Chris' Fab Five

No matter what project I do, I know at least one of these products will be used: Scor Pal or Scor Buddy, Scor Tape, Graphic 45 paper, Tim Holtz Distress Ink, and a Spellbinders die. To make this easel card I used all five plus some Stickles (another go-to item).


The card is a 5.5-inch square, which means I cut the easel base at 5.5 x 11 inches, and scored the base at 5.5 and 2.75 inches. I used the Le Cirque Graphic 45 for all the embellishments and fancy cut the majordomo, the Le Cirque banner, and the clown with my Cutter Bees. All edges were rubbed with distress inks (either Aged Mahogany or Black Soot). I cut the aerialist out ((2.75 x 3) and layered her over a 3.5 x 3 inch rectangle (red paper) and a 3 inch square (yellow paper). I covered the front part of the base with another Graphic 45, layered on the clown, and then attached the top square to my base. (Of course, I used Scor Tape to adhere everything.)

The top was trimmed that with Golden Rod Stickles and the yellow square with Black Diamond. (Some day I will develop a steady hand so it goes on perfectly straight!) I also added dots of Golden Rod Stickles on the background to glitz it up some more. Setting that aside to dry, I worked on my Kusudama flower (an origami floral shape). I started with five 2-inch squares and followed a tutorial by Folding Trees, inking the paper edges with Aged Mahogany and Black Soot Distress Inks. When the flower was done, I needed to trim off the bottom so I could have a flat surface and used my Fiskars finger tip blade to slice it. I covered the center with a button and two gems over the thread holes.

The next piece I made was the sentiment and for that I used Spellbinders Fancy Tags 2. I printed the sentiment (a quote from Water for Elephants) on cream cardstock and then ran the cardstock through my Xyron Sicker Maker. I adhered the sentiment to a piece of blue foam and then ran both through the Xyron together. I then cut the tag, inked it with Aged Mahogany and Black Soot Distress Inks and laid it over the cut out clown.


The banner was folded along the lines of the image to give it a bit more of a realistic look and attached with Pop Up Dots. I decided the Majordomo needed his own piece of pizazz and attached him with an Action Wobble. I know you can’t see it in the photo, but boy does he look great when he wobbles--looks like he is really drawing your attention to the aerialist! To finish the card I cut a square of Scor Tape and used it to adhere my flower as the stopping point inside the card. While it took me a while to dream this card up, it was probably one of the easiest to put together. Now I just need to make a box to deliver it in.

What are your Fab Five products? I bet you can find them at Cutters Creek!

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

A Few of Mandie's Favorite Things!

Hey everyone! Hope you've enjoyed learning a bit about all of the Design Team members this month and hearing about some of our favorite products! Before I talk about MY favorite things I'd like to point out TWO new features on our side bar... you can now subscribe to the blog and have posts sent directly to your inbox. Make sure you sign up so you don't miss a thing... I know with CHA on the horizon we *may* have some goodies for our readers, and you don't want to miss it! Also, you will notice that you can sign up for the brand new Cutters Creek Newsletter! If you sign up for it you will receive updates about new products and COUPONS for shopping in the Cutters Creek Store.

Now on to my Favorite things.... I decided to use American Crafts Glitter Cardstock, Stickles, Glimmer Mist, The Greeting Farm Stamps and my Cricut to create this card.


It is a bit hard to capture all of the Bling Factor in this card in a photo but it really sparkles! I started with a piece of black cardstock. I guess-timated where to cut the star on a larger piece so I could cut it down exactly. I used my Cricut and the Plantin SchoolBook Cartridge to cut the star out at 3 1/2". Then I cut it to fit the 5 x 6 1/2" card base that I had.


Next, I spot spritzed with my Gold Glimmer Mist. I wanted a kind of blobby look so I depressed the sprayer slowly and only about 1/2 way with each spray. The gold on the black really pops! The picture above has my plain black paper and the spritzed one for comparison.


Before I put away my Glimmer Mist I stamped the phrase "you Twinkle more than stars" from The Greeting Farm Because of You Stamp Set on a scrap piece of white cardstock with my Staz-On Black Ink and spritzed that with some Glimmer Mist too. I matted it on a piece of the spritzed black before I added it to my card.


