Just Buggin & Pracital Scrappers Die Cut challenge!

Well I have been doing a bit of blog hopping today and discovered a great blog called Just Buggin'. They have a great challenge going on right now. They are challenging everyone to use die cuts in some way. The twist is to alter your die cuts in anyway you like. Practical Scrappers is also encouraging crafters to use die cuts in their cards and layouts this week so this layout actually counts for two challenges.

I have started to alter my die cuts more and more. It makes them pop off your page or card and is definitely worth the effort.

Here is a page I created digitally using CM storybook creator plus and some freebies I found on the web. The twist is I printed my layout and then added a cricut cut. This was the first time I added traditional style embellishments to a digital layout. In the past my layouts have been either 100% digital or 100% traditional. I love the look of this hybrid layout and the cricut cut turned out perfectly.





My witches cauldron came from Paper Doll Dress Up. The bones came from that cartridge as well. Once everything was cut out I inked the bones and cauldron and added some black diamond stickles. Then I popped the entire piece using pop dots.



Recipe
Paper- Free digital papers from the internet, basic grey distressed black paper from my stash, white cardstock from my stash
Accessories- Paper Doll Dress Up Cricut Cartridge, Black Diamond Stickles, black chalk, pop dots

Practical Scrappers Challenge for this week. . . Transparencies!

Hi Everyone,

The challenge over at Practical Scrappers this week is to use up some of our transparencies. Well, I don't have any full 12x12 transparencies but I do have plenty of Heidi Swapp Ghost images. I do love these clear die cuts but it is a challenge to use them at times.

Here is a card I created using one of my favourite alcohol ink techniques. For full details on how to recreate this look please visit my blog entry here.

For this card I used the Heidi Swapp Ghost butterflies again. I also mounted my ghost shape on the SU bigz top note die which I embossed with the d'vine swirl cuttlebug folder. For the butterfly I used Stream and Lettuce alcohol inks.




Recipe:
Paper- SU tempting turquoise, whisper white, Bazzill Bling cardstock in light green
Ink- Ranger Adirondack Alcohol inks in stream and lettuce, Ranger jet black archival ink, SU Tempting Turquoise classic ink
Stamps- Heidi Grace daisy road, autumn leaves clear stamps big swirls set
Accessories- blue acrylic beads (skittles) from Micheal's, Graphically speaking cricut cartridge for swirl, staples, pop dots, crystal stickles, d'vine swirls cuttlebug folder, SU bigz top note die, Heidi Swapp Ghost Shapes Butterfly

Dino-Mite Layout!

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to share one of my favourite layouts I recently created. It took me way longer than it should have but was so worth it. I love the colours, the paper (Thanks Dany), and all of the cute cricut cuts. One thing I did differently with the cricut cuts on this layout was use pop dots. In the past I have always layered my cuts but I really love how the 3D look of using pop dots between the layers. This is a technique I am definitely going to use again.








Recipe:
Paper- Studio 8 paper company dinosaur land collection T- Rex and Stegosaurus, misc scraps from my stash
Accessories- Sesame Street Font Cricut Cartridge, Paper Doll Dress Up Cricut Cartridge, Stampin Up Scalloped Circle Punch, Stampin Up dimensionals, Zig Zag decoraive scissors
Ink- Versa Magic Chalk Ink in Gingerbread, White gel pen, green and brown cricut markers, various colours of chalk.

Together Layout

Hi Everyone,

Here is one more layout I did over the weekend. It is one of my favourites. I love the simplicity, and the colours just seem to pop.





Recipe:
Paper- DCWV cardstock for background, CM cardstock in cement for the title
Accessories- Graphically speaking cartridge for title, DCWV adhesive ribbon, Stampin Up Kiwi Kiss corduroy buttons

Butterfly Whisperer Layout

Hi Everyone,

Here is another layout I completed this weekend. This is somewhat new for me as I very rarely do anything 3-d on my pages. However, I am quite pleased with this layout. As I look at the photos I think perhaps I should have embossed the butterflies with my cuttlebug but at the time I felt that might look too busy since the background paper is so busy.

