with a free font called StripedCaps (fonts101.com) and used SCAL and my cricut markers to write my title; after which I freehand cut and matted it. I then cut and glued an svg mat design over my cardstock. I needed to do a bit of trimming where my blade didn’t go through but my cutterbees served me well in the small intricate spaces.
Using Walk in My Garden, I choose several flower heads as templates. I used the hinge method discussed on the web (http://cleversomeday.wordpress.com) and cut patterns for the each of the photos. I taped a scrap piece of cardstock to my mat along the outside edge and then carefully noted the left/right and in/out numbers of where I began cutting. When the cut was done I hit load paper, removed the cut pieces and fit my photo into the cut image adjusting until I had it just right. I then flipped the paper out of the way and returned the carriage to the numbers I wrote down and cut the photos. The starflower, blossom, and coneflower mats were cut at 3.25 inches. I then cut a shadowed piece of each flower to mat the photos on. The iris top and shadow was cut at 7” and the hydrangea heads (shift key) were cut at 9”.

Once all the flowers were matted and glued down I knew I wanted to use some Flower Soft. So I took the four small petals that cut with the hydrangea, popped them with pop dots and dotted on some dark lavender and light lavender. On the pink flower I dotted the stamen in the center and added some citrus crush ultra fine Flower Soft. I absolutely love the fine grains of this product. I had a leftover purple flower from the inside of the starflower—waste not, want not—that I also dotted with flower soft and added 3 felt flowers from my stash and it’s done.



Cutters Creek Resources:
Cricut Expression
SCAL
Cricut Color Inks
Walk In My Garden Cricut cartridge
Cutterbees
Flower Soft: dark and light lavender, citrus crush

Laura C's Father's Day Card

I don't know about you, but I always have the toughest time coming up with guy cards, but I really love the way this one turned out!!

Base is chocolate brown cardstock cut 4 1/4" by 5 1/2". Large blue piece is a 5" by 5" piece I ran thru the cuttlebug using the herringbone A2 folder, and then trimmed to 3 3/4" by 5". The placket is a 1 1/2" by 5" piece that is pierced using a paper piercing tool at 5/16" intervals and stitching was made using a clear sakura gel pen. The collar is a 1" by 1 1/2" piece cut on diagonal (from corner to opposite corner). The placket piece is adhered to the middle of the blue herringbone piece, and the collar pieces centered as shown.....I then trimmed the end points off so they are even with the "shirt". This piece is then adhered to the brown base card. I used a spellbinders die to cut out the brown tag, I cut a second one out of the blue. Just the oval part of the tag is cut out of the blue piece, and then it's stamped with the "Happy Father's Day" sentiment and adhered to the brown tag. I took 4 basic shirt buttons and stitched in a criss-cross pattern around the button. Then used glue dots to adhere the buttons and the sentiment to the center of the card.

I love the basic clean lines of this card, and it looks so much like a real shirt, right down to the texture on the "fabric"! It's a great way to say Happy Father's Day to any guy in your life!!

Purchase these products at Cutters Creek:

Cuttlebug Herringbone A2 folder
Sakura glaze pens
Glue glider pro: perma tac
Glue dots: Dot n' Go memory

Vicki's Grad

My son is a senior in high school this year, and I was amused by the way they called themselves "SEN10RS", designating the class of 2010. So, I thought I would create a file in Design Studio that imitates that. The font is Base Camp. I emphasized the '10' by making that slightly larger than the other letters, and cutting it in a different color. This portion is not actually adhered to the card. I have attached a tiny safety pin to the back of this piece, so that the kids can wear their 'Sen10rs' like a pin (or a bow tie, as my son says!). I also made a file that has three 'Sen10rs' pieces together, folded in a triangle, which will make a nice centerpiece at the graduation party ;-)! The basic .CUT file for the Sen10rs piece can be found at http://www.4shared.com/file/dRfJn7CV/SEN10RS_BOLD.html

The card base is the graduation cap from the Locker Talk cartridge. I figured out what size I wanted for the cap, and then 'copied, welded, flipped and rotated' my copy to the top of the first cap. I overlapped them slightly, so that there is a tiny fold at the top of the card. I cut the tassle in the school color, and the top button of the cap is in gold. The tassle itself is actually a solid cut, but I found that too bland, so I used my scissors to cut 'fringe' into the tassle. My .CUT file can be found at http://www.4shared.com/file/d8fdv7uX/Grad_Card.html

We have over a dozen seniors, and each of them will get a card and pin at the final band concert in a few weeks. I think the simplicity of this card is what makes it so nice. I will be able to easily create as many as I need, without too much hassle!

