All Kinds of Cuttlebug News

Hi Cuttlebuggers,

I have some good news, along with some sad news.  The Cuttlebug Spot is closing.  Boo!  But.....there is a brand new Cuttlebug blog for you - Cuttlebug Mania. 

Unfortunately, I've decided to step down, for now, from the design team.  I'm so busy creating wedding stationery for my brother's wedding and some other things have come up so I'm not able to dedicate as much time to these challenges as I'd like.  Hopefully once things settle down, I might be back at Cuttlebug Mania.  Watch this space!

The first great challenge at Cuttlebug Mania is live right now.  This week the theme is...

Butterflies

My absolute favourite thing to create on a project so this was an easy one for me and here is my card...

It's a twisted easel style and was the birthday card I gave to my best friend, Vicki.  There was a chorus of "Wows" around the room when she opened it so I think it was a hit!  For the topper, I started with matt silver card and then using a piece of designer paper from a free paper stack designed by Kate Knight I used the Spellbinders Butterfly Corner die in the top corners.  I added a butterfly cut with Create and Craft textured cardstock in purple and spritzed with Mister Huey shine spray.  I added gems to the centre to really bling it up.  The ribbon is from Papermania.

My base layer was again made using the silver matt cardstock and Kate Knight designer paper.  This was free with Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine a couple of years ago.  To make my stopper I used Spellbinders Fancey Labels Two and then the sentiment was cut from white cardstock using Spellbinders Framed Tags One.  I propped this up on foam pads to make sure my card stayed open.  All my die cutting was done using my beloved Cuttlebug.

I hope you'll join the team at Cuttlebug Mania this week and for many weeks to come.  They have some brilliant challenges coming up that are not to be missed.  I'd really like to thank Jannie, Kerry and all the lovely ladies at Cuttlebug Mania, along with Nilda from The Cuttlebug Spot.  I've loved using my Cuttlebug to create these cards and it'll always be my No 1 crafting tool.  All the best with the new blog, ladies.

Happy crafting,

Rachel x

The Cuttlebug Spot DT Projet - Sweet Like Chocolate

Hi All,

We are back at The Cuttlebug Spot with another great challenge for you.  But first, thanks to all the great entries for last week - you were all as Cute as A Button!

Now I know you are wondering what challenge we have for you this week.  It's a scrumptious one!

Sweet Like Chocolate

We would like to see you use chocolate in some way - you could use a chocolatey image, chocolate cardstock or even make a chocolate wrapper.  And this is what I've done this week. 

Before you all think I've lost the plot colourwise - this is the favourite colour combo of the recipient.  My friend's daughter invited me to her cupcake making party on Saturday night and I knew I wanted to take her a little something and this is what I came up with. 

I started with a piece of orange cardstock and wrapped tightly around the chocolate bar secring at hte back with super stick red liner tape.  I used my Cuttlebug to cut the Spellbinders Floral Doily Accents border to make the borders in green.  Finally I aded the tag, cut with Spellbinders Framed Tags One and then stamped using the ClarityStamp Letterbox Alphabet kit.  The A is for Alyssa.  I love that name.  I attached the little tag with some baker's twine from Creative Expresssions.

We had so much fun making the cupcakes on Saturday night and I'm only sad that I never took a picture to show you all.  The girls did a fab job of decorating.

I hope you can join in with our chocolatey challenge this week.  The winner will receive a mystery prize from the DT.

Happy crafting,
Rachel x

The Cuttlebug Spot Valentine's Blog Hop

Hi Everyone,

It's here!  Today is day for The Cuttlebug Spot Valentine's Blog Hop.  We will be hopping all week long!

I hope you are all excited to hop with us.  We have some amazing inspiration from the DT and we would love to see your creations too.  So, let us begin.  All you have to do is visit each of the blogs of the DT, following the list in green below, give us a follow and comment on our Blog Hop post and then link up using the usual linky after the main post on The Cuttlebug Spot blog.  We have great prizes this week too so make sure you are in it to win it!

This is my card for our Valentine's Blog Hop...

Not a traditional colour scheme but I hope that you all see the message I was trying to portray - you are the key to my heart.    I started with some gorgeous gold matt cardstock and used my Spellbinders Grand Scalloped Squares to make a card blank.  I added a layer of brown pearlescent cardstock and then embossed a piece of the gold cardstock using my Cuttlebug with the Couture Creations Without a Lock embossing folder.  This is a new folder that also came with a great mini cogs embossing folder called Replacements. 

