Teeny bopper album

I just completed an album for my teenage niece. I hope she likes it...(I guess I won't know unless I get it sent to her! ;o)

However, here is a peek at what I have been working on. I combined a 6x6 Album in Acetate and a 6x6 Album in Chipboard to create this one. I also chose to use patterned paper from the DCWV Nonsense Line. The notebook-looking paper is from Making Memories. For the page on the right, I used a Tag Pocket Card with Tag. On the fold-down flap of the tag pocket, I used my Fiskars border punch to add some pizazz. Before adhering the pocket together I used an EK Success Whale of a Punch (circle) to punch a hole on the bottom left of the front of the pocket. On the tag that is inserted in the pocket, I punched a flower with my Fiskars punch and adhered it so it can be seen through the hole. To add some pattern, I used a stamp from Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps to stamp the library pocket (front and back) and the insert tag. I outlined the stamped image with a Gelly Roll clear marker to give it just a hint of bling.

This is a view of the back side of that Tag Pocket Card. I not only stamped it with a floral/flourish in Versamark ink, I also stamped a butterfly (yep...from Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps) and a small crown image and colored the image in using Stardust Gelly Roll markers. The sentiment is from a rub-on set by Me and My Big Ideas.

The page on the right was done on one of the chipboard pages. I added a Purse A2 Card with Layer die cut from Creative Cuts and More. It's a darling little purse and you can get it with a little tag that can be inserted in the middle. (see picture below) I wanted another little place to "hide" photos and journaling, so I adhered it to the page and it flips open. The flourish stamp is from Stampendous and the flower is a Fiskars punch.

For the last page I have to show you, I used a cute little Coin Purse Card with Clasps. I adhered a small mat and stamped a journaling block. (stamp from Autumn Leaves) I then made a pocket on the chipboard covered album page and that made a place to insert it to keep it in it's place on the page. It just slips out so it can be opened to look at.

Thanks for stopping in and I hope you enjoyed the peek at my newest creation!

Angie

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!

Hoo's Creative?

Jennifer Beason, that's hoo! She took the CC&M Short Puff Box and made the cutest little owl imaginable!


Supplies:
Creative Cuts & More - Die-cut puff box
Basic Grey - Patterned papers and brads
Technique Tuesday - Chipboard photo turns
Doodlebug Designs - Paper ribbon
Maya Roads - Chipboard wings, mini tag and stick pins
Prima - Flower
Other - Feather, twine and printer
Tools - Scalloped border punch and circle punches.

And the instructions, in Jenni's own words:

1. First, cover front and the top of the puff box with the black polka dotted paper.
   
2. Use glue to put the box together
3. Use a scallop punch and cut four strips of patterned paper about four inches long.
4. Glue the scalloped strips to the box starting near the bottom and working upward.
5. Next cut a triangle out of patterned paper and add a strip of the decorative paper ribbon to one of the edges. Fold the beak in half to get a centered crease, then unfold it and glue it to the center of the box, just above the top row of scalloped strips. (Make sure the beak sits up slightly and is not laying flat.)
   
6. Cover the 2 large photo turns with patterned paper. Then use a small circle punch to cut circles to go around the round part of each photo turn. Use a punch to cut 2, 1 inch circles out of patterned paper, then adhere them to the photo turn.
7. Embellish the eyes with some chipboard circles and brads and attach them to the box.
8. Cover the chipboard wings with patterned paper then adhere them to the box for the ears.
9. Cut apart a flower to create the claws of the owl. (I used three petals for each one.) Glue the petals to the bottom of the box.
10. To finish off the box, I printed out my sentiment then adhered it to a mini tag, tied the tag to the box with some twine then added a stick pin and a feather to embellish.

This is definitely an example of an out-of-the-box box, isn't it? Great work, Jenni!

Pretty Spring Hat

Megan Peacock is at it again! Take a look at this fun twist on the CC&M Exclusive Hat Card... she mounted it to a 5x7 piece of cardstock decorated with patterned paper. Pretty cool! As you can see, the hat is adorned with a pretty blue Flower #6 die cut. She added texture to the flower with a Cuttlebug embossing folder.