Next I grabbed my bottle of Golden Rod Stickles. This one seems to match the Glitter Paper perfectly. I added a few stars and a few little dots here and there for even more dimension. I also decided to cut a few tiny stars out of the Glitter Paper as well. Then I used a scrap of the American Crafts Gold Glitter Cardstock along the bottom to put under my sentiment.


Finally, I adhered my 4 x 4" square of American Crafts Gold Glitter Cardstock to the base of my card, under where my cut out is. Then I used some Pop Up Dots to attach the front of my card. I love the look of this card and I can't wait to use it!

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.

Freedom with my Favorite Things-by Deanna

This month the Design Team is featuring some of their favorite Cutter's Creek products. I have decided to feature my favorite tools and the things I always reach for when crafting.  The products I am featuring are Glimmer Mist, Distress Ink, Tim Holtz Non-stick Scissors, Tweezer Bee Tweezers, POW! Glitter Card stock, and Scor-Tape.

My project for you today is a Freedom Banner that I made in honor of the 4th of July. I cut my banner from the Birthday Bash cricut cartridge at 6". I cut my base from Red and Blue card stock and the top layer from some Americana paper. I inked the edges of all my cuts with some Tim Holtz Tea Dye Distress Ink to give it a vintage look. I adhered the two layers together with my ATG Gun. I then cut strips of patterned  paper at 1 1/4" and scored it every 1/4" to make a Rosette. I used Scor-Tape to hold the Rosette's together.

Scor-tape is wonderful for boxes, and anything that needs a little extra strength adhesive. If you need a tutorial on how to make a Rosette, check out this post  Laura did a while back. Once I had my Rosette's put together, I cut stars out at 3" from some gold starred patterend paper. To give it a little more vintage look and add some sparkle I sprayed the stars with Glimmer Mist,

I cut my letters out from the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge at 3". I used more of the dark blue card stock for the shadow and some Marine POW! Glitter Paper. This paper cut perfectly with my Cricut. I used blade depth of 6 and pressure at max. I did not use Multi-cut. This paper is not has thick as the other American Craft Glitter Paper. Both of these glitter papers are gorgeous and cut wonderfully with the Cricut. The glitter on the paper does not come off like other glitter papers.  I used my Tweezer Bee Tweezers to adhere the two layers of the letters together. I love these little tweezers. They really help me align and layer the smaller Cricut cuts. I highly recommend these.

Finally I adhered the letters to the stars with some foam tape. Here is another product I hgihly recommend and that is the Tim Holtz Non-stick Scissors. These scissors are non-stick and I love cutting my foam tape with them. No more sticky scissors.

I used some regular kitchen twine to to hang my banner on my fireplace. I thought the twine went with the vintage them. I am really pleased how this turned out and the glitter paper letters and just the right touch of sparkle and shine to the banner. Here are a couple of close up shots of the banner.

I hope you enjoyed my project for you today and found a few new tools to help you with your crafting projects.

A Few Of Vicki's Favorite Things

Like Lori posted, I have a few favorite things that I use in almost every project, layout and card I make! They are:

Inkssentials Glossy Accents
Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Walnut Stain
Tim Holtz Design Ruler
Sakura Quickie Glue Pen
Scor Pal Scor-Tape

Everyone already knows I love my Cricut, and I can't do a project without at least a few cut elements, but this time, I decided to show how using these simple products can make things easier, or prettier.

I started with some paper in my stash. I used two similar patters in different colors, to give a similar effect that can be seen in the photos. To separate and soften the line between the papers, I found a matching ribbon in my stash. I learned from the group that Scor-Tape is easier to use if you put the adhesive on your paper FIRST...then put the ribbon down on top of the adhesive. (It's really tough to keep your ribbon straight if you put the adhesive on the ribbon first...trust me!)

I cut my border from the Martha Steward Holiday Cakes cartridge. I used my Gypsy to weld several of the elements together to make a 12" border. I had to cut the border on my 12x24 mats in order to get a full 12 inch border. I attached the border to the top of each page, and then accented the little holes that didn't really cut out with an Inkssentials White Gel Pen.

The next step was just putting down my pictures on the page. I really like my photos to line up just right - so sometimes, I will use my Tim Holtz ruler to measure out the spaces between my pictures. The grid pattern on the ruler makes it really easy to measure the space between photos.