Anyway, I used Lyrical Letters for the title. The butterflies were cut out using my Stampin Up bigz beautiful butterflies die. The circles were cut using my CM circle templates and all three blades.






I hope you enjoy this layout as much as I do. If you have any questions please email me or post a comment.

Recipe
Paper: Basic Grey-two scoops/sprinkles, yellow, blue, and coral cardstock from my stash (not sure which manufacturer)
Accessories: CM circle templates, red, blue, and green blades, stampin up bigz beautiful butterflies die, cuttlebug

Thanks for visiting,
Catherine

Slip N Slide with Everyday Paperdolls!

Hi Everyone,

Here is one of the layouts I created during my girls weekend this weekend. This was the first time in awhile that I actually did a traditional style layout with no digital elements to it. I really like playing with paper and creative tools but have been too lazy lately to get my pictures printed so have been creating digital layouts for the past few months. This weekend I stuck with traditional paper layouts.







For this layout I used Everyday Paper Dolls to create my little bathing beauty element. She turned out really cute. I used peachy keen stamps for the face. For the title I used Lyrical Letters. This is a fantastic cartridge that is so versatile. If you are new to the cricut world I highly recommend picking this cartridge up. In fact if you only have one font cartridge this is the one to have.
The brackets on this page were also from Lyrical Letters.

Thanks for visiting. Happy Crafting,
Cat

Just got back from a scrapbooking weekend!

Hi Everyone,

I just got back from a scrapbooking retreat with my girlfriends. I had so much fun and managed to get quite a few pages done. I can't wait to show you some of my creations. I ended up using my new Lyrical Letters cartridge quite a bit. If you were thinking about getting a font cartridge this would be one I would highly recommend. It has so many fonts to choose from as well as other little gems.

Talk to you soon,
Cat

Toadally- Cool

Hi Everyone,

I am trying to go through my patterned paper and use some of it up. I bought this paper a few years ago on an impulse because it was so cute and I haven't ever used it for anything. I also bought the stickers that went with it. Well I finally pulled it out and created this card. It was super easy and very quick to make.

My inspiration came from a recent pink stamper episode (Episode 143 You totally rock).

Here is my version.





Recipe:
Paper- Creative Imaginations studio basics 101 double sided paper, SU real red carstock, Bazzill textured white cardstock, white premade cardbase from Micheal's
Accessories- SU ticket corner punch, Mini Monograms Cricut Cartridge, Cuttin' Up Cricut Cartridge, Stardust Stickles, Creative imaginations coordinating sticker sheet


Thanks for looking,
Cat

Practical Scrappers Letter Stickers Challenge

This week over at Practical Scrappers they are doing a letter sticker challenge. We are to create a layout/card using our letter stickers. The only catch is we can't use them to create a title.

The moment I read the challenge an idea popped into my head. I used the layout on practical scrappers as inspiration and went from there.

This is a card for my brother in law's 40th birthday that is coming up. I hope he likes it and I hope you do to.





Recipe:
Paper- Various scraps from my stash
Stamps- Peachy Keen face stamps (works with 4-4.5" dolls)
Ink- Black Archival Ink
Accessories- SU Bigz Top Note Die, Paper Doll Dress Up Cricut Cartridge, Cuttin Up Cricut Cartridge, CM Everyday Power Pallette Stickers, red, gold, and silver letter stickers from CM, Black repositionable alphabitties by Provo Craft, Tiny Alphas in Black, White, Sabrina, and Chloe's Closet all by Making Memories, Pink chalk for the cheeks, white gel pen.

Cocoa Botanical Blooms Card

Hi Everyone,

Here is another card I made using Cameo Coral and the Botanical Blooms stamp set. Again, I cased this card off of splitcoaststampers. If you are ever looking for inspiration this is definitely the place to go.