For my top layer, I ran an X-Cut die through my Cuttlebug to create an aperature and then added some Creative Expressions silky crush ribbon in gold.  My sentiment topper came from the new Spellbinders Framed Tags One set, also cut on my Cuttlebug.  I embossed with gold embossing powder and heated with my heat tool.  The stamp actually has tiny hearts within the lettering but it hasn't really shown up with the heat embossing.  The key was cut using my new Silhouette Portrait.  It is so clever and easy to use.  I just need another three days a week to be able to play some more!

Now then, on to the Blog Hop sequence...

The Cuttlebug Spot

Kerry

Jennifer

Deneen

Brianna

Gloria

Rachel (you are here)

Andy

Jannie

The Cuttlebug Spot

I really hope you can join in with us on our blog hop.  Don't forget, your next stop is Andy.  The prizes are really something this week.

Happy crafting,

Rachel x

The Cuttlebug Spot DT Card - Love Is In The Air

Hiya,

I'm back with another challenge brought to you by The Cuttlebug Spot.  We are in the mood for love and have lots of romantic inspired challenges for you during February.  If you haven't already, mark your calendars for 12 February as we are having a Valentine's Blog Hop with loads of great prizes to be won.  Hope you can all pop by and join in.

So this week we would like to see projects on the theme of...

Love Is In The Air

Easy peasy for February, right?!  Just make sure that your card features something romantic and get those Cuttlebugs cranking!

Here is my card...

Super romantic!  I have to say I've never made a Valentine's card before!  I'm still looking for Mr Right so I won't be sending any either!

I started by using my brand new birthday present even though my birthday isn't until the end of April!  My parents bought me a Silhouette Portratit!  Yippie!  I used my new toy to cut the swirly heart frame with matt black card and layered this onto a double layer of red vellum.  I whipped out my Spellbinders Fancy Framed Tags One and Cuttlebug for the sentiment which was embossed with silver embossing power.  I curved the tag over the edge of my craft table.  I matted my topper onto red mirri-card and then onto pearlescent black card.  I finsihed off with the four gems.

Hope you can join in with our romantic challenge this week.

Happy crafting,
Rachel x

The Cuttlebug Spot DT Card - Stars

Hi All,

I'm back with the final challenge in our "Get Into Shape" season at The Cuttlebug Spot.  This week we are celebrating using...

Stars

We would love to see stars in your projects.  I love stars and they always catch my eye when I'm out shopping or looking for new crafty stash!

I have a baby card for you this time and this image is super cute.

My image was from Pollycraft who unfortunately are no longer in business.  They had a mega clearance just before closing and I picked up a few bargain digis.  Such a shame that they're not around anymore.  I coloured my image with Spectrum Noir pens but I didn't keep a note of the colours I used.  Sorry!  

I embossed my cardblank with a Craft Concepts embossing folder and then used Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Broken China to highlight the pattern.  To give a deckled edge on the front I used the Joy Crafts starry border die .  I cut the largest of the Spellbinders Star Circles in brown pearlescent cardstock using my Cuttlebug and then layered up my image with Pinflair glue gel, after rounding on the edge of my table.  Finally I added three of the stars from the Spellbinders die to the top right corner of the inside.

I really hope you can join us at The Cuttlebug Spot for our stars challenge.

Happy crafting,
Rachel x

The Cuttelbug Spot DT Card - Squares

Hi All,

I hope you're well and are enjoying a great week. 

We have a great new challenge at The Cuttlebug Spot in our "Get Into Shape" season.  We would like you to use...

Squares

It couldn't be simpler - just use a square in your project, link it up and you're done!

Now, onto my card.  I decided to use a new die that I received for Christmas.  It is a butterfly-edged square from Tonic and is super pretty.

I started with a handmade pearlescent pink card blank at 5" and rounded the bottom two corners with a corner punch.  I added a layer of gold textured and embossed cardstock from Create and Craft, also rounded with my corner punch. 

My dies are the main feature and I used brown and pink pearlescent cardstock here.  The top butterflies were cut using Spellbinders Les Papillion and I inked the pink layer with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Antique Linen.  The top butterfly is only attached in the centre so the wings stand off from the page.

The photos really don't do this card justice but I hope you like it and have fun entering our squares challenge. 

