Blog Hop Sneak Peek!

Hey, what are you doing this Monday? Make sure you make time to come back here to Die Cut Dive for the Creative Cuts and More Valentine blog hop! There will be lots of fun, great crafty inspirations and of course prizes! Here is a sneaky peek at my blog hop project:

It all starts here Monday morning, don't miss out!

Happy Halloween!

I can hardly believe Halloween is tomorrow! I used the witch and spider die cuts from Creative Cuts and More to make these "wicked spooky" cards.


I used the coffin box, acetate box, small pumpkin and larger flourish to make this (quick and easy) spooky set:


Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

Baby Shower Treat Cones (and a chance to win!)

I made these treat cones with the 11 1/2" mini scallop die from Creative Cuts and More, for the big cones cut the die cut in half, for the skinny ones use a quarter of the sheet. Just roll up the paper and secure with killer red tacky tape, tip: the tape will even hold the lace and ribbon on, now that IS good tape! Don't forget you have until August 3rd to upload a baby or bridal shower project to the Caardvarks blog for your chance to win a card kit from Creative Cuts and more!

Shaped paper with a twist!

***Guest DT call extended until July 6! Scroll down for details!***

I'm gonna let you in on a little secret, My favorite die cut at Creative Cuts and More is the 11 1/2 mini scallop circle. I know there are fancier boxes and cards on the website but I like this one best! Why you ask? Because there is nothing better for braking you out of a scrapbooking slump than changing the shape of the page. But this die cut isn't just for scrapbooking. Check out the two cards I made with half a sheet of the shaped paper. An that isn't the end of it either. I have several other projects to share with you this month using this die, when I'm done you're gonna want one in every color...come to think of it so do I!






Stamp Credits:
Top Card: Stampin Up!
Bottom Card: The Rubber Cafe

Don't ya just love whimsy?

I made this little whimsical bag with the XL Tuck and Close Bag from Creative Cuts and More. It was a blast to make, I stamped a fairy (About Art Accents) on watercolor paper and colored it with Prismacolor pencils and blended it with goo gone then stamped a few butterflies on acetate, colored them with Bic Mark Its and glued them on after adding lots of ribbon. I finished it off with a few squirts of shimmer spray. A perfect bag for a lovely gift for a whimsical friend.

Fun with window cards!

I think next to 3-D die cut boxes my favorite CC&M product is window cards, I love the surprise peeking through a window. (This card is known as the 5-1/4" Square Scallop Card Heart Window Vertical.) On this card I printed a daffodil digital stamp on vellum and embossed it speedy quick then colored it with my trusty Bic Mark-it markers (sharpies or copics would work too) then sewed it behind the window opening.

It may seem tricky to machine stitch around a heart shape but here is a crafty trick: Start at the bottom point of the heart and sew up to where it starts to curve then instead of using the foot pedal on your machine use the turning wheel on the right hand side of your sewing machine to go one stitch at a time until you get over the "humps" then use the pedal as you stitch down the other strait side. I'm no seamstress but I love the look I get when I stitch on a card.

Here is another tip: If you don't have the right color "bling" for your card you can alter clear rhinestones just color them with your solvent based markers such as Bic Mark its, Copics or sharpies. I use a small glue dot to stick the rhinestone down then color right over it with the marker, works like a charm!

Happy Easter!

Want to add a bit of elegant detail to your next card? Try Paper piercing! You don't need any special tools to do this, a push pin and a mouse pad will work just fine. To pierce the boarder on this card I printed a digital border stamp on plain paper and taped it to my card and poked holes every 1/8" or so. Then I poked a freehand design around the window.

I used the Circle Window A2 Card from Creative Cuts and More for the base. I used Digital stamps from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff and the vintage clip art is from Vintage Image Craft. I hope you have a lovely Easter spending time with friends and family, I know I will!

Make a Spring Star Book!

Hello Folks! Today I want to share with you how easy it is to make a lovely spring decoration for your home using little more than some die-cut cards, stamps, cardstock, silk flowers and your sewing machine. If you ever wanted to make a star book before but were intimidated by the cutting and measuring, now is your chance because it is easy.