I used my SAB stamp set called Botanical Blooms and Sage Shadow, Cameo Coral, and Close to Cocoa cardstock.

To add a bit of interest and texture I ran the front of my card through my cuttlebug using the Stylized Flowers embossing folder.

To finish it off I added some micro beads and 3 clear skittles.




Recipe:
Paper- SU cardstock in sage shadow, close to cocoa, cameo coral, and whisper white
Ink- SU sage shadow, chocolate chip, cameo coral
Accessories- Cuttlebug Stylized flowers embossing folder, clear skittles from Micheal's, Clear Microbeads, small glue dots, crystal effects to adhere the microbeads, Creative Memories large square maker
Stamp Set- SU Botanical Blooms

I just won my first challenge!

Hi Everyone,

I just found out that my Cameo Quilt card I entered into the Shape Punches Challenge over at Practical Scrappers won! I am thrilled that fellow scrappers thought my card was even worthy to enter the challenge at all. I know that we are our own worst critics and it is so nice to get a pat on the back every once in a while.

Thanks Christine for letting me partipate and picking my card out of the bunch. Everyone's entries were outstanding.

I encourage everyone to pop on over to Practical Scrappers and join in on the fun as well as see everyone's fantastic work.

Thanks for visiting and happy crafting,
Cat

Medallion 50th Anniversary Card

Hi Everyone,

The other day I was asked to create a 50th anniversary card for friend. From the moment she asked me I knew that I wanted to use the new Stampin Up Medallion stamp. I found this card done by rbright on splitcoast stampers and fell in love instantly. I used her card as a starting point and it evolved from there.

First of all I stamped the medallion in gold Color Box Pigment ink on glossy cardstock. Then I embossed the image with clear embossing powder. When that was dry I took my rubber brayer and added Pink Pirouette ink to the glossy cardstock.

When I had finished with the image I decided I wanted to add a bookplate around the sentiment. The only problem was I didn't have any gold hardware. I chose an oval bookplate from the Stampin Up HodgePodge Hardware kit and used Gold Adirondack Mixatives to dye my bookplate and brads. Alochol inks are fast drying inks that adhere to slick surfaces such as metal and acetate so they coated the hardware nicely and dried within about 2 minutes. The end result is an antiqued gold finish which works perfectly with the antique look of the rest of the card.

To finish off the front of the card I added a clear jewel to the centre. These jewels are actually the same kind you can get at the dollar store and use to decorate your cell phone and such. They are perfect because they are inexpensive and have adhesive backs so you aren't messing around with trying to glue them yourself.

For the inside of the card I used my cricut by Provocraft to add some finishing touches. I used my new Lyrical Letters Cartridge to cut out the number 50 in Pink Pirouette cardstock at approximately 3 inches. Then I cut out the words "Happy Anniversary" from the Beyond Birthdays cartridge in Close to Cocoa Cardstock at approximately 2 inches. I distressed the 50 with gold ink and mounted it on a 5.25" square piece of Pink Pirouette cardstock. Then mounted the "happy anniversary" right over top.

To finish it all off I mounted the Pink Pirouette to some Bazzill Bling white cardstock and added some more jewels.

I hope you enjoy my version of a medallion card.






Recipe:
Paper- Stampin Up Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa, Bazzill Bling in White
Ink- ColorBox pigment ink in Gold, Pink Pirouette, Adirondack Alcohol ink Gold Mixatives
Stamps- Stampin Up Medallion, Stampin Up Oval All
Accessories- Clear Embossing Powder, Brayer, Stampin Up ticket Corner Punch, Cricut, Lyrical Letters Cartridge, Beyond Birthdays Cartridge, Self Adhesive Jewels, Hodge Podge Hardware in Silver, Speedball Rubber Brayer, Stampin Up large oval punch, Xyron 150 to adhere sentiment inside card.

Thanks for looking,
Cat

Cricut has released 100 cartridges!

