Numeral Birthday Card with Lori

So, a cute little girl I know just had her third birthday.  Since we've been out of town, I wanted to make something quick & simple that wouldn't take much brain power on my part!  And of course it had to be girly & cute too.

I pulled out my Cricut Gypsy and got to work (you could also use Cricut Craft Room).  I chose the Hello Kitty Font cartridge from my list, selected the Shadow feature and chose a 3.  Returning to my mat, I sized the 3 to 5" wide and copied it to make a second 3.  I selected a single 3 and flipped it vertically.  I moved the 3s around so they were touching along the top edge, and welded them together.  I cut this top-folding card from some bright pink CS in my stash.  Next, I chose the Silhouette feature and chose 3.  I sized it to 5" wide, and cut it from some American Crafts glitter cardstock in Carrot.  I layered this cut on the card front, using Scor Tape to attach it.   Finally, I dug out some matching paper flowers from my stash, layered them together on an American Crafts Pearl Brad, and attached it to the front of the card with a Glue Dot.  Finally, I stamped Happy Birthday inside, and I was done.

Pretty simple, but super cute with plenty of bling.  It took me longer to dig out matching flowers and a stamp than to make the rest of the card!

Items available from Cutters Creek:

• American Crafts glitter cardstock, Carrot
• American Crafts pearl brads, Brights
• Scor Tape
• Glue Dots

Super Fast Valentine Card with Lori

If you're like me and short on time, it's great to be able to get a card made RIGHT NOW.  But I'm sure you still want it to have some WOW factor.  Cutters Creek to the rescue!  All you need are some Reddy Pyramids from Ecstasy Craft, some Joy Foam Pads or ASI Kool Tak, and scraps of your favorite pattern paper and American Crafts glitter cardstock (or POW!).  This card literally took me no more than TEN MINUTES to put together.

Note: This particular Pyramid image is no longer in the store (I've had it for a while... things go missing around here sometimes), but I see some awesome flower Pyramids that would also be great for Valentine's day.

So, punch out your Pyramid image, layer it up with the Joy Foam Pads or Kool Tak, then add a mat of the American Crafts glitter cardstock (or POW!).  I used lavender glitter cardstock (and cut the mat with my Cricut), and my pattern paper is from the Echo Park Paper Springtime collection.  I stamped a quick sentiment on my paper (stamp from Close To My Heart), then adhered everything to a 5"x5" card base.  Quick, simple, and beautiful!

You still have plenty of time to get an order in time to make some great Valentine's Day cards - here's what you need to look for in the Cutters Creek store:

• Reddy Cards Pyramids from Ecstasy Crafts
• Joy! Foam Pads or ASI Kool Tak Clear Foam adhesive
• American Crafts glitter cardstock or POW! glitter paper
• Springtime collection (or pick a great 6"x6" pad) from Echo Park Paper

Thanks for stopping by to see us today!  We love to read your comments - and be sure to let us know if there is a product or technique you'd like to see us feature.

If you Like it, Pin It!

New Year's Eve Place Cards with Chris

Need place cards quickly? Want fancy ones? You can make them in less than an hour using your POW Glitter paper and Tim Holtz Rosette Die. I made 3 black and 3 silver rosettes; used my Scor Tape (1/8 inch size) to join the strips and then a bit of glossy accents in the center to hold the circles so they don’t pop. I cut the hands of the clock freehand out of the remnants, glued them on the top circle (again using Scor tape).

I then cut six 3.5x4.25 rectangles from black cardstock; scored & folded them at 2 1/8 inches and used a Glue Dots super strength dot to adhere the clock face to one corner. Then just using a silver pen I handwrote the names and the year—and voila—snazzy place cards for New Year’s Eve.

Happy New Year to each and every one of you!

Resources from Cutters Creek:

American Craft POW Glitter Paper: Silver and Black
Tim Holtz Rosette Die
Scor Tape
Glossy Accents
Glue Dots
Scor Pal

Mini Album by Chris

A KaiserCraft Beyond the Page album and lots of goodies from my art room came together as a Grandma album. (Check out these catalogue and idea magazines that Kim has been putting in her packages.)