You will need 5 window card kits (green and blue parts) from Creative Cuts and More (Why not get 10 and make one for a friend too, you get a discount when you buy 10!), 5-8 1/2" x 5 1/2" sheets if cardstock (the red sheets), stamps small enough to fit inside the window card opening(About Art Accents), Killer Red tacky tape and stuff to embellish and hang your creation. I used ribbon yarn so I could add a lot of texture at a low price!

First center the window part of the card over the cut cardstock and stamp an image in the window (I embossed it with white EP) then place the back part of the card behind it making a sandwich with the center piece. Add a small piece of killer red tape to the middle edge of each layer of the sandwich and stitch around as shown. Avoid putting tape where the stitching will be. Make 5 of these signatures (Fancy word meaning a group of pages in a book).

Attach each signature together at the outer sides with killer red tacky tape. Punch holes on the inside layer fold and tie long ribbon yarn to hang it with. Use hot glue to add flowers and buttons to your creation.

Add more ribbon if you like.

How's everything in your bowl?

Here is a fun easy card that you can send to a friend! I filled a Ziplock bag with hair gel, blue ink and dried hot glue drops and adhered it behind the window on the Fishbowl Window Card. I stamped a fish (Stampin' Up!), plant (Heidi Grace) and a crab (Rubber Soul) on a light blue panel and adhered it to the back of the baggie. Inside I stamped: How's everything in your bowl? (Studio G)



Note: the inside sentiment and the fish stamp had words and text so to only stamp the part I wanted I colored the desired image with a black brush tip marker and stamped, It's a great way to get more stamp for your money!

Clear Album Tutorial Part 3

First I want to say thanks to you for sticking with me this far! At this stage we have all of our paper and photos in our book on beautifully stamped clear pages. Now let's put our book together and add a few more touches. You will need the 3 binder rings that came with your album, ribbon (lots of it), buttons, glue dots, dew drops (to make them for free click here) and anything else you would like to add. Actually all of this stuff is just the icing on the cake, you can simply add the rings to your book and call it good but if you're a "Fancy Nancy" like me you will want a bit more icing on the cake...er, I mean book!

First attach the rings and tie ribbon on them. To save ribbon tie it on while still on the spool, then trim it the length you want, then you just have to trim the first end.

Add buttons, sparkles and anything else you want to the pages. To learn how to make glue dots for pennies click here. I love putting the dew drops on the clear pages because you can see the pretty gems from the other side too!

And now, drum roll please, here is the finished book!

Clear Album Tutorial Part 2

This is the 2nd segment of a 3-part tutorial on making a 6"x6"clear album, for part 1 click here.

Now you have your clear album with one side of all the pages stamped. Great! Now on to what I call the paper phase!
You will need 20 or so small photos so you will have at least one photo per page. I used the software that came with my camera to print 6
3 1/2" square photos on a sheet of 8 1/2"x11" sheet of photo paper. Don't spend a ton of time fussing with your shots, just get them printed. I keep a red eye pen by American Crafts handy to erase any red eye but that is about it.

You will need double sided pattern paper, I love this Christmas pad of paper from K&Co, It was so hard for me to use before because both ides of the paper is so yummy I felt bad about one side not showing but with the clear album you get to see both sides, how cool is that!?! You will also need stamps, ink and the chipboard you painted yesterday. Paper punches are handy for making small accents as well. I chose 3 simple shapes to "mat" my photos, I cut all of the paper a head of time. I used 4 1/2" scalloped circles, squares and a bracket edge shape. I also cut out tags and photo corners to use. Let's get sticking!

I used CLEAR double stick tape to attach my photos and paper. Don't cover the entire page, leave areas of the page exposed so you can peek through to the next! Also: DON'T FORGET TO REMOVE THE FILM FROM THE CLEAR PAGES!

I made up a catchy rhyme to help you remember how to layer them, the "front" refers to the stamped side of the page: "Stick a photo to the front, pattern paper on the back, and another photo on top of that" Alright, It doesn't exactly rhyme but you get the idea.

