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:

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.