Albums are a piece of cake to do; you just need some imagination (which every one of you has!), glue, and a variety of supplies. All the pages in this album are covered with Echo Park paper, sanded, coated with some Picket Fence Distress Stain and edged with either Tattered Rose Distress Ink or Mustard Seed Distress Ink. The gems adorning the different pages are I-Rocks and Silver Pearl Liquid Pearls. I used my Alcohol Inks—willow and Citrus to color the metallic letters (grandchildren) and Xmas Red Stickles to outline one rose. The white photomats on the last two pages are edged with Ripe Persimmon Distress Ink and run through either the swiss dot cuttlebug embossing folder or the Tim Holtz Regal Flourish one and the flourish is using the flourish die and white glitter cardstock. To finish it off, I sprayed each page with Tattered Angels Old Lace Mist and used 1/8 inch scor tape to adhere the green ribbon around the edges of the largest page.

What’s on your shelves that you could combine with a Beyond the Page project?

Supplies from Cutters Creek:
KaiserCraft Beyond the Page Album
Echo Park paper
Tim Holtz Distress Stain—Picket Fence
Tim Holtz Alterations—Elegant Flourishes
Tim Holtz Distress Inks—Ripe Persimmon, Tattered Rose, Mustard Seed
Ranger Liquid Pearls—Silver Pearl
IRock
Stickles
AC Glitter Cardstock
Tattered Angels—Old Lace
Scor Tape

A Beautiful Autumn Card by Chris

I am still working on ways to use and reuse many of my cool items from Kim. One that kept looking at was the Cuttlebug Owl Flourish Embossing Folder, which I just didn’t want to do as an embossed card front again and I wanted to try out a new technique I learned, but what to do, to merge them?

I started with a center step card. The base was 11 by 5.5 inches and I had some cute paper that looks like tree bark. I decided to use my Scor-Pal and I cut both sides one inch in from the edges and from 1-inch mark to about 6.5 inches. Both sides were then scored between the cut line and the edge at 1 inch (mountain), 2 inch (valley), and 6.5 inches (mountain) and the center piece was scored at 5.5 inches (mountain). I then folded them to make my card shape.


I used my Cricut cartridge Stretch Your Imagination (check with Kim if she can get you this one) and cut the squirrel and nuts with the shift key at 4 inches. I made a shadow piece and using Pop Up Dots raised the acorns up slightly. I used my ATG to glue it down to one of the side steps. I then took my Owl Flourish and embossed some Core’dinations Cardstock, sandpapered the raised image, and fussy cut the owl and flourish out of the paper. I glued this right along the top of the lower fold in the center and added some Cinnamon Stickles for the eyes. I then cut the word "Autumn" from the Stretch Your Imagination cart at 5 inches and rubbed the edges with some Walnut Stain Distress Ink. The shadow is cut from Chestnut American Crafts Glitter Cardstock. I did a multi-cut of 2 to get this out and inked the cut edges with Walnut Stain. I used my Zig Glue Pen to attach the word to the shadow and then pop dotted the shadow up along the base.


The card needed a sentiment and I decided to use my Spellbinders Labels Twenty Three, printed the sentiment with my computer and inked the edges with Vintage Photo, Mustard Seed, and Ripe Persimmon Distress Inks and glued it to the back of the card.


The card still needed some pizzazz. Taking a fall leaf stamp, a Clear Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad, my Embossing Magic pad, and some white embossing powder I stamped and embossed the image several times on cream cardstock. I then used several of my Distress Inks (Dried Marigold, Mustard Seed, the Limited Edition of the Fall Colors, Walnut Stain, Spiced Marmalade, and Crushed Olive) and applied them directly to the paper smearing them alongside of each other over the leaves. Then I took my Tattered Angels Dazzling Diamonds and sprayed the heck out of each of the leaves. It looks a mess but be patient. Set them aside and let them dry—totally dry, no rushing. You get a blended, shiny and crisp texture to the cardstock when it dries. (It works terrifically on watercolor paper too.) When the leaves were totally dry, I fussy cut them out and used pop dots to arrange them on the card. I do so hope you can see the shine in the pictures, but if not—take my word for it, it’s great!

I’m thinking that this might look lovely as part of a table centerpiece rather than mailing it out. What do you think?

