Glittered Snowflakes

There's just something about snowflakes on Christmas cards!  Just the beauty of the season.  So this card made from scraps celebrates Christmas in a traditional way.

And Now for Yet Another Bear . . .

I want to share another bear card with you.  Time crunch has set in and they are getting pretty simple.  

I did pull out some dies from Spellbinders to mat my bear - the Twist on Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge (use a die or punch).  

The Simple Christmas Card

Take a vacation to the simple life!  Pull out your favorite papers, dies, and ribbons.  Visit Tsunami Rose Designs for some beautiful Christmas images.  Die cut some snowflakes to add a bit of wintery flair!  Simple!

Simple Christmas Cards All Dressed Up

It's always fun to get dressed and dolled up for the holidays!  Today's post features Christmas cards with liquid pearls, embossing, gold, and glitter galore - perfect for getting the holiday started early!

Get Ready to Spread Some Sunshine!

Brighten up any Yooper's face with these one-of-a-kind U.P. cards!  These are popular at Fort Wilkins State Park gift shop.  Summer is here - which means sunshine and showers for da Yoopers!

First eClips Test

This is a card I did to test out my eClips when it was new and thought I'd share it here. I love the intricate detail the machine cut - I was never able to get that with my Cricuts. I'm using my eClips much more than I used my Cricuts...my results have just been beyond satisfying!

Happy Sunday!

Hello and HAPPY SUNDAY!  I hope you had a great week and are enjoying your weekend.  : )

On to some glitter! 

I love Miss Kate's Cuttables, especially her Freebies!  Some very nice cutting files here.

A while ago, Miss Kate offered pretty neat circle designs.  These designs are just begging for Elizabeth Craft Design's burnished-velvet technique.  WOW!  Lots of glitter!

This technique is so fun . . . looks like it might take a bit of energy to put together, but well worth the effort!  Step-by-step instructions for creating a burnished-velvet embellishment can be found at 2 Cute Ink's site.

Love the finished image!

Okay, that is it for today.  Have a wonderful week - happy crafting!

Snowflake Owl - 2 Cute Ink

I fell in love with the free digital stamp 2 Cute Ink was sharing this weekend -  Owl Doodle shared in Saturday's post.   I shared my card on the 2 Cute Ink Facebook Page, and Heidi the artist asked if I would use the same technique with some of her new digital stamps.  You know me...anything to be able to showcase my work!  

So Heidi sent me her latest digital stamp - Snowflake Owl - and as soon as I saw it, I saw cool, ice blue!

Here is my card - and step-by-step instructions below!  If you find yourself using this technique with digital stamps, please send me a link to your page in my comments....would love to see what you do!

Supplies Used

• Snowflake Owl - Digital Stamp (2 Cute Ink)
• White Cardstock - 1 sheet for cutting owl, 8-1/2" x 5-1/2" for card base
• Robin's Egg Blue Classic Glitter Cardstock (The Robin's Nest)
• Double-Sided Adhesive (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
• Glitter - Glitter Ritz (Elizabeth Craft Designs) 
• Real Teal
• Robin's Egg Blue
• Ice Blue
• Sky Blue
• Mystique
• Cool Highlights
• Warm Highlits
• Border Punch - Apron Lace (Fiskars)

Two-sided Adhesive - on white cardstock - on cutting mat

Instructions

I just purchased a Sizzix eClip to replace my Cricut machine.  For those of you with Cricuts and Sure Cuts a Lot, the steps are almost identical.  You will only need to play with your pressure and/or blade depth on the Cricut.

First I placed a 6" x 6" piece of double-sided adhesive on a piece of white cardstock - leaving the protective cover on the top.

On the electronic cutter, Trace the digital stamp image.  Break apart the image.  I moved the solid owl image to its own layer.  So my screen looked like this:   

To cut, I set the Pressure to 3.  This cuts through the protective covering of the adhesive....but not through the cardstock.

