February Cuttlebug card class

Yes, you read that right. These are the cards from my February card class "I heart Cuttlebug cards." I'm just a little behind on my blogging...again {sheepish grin}. Anyway, I think these cards came out pretty darn cute, and I think all the ladies in the class enjoyed learning new ways to use the Cuttlebug.

On this first card, I wanted to show the gals to think outside the "you can only emboss paper" box. We embossed acetate (report covers from Office Max), and placed it over a white card base. On this card, we used the Perfectly Paisley embossing folder, as well as a Cuttlebug die. The die is from the Halloween sign cut/emboss combo set. The green polka dot paper is from 3 Bugs in a Rug, and we added a stamp from Hero Arts. We topped it off with some pink grosgrain ribbon, and voila!
Here's a close-up of the Halloween sign die and the stamp (stamped with Staz-On ink):

This card (which I think is too cute!) was inspired by SusieB from the Cricut website (check out her awesome Cuttlebug gallery by clicking her link on my sidebar). On this card, I wanted to show my students how to paper-piece using the Cuttlebug. The "medallion" that the little sheep is stamped on was from a Splitcoaststampers.com tutorial. You can make one yourself with any border/edge punch (this one is Martha Stewart). I took a 3-inch square piece of white cardstock and used the border punch one time on each side of the square. Then I just backed this piece with a 3-inch square piece of green gingham paper by American Crafts. I stamped the little sheep (which is a Studio G stamp) with Staz-On ink in the center of the "medallion", and colored him (or her?) in with Prismacolor markers. Then I stamped him again on a scrap piece of white cardstock, and ran it through the Cuttlebug (using the Tiny Bubbles embossing folder). Out of the embossed piece, I cut out all his "woolly parts" (hee hee) and pieced them on top of the colored-in image on the "medallion". The yellow border is also punched with the same Martha punch, and embossed with one of the Cuttlebug border embossing folders.

Here's a close-up of his fluffy embossed body and tuft of wool on his head. Isn't he the cutest???

On this next card, I wanted to show the ladies how, if you emboss on a white-core paper and use a sanding block, the white core will show through. The patterned paper is American Crafts, and the pink is the back side of the dotted paper. I cut out a pink circle using the Fiskars circle cutter, then embossed the pink side with the ice cream cone folder from the "Birthday Jelly" set. I used the argyle embossing folder on Bazzill cardstock for the background, because it reminded me of a waffle cone. I pleated some white ribbon on either side of the ice cream cone, and stapled over the pleats to give the ribbon a little more visual interest.

Here is a close-up of the argyle embossing and the patterned paper, which I also sanded around the edges to reveal the white core. I used a brown pen to make small dots around the edge of the pink layered piece:

And here's a close-up of the sanded ice cream cone and the pleated/stapled ribbon:

Last, but certainly not least, I wanted to show the ladies that you can emboss chipboard, and also show them how to emboss on paper that is larger than the embossing folder. The frame and it's center are both chipboard, with the outer piece of the frame being covered with patterned paper by 3 Bugs in a Rug. The center of the frame was embossed, and then I went over the raised part with some white ink by Making Memories.

To emboss a piece of paper that is larger than the embossing folder, I used my Scor-Pal to score 2 parallel lines across the middle of my card. Then I aligned the side of the Swiss Dots embossing folder with the top score line, and ran the paper and folder through the Cuttlebug. Then I did the same thing on the bottom half of the card. I finished it off with some ribbon by American Crafts. Here it is:

Here's a close-up of the chipboard frame and embossing:

A few Cuttlebug cards

So, my mother-in-law got a Cuttlebug a few months ago, and I've been wanting to get together and play Cuttlebugs! Well, we finally got to do just that! The boys went out shooting, and we made some adorable cards. Then we went to Carrabba's for dinner...mmm...Carrabba's...my favorite...(drooling)...
...um, back to the cards. On this one, I used the Swiss Dots A2 embossing folder, and the cute little elephant is from one of my MIL's sets. I used my Scor-Pal to score the lines between which I stamped my sentiment and put ribbon. Purely by coincidence, I had pre-cut a bunch of 2" x 2" squares to use with the smaller embossing folders, and after we had embossed the elephant, I saw this scalloped chipboard frame and wondered if they'd fit together. They fit perfectly! And as luck would have it, I had 2 of them, so we could each use one on our cards. The frame is Making Memories (last year's Valentine line), and the stamp is Studio G. Ribbon was from her stash.
Here's a close-up of the little elephant and the frame. I don't know if you can see it or not, but I took a Prismacolor marker (cool grey 10%) and went over the lines of the elephant. I used a little Frosted Lace Stickles on the flower.

Here is another card I made. I used the Swiss Dots on the upper half of the card, and Perfectly Paisley on the bottom half. The stamp is Studio G, and the embellishments are Making Memories (again, last year's Valentine line). I also used my Scor-Pal and embroidery floss.

Here's a close-up of the embossing and a chipboard corner embellishment.

This next card turned out cuter than I thought it was going to. I really wasn't pleased with it as I was making it, but it's growing on me. The frog is from one of the smaller sets that my MIL has, and the background is the Tiny Bubbles A2 folder. The bookplate is Making Memories (you guessed it, last year's Valentine line), and the LOVE stamp is Studio G. The "u" stamp is Hero Arts, and they were colored with Prismacolor markers. The pearly brads were from my stash, and the ribbon was from my MIL's.