Wedding Card & Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Irene has been rough on a lot of us on the East Coast. When you lose electricity, you lose so many things that you take for granted each day that are just "there". Running water was the one thing that was the hardest for us. We could not clean, give animals fresh water, flush, cook, and so much more. You also find out that you have to communicate with people the old fashion way, actually talk face to face. I think our world of internet and smart phones has made it so we no longer have to interact with people the old fashion way. I for one, loved running into strangers and chit chatting as we all were searching for water and ice. So I am one to have any excuse to craft and Irene gave me that chance. I made this wedding card for our neighbors. They are getting married next week. Since I had so much time on my hands, I really put a lot into this card, including time. I am more of a scrapbooker, so as my card morphed before my very eyes, I was so pleased I spent the time I did on it. Here is the front of the card:

I used an Ecstasy Craft kit for the wedding image and put that together with foam squares. I then hunted through my massive paper stash and found a piece of pearlized 12x12 paper and some American Crafts glitter cardstock in ocean. I cut down the white paper to a 5x7 card base. I then took one of my punches and created a lacy edge down the front of the card. I then took my butterfly punch and punched a butterfly and glittered it and added KaiserCraft pearls in denim for his little body. I mounted my Ecstasy Crafts image on the glitter cardstock and also cut a strip and adhered it to the inside edge of my card. I then attached my butterfly with foam squares under the wings to make it look like it was in flight and then added some more denim pearls on the bottom front of the card.

Here is the interior:

On the interior I took a piece of the leftover pearlized paper and stamped a sentiment and found a scrolly heart stamp and stamped that below the sentiment and added tiny denim pearls to each end of the scroll and in the four corners of the sentiment and mounted that on glitter cardstock. I also took one of my bonus images in my Ecstasy Crafts kit and mounted it on glitter card stock and adhered it to the interior as well. 

All in all, I am pretty pleased with my finished card and took so much time as I know the bride will save all her cards she receives.

All of these items can be purchased at Cutters Creek!

Chris' Rose Sympathy Card

Unfortunately I needed to do a sympathy card this week; fortunately I had the Ecstasy Crafts Reddy Cards kit: 3D Diecut Condolence Roses with Crosses. All I needed to do was decide what my card base would be and put it together with a sentiment.


After choosing some burgundy Bazzill cardstock and cutting it to a 4.25 x 11 to fold into an A2 size, I then cut a piece of Charcoal American Crafts POW! Glitter Paper to mat my card. (Let me tell you, I love their glitter paper and this style cuts like butter.) I glued the mat to the cardstock and the ecstasy base to the glitter mat and then began building the flower. Each layer is clearly numbered and it is a matter of sticking pop-ups behind the pieces and aligning with the previous layer. Super easy. Fortunately, I had all the needed supplies at home; unfortunately I did not have the fantastic new Clear Pops from ASI Kool Tak. I bet when those arrive these layers will look even more fabulous than they do now.



The card is so amazing (and quick and easy) that I, who am not one usually for kits, have decided this will become a staple in my stash.

A White Christmas with Lori

Welcome to Christmas in July!  This week, I'm sharing my White Christmas card with you.  I've based my card on a challenge blog I follow, and will have a total of 5 cards over on my blog over the next 5 business days if you'd like to see more ideas.  (I'm also having a giveaway during the same timeframe!)

 

Ooh, shiny!  I loved that this challenge included bling as one of the requirements & I went to town with this one.  Here's a detail shot of a little more bling you can't see in the main picture:

I had a lot of fun with layering on this card, and adding a few special touches.  I made my "gift bow" using ribbon from my stash and a sparkly brad.  Also, to define the edges of all that white, I sponged on a little ink all the way around.  My sentiment is embossed on its own little panel and popped up with foam adhesive dots.  I also added a few i-rock gems to my embossed snowflake centers.

Supplies I used:

• American Crafts glitter cardstock, Silver
• Scor-Tape
• Cardstock
• Cuttlebug embossing folder, Snowflakes
• Stamping Ink
• Glimmer Mist, Pearl
• Sentiment Stamp, Inkadinkadoo
• Silver Embossing Powder
• Heat Tool
• i-Rock tool
• i-Rock gems, silver
• ATG adhesive
• Ribbon
• pop-up foam adhesive

 Note - that heat tool does double duty!  I use it to speed dry my Glimmer Mist as well as heat emboss my stamped sentiment.  Well worth the investment!  I also used my Glimmer Mist to spray my paper first before embossing.  Damp cardstock embosses SO much easier than dry.