Another thing that I use a lot of is chipboard. The Grafix Medium Weight Chipboard cuts very nicely on the Cricut, without having to use the deep cut blade. I find that using the blade depth of 6, with high pressure, and two or three cuts, usually gets the cuts I need. I don't recommend cutting very intricate detail items on the chipboard though, unless you have a brand new mat, and a lot of patience! I cut the bracket pieces and the little arrows on the chipboard. The brackets are actually a frame on the Elegant Edges cartridge. I just it in half lengthwise, and used both halves on opposing pages! This part gets really messy, so I suggest scrap paper or some other tossable surface. I inked all over my chipboard pieces using my Distress Ink. In order to get complete coverage, I had to stamp multiple directions, on and off the surface. I didn't make it a solid brown, however, so that it still had a distressed look. Next, I covered each of the chipboard pieces with Glossy Accents. This part is really messy. I used a thin layer of product, making sure to cover all the way to the edges. This product is fairly thick, so it doesn't spread out, as long as the item being glossed stays flat! So, make sure to use enough to cover it entirely, making sure to pop any little air bubbles that may come up. The smaller arrows didn't have any problems. The large bracket pieces, however, curled up with the moisture from the medium as it dried. I used a pin to pop the bubbles, and hold the chipboard down while it was still fairly wet. There was still a fair amount of runoff as it dried because it curled out toward the edges. Allow the product to spread on it's own as it dries, to keep the surface smooth and glassy. If you want to add some distress to this, use your finger or craft blade to spread the product around after it has dried somewhat, but is still tacky.

As the chipboard pieces continued to dry, I began to distress my journal sheet. I used a piece of kraft-colored, lined cardstock to make the journal box. Using a punch, I created the torn notebook edge on top. I roughed up the punched area by gently pushing and folding them to make them uneven. Then, I very lightly crumbled the paper, but not enough to make any hard creases. Finally, I used my Distress Ink pad to stain the outside edges. I used quick, light motions to stain the edges of the paper. This speedy method frequently causes 'mistakes' as the pad slips around the sides, causing the ink to catch on the lightly creased pieces. This gives the paper more character!

After the chipboard embellishments were dry, the larger pieces were still curled up slightly. I used several pieces of Scor-Tape along the back of the chipboard, which helped the chipboard flatten out on the page. To dress these up even further, I used my white gel pen to make some detail that would continue the repeated patterns in the paper and embellishments. I used dots on two of the arrows, similar to the dots in the curved border, as well as the bottom patterned paper. On the brackets, I used some more dots at the points, but then also added some random stitching, to enhance the lines in the paper, ribbon and photos. The stitching is easy to create using the metal edge of the Tim Holtz ruler and a gel pen. The ruler keeps the lines straight, and the metal edge allows the pen to slide easily against the edge of the ruler.

A simple title, welded on my Gypsy, was the final touch, overlapping the embellished chipboard. Any time I have smaller letters to glue, the Sakura Quickie Glue Pen is my go-to adhesive. This pen allows me to get in all the tiny spaces, around all the curves, and even makes a perfect 'dot' of glue to put the dots for 'i' and 'j' letters on the page!

I have to give a shout-out to Pagemaps! I used a sketch from their monthly newsletter from May 2010 as the base for this layout. I hope you get a chance to try out a few of my favorite things!!

Journals of Love by Chris

As many of you know I donate journals to the local cancer center a la Shirley N’s Journals of Love in CA. These three are my latest and use some of my all time favorite tools—Scor Pal, Scor Tape, SCAL, Distress Ink, Alcohol Ink, and Tim Holtz’s Alterations Hardware Fastenings. (While this item isn’t currently in the store, I’m sure Kim would be willing to track it down for you.)


All the composition books use 1 1/2" Scor Tape to adhere the cardstock. I’ve found it works so much better than the aerosol adhesive I was using. After gluing on the papers (both inside and out), I’ve sanded the edges and then inked with Distress Inks. The green and pick floral is edged with Tattered Rose, the black and silver with Black Soot, and the blue ‘Health” one with Faded Jeans. Then using my Scor Pal, I created a pocket for the back page by cutting an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper in half and scoring it around three sides at .5, .75 and 1 inch. I folded those creases in and again used Scor Tape—this time the 1/8-inch size to attach. Taking a circle punch I clipped out a partial circle to make it easier to grab papers or notes stored inside. The smaller pocket inside the front cover was cut using my SCAL and was then scored and taped in place. I usually add a small note card explaining how the journals came about and that it is a gift from me to the recipient.


