Guest Designer - The Character Cafe

A few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to win the Blog Hop with the Character Cafe. I had so much fun bouncing around their design team - seeing all the cute new images they have for February. I was able to pick out four really cute digi-stamps - and I cannot wait to start creating with them!

What made it even more special to me, was when Kendra and Kelly asked me to be a Guest Designer for their "Feature Friday"! ME? Really? What an honor! I was happy to take part in their challenge this week - to create a monochromatic card. I had lots of fun coloring with my Copics...and forcing myself to use some goodies from my 'stash'!



For this card, I used my Scor Pal to fold a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock in half. I then cut TWO frames - one at 5 1/2 x 11 in a contrasting color, and the second at 5 1/4 x 10 3/4 in the metallic paper. I cut out the centers of the frames using my paper trimmer (requires a steady hand!). To add a little texture, I scored a line in the center of the metallic frame using my Scor-Pal again. The frames are attached with pop-up squares to give it extra dimension.

My image is "The Serenade". I colored him with Copics, and then used some Stickles and Spica Glitter Pen to bling him up a little! Using my Creative Memories Cutting System, I cut him out using the Oval cutter, and then cut another contrasting oval with the next size cutting blade. A piece of coordinating ribbon is attached using Scor-Tape - awesome stuff, by the way...and the image is layered on top of that.

The flower is layered using Heidi Swapp and Creative Memories flowers. The butterflies are also Heidi Swapp. I then added a few Twinkle Jewels from Cutter's Creek to give a little extra "BLING" to the card.

Hope you enjoy my card...and check out the other designer's cards at The Character Cafe Blog.

Dueling Dragons Layout

For this project, I wanted to highlight some of the neat things that can be done with the Cricut Expression and Design Studio. This is a two page layout that I created based on a Page Maps layout. I love to use Page Maps to develop my pages - it gives me a great starting off point and I can adjust as I need to based on the number of pictures I have! This layout is based on the January 2008 Page Maps.

This layout calls for a coordinated set of papers and embellishments...but I didn't have anything in my crafty arsenal that really felt like it fit...and I knew I wanted to use my stash rather than go out and buy more stuff. Because my layout is of my son on a roller coaster, I knew I wanted something 'swirly' so I turned to my Storybook cartridge to find the perfect accents. Once I found the main embellishment (Accent Frame Swirl), I decided to play around with Design Studio, and I created a butterfly using the corner swirl from that same key, plus an oval from George! The title "Deuling Dragons" is also cut from the Storybook cartridge.


These pictures are pretty busy...so I didn't want to use a highly patterned paper, but I wanted it to match like the layout showed. I remembered that I have the markers that go in the Cricut blade housing, and got a great idea to make MY OWN patterned paper. I used the same Accent Frame Swirl that I had already cut, and added it several times to my page, arranging them throughout a 12x12 page, flipping and turning along the way. Instead of the blade, I put a marker in the housing, and DREW the pattern rather than cut it. (NOTE: this design takes a LONG TIME to draw...so be patient!) The end result was a custom patterned paper and coordinating accents to make my layout shine! I included the .cut files so you can see how I did it. A sample full sheet photo in white is shown here, so you can get an idea of what the full page looks like.



All these items can be purchased from Cutters Creek:
Cricut Expression
Cricut Design Studio
Cricut Color Inks - Primary (ON SALE NOW 50% OFF!)
Storybook Cartridge
Glue Glider Pro

Butterfly File

Swirl Background File

My *NEW* Favorite Ink

I have to say...I have never really paid attention when people start chatting on the groups and boards about various types of stamping inks/inkpads. Really...I thought...Ink is Ink...what difference does it make? Wow, was I ever wrong!

I recently became the owner of a single, black Memento Ink pad...to go along with my Copic markers and Prism papers. Today, I was stamping a bunch of images to send to a pal as a gift...something that I tend to put off as a 'chore' because it is so tedious. You know the drill...clean up your space...pull out the stamps...the ink...the paper...the cleaners...the paper towels...all that preparation!! Then...STAMP...clean...dry...STAMP...clean...dry... UGH!! But you know what? Doing it with the Memento Ink was AMAZING! The stamps came out so neatly...and then one single stamp on a wet paper towel and POOF! - the stamp was clean! This ink goes on SO WELL that most of the ink lands on the paper and doesn't leave much behind on the stamp to clean off!

All these items can be purchased at my favorite online store: http://www.cutterscreek.com - go check out all the stamps and accessories Kim has to offer!!

Keeping Up...

You know...saying you're going to make a blog...and actually DOING it...are two really different things!

I was given the honor, back in December, of joining the Cutter's Creek Design Team. It forces me to be much more creative during the month - which is a good thing. It also requires me to actually take pictures of my creations, so they can be posted on the design team blog! But alas...I haven't been posting them here. I promise to try to get better at that!

One of the really NICE things about blogging, is that you can share some other really great blog addresses with all of your followers! Here's a new one for you to look at today: http://scrappinstyle.blogspot.com/ She is giving away some really nice BLOG CANDY...which I think is an awesome way to thank those that care to leave comments and post messages! Hmm...I think I need to give away some blog candy soon too - to remind me to do more blogging! :)

Happy Crafting!