This project feels like Spring, doesn't it?

Shoes (on a Box)

What a fun first project for us to feature from March 2009 guest designer Jennifer Beason! She started with the Baby Shoe die and went to town! These shoes are so well-decorated, they look real! See the seam stitching and the corduroy brads? We're in love!


And, perhaps the best part? She used them atop a very pretty gift box!


Great job, Jennifer! We can't wait to see what else you have in store for us this month!

Bunny Ears

Oh what a cute idea for Easter from Megan Peacock, another of our talented guest designers. She used multiples of the adorable Rabbit die to indicate chocolate bunnies being eaten ears-first. Isn't she clever? Those little pom-pom tails are the perfect touch!


Hoppy Easter!

March Customer Challenge..."Love/Wedding"

The Creative Cuts and More Design Team had a fantastic time showing you all of our "wedding" themed projects during our first ever blog hop. Hopefully we have inspired you to create some stunning projects of your own.

NOW for our "March Customer Challenge", we would like you to run with our "Love/Wedding" theme and show us all of the fabulous creations you can make with the die cuts from Creative Cuts and More. You will have plenty of time to order from the Creative Cuts and More online store, design and post your projects to your own blog or gallery. Please, don't forget to leave your link here on this post. The deadline is April 15, 2009 11:59PM MDT!

Now you are probably wondering...is there a prize...YES three prizes!!

First place will receive: $15 gift certificate to CC&M

Second place will receive: $10 gift certificate to CC&M

Third place will receive: $5 gift certificate to CC&M

All three winners will be able to use their gift certificates towards any of the many products on the Creative Cuts and More website.

What are you waiting for... click on over to Creative Cuts and More and get your Diecut Diva groove on!

We Have a Winner!

Thank you so much to our Design Team and to all our Blog Hoppers for making our first-ever Blog Hop such a huge success! We couldn't have done it without you.

Our winner for the $15 Creative Cuts & More Gift Certificate is

Heidi has left a new comment on your post "Blog Hop & New Dies!":

Ok, this was fun. I have never done a blog hop before. I loved everyone's ideas and different ways they did the wedding dress boxes. My favorite thing I saw, had to be on the last blog with the red and white cake boxes. I loved the colors, the way there were alternating, and two layers of them. What a fun way to decorate for any type of party....adorable, usable, and giveawayble (if that is a word! LOL).

Thanks for doing this!

Heidi, please send us a quick message with your e-mail address so we can issue your prize.

Thanks again everyone! Stay tuned for more great samples!

Blog Hop & New Dies!

Welcome to our first ever BLOG HOP! At the end of this post, we'll describe our hop and tell you how you can win blog candy at each blog in the hop!

We're so excited to show you all the fun projects we've been creating with love & weddings in mind -- and it's been even more fun because we have four new dies to show off: Dress Box, Tuxedo Box, Chair Box, and A2 Scalloped Border Card.

Here are Deb McNett's interpretation of the Dress Box which she had cut from Crystal White Stardream Metallic Cardstock and covered with lace, and the Tuxedo Box cut from Onyx Stardream Metallic Cardstock.


Next up is an entirely different take on the same two boxes from Andrea Ruccolo. Her Dress Box is cut from Ice Gold Curious Metallic Cardstock and Tuxedo Box is cut from Onyx Stardream Metallic Cardstock.


This wonderful ensemble of wedding items was created by Judy DiScipio. What creative ideas! In addition to favors, she created some beautiful cards. One card is the Creative Cuts & More exclusive Shoe Card.


Diane Koerner made this beautiful cake using multiples of the Cake Slice Box. They were cut from Papaya Blast Bazzill Smoothies Cardstock. (Note: You can also choose to purchase the Cake Slice Boxes by the set.)

Our next samples are cake slices created by Kat Salmon, cut from Aqua Bazzill and Lagoon Bazzill respectively.