Going back to my cover I used the Alterations die and grunge paper to cut out the fastener, which I colored with Tim’s Alcohol Ink Agate on Grunge. I applied Stream, Cloudy Blue, Shell Pink, and Pearl Mixative as well as the Blender with the Ink Applicator and felt pads. These colors closely matched the ribbon scrap I adhered—with Scor Tape—along the edge. Then I turned to my SCAL and traced a Kanji character that means health. I cut it four layers of a cereal box, glued them together and then embossed using the Clear Distress Ink Pad and Silver Super Fine Embossing Powder. Using some old plastic letters I had in my stash, I embossed them and glued both the letters and the symbol down with Glossy Accents.

In Honor of the Guys by Laura C

Sometimes I find "guy" pages to be a challenge. This scrapbook
page would work great as a LO for a Dad, Grandpa, Husband,
and really for any special guy in your life.....I happen to have
3 in my photo!!

Graphic 45 "A Proper Gentleman" 12x12 paper pad is the
main focus in this LO, with a bit of black and cream solid
cardstock to finish it off.

I started by making a "tile" or embellishment for the page.
I first cut my strip of cars for the right side of the page,
then from the remaining piece of this pattern, I cut out
one of the cars in it's rectangle, and then distressed the
edges with Black Soot Distress Ink and a distress tool.
Then I applied some Rock Candy Crackle Paint, which
was dried with a heat tool. Once dry, I gently rubbed
this piece with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, using a
foam applicator, and the result is in the pic below....


Once the tile was ready, I started my page. I used the 12x12
diamond pattern paper, inked the edges with Black Soot
Distress Ink, and roughed it up with a distressing tool.
I made 2 little rips in the paper, inked the torn paper with
more Distress Ink, and then put a small 1&1/2" square
piece of hounds-tooth patterned paper behind it to peek thru.
Next, I cut an 8&1/2" square of black cardstock, as a mat for
an 8" square of the hounds-tooth patterned paper from the
Graphic 45 paper pad. I distressed and inked this and then
centered it onto the 12x12 piece of diamond patterned paper
(along the right edge). The odometer paper is also from the
Graphic 45 "A Proper Gentleman". I cut a 4&3/8" strip from
the top of the page, trimmed off 1" from the right side, and
then inked it with the Black Soot Ink. It was adhered about
1" from the top of the black cardstock mat with the hounds-
tooth paper, and even with the left side of the page. I added
the strip of the car patterned paper on the right side of the
page....and matted and added my photo to that piece.

To finish it off, I added the car tile piece I made earlier, using
foam tape. It really makes the page "pop". You can see
the difference in the 2 pics below....first without....

and then with the "tile".....

I typed up my journaling on the computer, printed it on
cream cardstock, and then cut it apart, inked each piece
with Black Soot and then.....the end result....

Hope this page inspires you, to remember to take lots of
Father's Day, or any day, guy pics, and don't be afraid to
scrap away to remember that special guy!!

And a Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!!!

Available At Cutter's Creek:

Graphic 45 12x12 paper pad (A Proper Gentleman)
Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot & Vintage Photo)
Distress Crackle Paint (Rock Candy)

Lori's Top 5 "Underrated" Products

This month the Design Team is sharing our favorite products, and I thought I would do things just a little differently.  So today I'm sharing with you 5 awesome products that don't usually get a lot of attention.  After all, how can the basics compare with all the shiny blingy goodness of things like Glimmer Mist and Stickles?  Well, let me show you!  Here are 5 products I could not craft without:

• Clear embossing ink and clear embossing powder
• Heat tool
• Glossy Accents
• Stamping Ink
• Pigma Micron Pens in black 

And here's what makes them so special:

Clear embossing ink & powder is an indispensible combo.  You can use them alone on colored cardstock for a great tone-on-tone effect.  Or, try this idea: stamp a background stamp with clear embossing ink on white (or light colored) cardstock and coat with clear embossing powder, then heat with a heat tool.  (By the way, that heat tool also comes in very handy when you need to dry things quickly - Glimmer Mist, even some kinds of Stickles.)

