Cuttlebug Challenge

Attention all Cuttlebug owners!!!

The site http://www.cuttlebugchallenge.blogspot.com/ is a great site for Cuttlebug fun. They have challenges and you submit your project and WOW do you ever see some beautiful work submitted. Right now they are offering a challenge to spread the word about there site. So I wanted to help out being I am a huge fan of the Cuttlebug and give you the opportunity to check them out and see what they are all about. I have posted them in my blog list on the left side of the page. Check it out!! Let me know what you think.

Thanksgiving Treat Bag/Favor Make n Take

For this weeks Fiskars Link Friday I am going to share with you my Nov Demo that I did at my LSS yesterday. I put it in 2 parts. Be sure to check the post below this one for Part 2.

It was a Make n Take style Demo with a project given to me by Stephanie Hamen at Fiskars. I changed a few things in it however because of the tools I wanted to have them use. Would you like me to add pictures of the steps if I post a project like this?



I used the following tools:


Fiskars 12" portable trimmer cutting and scoring blade

That's Amore squeeze punch medium

Round n Round Squeeze Punch medium

Leaf Border Punch

Stamp Factory,

Fingertip tweezers

Texture plates using the Cuddlebug.

Directions:
1. Cut a piece of cardstock 5" x 5 1/2". Replace cutting blade with scoring blade and score the 5" side in half at 2 1/2".

2.Use Leaf border punch on each edge of cardstock piece you just scored in half.

3. Using the Stamp Factory stamp the word Gratitude on front Rt or Lt bottom above the leaf punched area.

4. Using the Cuddlebug choose Texture Plate of your choice and emboss this same piece we have been working on. HINT: to get a deeper crisper embossed design use a fine Mister and spray lightly the paper on the side you are embossing. Then using the following sandwich run it through the machine. A plate, Texture plate, cardstock right side down, 2 silicone pads, B plate. Another HINT: You can use a piece of Plumbers Gasket in place of the silicone pads. This can be bought at Lowe's in the Plumbing Dept. It is red in color and 6x6 in size. It is very inexpensive costing approx. $1.34 for one.

5. Using the circle squeeze punch punch out 5 circles total using 3 different colors of CS.

6. Using the heart squeeze punch and the eggplant paper punch out 1 heart.

7. Arrange circles across the front of the topper and adhere with Fiskars tape runner.

8. Place a foam dot on the heart punch and adhere that to center circle.

9. Fill treat bag with your choice of candy etc.

10. Adhere topper to the treat bag by folding it over the bag and adhere using the tape runner.


I hope you enjoyed the project!!

Part Two of Demo

Part 2 Of Fiskars Link Friday


I set it up with having 4 people at a time. This is a picture of a group of 4 when they were finished showing there accomplishments of a completed treat Bag.



It works out well being able to keep everyone on track and getting through in a short period of time. I have set up my Demos here a few different ways. This is one of the ways that is working out the best. It still leaves time for questions and trying new or different tools. I hold them for a 2 hour block of time and have people take a number when they come to the store. That way they don't lose their spot and they can either watch the group before them or shop in the store.



The New Tools that I had shown here were the Stamp Factory, Fingertip Tweezers and The Texture Plates using the Cuddlebug.


Stamp factory: There were mixed feelings about it. I have previously shown the stamp press both the large and small one. The stamp press still is getting the most positive response.


Pros: They liked the self inking aspect of the Stamp Factory and the ability to do many of the same invitation for example in a very short period of time


Cons: Difficult to determine right amount of pressure to use. Difficult to determine where the stamp is actually going to stamp. Not easy to see where you are going to land. Limited space to put your stamps on. I did tell everyone this was designed for the card maker.





Personally I would much rather use the stamp press. I can see that if you were always doing many of the same thing this would be the quickest way to go. But overall I vote for the Stamp Press hands down.





The Fingertip Tweezers : This also had mixed reviews. They liked the design being like the Fingertip knife. But some struggled with the tips coming out from the side of the tool. Also the tweezers action seemed very weak. It didn't hold onto the paper easily. Some loved it while others hated it.


