The Cuttlebug Spot Feathery Challenge and Altered Alice Challenge Extension

I'm so happy to see The Cuttlebug Spot up and running again with fabulous new additions to their Design Team.  It's been far too long since I've played there so here's a CAS card for their Feathery Challenge.  The embossing is the Goochie Script Cuttlebug folder.  The feather die is Spellbinders.  Feathers from my stash and a Tim Holtz pen nib.

 I also want to let people know that The Altered Alice Gratitude Challenge is extended.  You have until 5:00PM EST to get your projects in for a chance for the fabulous $30 voucher from Nature's Blessings.  Your entry need not even be Alice related, however those that are get 2 chances to win.  Come on, GET BUSY!

Dilly Beans Santa Baby

The days are just flying by, aren't they? You ready? I'm not even close. But the Dilly Beans Designers have been hard at work with our new Santa Baby Challenge. Megan has so many adorable Santas and helpers at the Dilly Beans Shop I had a hard time choosing but finally decided on #311 Santa and added #176 Mittens (printed twice, once flipped and fussy cut individually) so he could hold #293 Three Presents. Obviously, someone has been very very GOOD! (That would be ME, LOL I can dream, can't I?) I colored with Copics to match the DP from the Jingle Bells stack by Recollections. The whole thing looks a bit busy, but hey, it's a busy time of year. Santa's beard and moustache were glittered and embossed with Swiss Dots in my Cuttlebug not only for some bling and texture, but because I also planned on entering it in The Cuttlebug Spot Santa Baby challenge this week, as well.

Various part of the pressies are popped and I've added some glittered chipboard by K&Co to the bows and pom pom to Santa's hat. "Jolly Santa" are acrylic from Cloud9. Now go have a look at the fab inspiration from my teamies at the Dilly Beans Challenge Blog and don't forget, you can still grab the adorable freebie Snowman Family and join in that challenge through the 19th, as well. And don't forget the fab sale at the Dilly Beans Shop, now through Dec. 26th. Buy 3 single digis and get one free. WooHoo!

A Lewis Christmas Carroll to All

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from The Altered Alice! This month we bring you our holiday wishes, and we invite you to send your holiday greetings to The Altered Alice. You have until Friday, Dec. 23 to enter. The winner post will either be a little early or late, as the last Sunday of the month falls on Christmas day!


To celebrate the season, we bring you The Lewis Carroll Memorial Window at Daniell Chapel in England. Notice the left panel where Lewis Carroll and Alice kneel to pay homage to the newly born Christ in this wonderful Nativity scene! Our quote this month is actually contained within the window. The window was designed by the stained glass artist Geoffrey Webb, a must-see for anyone that loves Wonderland. A wonderful Christmas poem by Lewis Carroll is shown in the center three bottom panels, which include characters from Wonderland - the White Rabbit, Dodo, the Caterpillar, Mad Hatter, and more!

Our own Sue Roddis visited this window and is sharing the closeups on The Altered Alice so be sure to visit to view all of the glorious details and read the lovely verse.


My project is a teapot snowglobe easel card featuring the Alice characters taking their Christmas tea in a Wonderland of snow. The stamp is from our past sponsor Indigo Blu from the Alice II set. I've cut the teapot on my Cricut using the Ashlyn's alphabet cartridge with a circular cut out to fit my "globe" from George. The image is popped and I've added snowflakes from Jolee's as well as mica flake glitter to create a Winter Wonderland.

The globe itself is leftover packaging material from Terrifically Tacky Tape. I encourage you this holiday season to look at your trimmings and wrap and repurpose, recycle and reuse whenever possible.

The sentiment is computer generated and the banner is mounted, layered and popped on Nesties Labels Eleven which serves as a "stop" for my Easel. I've also used my Cuttlebug to cut and emboss a silver snowflake to which I've added a beaded one from JoLee's.