Happy crafting,
Rachel x

The Cuttlebug Spot DT Card - Circles

Hi Everyone,

Isn't January going in fast?  We're halfway through the month already.  I hope you are finding plenty of play time!

We are still celebrating our "Get Into Shape" month at The Cuttlebug Spot and are launching our brand new challenge today.  We would like to see...

Circles

You can choose how to incorporate a circle in any way you like - it couldn't be easier.

I decided to be on the ball with my Mam's birthday card this year as her birthday isn't until the end of February.  Inspiration just came to me!  And here is my circles card...

I started with a 6" Hunkydory card blank and placed a circles That Special Touch mask on top.  I spritzed through it using a Mister Huey spray in silver.  It has a lovely iridescent shimmer when moved in the light.  The teal card was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder in the From My Kitchen set.  The corners were rounded with an X-Cut corner punch.  It is really good at chomping through the double cardstock layer.  I added a strip of black card and some silver ribbon before attaching to the card blank.  

Using my Cuttlebug, I cut two circle layers, one from Spellbinders Standard Circles Large and the other from Spellbinders Standard Circles Small which are the perfect increments for layering.  My sewing machine came from Spellbinders Sewing Elements and I used a silver mirri-card for this.  I took a sanding block to the sewing machine to distress it a little in keeping with the inky background.  My finishing touch was to add three gems to the top right-hand corner.  These came from Create and Craft. I may add another circle to showcase a sentiment but have left it for now.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge:

Allsorts Challenge Blog Week 189:  Dies and Punches

I hope you can join us for our circles challenge at The Cuttlebug Spot.  
Happy crafting, 
Rachel x

The Cuttlebug Spot DT Card - Triangles

Hi Everyone,

I hope you've all had a good start to the new year.  I've had a humongous abscess!  I couldn't even bear my hair touching my cheek!  Major bummer!  Plus I have a real fear of the dentist after a bad experience a few years ago so it hasn't been the best start to my new year.  Sorry, I went on a bit there!

So anyway, onto the latest challenge at The Cuttlebug Spot.  We would like to see...

Triangles

Easy peasy lemon treasy!  Just use a triangle somewhere on your card or project and don't forget to use those Cuttlebugs.  I love mine.  We have a wonderful sponsor this week - Trina Clark from Digiscrap Kits.  The winner can pick 2 items from her amazing blog!

 

Unfortunately Blogger is being a pain and I still can't upload any photos.  So head over to The Cuttlebug Spot blog to see my creation this week.  Once blogger starts to play ball again I'll add some photos to this post.  Update:  My lovely teamie, Brianna, suggested using a different browser and it has worked a treat!  So here is my card for our triangles challenge...

I created my card using the DayDream digikit in Serif's Craft Artist 2.  I love the colours of this kit - so pretty and girly.  Once I had my design sorted I split the layers and printed using my brand new A3 Brother printer!  Woo!  My brother bought me a Brother!  Lol!  Fab pressie and fab brother!  Although I think my future sister-in-law was the genius behind this wonderful gift. :)

I used a craft knife and steel ruler to cut out the layers and then distressed using Tim Holtz paper distresser tool, adding with foam pads from Hunkydory.  Love these foam pads.  I cut a butterfly using Spellbinders Wonderul Wings which is a brilliant set of beautiful butterfly dies.  I inked thorugh the die with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Worn Lipstick.  Finally I used a computer generated sentiment and cut it out using Spellbinders Floral Tags, adding a crystal gem to each corner.

I hope you can join us at The Cuttlebug Spot for our Triangles challenge.  We'll have a brand new challenge on Tuesday so make sure to check back for that.

Happy Crafting,
Rachel x

The Cuttlebug Spot DT Card - Create a Banner

Hi Everyone, 

What a great seasonal challenge last week at The Cuttlebug Spot and I think I know which season you all love!  We had fantastic entries.  I hope you can join us again this week.

We would like you to...

Create a Banner

This can either be on a card or project or as an actual banner - whatever takes your fancy.  We have some great inspiration over on The Cuttlebug Spot blog so be sure to check it out.  Please remember it is one entry per person.

We have a great sponsor this week with a $20 voucher for the lucky winner and here is a little about them...

Boys Rule Scrapbooks kits is a monthly scrapbook kit club for those of us who love to paper craft boy subjects. Care and consideration is key as each kit is assembled for the boys. Cool embellies are paired with handsome papers you will love to play with each month.