Cutters Creek Items Used:
Locker Talk
Base Camp
Design Studio
Cutterbee Scissors
Glue Glider Pro

Father's Day Card by Laura B.

This card is definitely Tim Holtz inspired! I love his products and stamps. This card was inspired by a challenge to use masks by my friend Mel LaFavers for an Everyday Card Challenge. I have had my masks for a while now, but I haven't ventured out to use them.

For this project, I started with a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of kraft cardstock. I placed my masks randomly on my paper. I put my project inside a large paper bag before spraying them with my Tattered Angels spray in Creme de Chocolat. The paper bag was great to catch the over spray, and I had no real mess when I was done.


If you don't have masks, you can make your own using your Cricut cutting machine and cartridges. Use your imagination. Butterflies, flowers, or any image can be cut to be a mask. Attach them using repositionable adhesive. You can save them on spare acetate sheets to re-use. The sky is the limit!

Next I used my various stamps and Memento Black ink to stamp random images on my card. Next I used sentiment stamp with Versamark ink and black embossing powder. I heat set it with my heat tool to allow the wording to stand out on my card. For my sentiment, I used my Inkadinkado Happy Days stamp sent to stamp "Happy Father's Day" on the card using Versamark ink and black embossing powder. Again, I heat set it with my heat tool.

I distressed the edges of my cardstock and mounted the card face black cardstock using my ScorTape. I added ribbon and a buckle for additional interest. I used ScorTape and a 3/8" Glue Dot to secure the ribbon and buckle. I mounted the finished piece on my card using Glue Dots Pop Up dots for dimension and shadow.

I love how this card turned out. It is rare that I make masculine cards, but I always seem to need them. I love how this technique turned out so rustic. I can see so many other uses for it as well. What a great option for some shabby chic feminine cards. I would love to see what you come up with using these techniques.

Products available at Cutters Creek:

Inkadinkado Stamps - Happy Days
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Creme de Chocolat
Memento Ink - Tuxedo Black
Heat Tool
Super Fine Embossing Powder - Black
Versamark Ink Pad
Scor Tape
Glue Dots

Optional ideas using Cricut and Cricut Cartridges

~*~ Copic Mondays By Laura B ~*~

Copic Mondays will return on May 24th. I am leaving for Vegas this weekend to go through the certification course, and I won't return in time to make a on Monday, May 17th. I can't wait to get home and share all the fun things I learn!

If you would like to post any questions you have about Copics to the blog, I will check them before class. I will try to get answers to as many questions as possible!

In the mean time, enjoy all the great projects the design team has to share with you. We have some amazingly talented ladies! There are so many fun things we have planned for our readers! Check back often~

Until then, have a wonderful week!

Child's Birthday Card by Chris

Got a Cricut? Got ZooBalloo? Got American Craft Glitter Paper? Then it’s a breeze to make this birthday card. I used the AC sunflower paper for my base and the chestnut for the lower level. Both the lower level and the base animal were cut at 4 inches on my personal cricut. I glued the two pieces together and set them aside. I decided to use a brown cardstock for the card and cut an 8.5x11 paper in half on the short end. (I wanted a long card to balance a tall giraffe.) Using my scor-pal I scored the card at 5.5 inches. I decided the giraffe needed to be grounded and took some scraps of green cardstock and fringed them with my cutterbees. I glued these strips down first on the bottom of the card so I could slip two of the giraffe’s legs behind the fringe and two in front, thinking that that might give it a more dimensional look. Two dots of Diamond Black stickles accented the eyes. I then cut the letter G at 3 inches from the chestnut glitter paper and using Glue Dots Pop Up Dots angled the G over the giraffe and into the space on the right. Happy Birthday was stamped with white ink.

The card still needed something else and thinking of the African plains decided it was the sun! Of course this fit nicely with the scrap of yellow glitter paper that I left and using my George cartridge cut a circle and trimmed it to fit the corner. A few rays of yellow stickles finished that off, but the right corner needed more. Can you see the ant crawling through the grass? I found an old stamp and using Tuxedo Black from Memento ink added him, stamped an Image Tree “Homemade” stamp on the back and its ready to send.

