A Little Something for Miss J:

when i saw this card posted on the Scalloped Edge for CC221, i knew it would be a great card to CASE for Miss J's birthday... i forgot how much i love the "rock & roll" technique, especially on a great stamp like the large flower from Eastern Blooms...

Recipe:
Inspiration: this card by Jackie and CC221 on SCS
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Rockabilly DSP
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss
Stamp Set: Yummy & Eastern Blooms © Stampin' Up
Embellishments: Fresh Mowed Grass Dew Drops
Tools: Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots embossing folder, paper piercer, SU Mat Pack, paper trimmer, Tombow Multi liquid glue, tape runner, dimensionals

WT172 / SC182

i made this for two card challenges, Ways To Use It 172 (Birds) and Sketch Challenge 182... i'm not thrilled with how the sentiment came out (my inspiration was to have the yellow be like a bright light shining out the window), but in the end, i didn't have any time to mess around with it as J was just waking up from a nap...

Recipe:
Inspiration: WT172 & SC182 card challenges on SCS
Paper: Night of Navy, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun
Ink: Night of Navy, Versamark
Stamp Set: Just Celebrate, In the Stars © Stampin' Up
Embellishments: gold embossing powder, brushed gold brads
Tools: Nestabilities, Cuttlebug, 1/8" hole punch, paper piercer, heat gun, tape roller, dimensionals, paper trimmer

Congratulations Card for Greg & Alicia

this particular card was made last month and was the reason i found myself in Vancouver...

i tried a different technique for the bow on this card, which can be found here... i'm pleased with how it turned out, mostly because i still need to work on my bow tying skills (which sounds ridiculous, as i'm almost 30 years old, but there you go!)...

this full-time working mum bit is a lot harder than i ever expected... after yet another particularly busy month, i've not found the time to craft at all... which better change because this blog has been sorely neglected, i have a card exchange deadline looming, and i'm leaving for a family visit halfway across the country in a week!

Recipe:
Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip
Ink: Whisper White craft ink, VersaMark
Stamp Set: Always © Stampin' Up
Embellishments: Perfect Pearl Pigments in gold, chocolate brown ribbon from Michael's
Tools: Cuttlebug, Textile Texture and Word Hearts Cuttlebug embossing folders, ribbon punch, paper trimmer, Cutterbee scissors, dimensionals, tape roller

Tutorial: Partially Embossed Card

when looking for ways to use my Cuttlebug (the item i just had to have, yet rarely use to its full potential), i stumbled across Heart Prints by Sue Nelson... i loved the look but just didn't "get" how she was able to partially emboss part of her cardstock... and those embossed lines intrigued me...

after searching out everything i could on the technique and then being blessed with
three great tutorials (thanks to Sue, Jay and Beate), i decided to add a tutorial of my own... not because it was needed but, rather, because i wanted to try my hand at doing a tutorial...

i started by getting my supplies together and cutting and scoring my cardstock... i went with a standard 4¼" x 5½" card for this tutorial... just keep in mind that you are somewhat limited by the size of both the Cuttlebug opening and the embossing folder... i stack my plates as you would for any Cuttlebug dies or embossing folders, with the B plate on top of the A plate...

next, i took my embossing folder (Birds & Swirls, which co-ordinates perfectly with the Always stamp set) and lined the edge of the embossing up with the line i scored earlier... i apologize that you can't really see that in my picture, but it's hard to get a clear image of the score line... it's really important that you look at your cardstock placement and ensure that everything is square so you don't end up with a slanted edge to your embossing...

once you have your embossing folder lined up to your liking, place it on your A & B plates with the portion you do not want embossed hanging over the edge of the two plates... in my example, i've left about 2" overhanging in order to fit my sentiment in later... then place the second B plate on top, lining it up with the A & B plates below... make sure that your cardstock hasn't shifted and then begin to feed the stack through your Cuttlebug...

when you're done, you should end up with a partially embossed card front that looks like the example on the left... you can see that i've gone ahead and stamped my sentiment...