Carefully remove protective covering over outline only

Next, I "hid" the layer with the detailed image, and displayed the solid owl image.  I set the cutter to cut two times - with a Pressure of 6.  This will cut through both the adhesive and cardstock.  See completed cut image to the right (excuse the messy glitter-catcher cardstock beneath).  You can see the detail cuts on the image's protective covering.

Cover with glitter; brush off excess

Using tweezers, I peel off the protective covering for the areas I want to glitter in each color.  I like to begin with the outline.  The way 2 Cut Ink's images are designed, it provides a nice "outline" as such.  I begin with glittering the outline...which makes it easier to find all the detailed pieces.  

I complete those same steps for each different glitter color.  You can see, once the outline is glittered, the rest of the pieces are easy to see.  Use tweezers to remove the pieces you want for each color.  You can see by the pics, that I am generous when covering with glitter.  All excess goes back in the jar, so no need to be skimpy.  For each color, remove protective covering, cover with glitter, brush off excess.  Repeat.

Generously cover with glitter

Rub off excess glitter (rub hard to get a smooth look

Shake off excess glitter

The next time I use this image, I will probably make the owl's belly white - my snowflakes aren't showing well with the little variance in blue colors.  With a white belly, blue snowflakes would really stand out (live and learn).

For this particular card, I did not resize the image.  However, the snowflakes were too small to cut easily, so I did enlarge them...then used the same technique to glitter.

A 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" piece of Robin's Egg Blue Classic Glitter cardstock provides the card front.  I used a border punch on both sides of a strip of Robin's Egg Blue Classic Glitter cardstock, ran it through the Xyron (upside down), and covered it with a combination of Cool and Warm Highlight glitter to provide a blue on blue effect.

I popped up the owl....and glued on glittered snowflakes.

If this inspires you to use this technique, please leave me your link in the comments....I would enjoy seeing your creation.  Keep an eye on 2 Cute Ink - I'm looking forward to more creations (I see Sea Creatures in my future!)

Inspired by Stamping Color Challenge #61

Inspired by Stamping is having another fun challenge.  Had to laugh when I saw the color combination for Challenge #61 - as I have been immersed in these colors for months as I made 100 wedding invitations for my niece.  No backposting, of course; but I must say I do have a lot of paper in these colors left over.  So it was all pretty handy to make a new card style.  Here is the card I made for the challenge - but please take a minute to see the wedding invitations, as no two out of the hundred are alike!

Join in the fun and submit your card to Inspired by Stamping....they are giving away prizes!

Burnished Velvet Kick

Help....got my hands on some great freebies and have become absolutely hooked on covering them with glitter!  2 Cute Ink and Miss Kate Cuttables have some fabulous freebies out there...I just had to see these in glitter.  So I've been playing with my new eClips which I am loving for how it handles detail.  It handles these files super well....cutting the detail on cardstock covered with two-sided adhesive paper...then a couple multi cuts for the final cut.  Cover with a fine glitter (Glitter Ritz is my favorite).  Loving them!!!!!

2 Cute Ink

Miss Kate Cuttables 

Miss Kate Cuttables

Miss Kate Cuttables

Miss Kate Cuttables

Flower Design Element

Hi Everyone,

How is everyone doing on this wet July Saturday?  Yes, even here it's wet!

Today I am featuring a peek at a gift set of cards I made for my cousin.  I wanted to get them made in a hurry (as usual) - but also wanted to test out my new eClips.  I selected a middle-of-the-road doily-like embellishment to be the center point of each card.  I chose this because I knew it was something my Cricut couldn't handle...but I feared using a file any more intricate - did not want to be disappointed the first time out!  I am actually pleasantly surprised...although I used only good-sized embellishments on these cards, I did take this file down to less than 1-1/2" and still got a great cut!  Most of the paper used in this project is from Authentique's Blissful Collection.

Also, all the designs are based from sketches provided by Operation Write Home....these are great when you are in a hurry and want some basic ideas.

I am so excited....next project, UP cards for my sis.  (Lori, have a great idea for showing Neebish Island!)

Have a great week!