Posts Tagged ‘Cuttlebug’

I originally started designing this card last week for submission into a contest for a card using three colors, three stamps, and a photograph for bonus points. I photographed this deer a few weeks ago at the zoo when the lighting and his beauty caught my eye. But my ideas for incorporating the stamps were not working out.

Instead I decided to try this two tone Cuttlebug technique. I applied Tim Holtz Vintage Photo distress ink to the front of the snowflake folder and carefully inserted white paper then ran it through the Cuttlebug. I did the same thing for the hearts folder. I trimmed some rows of hearts and heat embossed the white hearts with a clear embossing powder. Then I applied a white pigment stamp pad very liberally to the front of the twigs folder and very quickly ran a paper bag colored paper through the Cuttlebug while the ink was still very wet.

For the deer photo I first converted it to Sepia in Photoshop by selecting Image/Adjustments/Photo Filter/Sepia. Then I converted it to a sketch in Photoshop by selecting Filter/Sketch/Photo Copy. You will have to adjust the settings to achieve the desired level of detail. I set detail to about 8 and darkness to about 5. The higher the darkness number the darker your lines.

I created the bible verse by using the eyedropper tool to select the darkest area in my now “drawing” and applying it to the text. I printed several variations of the text with a few of the deer images from Adobe InDesign in order to save paper and allow me to try variations. Then I cut and embossed them with Nestabilities long classic scalloped rectangle.

I really am pleased with how the design in the end was “peaceful” and matched the feeling I felt when the deer caught my eye. The snow makes it a seasonal card but with the hearts and the verse it also carries an underlying theme to not let our heart grow cold. Charles Spurgeon writes about the craving for our Lord as a sign of growth.

When a man pants after God, it is a secret life within which makes him do it: he would not long after God by nature. No man thirsts for God while he is left in his carnal (i.e., unconverted) state. The unrenewed man pants after anything sooner than God:…It proves a renewed nature when you long after God; it is a work of grace in your soul, and you may be thankful for it.

I really enjoy making cards with a spiritual theme and amazingly have found that the creative process does surprisingly quench my thirst!

Yesterday I made the embossed pumpkins by applying Tim Holtz’s spiced marmalade distress ink to the front of the Cuttlebug folder. But I did not end up using it and it was too cute not to use. It turned out to be a nice “tone-on-tone” effect with the peach colored card stock.

This card was going to have some Spellbinder Shapeabilities metallic embossed leaves on top of the “stripes.” But it looked too cute just like it is. So, now I have five beautiful leaves to use in yet another fall card!

I’m so excited my Copic marker certification class is right around the corner! Next Friday I’ll be in Kansas City, learning from the master, Marianne. Yesterday’s card was done with Copic markers, but with the exception of the baby it was pretty much just colored in. I decided I better try something more challenging before the class so that I know enough about my limitations to ask good questions. One of the things I have to ask her about is the colorless blender. It did wonders for putting highlights back in the dress, but it also causes bleeding, so I’m sure I’m doing something wrong!

I tried to do the little girl’s dress in BV00, BV04 and BV08. But I found them too difficult to blend. So I ended up using BVOO as my base and shaded it with C3 and C5 in the grey family. Then I also used B32 in some of the very shaded areas of her dress. All in all I used way too many markers to list here, probably around twenty.

After I finished coloring the stamp (Stamps Happen: Collecting Sea Shells) I cut it out with Nestabilities. And matted it with purple from the DCWV Glitter Stack. I created the embossed background by applying Milled Lavender Distress Ink to the front of the Cuttlebug folder. The sentiment “Hello” is from Cuttlebug, I outlined it with a white Inkessentials gel pen.

Sweet and simple, well aside from the illustration which took me several hours last night!

The Hero Arts blog is having a “book” contest this week. Their featured blogger, Lisa Spangler, is making example books from and interviewing the author of “How to Make Books,” by Esther K. Smith.

I needed to make a very special card for a friend who is having a tough anniversary this week. Her little girl lost a battle to Leukemia two years ago two days after her fourth birthday. This mini-book idea was just the inspiration I needed. The photos are from the Light the Night Walk and a picnic we had with our friends at a concert, both at the Riverwalk. I chose them because they evoked the same mood in me as the poem (author unknown from the Internet.)

Watch this how-to video to see how I folded the card. I can’t take credit for the video, it is from this Hero Arts blog post by Lisa.

The trickiest part of this card was not the folds, that is easy if you watch the video! It is just a little tricky to figure out where and how to emboss with all the folds. So I started my design by putting in the embossed images and then worked around them.

Also, I used a 12 x 12 piece of paper, but after I folded my book I had to trim about 1/3 of an inch off so that it would go through the Cuttlebug.

The tag was not part of the author’s design, it is my addition.

• Paper: Basic Grey-”Oh Baby Girl”
• Acrylic Stamps: Hero Arts Birds & Branches, Hero Arts Birthday Expressions, Luxe Designs corner stamps, and Heidi Swapp’s date gadget
• Embossing Folders: Just My Type, With Love, D’vine Swirl, and a birthday selection
• Ribbon: Michaels
• Distress Ink: Fired Brick with Colorbox cat eye chalk in hot pink and Vintage Photo
• Embossing Powder: Stampendous Jeweled Gold
• Dimensional Glue: Liquid Pearls in Gold
• Gell Pen: Inkessentials

If you are thinking, I can’t write like that, don’t worry! I don’t write “loopy” like this either, it took me quite a while to do, but I copied the style from “Doodling for Papercrafters.”

I’m fairly new to card-making, I started doing it when I bought my Cricut last fall. I actually used to use Prismacolors to make cards for people in college, but that was way long ago!

I think sometimes us newbies have some “ah-has” that might seem a little “duh” as time goes on. And they are easy to forget, so I thought I’d capture one here. This is one of the very first cards I made with my Cricut machine. It was for my niece who stayed in college so many years we stopped counting. Ha, just kidding you Emily! She was a music major, which explains it to those of you who know.

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