Next we have two fun samples from Deb Oberg, who served as a Guest Designer during the month of February. Her Tuxedo Box was cut from Black Tie Bazzill Bling.

And this favor box from Deb is one of our exclusives, the Peek-a-View Box cut from Anthracite Stardream Metallic paper. It is adorned with Flower #6 Small cut from Kunzite & Amethyst Stardream Metallics and Lavender Velvet paper. Beautiful!

We hope you've enjoyed looking at these samples! We have even more for you! Each of our blogging DT members have additional samples posted on their blogs now, and they're each offering BLOG CANDY! Start here at Hop #1 with Angie Pearl.

At the end of the hop, Pam will direct you back here for the chance to win one more prize. Leave a comment on this post with the name of your favorite new die or your favorite project you saw during today's blog hop. Entries will be accepted through 11:59PM Mountain Time on Thursday, March 5th and the winner of a $15 gift certificate to Creative Cuts & More will be posted the following day.

Now that you've seen all of our wedding-inspired projects, we'd like to see yours! Check back later in the week for details on our upcoming customer challenge.

Thank you & Happy Hopping!

Get Ready!!

We've got some wonderful eye candy and blog candy in store for you! Well be unveiling four brand new dies and dozens of ideas.

Where: Blog hop starts right here at Diecutdiva.com
When: Monday, March 2nd

See you then!

2 Sketches 4 You

Creative Cuts and More is proud to be the sponsor if this week's challenges at 2 Sketches 4 You. Their designers made some wonderful samples with our products. Click here to see them.

The 2S4Y blog has details on how to participate in their challenge. Who knows? You could be the lucky winner of a $20 gift certificate to our store.

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!

New in February...

Here's another mini album idea! This 4x4 album is a great little album that you can alter, distress, try out new embellishing ideas or just give as a great little gift! I did this one as a celebration of our 12th anniversary. It was fun to just put some memories together in a little album! The antique label on the front can be found here. The flourish is a little die cut (from my personal "collection") by Sizzix. The alpha set is Tiny Alphabet by Stampendous.


This layout not only features some hand cut letters, but the scalloped circle frame can be a very versatile embellishment. I used it in the following layout too. The letters were made by using chipboard letters, laying a sheet of cardstock over them and running them through my personal die cutting system (BigKick by Ellison) and the flower is a hand punch by McGill.

The alphabet letters are from Cornish Heritage Farms, the circle stamp was from Gel-a-Tins. (A set called Sheltering Trees.) The oval was hand stamped with a stamp from 7 Gypsies and then I hand cut it.

Besides using die cuts as embellishments, a great way to add some variety to those die cuts is to use your favorite stamps to stamp on them. The flourish is a Hero Arts stamp and the sentiment is from Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps.

On this layout, I used a Top Ten List stamp from Little Yellow Bicycle's "Zach's Life" line. Also, I punched the flowers using my Fiskars punch and then overlayed the two flowers. The slide frame is a die cut from Creative Cuts and More. I used a Hero Arts stamp and stamped on top of it. It added a little extra "zing" to my embellishment! I love to combine stamping into my album pages, and what better way to do that than to stamp on the embellies?? Here's a close up version:

The rectangle in the middle is a Tim Holtz Fragment. I used my sanding block on one side of the clear acrylic chip, making it look frosted. I then embossed on it using Versamark and clear embossing powder. (Don't hold the heat on it too long at a time!) I also stamped on it using Black StazOn ink.

Hope you have enjoyed these ideas! This is a fun and versatile little book...hop on over and check it out!

Patterned Paper: All Dressed Up by DCWV

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.

Love Card From Jenny

What a cute card from Jenny! This lovely valentine is an A7 Heart Window Card cut from Bazzill Smoothies in Cherry Splash.


Jenny traced the heart window onto white paper, cut it out and stamped some CDS Florishes on it. She then put it inside the window of the heart. She also stamped and cut out some hearts, then added some Crystal Effects and glitter to them and attached them with glue dots.