Cutters Creek Items Used:
Cricut: Personal cutter with George cartridge
Cricut Cartridge: Zooballoo
Ranger Stickles: Diamond Black and Yellow
Cutterbee Scissors
Scor-Pal
Image Tree Clear Stamp Card Set-Handmade
American Crafts Glitter Paper: sunflower and chestnut
Glue Dots Pop Up Dots
Memento Ink: Tuxedo Black

Mother's Day with Sandi

I decided to make a Trifold card for Mother’s Day. I found this lace edge pattern in the Make The Cut Library and welded two together to create this pretty ribbon. I then created a shadow image which I cut out with white cardstock and used as the base. I sprayed the pink cardstock with Shimmerz Ruby Spritz before gluing it to the base. I glued pearls to the center using Tim Holtz Glossy Accents.


I used the Plantin School Book Cartridge to create the words which I welded together using Design Studio. I sprayed them with Shimmerz Ruby Spritz and once the spray was dry, I added Diamond Stickles. I had a quilling book for a few years and always wanted to try quilling and decided now was the time. I used regular card stock and cut it into 1/8 inch strips. The pink petals are very pretty when they unwind the way they are meant to.


Before I quilled the leaves I ran the cardstock through a crimper for an interesting effect.

 
I cut the butterfly using the Home Décor Cricut Cartridge and I added Diamond Stickles. I used Kaiser Scrapbook paper flowers which I colored with Copic Ciao Marker R20 Blush and embellished with self adhesive pearls by Kaisercraft.


I created the white background with the Martha Stuart Lattice Punch. The trick is to cut the white paper ¼ inch wider to make up for what is cut off using the punch.



I’m really pleased with the soft dainty look of this card.


You can by these items at Cutters Creek
Shimmerz Spritz
Copic Markers
Stickles
Kaisercraft self adhesive pearls
Paper Flowers
Cricut Cartridges
Glossy Accents

Springtime Thank You by Laura C.

This is a super simple card with just enough bling to make it special!

It's a standard 4 1/4" by 5 1/2" card base in sage green cardstock. The white is a 4x5 piece of bazzill white embossed in the cuttlebug with the swiss dot folder. I trimmed this embossed piece to a 4 3/4" length. This piece of embossed white was cut into two pieces, one 2" and one 1 3/8".
took a 1" x 4 3/4" scrap of pink cardstock and punched one edge with a lace punch. I layered this by adhering the pink cardstock to the underside of larger white piece, and then adhering the smaller white piece under the lace edge of the pink. To make the flower, it's just the spellbinders standard circles large using white cardstock and classic scallop circles large using pink cardstock. I stamped a little "thanks" in pink on the white circle, then inked the edges with an olive green ink. The stem is a thin piece of the sage green cardstock and the leaves are hand cut from the american crafts glitter paper. The flower was assembled, the white "thanks" piece pop dotted for some texture, and the final touch is some pretty bling!

This is a quick but beautiful way to tell someone thank you!


Cutters Creek products used:

Cuttlebug swiss dot A2 folder
spellbinders standard circles large
spellbinders classic scallop circles large
Kaisercraft rhinestones: yellow/green
American Crafts glitter paper: leaf
Glue glider pro: perma tac

Mother's Day Card by Laura B.

For my Mother-in-Law I wanted to create a card in hubby's favorite color, purple. I gathered up all of my stray purple scraps and odds and ends that I could find. The individual pieces of cardstock needed are nice and small, so my favorite purple scrap papers worked great.

To begin this card, you need to cut your base card 5.25 inches x 12 inches. Score at 2", 4", 8" and 10 inches. I recommend the ScorPal for this task. Measure down from the top of the card 1.5 inches and make a mark on the 2" and 10" score lines. Measure up from the bottome of the card, and mark on the 2" and 10" score lines. Use your ruler to draw a light line between the 2" - 10" score marks for your cut line. Use a straight edge and a craft knife to cut your card on your lines. Erase your marks.


Beginning at the front your first fold will be a mountain fold on the 2" score line. Your fold on the 10" line will be a valley fold. For the center of the card you will fold the top and bottom strips the same way, and then the middle strip will be folded the opposite way. Fold the top and bottom strip on the 4" score line using a valley fold. Fold the middle strip on the 4" score line as a mountain fold. Fold the 8" score line on the top and bottom strip as a mountain fold. Fold the 8" score line in the middle as a valley fold. Use your bone folder to make nice crisp folds.

I cut two matching strips for my front and back flaps using a 1.75" x 5.25" strip. I adhered it using my Glue Glider Pro I cut a 4 x 6 inch piece of cardstock and embossed it using my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. I cut four strips total from this piece. Two pieces measuring 1.75" x 2.25", and two pieces measuring 1.25" x 3.75". I also cut four pieces of cardstock at 1.25" x 1.75". I adhered all of them using my Glue Glider Pro.

For the butterflies, I used different punches and I embossed scraps of paper using my heat tool.