Stick a photo to the front...

Pattern Paper on the back...

Add another photo on top of that!

For sticking on dainty bits of paper I used small home-made glue dots and they are as good as store bought, you can read my tutorial here.

As you go you may want to stamp on the chipboard or directly on the photo or plastic page. Use StazOn ink for this, for inking the edges of paper use the chalk ink. Here are pages with paper and photos, step 2 done! YAY!

One more thing, to keep this album fast and fun hand write your journaling! Use Sharpie (or any other permanent marker) directly on your page.

OK 2 more things...Don't forget to remove the film from the backside of the pages! Really, I can't stress this enough. You took all the film off the front side when you stamped it and there is a film on the back too, trust me after you have to take a part a few pages to remove the film you will remember this...don't ask me how I know that;-)

I'll be back in a day or two with the finished album, I tickled with how it came out, I hope you will like it too! Thanks for stopping by!

Make a Clear Album! Part 1 of a 3-part tutorial

Have you seen the cute clear albums that are all the rage these days? Have you ever wanted to try making one? Here's your chance. I used a clear album from Creative cuts and more for my base.

We will break this project up into 3 parts:
Part 1: Stamping your album pages
Part 2: Adding papers and photos
Part 3: Embellishing and binding

Today we will do step 1. You will need a clear album, foam stamps, foam brushes and acrylic paint.

To begin remove the plastic film on the front side of the album page. Squirt a bit of paint on to a piece of waxed paper and use a foam brush to "ink" up your stamp and press it on the album page. Lift the stamp strait up and try not to wiggle it at all or you will have a blurry image. Don't worry if it's not perfect, it's just an opportunity for embellishing! Drag the brush along the edges of the page if you want to give it an inked edge and set aside to dry. Repeat with the rest of the pages. DON'T FORGET TO REMOVE THE FILM BEFORE YOU STAMP THEM!!


While you have the paint and brushes out look in your assorted chipboard stash, grab some shapes that would work in your album and paint them, you can swipe paint on sheets of stickers too if you want to use them but don't have just the right color for your book. Acrylic paint is an inexpensive way to update and coordinate your supplies.

Now clean your stamps and brushes (just because they are called disposable doesn't mean you need to toss them after each use, they will last quite a while!) I keep an old toothbrush under the sink to clean my stamps, I squirt on a bit of dish soap and they are as good as new!

This is the last step for each part of our album: Clean up your mess! Put away the paint and foam stamps because you won't need them again for this project and you will have a lot more energy to continue this album when you have a nice clean space to work in! We will do part 2 of out album tomorrow, thanks for stopping by;-)

Lindsay's Bell Box

How adorable! This Bell Box is cut from Bazzill Criss Cross textured cardstock in Katydid.

TIP: The Criss Cross textured cardstocks from Bazzill are dyed to match products from Doodlebug!

This pretty green is such a fun non-traditional choice for Valentine's Day, isn't it? And she added vintage buttons and a sewing pin with faux pearls strung on for an embellishment.

Apron Pocket Card

Here's a fun gift for a new homeowner, or someone striking out on their own for the first time. An Apron Pocket A7 Card filled with favorite recipes. Pair it with a cookbook and a real apron and you have a lovely present for a new homeowner, bride or even a neighbor.

Stamps are by Inque Boutique (Recipe set) and the card was dry embossed with a Fiskars texture plate and inked before assembling.

Iris Folded Wedding Card

This pretty card was made by our newest permanent Design Team member, Lindsay Weirich. She used the dress cut-out in the card as the frame for the pretty iris folding technique. If you'd like to try it, Lindsay shared the iris pattern on her blog.

The Square Scallop 5 1/4″ Vertical Dress Window Card was cut from Diamond White Bazzill Bling cardstock. For a little extra decoration, Lindsay punched little hearts out from each of the scallops and added a border of pearls.

This card is such a fun and creative option for bridal shower cards, engagement cards, or even invitations.