Hi Everyone,

I was just browsing the Cricut Messageboard and they have just announced the release of their 100th cartridge. It is Winter Woodland and is filled with many wonderful country style cuts.

Check it out by clicking here!


Enjoy and Happy Crafting,
Cat

Parisian Blooms

Hi Everyone,

Here is another card I created using my Parisian Breeze DSP. Again it is a case off of Splitcoast with only a few minor changes. I used the Botanical Blooms stamp set from Stampin Up. I used some micros beads for the first time in the centres of the blooms. To adhere the beads I used Crystal Effects. It worked beautifully! The Crystal Effects dried relatively quickly and the micro beads stayed stuck really well.




Recipe:Paper- Parisian Breeze Designer Series Paper, Chocolate Chip Cardstock, Baja Breeze Cardstock, Whisper White Cardstock, Creative Memories Grey Paper
Ink- Chocolate Chip Ink, Old Olive Ink, Sea Breeze Versamagic Chalk Ink
Accessories- Chocolate Chip corduroy buttons, Fiskars Threading Water Punch, Creative Memories Corner Rounder, Micro Beads
Stamps- Stampin Up Botanical Blooms, Stampin Up Pocket Silouettes for the sentiment

Enjoy and Happy Crafting,
Cat

Parisian Dream Card

Hi Everyone,

Here is one of my latest card creations. I decided to use some of my much loved Parisian Breeze paper from Stampin Up. This Designer Series Paper is now retired so I have been very careful when choosing projects to use it on.

I was visiting the sheetloads of cards website (listed on my sidebar on the right side of the page) and found the archives for the August Issue of Sheetloads. On the front cover was the most beautiful card and it was created with the Parisian Breeze paper. I just had to case it!

So here is my creation.




Recipe:
Inks- SU Chocolate Chip, Versamagic Chalk Ink in Seabreeze
Paper- SU Cardstock in Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, and Whisper White, Creative Memories Grey Paper, SU Parisian Breeze DSP
Accessories- Scalloped Edge Punch from SU, Mini Mongrams Cricut Cartridge for the Scalloped Circle and circle, Aqua Painter to create the background on the stamped image, SU dimensionals
Stamp Sets- SU Dream a Little (Hostess set in last catalogue)

Thanks for visiting and Happy Crafting,
Cat

Cottage Garden Layout

Hi Everyone,

Since the new SBC 3.0 comes with the new Cottage Garden kit I thought I would share a layout using this fantastic kit. I love the colours and textures in this kit. They are perfect for outdoor layouts.

I started this layout by using the free template that was offered on the CM project centre website. Then I added papers and embellishments from the the Cottage Garden kit. To make it a double page layout I copied the template to a second page and switched some things around so it wasn't exactly the same but still had flow.

I am really happy with this double page layout. I like how the colours in Cottage Garden enhance my outdoor pictures of the kids and I love the subtle textures and flourishes throughout the papers.

If you haven't already upgraded to 3.0 now is the time. Especially if you haven't already purchased this kit. I think this is my favourite kit and since making the purchase a few months ago the majority of my pages have included something from the Cottage Garden collection.





Enjoy and Happy Crafting,

Cat

Cameo Quilt Card

Hi Everyone,

Here is another card made with one of my favourite colour combos. This was done with whisper white, cameo coral, real red, and old olive cardstock. I punched out 1 1/2" squares using my CM square maker. When I had three of each colour I ran the squares through my cuttlebug using the d'vine swirls, distressed stripes, script, and swiss dots folders. Then I glued them onto a piece of scrap cardstock that I had cut so it was aobut 1/4" bigger than my bigz top note die. In order for the quilt to look most appealing I started with the centre two squares and worked out from there. When I had all of the squares where I wanted them I lined up the middle two squares with the middle of my top note die and ran it through the cuttlebug. Now I have a patchwork quilt top note die.

To accent my card I used my polkadot punches stamp set. The centre of my punched flower is covered with an extra brad topper from the build a brad set.

"Smile" was stamped with chocolate chip ink.