I think it is a good tool except for the loose tweezers function. Maybe I had a faulty one but the tips had a space between them. They were not tight together as I would think they should be.


I am hoping to get my hands onto a Fingertip Swivel Knife. That one I think will be a big hit like the Fingertip Knife is.





Texture Plates using the Cuddlebug machine: This was a BIG Hit!!! I explained about the original tool that is used with these plates. Then I made the sandwich of A plate , texture plate with paper right side down next. Silicone pads (2) and he B plate. I had them put their bag topper through the machine with the texture plate design of there choice. Everyone loved this without a doubt. I also had them give the paper a fine mist of water before embossing. It gives a much deeper embossed image.





It was a FUN Demo!! They learned a lot and had fun at the same time. Hopefully the one in Dec will go just as well. Thanks for stopping by.





Stop by at these Fiska Link Friday posts too!!!



Fiska-Link Friday Goes Grey... Michelle's got a GA ATC swap going on! http://fromichelle.blogspot.com/2008/11/fiska-link-friday-goes-grey.html




Thank You Card Let's make a quick thank you card with squeeze punches http://mayadahan.blogspot.com/2008/11/fisk

Fiskars Friday and Easy Stamp Press Demo http://debbysdares.blogspot.com/2008/11/fiskars-friday-again.html

Fiska Link Friday Another Tip on Acrylic Stamps

Fiska Link Friday Another Tip on Acrylic Stamps


Hi Everyone on another Fiska Link Friday.Well I have had a very busy week celebrating the " Birthday " Celebration of the 1st year in business for our LSS. They have been having events daily all week and it will end on Sat with a Supermarket Sweep Contest.We've had so much fun. One lucky person will get 1 minute to run the store and fill a basket with as much product as they possibly can. Doesn't that sound like the prize to win?!! Wish me luck. I would love to win that. Of course I can't do the running so I have a stand in runner.

Well on to to my Fiskars Friday offering. I have another tip on using the acrylic stamps. You know how certain ink colors stain the stamps more so than others? Especially the reds, blues, purples or example. Well although having stained stamps means they are a well used loved stamp if you don't want them to stain or to keep the staining to a minimum here is a tip.

Before stamping with your color of choice. Take your stamp and ink it in a Versamark pad first. Then go right away to the ink color pad and ink it with the color. Now stamp the image. When you clean the stamp you will have a clean non stained stamp as a result. I tried this with a very red color. My stamp was as clear as brand new when I was done.

So if it really bothers you to have stained stamps and you don't mind inking it in the Versmark first then this could work for you.Give it a try. See what you think. I haven't tried all colors but I think it should be fairly successful.

Have a good Fiska-Link Friday!!! See you next week.

Check out these links too

Debby's Dare Make a Giving Box with this tutorial! http://debbysdares.blogspot.com/2008/11/fiskars-friday-on-thursday.html



Michelle's got some Fiskar sneaks! Check out some sneak peeks of Michelle's Christmas House ATCs! http://fromichelle.blogspot.com/2008/11/fiska-links-friday-again.html

Fiska Friday Link for 11/7/08

This is my first Fiskateer Fiska-Friday Link .
I am posting a tip on how to get good ink coverage on your new acrylic Fiskars, Cloud 9 and actually any acrylic stamps. I will try and post something for you each week.

Tip for Acrylic Stamps

Have you ever had trouble with ink beading up on new Fiskars or any acrylic stamps? I have had this happen when I have a new stamp set and use a stamp for the first time. When I go to ink the stamp the ink is like it is repeling it. It only stays on in dots resulting in a bad stamped image. I have found that if you do one of these options you will have a much improved image.

1. Take a good pencil eraser and rub it over your new stamps first before inking. Wipe off any excess eraser dust. Now ink your stamp up and stamp a practice one first. It should be a nice clean and fully inked image.

2. Another option is you can take a piece of brown paper bag and rub that over your new stamps. Then ink and stamp as usual. Again your image will be a nice solid inked image.

The reason this happens is because in production often times a film is left on the stamps. By removing that with one of these options the ink is able to grab and give a crisp and clean solid image.