Boys Rule Scrapbook kits also has exclusive embellies with each kit....they are all different and very unique, and are included each month just for you.

It's fun to create when you have a compelte kit that is designed for the memories of dirt, grunge and smelly things!

********** 

And now for my card...

Yip, there's a penguin in my cocoa!  Isn't this image adorable?  It's a new one from The Paper Shelter.  I started by taking my image into My Craft Studio and printing matching papers using the colour picker tool.  I used an 8" square card blank from eBay.  I attached the coral paper with double-sided sticky tape.  My three strips were just plain when they started but I used a Lili of the Valley stamp set and some yellowy gold ink to stamp all over.  I mounted onto gold mirri-card and attacehd with foam pads.

The embossed panel is also layered with gold mirri-card.  I used a snowflake embossing folder for texture.  My super cute image was cut with Spellbinders Labels Twenty-Six.  I mounted onto gold glitter card and then added two Memory Box snowflake flourish dies. 

My finishing touch was to add my banner.  I used gold elastic cord and then cut the individual flags using my Cricut Expression 2 and the Baby Shower cartridge.  I stamped using the ClarityStamp Letterbox set in the same yellowy gold ink.  I added a foam pad to the back of each flag to give dimension.

I hope you can join us this week at The Cuttlebug Spot with your banner projects and don't forget about our great sponsor prize.

Happy Crafting,

Rachel x

The Cuttlebug Spot DT Card - Season Greetings

Hi Everyone,

I hope you've had a great week and avoided the dreaded ice.  It's been terrible here.  I don't know which is worse - the roads or the pavements! 

Thanks to those who joined us last week at The Cuttlebug Spot for our Scrap Sandwich challenge.  I loved that challenge and try to use scraps as much as possible - I certainly have enough! 

Now on to our new challenge for this week...

Season Greetings

We would like you to design a project featuring one of the four seasons - SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN/FALL or WINTER.  Simples!  We also have two great prizes this week...

First Prize:  $20.00 gift card to Joann's 

Second Prize:  $20.00 Stamps Alive online store

I did think about doing a winter themed card since I still have a ton of Christmas cards to make but then I found this super image on one of my new Cricut cartridges.  Yip, I went a bit mental and ordered 4 new cartridges - Baby Shower, December 25th, Nate's ABC and Ornamental Iron 2.  Very naughty so close to Christmas!

Anyway, enough rambling, here is my card

I started my making a stepper card on my Ultimate Pro and then attached a piece of cloudy paper to the back panel.  This was customised in Serif's Craft Artist Professional 2.  I used two different colours of Coredinations cardstock for the hills and just tore those by hand.  My sentiment stamp is from my stash.

My hot air balloons are from the Baby Shower Cricut cartridge.  I love the versatility of this cartridge as you can make so many projects that are not baby themed.  Although I love the 3-D pram on it too!  I cut one at 4", one at 3" and one at 2" from yellow cardstock and then added the banners in blue.  The two on the right were attacehd with a piece of acetate.  I attached the biggest one with Cosmic Shimmer dries clear glue.  Although, I think I would have liked it on foam pads.  Hey ho!

And now for the inside...

I added another layer of the cloudy paper and Coredinations cardstock.  My sentiment layer is from Spellbinders Labels Twenty and I cut this out on my Cuttlebug.  I've left this blank for now as I don't have a recipient in mind yet.

Don't forget there are two great prizes on offer this week so why not give it a try and link up your creation.  Can't wait to see what you make.

Happy Crafting,
Rachel x

The Cuttlebug Spot DT Card - Scrap Sandwich

Hi Everyone,

I'm back with another card for The Cuttlebug Spot.  We have a challenge this week that was completely new to me.  So I hope you all have fun with it.  We would like you to make a...

Scrap Sandwich

You can use up those scraps that have been cluttering up your crafty stash and create lots of layers.  It can be a card, scrapbook page or anything else - just make sure you've used up some scraps and we can see those layers.

I used a sketch from Sketch Saturday as inspiration.  I love their sketches - so easy to use and so versatile.

This is what I came up with...