Recipe:
Ink:Chocolate chip, Real Red, Old Olive, and Cameo Coral
Accessories: SU top note die, swiss dots, script, distressed strip, and d'vine swirl cuttlebug folders, build a brad, SU corner ticket punch, Creative Memories Square Maker
Paper: SU old olive, real red, cameo coral, and whisper white cardstock
Stamp set: SU polka dot punches

Enjoy and Happy Crafting,
Catherine

Cameo Christmas Card

Hi Everyone,

I just received my latest SU order and it included the sweet treat cups as well as the Serene Snowflake stamp set. I got a chance yesterday to play with my new stamp set and decided to do a non traditional Christmas card using one of my favourite colour combinations Cameo Coral, Real Red, and Old Olive. I cased a card done by Wannabestampin' over at splitcoast stampers. It was a gorgeous card done in browns and was a beautiful layout. I wanted to see what it would look like done in bright colours.

I used my cuttlebug embossing folders (swiss dots, snowflakes) to addd some texture. I decided to use the Rock n Roll technique to ink up my snowflakes and they turned out really nice. I like how this technique adds dimension and visual interest to your stamped image.

Finally I finished the card off with a bit of stardust stickles and some old olive coloured ribbon from my stash.





Recipe:
Paper: SU Old Olive, Cameo Coral, Real Red, Whisper White
Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing folders (swiss Dots, snowflakes), green ribbon, gold mini brads
Ink: Cameo Coral, Real Red, Old Olive
Stamp Set: SU Serene Snowflakes

Happy Crafting,
Catherine

Storybook 3.0 has new text formatting features!

Hi Everyone,

I created a layout this morning and played with some of the new text features that Storybook Creator 3.0 offers.

First off I used the free template that I found on the Creative Memories Digital Freebie Website. This is a fantastic site to visit and boost your digital content for free. Once I had the template I altered it to meet my needs. I didn't have as many photos as were in the template so I deleted some photo frames and enlarged the photo frames that were left. Another option would have been to fill some of the empty photo frames with patterned paper or used them as text boxes.

Next I decided to change my text box in the middle so the text would fill in an eliptical shape. To do this click on the "Format Text" ribbon. Select your text box and click on text shape. Now you have a ton of shapes to choose from. I chose the elipse so it would mimic the shape of the middle circle.

The other thing I tried was using the "Text Path" feature. To use this feature you click on the "Insert" ribbon on your tool bar. Select "Text Path". A dialog box comes up where you can choose how you want your text to flow. I decided to stay with the default option. Then you click anywhere on your page to create a path. I wanted my text to follow the circular path on each of my photos. I simply placed a few points at the bottom of my photo until I had the effect I wanted. Once you have the path you want click create and the path is layed out for you on the screen. If you aren't happy then you can select "edit path" and move your points around.

Now all you do is type your text and it will follow the path your created. I found that in my case my text wasn't centering so I just placed a few spaces in front of my text until it was placed where I wanted it.

The other new feature that I played with is the rubber stamping feature. I used the rubber stamping feature on my Earthly Serenity overlay. This gives a really neat rubber stamped effect to your image. To use this feature I added my overlay to my page. While the overlay was selected I right clicked and selected "rubber stamp" from the drop down menu. A dialogue box comes up and you can play around with the various options until you get the desired effect. When you are done click create and a rubber stamped version of your element appears on your page. I played around with the placement of this image and tried layering it over my original overlay for a pretty neat look. In the end I deleted my original overlay and just used my rubber stamped overlay.

I also played with the opacity of my rubber stamped overlay so it wasn't quite as intense.



Here is the recipe for the layout above:
Storybook Creator Plus 3.0
Creative Memories Earthy Serenity overlay #8
Creative Memories Freebie Template
All colours for this layout were sampled from Stampin Up colours (Melon Mambo, Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip (altered a bit), and Close to Cocoa. I will explain how to do this in a future post.

Happy Crafting,
Catherine