Cuttlebug Matchbook Card

I decided to join in the Cuttlebug Challenge again this week which is to use vellum in your Easter creation. I just came upon a stash of long-forgotten vellum so I figured I would use it in this Easter egg card I wanted to make. The border embossing folders make great Easter eggs. Each strip is its own folder so you can design the eggs differently. With an oval punch, it's super easy.

I did emboss the vellum on the outside of the card, too. I love the way the vellum crackles when you run it through the CB.

Below is the inside of the matchbook card.

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Cuttlebug Challenge

I just discovered the Cuttlebug Challenge blog today. Now, I don't own a lot of fancy tools, but I absolutely love my Cuttlebug. When I saw that they currently have a challenge to create a cupcake using Cuttlebug products, I had to give it a try.

I had fun creating this card. The bottom of my cupcake is a stamp from Oxford Impressions. The top of the cupcake is created by a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I used two layers so I could insert my candle made from the Swiss dots embossing folder inside. I added little sprinkles to my frosting with markers. I then added a border from a new set of border embossing plates I just got. And, finally, I cut my tag from one of the Cuttlebug die cut sets.

The luscious paper in the background is from K&Co.

To check out what's going on at the Cuttlebug site, click here.

Cavallini Stickers

Today I had in mind to just make something with these gorgeous Cavallini bird stickers that have been sitting on my craft table for months. This is the outcome. The sentiment is by

Studio G. I embossed the top portion of the card using the Swiss Dots folder with my Cuttlebug. And that was about it.

Swiss Dots

I finally got the Swiss Dots embossing folder for my Cuttlebug I had wanted for a while. I embossed my magenta cardstock and vellum for this card. I used the Tres Chic text background stamp from StampinUp with Colorbox white pigment ink. The flower stamp is "repurposed" which simply means I had stamped it previously for something else and decided to use it on this card instead. I don't know who makes this stamp. I do know I colored it with watercolor crayons and blending pen.
Although you can't see it in this picture, my friend Sarah recently sent me a clear Spica pen which I used over the light purple petals in the flower. It really does give them a nice glimmer.

Birthday Bella

I made this present-toting Bella for my little sister's birthday this week -- before she said she wanted no presents. What to do? Marcia on the Gingerwood site suggested the inside read, "For the girl who has everything -- a box to put it in."
Kind of like that.

The paper from Basic Grey inspired the color combinationon on this card -- pink, brown, turquoise. I cut the clothes from some turquoise scraps I had. Felt like I was playing with cut-out dolls again. I used my Cutllebug to emboss the turquoise tag. The flowers are punched from a Martha Stewart punch.

*********If you want to check out the new stamps being shown at the Memory Trends trade show, check out Kim Ross' blog. WOW!! Lots of good stuff on the horizon! We're talking Basic Grey stamps, new stamps from Autumn Leaves, Technique Tuesday and more!

Midnight Madness

This is what you end up with when you are up in the middle of the night, can't sleep, and decide you'll create something. I was kind of amused by it, kind of in doubt, and kind of liked it. I cut out my flip-flops from my $1 stamp from Mike's on different colored paper. I also used some Cuttlebugged swirl paper and cut that out in a somewhat unusual shape. Amazing what looks interesting at two in the morning. I added a strip of very bright checked paper. If you look very closely you can see I stamped some faux fiber trim (Hero Arts) on the top and bottom of the card. Of course, I then stamped my letters across the flip-flops.

Don't know if you do this or not, but I have absolutely no problem in unmounting and cutting up my $1 stamps to suit my purposes. Since I like my stamps unmounted in CD cases, it works well. And those Mike's $1 stamps have excellent cling to them (See several posts down).

For this card I cut away the "Take it Easy" from the flip-flop. I like the flip-flop, like the "Take it Easy" but also know I want to be able to use them independently.