now it's time to embellish! i selected the small dotted circle embossing folder because i wanted to keep the whole card fairly simple and clean in its design... i've always found that my smaller embossing folders can leave indentation marks where the folders end, but Sue suggested instead of running the folder all the way through, reversing the stack back towards you to solve that problem and it has worked perfectly... another suggestion is to shim it with another piece of cardstock...

here's a close up of the dotted circle... it's very subtle and doesn't look half as smart in the picture as it does in person...




time for the final embellishments: black ribbon to border the partial embossing, the lovely bird from the Always stamp set (also stamped in Graphite Black and mounted with a dimensional, although it's hard to see in the picture), and a few black brads to give some visual interest to the upper corner...

Recipe:
Paper: SU Whisper White
Ink: Dew Drop Brilliance in Graphite Black
Stamp Set: Always © Stampin' Up
Embellishments: black ribbon, black brads
Tools: Cuttlebug, Birds & Swirls and small dotted circle Cuttlebug embossing folders, Xyron 150, 1/16" hole punch, dimensionals

what i love most about this card is the simplicity... there's not a lot going on, but the different textures and images work well together yet are subtle... i have a feeling a lot more of my cards are going to be of similar design in the next little while (i have another card exchange coming up in June with a Thank You / Congratulations theme and i could see something like this working perfectly for that)...

something i didn't do with this card was the embossed lines, like the other tutorials show... that, dear readers, is simply because i'm still awaiting my Scor-Pal, the lovely tool that allows you not only to score your cardstock perfectly but to emboss lines as well... i'll be sure to do a product review / demo when mine arrives...

Card Challenge 3 - Monochromatic

the latest card challenge i was participating in was simple: use whatever you like but keep it to one colour, black and white excluded... i decided to go for something very simplistic and just stick to black and white in order to showcase one of my latest favourite techniques: partial embossing with a Cuttlebug... i won't get too far into explaining how i made this card, as i'm adding my first tutorial later today on how i did it exactly... in the meantime, here's the recipe...

Recipe:
Inspiration: Sue's beautiful cards at Heart Prints
Paper: SU Whisper White
Ink: Dew Drop Brilliance in Graphite Black
Stamp Set: Always © Stampin' Up
Embellishments: black ribbon, black brads
Tools: Cuttlebug, Birds & Swirls and small dotted circle Cuttlebug embossing folders, Xyron 150, 1/16" hole punch, dimensionals

'Tis the Season Scrapbook Page

Started: December 11, 2007
Finished: Work-In-Progress
Made For: J's scrapbook
Scraplifted From: Becky Higgins' Creative Sketches - Volume 2 - pg. 49 (very loosely based on this sketch)
Materials: 3 colours of cardstock, 1 patterned paper, silver eyelets, clear embossing powder, Christmas stickers
Tools: Cuttlebug, Red Tag Sale alphabet cutting die, Spots & Dots embossing folder, SU Christmas Mini stamps, heat embosser, MM Tool Kit, Mini Glue Dots, roller adhesive, Creative Memories Precision Point Adhesive, photo mounts, rotary cutter, silver gel pen
Cost: under $10
Would I Do It Again? no...
Notes / Comments: i did this layout very hastily and really just so i'd have a place to put these random Christmas pictures... i played a little with my Cuttlebug, which is why the red title letters are embossed... in hindsight, it might have been nice to tie in the embossed letters by embossing the red background matting for the photos as well...

the one element i really like about these pages is that i used the tag to label the pictures so i didn't have to journal (i didn't really have much to say)... not only did i get to heat emboss, but i got to set some eyelets... yay for embellishments!

there are two things that bug me, though... i love the patterned paper that i chose, but i don't really think it works with how i arranged it on the page or how i arranged the pictures on top of it... and i was left with the bottom left hand corner empty and i have no idea how to complete it without over-embellishing... Jes at Craft-O-Rama is sending me something that might work (little Christmas light die cuts) and i'm going to try using SU's Crystal Effects on them to tie them in with the stickers... my other thought is printing out J's first letter from Santa and putting it in an envelope there...