Thanks for stopping by today!  I'd love if you'd hop over to my blog and check out my giveaway, and the next several days of White Christmas.

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!

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.

Chris' Key To My Heart Card

Have you tried the Cuttlebug Embossing Plus folders yet? They make putting together a card or a layout a breeze allowing you to cut and emboss in one step. Here I used the Vintage Collage set to make my DH’s Father’s Day card. To start I used a Kraft paper base cut and folded to a 5x7 size. I then used one of the Oriental Weave embossing folders with Core’dinations Cardstock, which I sanded to bring out the blue core. This embossed layer was matted on two slightly larger rectangles—one blue and one red—using Scor-Tape.


I then took two chipboard letters and sprayed them with Rum Punch Glimmer Mist (a fantastic new color), and set them aside. I also cut a length of seam binding and sprayed that with the mist and scrunched it up as I dried it with my heat gun. I then tied 3 knots in it and adhered it to the left edge of the card with Glue Dots.

Next I used my Vintage Collage set to cut out the pointing hand, the key, and the heart. Since I wanted each one to be different colors, I cut three times. Before I removed the finger from the folder, I lifted the inking panel and used Tea Dye Distress ink on the hand and Faded Jeans Distress ink on the cuff of the shirt. I used American Crafts Glitter Cardstock (Chestnut) for the key (you can’t really see the embossing, but the glimmer is sufficient for me), and a piece of scrap red cardstock for the heart.

To assemble the card I Scor-Taped the rectangle close to the upper right-hand corner. Using quick-drying glue and some pop dots, I laid out the letters, hand, and key, added a few words typed and colored on my computer and edged the heart with Christmas Red Stickles. And since my DH is an oldies fan, I think he’ll love having a line from the Isley Brothers song on the cover of his card.

Ecstasy Craft Cards by Kim B

I have had so many birthdays in these last few months, I have depleted my premade stock of birthday cards so I decided to sit down and make some more up.  I had already put these florals together from two different Ecstasy Crafts decoupage sheets and thought I would sit down and use these first.  It doesn't show well in the photo, however on the right card, I used Pearl Glimmer Mist on the flowers to give it a shimmery look.  The sentiments are also from Ecstasy Crafts, as I love hoe easy it is to place a peel off sentiment on my card instead of looking for a stamp.  It sure saves me a lot of extra steps!  These are both pretty plain and simple cards and were very quick and easy to put together, as I usually don't go to a lot of trouble making cards unless it is for a close relative (like mom and dad) who I know save my cards and don't throw them away.  So now I am off to make more cards, so I can get back to scrapbooking!

Products Used:

Cardstock Scraps

Ecstasy Crafts Peel Offs

Esctasy Crafts Decoupage Flowers

Kaisercraft Rhinestones & Pearls

Pearl Glimmer Mist

Glitter

Butterfly Punch

Ribbon

Mini Tilda Create Card by Chris

I started with an A2 size card base of cream cardstock, scored and folded at 4.25 inches and then, used Fiskar decorative edge scissors to trim the edges. Using Distress Ink Pad Dusty Concord and my Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Ink Applicator and Inksenntials foam pads, I colored the edges. The ink was a bit darker than I wanted so I spritzed some water into the air and wafted the card through the mist. Immediately the ink softened and blended just the right amount—amazing Tim products and techniques. The card was now a bit smaller than an A2 size so I cut another 4.25x5.5 piece from purple cardstock to back it. It looked too plain and needed a little bit of lovin’, so I grabbed the Flower Soft Silver Peel Off Stickers to trim the edges. I also knew that this silver would echo the main accent of the card, but I was really pleased with how easy these are to use. I just pulled up a strip and laid it along the edge, trimmed the overlap and worked my way around the rectangle. EASY PEASY! (Thanks Kim for showing us how to use these!) Used my ATG to glue down the cream card onto the purple base.