Same thing with the bird stamp. What a cute bird! And I've wanted that sentiment for a long time -- but not always next to each other. Oh, I know I could ink up just part of the stamp, but I'm an ink pad kind of girl and for $1 I can afford to cut these stamps up.

I immediately cut the "Party" out of the harlequin pattern. I know I'll have no use for that. But, boy, do I love that harlequin pattern. Excellent size for ATC's.

Like the pregnant woman, but really don't like the sentiment "She's Expecting." So I cut that off. I know I'll get much more use out of it as a congratulations card. And now she fits perfectly in the oval frame stamp I have.

Happy Birthday

This card was inspired by the green flowered strip of paper. I knew I needed a birthday card -- where to start? So with that for inspiration I pulled out the flowers that came along with my words set from PaperTrey Ink set. I decided to then cut them out.

I cut the oval with my Cuttlebug to place my ribbons through. The cardstock is my new fave SU color, Wild Wasabi. This card is going to the young lady across the street who pet sits for us and is having a birthday.

****I pulled a name this morning and the little bird stamp from Mike's is going to Nise. Send me your address and I'll get it to you!*******

Make A Wish

I've got several cupcake stamps, but this is my favorite. It's from Stampabilities.

I like the fun colors on this card. I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the yellow textured cardstock (DCWV)and then sanded it so the white core would show through.

I colored in my cupcake with glitter gel pens and added some specks on the frosting. Have stamped it on white it looked very stark so I cut around the edges with scalloped scissors, shaded it with chalk ink, and then added my dots with green marker. On the pink cardstock I made the dots and dashes with a dark pink marker.

I then added a pink paper clip with some green and yellow ribbons at the top. The sentiment is from Cat's Pajamas.

Cuttlebug Paper

I found some great Autumn Leaves paper which is adhesive backed. While the patterns of the paper are just amazing and the size is great for cardmaking, I found an additional bonus to it when using it with my Cuttlebug. Oftentimes paper that is embossed with the CB is hard to adhere. But with the adhesive paper it sticks with no problem. But the cool part is you then have a bonus -- the shiny film that you remove from the back of the paper is also embossed and you have another piece of embossed paper to use. Found the paper at Target, $3.99 each.

This is card I made using the Autumn Leaves paper. The blue strip running down the card was embossed on my Cuttlebug with the flower swirls. I then was left with a white embossed strip which I used on the card below.

The stamps I used were from Michael's $1 stamps. I fudged a little on the scalloped circle as I don't have that punch, but I just traced around my punched circle with my scallopped scissors.

After I made this bird card (again from the Autumn Leaves paper) and embossed it with the dots and flowers embossing folder I then was left with this white sheet from the backing of the paper to create another card. Pretty cool, huh?

The bird stamp is from StampinUp. The hello stamp is another Michael's $1 stamp.

Rejected....

Yup, this one came back yesterday (along with a **few** others that were rejected for publication as well). Well, I like it. It's one of my Cuttlebug cards.
I used paper from DCWV's Pocketful of Posies and then sanded it down so the white core of the paper came through. The ribbon slide is also from the CB die cuts. I just colored that with a brown ink pad, added a bright ribbon, a couple brads and a flower and there you have it. (Copy that formula and you can have a card rejected, too!)
I don't send my "rejects" on to other publications. I always feel that the cards I send in are specific to that publication's style, so I just leave it at that. But, hey, now that I'm blogging my rejects will find a place to show themselves off! That should take care of posts for a while:)

Faux Journal Card

A little spring journal -- looks like it anyway.

Using the flowered Cuttlebug embossing folder I created the background on green cardstock which has a white core. That way I could take an emery board and rub across it to bring the white out.

I punched holes down the side of the green strip and added various ribbons.

The spring flower stamp is from Hero Arts. I stamped that with Brilliance ink and clear embossed it. I added an ivory panel behind the green embossed one, making sure it extends out at the top.

I punched the top corners and stamped Cherish Today (Hero Arts) in purple ink.