Next, use your stamping ink to color the background.  You can use your choice of applicator tools, or even direct-to-paper.  I used a brayer on this piece; I also chose to use textured cardstock here for a fabric-like appearance.  Wipe off excess ink using a tissue, then trim the panel to your chosen size.

That stamping ink comes in handy for all kinds of things, and many of them don't involve a stamp at all.  I used mine to color part of some Petaloo Color Me Crazy flowers, as well as edging a ribbon slide sentiment label for added definition.  Ink also adds some awesome dimension to your die cuts when you sponge all the edges with coordinating ink.

Glossy Accents serves two functions on my craft table.  It makes an awesome adhesive when you're adhering something odd shaped, or with uneven texture, or something you need to be able to move around a little before it's permanent.  And the most fun use is to make your own epoxy stickers.  For this project, I fussy-punched a circle from some fairy paper, outlined it with Glossy Accents, then filled it in.  Any air bubbles can be popped with a pin before it dries, if you choose.  This technique does involve drying time (sorry, the heat tool won't work here), and the thicker the gloss the longer it will take to dry.

The wet Glossy Accents will look milky.

Dry Glossy Accents will be shiny and dimensional.

Finally, the Pigma Micron pens are perfect for adding all kinds of details.  I love the set of three, since the different line widths can give a different feeling on your projects.  They dry quickly and won't smudge,  so I love to use them when I need to hand write all or part of my sentiment.  Another alternative is decorative pen work, such as doodling some flourishes.  Or, as I did, adding drawn stitching.  To make it more realistic looking I punched holes first, using a paper piercer and my Tim Holtz ruler.

With these few basic supplies, you can create all kinds of different designs.  Simply change your stamps, paper color, and/or ink color for a completely different look in a short period of time!

SCAL Returns to Cutters Creek with an AWESOME Coupon!!

Cutters Creek is selling SCAL once again!  This is such an awesome product and will work with the following products:

• Works with Craftwell eCraft™ (we sell this machine)
• Works with Black Cat Cougar/Lynx™
• Works with BossKut Gazelle™ (we sell this machine)
• Works with Pazzles Inspiration™
• Works with Silhouette SD™
• Works with USCutter™
• Works with Craft ROBO/Graphtec™ machines including Wishblade™ (Windows Only)

If you own one of these machines and would like $25 off on SCAL V3, use coupon code "SCAL25" at Cutters Creek while supplies last!!

Fleur Anya

Hi, it’s Mindy. It’s my turn to post a design team project for you.  I have used Fleur Anya by the Greeting Farm.

This stamp is so sweet looking and I think it really works well with the Echo Park For the Record paper pack.  I tried to find some copic markers to match the gorgeous colors in the papers and colored Anya.  I added some stitching, some ruffly ribbon, and a bright yellow Cutters Creek Gardenia.  I also added some self adhesive pearls to the centers of the flowers in her hair.  Ruffles and pearls are two of my favorite things!  I love the colors in this paper pack. They’re not my normal colors which is nice, it gives my pink copic markers a rest.

Father's Day & Ecstasy Crafts with Kim B

This month the Design Team is doing projects using some of their favorite things!  So my project features one of my store favorites, Ecstasy Crafts.  If you have not discovered Ecstasy Crafts products, you are missing out on so much fun!  I often put these decoupage images together while watching tv, and then when I get a chance to get into my craft room, I love making these into cards or using them on scrapbook pages.  These items always make you look like you have spent hours on your craft and are so easy to assemble.  Each package has any where from 2-9 images and are numbered to let you know how to adhere each piece.  They are also very affordable and range from $2.99 to $5.99.  The metallics are the most expensive.  These three images were done from one package and are metallics.  It was a bit difficult to get the photos done due to the blinding shine they give off, however I hope you can see how bling they are.  All I added was a bit of card stock and ribbon from my stash and all three cards were created in under 30 minutes.  Father's Day is right around the corner, so don't forget to make those Dads out there a great card!  Cutters Creek does cater to those who need to craft for men, so please check us out!