Another strip of purple was edged with a MS deep edger (finished size 3 inches by 5.25). I created an original ribbon by using chalk white seam binding, some silver pigment ink, and a “create” stamp. Just stamp the design along the fabric and let dry. (I wish the binding had been a wider piece because I was hoping to use it vertically with a series of Tilda’s on it—oh, well; if you try this, please share. I’d love to see how it comes out for you.) Scor Tape helped adhere the ribbon across the middle and was tied in a knot on the side.

American Craft Silver Glitter Paper was used with my new Spellbinders Shapeabilities Parisian Accents. I also cut a 1.5 inch circle from the cardstock and some fun foam. I ran both circles through my Xyron and mounted the cardstock on the foam and the foam on the center of the Shapeabilities. I also inked the edge of the circle with Dusty Concord. (Be sure to rub off the excess glue around your circle. I run an old crochet hook around my images before lifting them off the Xyron glue paper.) I glued the Accent down with a zig pen and went to work on Tilda.

Sweet Tilda was stamped with Black Memento Ink on cryogen white paper and colored with my Copics. Once colored, I trimmed her with my Cutter Bee Scissors and used a couple of Glue Dots to stand her on the purple circle and colored a bit of shadow to the left and under her dress.

Skin: E00, E21, E50
Dress & Shoes: C1, C2
Slip & Socks: V91, V93, V95
Hair: E31, Y11
Shadow: C1

Another sweet project done with stamping and Minis. What are you up to?

Cutters Creek Spring Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Cutters Creek Spring Blog Hop! All of our designers have created some wonderful Spring projects featuring products that you can purchase at the Cutters Creek Store! The Cutters Creek Design Team Blog is the first and last stop in the hop! Each blog along the way will have a link to the next blog in the chain. Don't forget to make sure you are following each of our personal blogs and leaving comments along the way to enter to win a box full of CHA Swag and maybe a few other goodies along the way!!!!

On the Cutters Creek Design Team blog we are featuring a gorgeous Accordion Fold Spring Card created by Chris! Take it away, Chris.....

What better way to celebrate spring than with flowers? Or even better, flowers in a garden? I wish I had a green thumb to create this in my yard or even a picket fence with which to begin, but alas my garden lives in paper—LOL.


Starting with a 6"x12" piece of white cardstock, I rounded one edge and scored it with my Scor Pal at 4" and 8". Using my cloud-maker and Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass and Scattered Straw I inked my sky on the front panel and the outside panel that showed behind it. The two inside panels are covered with cardstock cut at 4"x6" from the Prima Fairy Flora 6"x6" Paper Pad. I used Scor Tape to adhere them. I then cut Flower #12 and its shadow at 4 inches from Cricut Lite Botanicals cartridge and mounted it on the inside left panel. My sentiment is printed on ivory cardstock and cut with Spellbinders Shapeabilities Fancy Tags. I also cut and embossed a piece of translucent paper with Nestabilities Labels Four (#6), which I glued down with Vellum Glue Dots then mounted the Tag on top of the label using pop dots.



To make the front of the card, I stamped several flower stamps on cardstock and cut them out. One flower was colored with Copics colors Y08, YR65 and YG23. I colored the rose with Copic color RV66. I used Flower Soft Glue and Flower Soft to highlight the different flowers. For the rose I used Peony Pink. The Dianthus is accented with Ocean and Baby Pink. And the for the Daisy I used Marigold and Citrus Crush. I set those aside to dry and took some scraps of acetate, cut them with my Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Florals; using Staz-On Black ink I stamped the two larger pieces with a background stamp and then flipped them and colored with Copic Markers B02, B06, RV66, and RV63. Once they dried, I used my Crop-A-Dile to punch a center hole and add a rivet to each. Going back to the Flower Soft flowers, I glued a Cherry Twinkle Jewel in each center to two of the pink Dianthus flowers and a pearl in the center of the Daisy. I had one last flower to make and I used a French White Prima Rose sprayed with Perfect Pearl Mists Forever Red.