Last, but not least, I made this "you're so sweet" card. I scored a line with my Scor-Pal, and embossed the upper portion with the Swiss Dots folder. Below the score line, I used a Martha Stewart border punch, and filled in the larger holes with Fruit Punch Stickles. The black and white chipboard frame and the plastic embellishment inside it are by Making Memories (you know which line). The plastic embellishment was actually a flower with a pink center. I stamped the "you're so sweet" using a Studio G stamp and Staz-On ink, and then place the flower behind the chipboard frame. I trimmed the flower petals that stuck out past the frame.

Here's a close-up of the chipboard frame, the plastic flower embellishment, and the stamp.

Thanks for looking!

Attached at the heart

So, I've never really been one to use sketches or pagemaps or anything like that, but I thought I'd give it a try. This was for a sketch challenge over at www.splitcoaststampers.com. Specifically, it was SC211 that was posted on 01/14/09. I left out a couple of elements on the sketch, but I think it turned out cute. I was trying to use up some scraps, and I was able to do that. The patterned paper is American Crafts, stamp is Studio G in Timber Brown Staz-On ink, colored with Prismacolor markers. The border punch is Martha Stewart. I also used my Cuttlebug for embossing, and embroidery floss from my stash. Thanks for looking!

How sweet!

Here is a fun little card I made as a thank you for Christmas presents. My brother and SIL gave me some Bella stamps, and my parents gave me Prismacolor markers. I thought I would show my appreciation by making cards using the gifts they gave me. Patterned paper is My Mind's Eye, and the light green is the back side of the pattern. The other solid papers are the back sides of some American Crafts patterned papers. The edge punch is Martha Stewart. I also used a metal-rimmed tag, embroidery floss, and buttons from my stash.
Here's a close-up of a "how sweet" stamp by Studio G.

Close-up of "Cupacakeabella". Love her!

l o v e wordbook (Cricut Expression 201 project)

Okay, as promised to the students in my class...here are the page-by-page pictures of the word book we made in the Cricut Expression 201 classes on January 23 and 25. For those of you who are seeing this for the first time, this is a word book that spells out "love." I really like the look of the premade word books that are out there, but altering them is not always that much fun. So, I designed a word book that incorporates the Cricut Expression. For the base of the book, I used chipboard that was cut with a paper trimmer. The book is 6" tall, and there are five pages. The page widths are 2", 4", 6", 8", and 10". The patterned paper that covers the chipboard was also cut with a paper trimmer in the same sizes. The remainder of the cuts you see were cut using the Cricut Expression machine and the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge. The patterned papers are American Crafts, and the cardstock and brads are Bazzill. Ribbon is May Arts, "xoxo" stamp is Studio G, and the two corner stamps are Heidi Swapp. All were stamped with black Staz-On. The binder rings are from OfficeMax.

Here is a picture of the back side of the cover and the "L" page.

Here is the back side of the "L" and the "O" page.

Here we have the back side of the "O" and the "V" page, showing one of the corner stamps.

And here is the back of the "V" page, showing the other corner stamp, and the "E" page.

This was a fun little project to design and teach. Please feel free to post any questions about the book or cut sizes. Thanks for looking!

Wow...it's been awhile!

So, I was teaching a Cricut Expression 201 class about a week-and-a-half ago, and when I tried to copy a picture of the project onto a Word document to give to each student, all I got was that dreaded box with the red X in it. Well, I had gotten a new camera for Christmas (thanks to my wonderful husband, Brett), and this was the first time I had tried to copy a picture taken with the new camera into Word. I didn't have time before the class started to play around and figure it all out, so when the gals in the class asked if I had pictures, I said "no, but I can post them on my blog," not knowing that some of them follow my blog. They politely told me that I needed to update it, and I agreed, stating that it had been awhile since I posted anything new. Then one of them piped up and said "I know the exact date of your last post - it was November 7th!" Wow...I knew I was behind, but I didn't think I was THAT far behind...or that anybody else was even paying attention! LOL!!! Thanks again, Mary Ellen!!!!

Anyway, I finally found some time today to post some projects I've done recently. So for those who take my classes and those who subscribe to my blog (which I just found out about today! YAY!!!), here come some pictures! Oh yeah, can anyone out there tell me how to copy a picture taken with a Nikon D40 into Word??? :)

My new favorite layout!!!

So, a few days ago, one of the gals on the Cricut website posted a link to Tami Potter's site (http://www.tamipotter.com/). She mentioned that she had taken Tami's class at a CKC and enjoyed it. I checked out Tami's site, and she does fantastic things with photo mosaics. Her work was completely different than anything I've ever done, and I found myself inspired by her. Then I looked at her blog, and fell IN LOVE with her "Howl-o-scream" layout. Maybe I'm just a sucker for all things Halloween, but I found myself going back to this layout over and over. Well, my SIL had just emailed some pics of my BIL and their kids, and they were absolutely perfect for this type of layout. I decided to give it a go, even though I didn't have Tami's special gridded paper. ***I am SO proud of this layout!!!*** I just keep looking at it over and over, like I did with Tami's. I thought it turned out so great. I used 3 warm fall colors of Bazzill cardstock, some acetate, acrylic letters, and Stickles. That's all!! Okay, less talky, more showy...here it is:


Here is a close-up of the kids grasshopper hunting:

Here's my BIL and their handsome son in the beautiful aspen trees:

And here's a close-up of their daughter - she's a cutie-pie:

I die-cut these letters out of acetate (transparency sheet/report cover) using the AccuCut. I put Goldenrod Stickles all over the back of each letter, and when they dried, I adhered them to the cardstock with my ATG.

The word splendor was computer generated and printed onto the gold Bazzill. Then I took a couple of self-adhesive acrylic letters I had in my stash, and stuck 'em on. I covered them with Cinnamon Stickles.

Again, acetate letters with Stickles on the back side. This is a much better picture than the one above, it shows a more true color.