Products used:

Ecstasy Crafts-Explorer & Fishing

Joy! Foam Pads

Cardstock

Ribbon

Kaisercraft Rhinestones





Just Because Card by Deanna

I recently got the Kate’s ABC’s Cricut cartridge and knew immediately what I wanted to do when I saw this image on the cartridge. This image reminded me of the chives in bloom that I grow on my back patio in pots.
My card base is an A2 4 1/4” X 5 1/2” cream card stock. My orange and patterned paper is from a Basic Grey 6” X 6” paper pad I got from Cutter’s Creek several months ago and is no longer available. I really encourage you to get some of the 6” X 6” pads that Cutter’s Creek sells like the new Echo Park pads. They are great for card making, the patterns are shrunk down to be in proportion to the size and work great for cards reducing waste. Check them out.
Back to my card. I used the Elegant Edges cartridge for the decorative mat and cut both the shadow and the base image from page 38 of the handbook using the oblong creative feature.
My yellow layer of the decorative mat was actually cut out of white card stock. I used some Wild Honey Distress Ink and my Inkssentials Blending Foam and the Alcohol Ink Applicator to apply the ink in a circular motion over my entire piece of white card stock. Then I sprayed it with some Sun Sister’s Glimmer Mist. Once I sprayed the card stock and lightly blotted it with a paper towel and let it dry.
While the card stock was drying I cut out my image from page 67 of the Kate’s ABC’s handbook. I cut all the layers at 3” and followed the colors as they worked for what I wanted to do.  After adhering all the layers together I got out my Sweet Pea Flower Soft and my Flower Soft Glue and got to work. I applied the glue to the flowers and sprinkled the flower soft over the glue and tamped it down using my finger. I allowed it to dry and then gently tapped off the excess and loose flower soft.
To finish my card, I added a piece of twine from my stash to the pot and attached the image to my card front with some foam tape . I then added some pink I-Rocks Glitter Gems in two sizes using my heat set tool to each corner of my yellow mat. Love this gem set, it has several different colors and each color and several different sizes. I opted to use two sizes with a larger one in the middle.  I haven’t stamped a sentiment yet as I haven’t decided who will be getting this card and for what occasion.
While the cricut cartridges are not listed on the Cutter’s Creek site Kim might be able to order them for you, just ask.

These are a few....

of my favorite things!! Yes, this card.....is made with
some of my absolute favorite products!! This is our
theme this month, so watch for some absolute goodies!!

I LOVE anything and everything that is Tim Holtz,
and the Tim Holtz (TH) Sizzix Texture Fades are
number one on the list!! The ability to create layers
with these embossing folders and Tim's inks is limitless!!
The first way to do this, is to ink the actual folder.....the
pic below shows the look WITHOUT ink on the left,
and WITH ink on the right.....

I love the depth you get when you rub the TH Distress Inks
(Brushed Corduroy here) directly onto the embossing folder.
But you don't have to stop there....next, a layer of TH Walnut
Stain Distress Ink was applied with a foam applicator, it really
"pops" the numbers and creates even more visual texture.....

Next step....it's very subtle in the pic (sorry!) but it really
brings out the numbers even more, to use an even darker
color of ink, a layer of Distress Ink in Black Soot applied
the same, but concentrating on just the numbers on the
clock faces.....

Then....a little detour....lol.....to the center of my card......
I used a HUGE favorite of mine, the Fancy Tags 3. I had
saved the negative image from cutting a tag out for a
different card, and then just trimmed it to fit my card.

And the finishing touch of the clock piece, was brushing it with
a little gold paint (I use the Adirondack Daubers) and then
lightly sanding it to take some of the gold back off. Then a piece
of the original kraft cardstock is centered under the black
cardstock "frame" and the word "DAD" stamped with an alpha
from my stash. I added a bit of TH Walnut Stain Distress Ink
to darken the cardstock around the word "DAD" a bit, resulting
in the finished project....


A great card for Dad (it would also work for a "Grad"!!).

Hope you enjoyed some of "My Favorite Things".....check
them out at Cutter's Creek!!

(PS this card was made with a 5&1/2" by 4&1/4" base,
and the kraft piece was 5&1/4" by 4")

Available at Cutter's Creek:
Tim Holtz Texture Fades (Clock & Steampunk)
Tim Holtz Distress Inks (Brushed Corduroy,
Walnut Stain & Black Soot)
Tim Holtz ink applicator
Adirondack Paint Daubers
Fancy Tags 3

Ok--many of these items are sold out (I guess they
are truly favorites....lol) but Kim can re-order....
please just ask!!