Believe it or not this image was actually in the scrap pile too!  I used it on another card earlier this year and as I always print four copies, just in case, I still had this one to spare.  Using my Cuttlebug and Spellbinders Romantic Regtangles, I cut out my Tickled Pink image and then coloured with ProMarkers in True Blue, Sky Blue, Arctic Blue, Blush, Almond, Putty, Henna, Cinnamon and Cocoa.  I also used Blue Grey 1 Flexmarker.  I inked around the edge with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Salty Ocean.  I used a smaller Romantic Rectangles die to cut out my sentiment which was computer generated. 

My friend, Lynsey won the Shetland Sportsperson of the Year Award last weekend.  Her speciality is triathlons - three times the work!  She is also the No 1. female triathlete in Scotland and we are all so proud.  Roll on 2013!

I started with a piece of Coredinations which had seen better days and distressed the edges further with my Tim Holtz paper distresser tool.  The blue starry paper is so old I can't remember where it came from and the ribbon is from Create and Craft.  I added four gems which came free with a magazine a couple of months ago.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge:

Sketch Saturday - Week #235

Hope you can all join us for our Scrap Sandwich challenege at The Cuttlebug Spot.  Can't wait to see those layered beauties.

Happy crafting,

Rachel x

The Cuttlebug Spot DT Card - Feathers

Hi Everyone,

Firstly a huge welcome to my new followers.  Thanks to everyone for checking out my blog and all your lovely comments.  I'm on my way to the big 100 and I'm planning to put together a little giveway when I reach that milestone :)

Can you believe that it is already my second post for The Cuttlebug Spot?  Nope, neither can I!  Well this week we are all using...

Feathers

So all you have to do is use a feather on your project and link it up.  We also have two special prizes.  The first one is a set of three 5x7 Cuttlebug Folders.  This set will go to the winner of the random project entry using the Linky.

Geometric Rings, Wicker Weave and Bit of Paisley 

5x7 includes coordinating border 

The second prize is a $20.00 gift card to Michaels Craft Store.  All you need to do to enter to win this prize is simply leave a comment at The Cuttlebug Spot and tell us what is on your Black Friday shopping list.... and if you comment after Black Friday...do tell us if you got what you wanted.  

So I had better show you my feathery inspiration...

I started with some brown pearlescent cardstock and used the Spellbinders M-bossability Venetian embossing folder to add the pattern.  I took a sanding block and ran all over to reveal the pattern further.  I covered this with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Fired Brick and then attached to a custom-made card blank. 

I used my Cuttlebug to cut three diamond shapes with Spellbinders Classic Diamonds from orange and red cardstock and then attached these over the edge of the card.  The focal point of my card came from the Spellbinders Venetian Accents.  I used the Classic Diamonds with my Cuttlebug again and then cut two of the borders on my Grand Calibur.  I inked the diamond and borders with the Fired Brick DI.  This is the first time I've used the flourish mask (from Venetian Accents) and it looks so great cut out of different kinds of cardstock.  Can't wait to play again.

I used foam pads for the main topper and left enough space to slot in my feathers.  These are from an embellishment pack by My Craft Studio.

I hope I've given you an idea of how you can incorporate feathers into your creations.  Do check out my teamies creations - brilliant work, girls!  Can't wait to find out what you create.  Don't forget our comment prize too.

Happy crafting,
Rachel x

Exciting News and A Brand New Challenge at The Cuttlebug Spot

Hi Everyone,

As you can probably guess from the title of my post I have some very exciting news for you.  I am now a proud member of The Cuttlebug Spot DT.  Yippie!  Be sure to check out the wonderful designs from my teamies and join in with our great new challenge which launches today.

Well what is this great challenge that you speak of, I hear you ask!  This week we would like you to...

Use 3 different die cutting/embossing items

Here is my card for inspiration

I have only recently discovered the joy of kraft card but boy what a joy it is to use!  I started with a 5" kraft card blank and debossed a row of snowflakes down the outer edge using my Cuttlebug.  I then took some Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Salty Ocean and added that to the edges of the card. 

I used my Cuttlebug again to cut the Spellbinders snowflake shapes.  These are a random mix from 2010, 2011 and 2012.  My final piece of embossing came in the form of the sentiment and I also added some ink to the edge of this piece of card.  To achieve the raised effect I rolled it over the edge of my table in two different directions.  I attached with a lot of Pinflair glue gel!

I hope you like my inspiration and can join us this week at The Cuttlebug Spot.  Can't wait to see your great crafty projects.

Happy crafting,
Rachel x