I added my fibers using Beacon's 3 in 1 adhesive. The lavendar pearls are from Kaisercraft.



For my sentiments, I stamped them using my Inkadinkado stamps on a strip of Bazzill Ivory cardstock cut at 3.5" x 2".



I arranged various embellishments from my "leftovers" drawer to pull the card together.



I hope my mother-in-law enjoys her card. It looks very difficult to make, but it took less than an hour start to finish.



Products available from Cutters Creek Store:



ScorPal

Bazzill Cardstock

Cuttlebug & Cuttlebug Folders

Beacon 3 in 1 Adhesive

Kaisercraft Pearls

Glue Glider Pro

Inks and Embossing powders

Ranger Heat Tool

Fiskars Craft Knife

Tim Holtz Design Ruler

Mother's Day with Lori

I created an 8" x 3.5" Mother's Day card with some of my favorite products in the store. First, I used Make The Cut and a free font called Miss Scarlet with my Cricut to create my MOM cut and a shadow layer. I cut the mom layer from pink cardstock, and the shadow layer from American Crafts glitter cardstock in Leaf. I layered my patterned paper and a punched border strip on a dark purple card base, and adhered it all with Tombow mono-adhesive. I then adhered the MOM layers on top, also using Tombow.

Next, I chose three sizes of Petaloo Color Me Crazy flowers in the same style. I sponged them with stamping ink in bright pink and dark purple. (These flowers take ink beautifully!) I used a pink pearl brad from American Crafts (Brights package) as my flower center, and attached it to the front of my card with a glue dot.

Items available at Cutters Creek:

Make The Cut software
Green At Heart collection, Basic Grey
Glitter Paper, American Crafts
Cardstock
Color Me Crazy paper flowers, Petaloo
Pearl Brads, American Crafts
Tombow adhesive

Copic Mondays-More Marker Basics

Copic Mondays-By Laura Burleson

We have been talking about coloring and color combinations in our recent articles. Are you new or relatively new to Copics? Do you have a bunch of markers, but you really aren't sure what ones to purchase next?

In Wendy's first Copic Mondays article she took you all through each type of Copic Marker. She explained the difference between Sketch, Ciao, and the Spicas. She also reference the Copic Color Wheel, remember? Did you all print one out?

This has to be my single most valuable Copic resource. I have the chart printed on the two main cardstock papers I use for my stamped images. Each tine I get a marker, I color in that box on the chart. Now you are probably saying, "Why on earth does she do two of those?" Well, your markers will color slightly different on each cardstock that you use. Sometimes it is a subtle difference, but it can be different. When you are trying to make that perfect project, it is important to know how your markers are going to color on your chosen materials.

Of course you don't need to make a full chart to check colors on every single project. It is, however, a good idea to check your colors on a scrap sheet of paper before coloring on your project.

Here are samples of my two main charts:

I know it is difficult to see the subtle differences in the photos, but there is a difference in the coloring on the two pages.

So how do you know what colors you want before you purchase?

When selecting your first colors, you want to buy in lots of three in your color range. As Wendy discussed, it gives you an option for a highlight color, main color, and shading color. My biggest question was still, "Okay, so which ones?"

Last week we covered my favorites for hair colors. In week 3 we looked at skin colors. So this week here are some of my other favorite color combinations:

Pinks: R81, R83, R85 (Mauve pink) or RV02, Rv21, RV23 (Girly Pink)

Oranges: YR00, YR12, YR16, or YR18 (Pumpkin Orange)

Yellows: Y00, Y11, Y21 (Buttery Yellow)

Yellow-Red: YR21, YR23, YR26 (Mustard Yellow)

Reds: R02, R22, R27 (True Red) or R22, R24, R29 (Rich Red)

Blue (for jeans): B91, B93, B95 or B97

Blue Green (Water) BG10, BG11, BG13

Lavender: V01, V12, V15 or V17

Yellow-Green: YG01, YG23, YG25 or for a softer look YG01, YG13, YG17

Green: G40, G21, G24 (Mossy Green) or G40, G94, G99 (Olive Green)

Brown: E31, E33, E35, E37

Blue: B24, B26, B29

For Shadows use C1, W1 or T1

Here is what they look like grouped together:

I hope this helps to give you a better idea of selecting colors in groups for highlighting and contrast. Leave me a comment to let me know what you would like to see in future posts on Copic Markers. I can't wait to attend the certification class and share more great techniques with you! Happy Monday~

Laura

All markers used in this post are Sketch Markers by Copic. All markers are available from Cutters Creek. The cardstock used was the Bazzill (Prism) white cardstock.