Thanks!

I wanted to say a quick Thank You! to the folks over at the Cuttlebug Challenge blog. They're dedicated to creative use of the Cuttlebug and its accessories (Gotta love that!) and are a wonderful source of inspiration. They're holding a Cuttlebug Camp this weekend and have lots of fun projects, techniques, and tutorials posted. I was given the honor of being the Guest Designer for their Grand Opening this weekend. That was very cool. They posted a couple of cards that I'd made for the occasion. I thought I'd post them here now, too.

This first card was made using only Cuttlebug products.


I used creative Cuttling with an oval frame to leave the unembossed area on the cream layer. I also added some extra texture by using some mesh for textured Cuttling.


Here's a close up so that you can see the texture that was added by the mesh. The embossing of the metallic Stardream copper cardstock is really gorgeous, too. It was such a pretty effect that I used it in another card, but this time using the maple leaf combo instead of the dove.


The colored cardstocks are both metallic. The Poison Ivory cardstock layer is a bit irridescent as well. The angle of the photo and the sheen washed out the sentiment by Impression Obsession. It's a vertical "Thinking of You" that was stamped using Memento dye ink. It's much easier to read in person.


And this is a close-up of those leaves and the background. I added the texture by using the orange netting that I showed in my earlier post where I described textured Cuttling. I really like the added visual interest and dimension that it adds.

So, if you like using the Cuttlebug and its accessories, be sure to head over to the Cuttlebug Challenge blog where lots of inspiration can be found. And thanks again to the fun folks over there for having me as a guest designer--I had a great time! :-)

Die Cutter Recap

It seems like excitement about the Cuttlebug is at a peak! I don't have that machine, but I bought some of the dies and embossing folders when they first came out and I was impressed. I loved a lot of the designs, particularly the A2 size embossing folders. What crisp impressions! They're great! You can use them as is. You can distress them with sand paper or a fine grit sanding block. You can chalk them. Lots of possibilities.

I use the Cuttlebug dies and embossing folders in my Big Shot. They work great and aren't complicated at all to use. I have a multipurpose platform and use them with it the same way that I would use the Sizzix or Ellison embossing folders. The Big Kick is the similar die cut machine that's sold by Sizzix. I think it comes with the multipurpose platform. The multipurpose platform makes life a lot easier! Not only that though, it makes it easy to use all of the following types of dies, both thick and thin:

• Spellbinders Wizard dies
• BossKut dies
• Cuttlebug dies
• Quickutz dies
• Zip-e-mate dies
  
• Sizzix dies
• Ellison dies

Basically, you can use any non-commercial die in this machine. Gotta like that! The thick dies can cut through thicker materials, such as multiple layers of cardstock, chipboard, cork, felt, fun foam, fabric, thin metals.... If the die happens to be one that will also emboss, that works great, too. Now Sizzix, Ellison, and Zip-e-mate have cut 'n' emboss dies that I've used. No problems. Beautiful results in a single pass. Some of the Wizard dies will also emboss. You have to run them through twice though, once to cut and a second time to emboss. These are fabulous!

Now, as for embossing, again you can use all sorts of products in the Big Shot (or Big Kick). Here's a list:

• Cuttlebug embossing folders
• Sizzix Simple Impressions folders
• Ellison Easy Emboss folders and Big Impression texture plates
  
• Quickutz Goosebumpz embossing dies
• Fiskars texture plates--yes, those blue or pink textured plates that were awful to try to use with that little embossing tool
  
• any brass stencil!
  

Again, to make things easy, Ellison released a texture kit to use for embossing with The Big Shot, The Big Impressions Texture Kit. It comes with texture plates (6 designs), a sheet of silicone rubber, and an impression plate. You can emboss cardstock, vellum, lightweight metal, HVAC tape, foil, transparencies.... The list goes on and on. Usually I get a nice impression without much difficulty. One thing to remember is that with cardstock a light misting with water will soften it enough to give a more crisp impression. This can work well both with the texture plates and with brass stencils. Usually the embossing folders have a positive and negative side or image, so those images tend to be crisp already. One more suggestion would be to add a shim if the image still isn't deep enough. Sometimes a sheet of text weight paper is enough. Sometimes you need a sheet or two of cardstock. Just be willing to experiment.

I've tried to make this a little more all-inclusive than my other entries. I know that some of this repeats things I've said from time to time already. I just thought I'd put it all in one spot. I've also tried to update my labels. If you want to see examples of how I've used Cuttlebug folders, you should be able to click on that label and go to that post. Same with some of the other tools that I've mentioned. I'm still fine-tuning though and trying to make things as easy to find as possible. Hopefully I'm getting there. :-)

More altered rolodex cards

Yes, this does seem to be my latest passion. Here are a couple more altered rolodex cards that I've made for swapping. I finished them this afternoon.

pretty in pink

For this swap, the rolodex was just supposed to be pink. It will be part of a color theme as time goes on. The dress die cut is a Cut 'n' Emboss die by Ellison. The alphas are by Heidi Swapp. The tone on tone background swirls was made using Versamark ink and Purple Onion Designs stamps. I accentuated the embossing on the dress with a Stardust pen, then added some Prima flowers and a silver Stickles center.

word up

The theme for this rolodex swap was a word, any word, used in any way. I have lots of 'art' stamps, so that's what I used. These stamps are all by Ma Vinci. The folder tag is a Sizzix die cut. Everything was stamped using chalk inks. Once again I used that address card die by Boss Kut--it makes doing these altered rolodex cards very quick and easy.

Snowflakes

No, not real snowflakes. It's been cooler here, but not THAT cool. I'm talking about snowflakes on an ATC. This time I wanted to try out the Ellison Cut 'n' Emboss dies. I used them to make the two large snowflakes, which were cut from Bazzill luster metallic paper. I also used the Bazzill for the base. There's a lot more shimmer to this ATC in real life. I'd used Brilliance Starlight black ink for the stamped flakes, which are by Inka Stamps, so those have more shimmer to them, too.

Snowflakes ATC

I have to say that I like the detail in these Ellison dies. They cut quickly and easily in my Sidekick, too.