wishing everyone....

I have a lot that I am thankful for this year--good health, family, friends. :-) I also appreciate those of you who stop by here, and so for this occasion I have a few cards that I'd like to share.



This card was made using the Cuttlebug Pumpkin Harvest A2 embossing folder and offset Cuttling. I accented the embossing with Memento London Fog after the first pass and then used Bamboo Leaves and Potter's Clay after the second pass. The sentiment was made using two Cuttlebug die cuts glued on top of each other and slightly offset, too.



I also used offset Cuttling to make this card. The effect is more subtle. I really just love the look of embossing on shimmery paper or cardstock. It can be very elegant. This is the Autumn Type Cuttlebug folder for the main image and a border embossing folder for the embellishment along the side.


For this last card I used another of my offset Cuttling experiments with the Autumn Type folder. The leaf is a lightweight fabric leaf that came in a package of leaves on clearance at Michael's. I sprayed it with Stiffy Spray to give it a little more heft then ran it through my Big Shot inside the Mesh Cuttlebug folder to give it added texture. The pumpkin is a Cuttlebug combo die, Pumpkin Spice. I cut it out twice and layered it, but only embossed the copper layer since the green layer wouldn't really be seen. I also added texture to the leaf of the pumpkin as I embossed using textured Cuttling.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

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! :-)

textured Cuttling

I had to carve out some time from the busy-ness of real life to do some crafting. I have a fun announcement to make, but as much as I hate to tease, I don't want to say anything until tomorrow. In the meantime, I have a quickie tutorial using Cuttlebug embossing folders. I'm calling this particular look "textured Cuttling".

In keeping with the season, here's a card that shows off this technique.


I used the D'vine Swirls A2 Cuttlebug embossing folder on sheets of black and white cardstock. The skull and crossbones are a 3 X 3 Cuttlebug combo set. The extra texture that you see is from using mesh inside the Cuttlebug folder when embossing.


Here is a close up so that you can see the impression made by the mesh on the cardstock. The sentiment is by Inkadinkado and stamped using Memento dye ink, and the decorative corners were punched using a Tonic fleur corner punch.

Here are the specifics on using the mesh to add texture.


Here I used a piece of fabric mesh. This is the sort of thing that you see used for bags for laundering lingerie, or gym bags are occasionally made from this stuff as well. Just place it between the cardstock and the front of the embossing folder and roll it on through the machine as you normally would.


And this is how it turned out. I like the D'vine Swirls pattern because it has a nice balance of design and empty space.


You can use other types of mesh as well, as you can see above. Drywall tape will give you a small tight regular pattern. The gold mesh is a wide ribbon that I bought last Christmas. The orange mesh is the type of netting that you sometimes see used to bag produce; some bath sponges are made of a softer version of this stuff, too. What I look for is something that is dense enough to stand up to pressure, but isn't so hard that it will mark up the folder--this lets out metal or wire mesh. No need to mess up a perfectly good folder! But I also like stuff that won't necessarily take the impression of the folder so that I can use it over and over again. That's why those forms of netting up above work so well--they meet all of my criteria. I'm sure that there are more items out there that would work great for textured Cuttling. Hopefully this will give you a few places to start. :-)