I hope you find this useful. It has sure helped me with my stamps.
Check out the rest of my blog while you're here. I would love to have you leave a comment on any of my projects. Thanks for stopping by. See you next week.

Here are some other Fiska Link Friday posts
http://debbysdares.blogspot.com/2008/11/hershey-continues-and-rock-paper.html
http://fromichelle.blogspot.com/2008/11/its-fiska-link-friday.html

Front cover for the Baby Album

This is the cover of the album I have been working on for my Granddaughter. The flower was made using the Just Blooms from CTMH. In one of the idea books for CTMH there was this technique featured.This is how it is done
1. You take one flower and with a paper piercer and poke holes around the edge of each petal.
2. Then using floss stitch around each petal.
3. Now cut the area in the middle of each petal out making sure you don't cut any of the stitching.
4. Take another flower and adhere behind the stitched flower. I used pink to show through my white flowers openings.
5. I put an embellishment in the center of the flower with a clear page pebble on top of it. Then I stitched 2 buttons to one side.

It is a fun technique and way to do. Give it a try.

I'm In

How about you? This looks great and you can do it at your own time. Each day you will get info and you go on when you can. I think this is a great opportunity.

Stories in Hand Class

Come and join in for this FREE class from Jessica Sprague. But hurry registration ends on Nov 8th!! Just go to www.jessicasprague.com to sign up.

Introducing the Paper Craft Planet. Check it out!!!

Hey everyone check out this post on one of my favorite blogs Here

It is a cool post informing us about the Paper Craft Planet. The Paper Craft Planet is a new online community that will have inspiration, videos, tutorials etc. Kim explains it well in her post. Plus Kim is offering some "candy" for joining in on the fun. You don't want to miss out. Winner of the candy will be announced 11/10 so don't miss out.

Baby Shower Invitation and Baby Shoes Party favors

When my daughter was pregnant she had to be on bedrest for most of the pregnancy. So myself and her mother-in-law put together a Baby shower for her at her home. It was a totally handmade shower. Here are a couple of the items we made.

These are the Baby shoes we made as place favors. I even stitched them by machine to have them really look authentic. We made an equal number of blue ones and pink ones. My daughter didn't want to know if she was having a boy or a girl so everyone when they came to the shower were told to choose either blue or pink baby shoes. They chose according to what they thought the baby was going to be. The invitation was made using the cuddlebug, chalk, Fiskar paper edgers, ribbon and pen stitching. The ribbon I found was perfect. It was a combo pink/blue ribbon and tiny and delicate too.

Even with my daughters condition we were able to give her a wonderful day with her friends and family.

2 weeks old

I had these pictures and just couldn't leave them out so I made these and put them in place in the album. She is 2 weeks old here. On the left is mommy and daughter with their hands. On the right hand side is a picture of her looking directly at Daddy. So I made a Mommy & Me page and a Daddy & Me page. They are very simply done but I thought this simple design was perfect for these photos.

10 Months

Here she is looking out at her doggy. They are great pals. On the other page she is sitting in her favorite chair. Doesn;t she look so happy?! With the completion of these pages I am now caught up. Yeah I did it!! Now I am working on the cover of the album and preparing the 11 month pages and the ending page of her first birthday.

9 Months

She isn't walking yet but she is pulling herself up all the time to stand. I am in a wheelchair and have a walker and so does her Grandpa on her Daddy's side. So she has become familiar with wheelchairs and walkers already.

8 Months

I am moving right along. Here is 8 months. This has been such a fun project to be working on.

7 Months

Another month done. I am really on a roll now. I am feeling more like I am going to make it opn time.

6 Months

I love this picture of her when she discovered her feet. She also is shown here discovering animal crackers. I couldn't resisit using these photos.

5 Months

When I amde my daughters and her husbands books they both had a picture in the Johnny Jump up at age 5 months. So my daughter took this same picture for this album. Also she had music surrounding her before she was born and it continues since. She is really relaxed laying there while Daddy practices his guitar.

4 Months

I am moving right along. I have a few to post tonight. I am continuing with the Sharon Ann Baby line and adding misc embellishments and using different paper techniques.