While that was drying, I used my On the Fence Tim Holtz Alterations Die to cut American Crafts White Glitter Paper and trimmed it to the width of the front panel (4 inches). I put pop ups on the back along the two railings and up each side, but didn’t glue it down yet. I started arranging the flowers behind it and decided that some grass needed to be both behind the fence and along its base for that I used—you guessed it—Meadow Flower Soft. While that was drying, I adhered the two acetate flowers using Glossy Accents and my Zig Glue Pen to put down the rose and two daisies. I decided to use a scrap of wire to create a “vine” around one fencepost and used Glossy Accents to adhere the 3 small flowers to the fence. I mounted the fence and then again using Glossy Accents added the Prima rose. The final addition was a butterfly stamp that I colored with Sand, Lilac, and Peach from the Copic atyou Spica Set B.

See, didn't I tell you her card was gorgeous??? When you complete the hop, come back here show your love for Chris and all of our designers! Leave one comment at every blog along the way and make sure you are following the Cutters Creek Design Team blog and the designer's blogs too! Now hop on over to my blog HERE! Oh, and check out the AWESOME prize we have for one lucky winner:

You will get that Springy looking tote, the Creative Options Box, Graphic 45's A Proper Gentleman, and look at all the little things in the Creative Options box! You get those too!!!

Here's a complete line up of all of the blogs in the hop in case you get lost along the way:

Cutters Creek Design Team Blog - You are Here!
Mandie's Blog - http://mandiesscrappin.blogspot.com
Kim's Blog - http://kreativekim.blogspot.com
Mindy's Blog - http://www.scrappyandpiggy.blogspot.com
Laura's Blog - http://scrapaddict4life.blogspot.com
Melissa's Blog - http://www.ourmadhouseof4.blogspot.com
Lori's Blog - http://savingmine.blogspot.com
Vicki's Blog - http://scrappyleopard.blogspot.com

Tutorial Tuesday - Glimmer Mist with Mandie

Welcome to our very first "Tutorial Tuesday"! To start off the New Year right we decided to try to focus on what YOU the customers of the Cutters Creek Store have questions about. So, if Cutters Creek sells it and you want to know more about it please feel free to post a comment! One product that we got a few questions about in the Cutters Creek Yahoo Group is Glimmer Mist. It's pretty, it's sparkly and it's available in a TON of colors... but what do you actually DO with it??? Well, hopefully this month we can give you a few ideas!


This is a peek at my craft room. You are looking at my rainbow of 1 oz. Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist bottles. I decided that before I invested in the larger 2 oz. bottles I was going to try a few different colors to see what fit my taste so I purchased a few small "sets". I can honestly say I am LOVING my Glimmer Mist and am only going to be buying the large bottles from now on! But don't they look cute all lined up on my shelf? Anyway, I'm going to talk about "Masking" today. Now, there are some GORGEOUS Tattered Angels Glimmer Screens available in the Cutters Creek Store. They are super easy to use, simply lay them on your project and spray the Glimmer Mist and spray the mist. You could also make your own "screens" with your Cricut and some heavy cardstock, chipboard or even acrylic to make it reusable. But today I'm going to share making your own mask with basic tools.


First, grab a piece of scrap paper. This would be a good use for some of those papers you bought or came in a paper pad that you will NEVER use! I'm going to be making a 5" x 6 1/2" card so I cut my scrap of paper to about 6" x 6". Then I randomly cut lines in my paper stopping about 1" from the bottom of the sheet. Then I folded back every other stripe. Notice the Bazzill Splat Mat covering my desk. Surface protection is VERY important when working with Glimmer Mist, unless you want a Glimmer Desk!


Next I cut a piece of Bazzill Simply Smooth Cardstock to 5" x 6 1/2" to cover my card base. You will want a separate sheet to adhere to the card for a couple of reasons. First, the spray can leach through to the other side of the paper. Secondly, the spray can warp the paper a bit so you don't want a wonky card. It kind of straightens back out when you adhere it to the card base. And finally, if you're anything like me some times you need to do a 2nd take and who wants to waste a nice card base? Lay your mask over your paper. Notice I added a paper towel under my paper on top of my Splat Mat. You don't *have* to do this step but I think the end result is a bit neater.


Next a laid another paper scrap across the bottom of where I wanted my stripes to end. Then I grabbed my Purple Pansy Glimmer Mist and shook it up until all of the "Glimmer" mixed in. You can tell it is all mixed up by checking the bottom. Just shake until there is nothing clinging to it! It just takes a minute but makes a WORLD of difference. *Side Note* - it has also been said that you should "swirl' instead of shaking so you can try that too, just make sure it's mixed well.


Now you are going to start spritzing. The above photo is just a couple of squirts. A couple things to remember: try to keep the bottle as upright as possible, keep it moving as you spritz and shake it up every couple of squirts, just to be sure to get as much glimmer as possible. The beauty of this is you can add as many or as few squirts as you want! When I felt that I had the right coverage (about 10-12 squirts for this project) I dabbed it with a dry paper towel to take of the excess and removed the mask....


And here is the background for my card! I used my Heat Gun to quickly dry my paper, just make sure to keep it moving so you don't scorch your cardstock. One tip I can give is to mostly dry the front, it will probably curl a bit... now flip it over and dry it a bit on the back as well. It helps straighten it out a bit. Depending on how picky you are you can also set it under a stack of books overnight to flatten a bit more. I've also heard you can lightly spritz the back with a Mini Mister full of water and that this will balance it out. I haven't TRIED this yet but I WILL for next week's tutoral! I will post posts of different swatches for you all to see.


So I decided to use my Cricut Expression Machine and the Create A Critter cartridge to cut an adorable cat for my card at 4 1/2". I cut the base from Black cardstock, the main body from Silver American Crafts Glitter Paper and the nose and bow from Pink cardstock. Now, I decided that with the glimmery background and the glittery cat body the plain Pink looked... Plain! So I grabbed some Vintage Pink Glimmer Mist and spritzed the pieces. If you click the photo to make it a bit larger you can REALLY see the difference just a spritz makes! And because I didn't really use a lot of spray There was no warping of my pieces.


For the ruffle along the pillow I used my Xyron 150, AKA the X, to add the adhesive to the back. This is one tool that I can't scrapbook without. It's so quick and easy to just add a little adhesive to small pieces!


Finally here is a look at my card all assembled! I like that I could use this card for just about anything. And there is sooooo much sparkle and shimmer with the Glimmer Mist!!!

So now you should head over to the Cutters Creek Store and browse the 72 different colors available in the Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Sprays! Just a hint for the future here... you *may* want to have a bottle or two on hand for an upcoming contest..... So, what did you think of today's tutorial? I will be back next Tuesday with another Glimmer Mist tutorial! Also, keep checking the blog because we are going to be posting many more great projects and ideas during the rest of the week too!

Happy New Year Crown by Mandie

I actually created this crown for the Cricut Circle Challenge this week but I thought you guys might appreciate seeing it too!


The crown is cut from the Once Upon a Princess Cricut cartridge. I used an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper and used "Fit To Page" on the Cricut Expression machine to get the largest size possible. If I remember right it cut at 3 3/4". Then I turned off the Fit To Page function and set my dial to the correct size and cut the back of the crown. I was able to just turn the mat around to cut the back, I didn't need to add another sheet of paper.


Now one of the elements of the challenge was to add some bling. When I hear "BLING" I immediately think of American Crafts Glitter Cardstock and Stickles! For liner of the crown I grabbed my Silver Stickles and painted them onto the sheet of gray cardstock that also cut from the Once Upon A Princess Cricut Cartridge.


Then I cut the numbers 2011 from the Birthday Bash Cricut cartridge from Silver American Crafts Glitter Paper. The BEST part about this paper is how thick it is. I didn't need to cut the numbers out of chipboard or something first. I just used Multi-Cut 3, Pressure Max and Blade Depth 6 on my Cricut Expression Machine and it cut beautifully. Then I used my i-rock tool to add the rhinestones.


Next I twisted some silver pipe cleaners around my pencil to curl them and then hot glued them to my numbers and the crown. To finish it off I added pipe cleaner trim to the bottom of my crown! Then I grabbed my two adorable daughters to model it for me! The baby liked holding it but wasn't keen about actually wearing it. The 4 year old Fancy Nancy wannabe LOVED it and has since laid claim to it. Glad I was able to get a few pics of it before it disappeared!


Cutters Creek Shopping List:
Cricut Expression Machine
Silver American Crafts Glitter Paper
Silver Stickles

And tomorrow will be our very first "Tutorial Tuesday" featuring Glimmer Mist! Hope to see you there!