Our prize this month is a $40.00 gift certificate to Custom Crops, the premier online retailer for crafters of all kinds. From Accuquilt to Zva Creative, adhesives to vinyl and everything in between, Custom Crops offers a huge selection of the products you've been looking for at competive prices with fast, friendly customer service.

We look forward to seeing your holiday greetings at The Altered Alice, so send us a Christmas Card! If it features Wonderland, you will have two chances at the randomly awarded prize instead of one. Multiple entries are fine, but each must be on a separate post. Please visit each week to see fabulous inspiration from all of our team and click HERE to view the lovely creations by my sisters Tracy and Retta this week.

I'm also entering this in the Cuttlebug Spot "Leftovers" Challenge this week. Besides the leftover packaging, the DP is scraps from the SEI Winter Song Stack.

Bah!Humbug! Die Cut Challenge and the Return of The Cuttlebug Spot

Well, I'm afraid to say I've missed the last two Bah!Humbug! challenges but I couldn't let another go by. I've been trying the last few weeks to balance my life a bit which has been tough on me and my crafting. This week the ladies of Humbug Hall chose Die Cuts as the challenge. Now normally I'd do a Cricut project, but in honor of the return of The Cuttlebug Spot I opted to use my new Tim Holtz Festive Greenery die and make a tag. These dies to work in the Cuttlebug, but you need to have the Sizzix extended platform and cutting plates to use them (in the Big Shot as well, BTW). Although I have decided to retire from the Cuttlebug Spot DT, I hope to participate in challenges whenever possible. I want to thank Nilda for all of her hard work and the fabulous opportunity to be on such a wonderful team and say "Hey!" to the talented teamies who chose to stay on. The challenge this time is Anything Goes. They will be bi-weekly now and will not necessarily require embossing, but I have so many folders (many that I've acquired since we went on hiatus in April and have yet to use) that I'm pretty sure I'll be embossing anyway. I've used the Tim Holtz Sheet Music folder on my project today. All of my die cuts were actually cut in a medium green card stock and I've used Copics and Distress Inks to color and shade them. The pine cone is also embossed with the Cuttlebug Tiny Mosaic folder. The adesive metal letters are from M's and I've added a few beads for holly berries and a ribbon tie for my stash. As I'm just squeeking in for Bah!Humbug! again (sorry ladies) you'll probably have to wait for Friday's new challenge, but you have nearly two full weeks to join in at The Cuttlebug Spot so I hope to see you there.

The Cuttlebug Spot Oh So Soft Challenge

Were rounding up our month of embellie challenges at The Cuttlebug Spot. And I'm sad to say it's the last of our challenges for awhile. The Cuttlebug Spot will be taking a bit of a break but don't forget us, WE'LL BE BACK! Our final challenge is Oh so Soft featuring felt in our designs. I was particularly excited about this one because I'd been dying to try my MFT Die-namics dies with felt. I use the Rolled Flower and the Rolled Rose. They cut quite easily in the Cuttlebug, but in a few cases I did have to snip through a few reluctant stands of fiber. You use the same sandwich as with Nesties; A plate, C plate, die, felt, and B Plate. Then I rolled them up and glued them using Zip Dry glue to a small punched circle and added adhesive pearls to the centers. The leaves were from the Spellbinders Nested Leaves dies. Pretty pretty, huh? The background embossing is done with an old style Fiskars Basketweave Texture plate. I'd never had much luck with embossing with these, but while at the Scrap Expo I came across Lucy McGoo's Wonder Goo which, when sprayed on card stock is (among other things) supposed to enhance embossing. Still not as crisp as a folder, but a definite improvement. The eggs were cut with my Spellbinder's Nested Eggs dies, and embossed with my new Sizzix Country Foliage folder. The bottom scalloped border was not punched, but rather cut with the Scalloped Scallop Die-namics Die from MFT. "Happy Ester was computer generated on a little banner cut with my Stampin' Up Bigz Petal Cone Die (Thanks Lilllie!) I'll be using that whole die in the near future.

So, it's a simple Easter card, but ALL Cuttlebug. Here's a pic of all of the goodies I used. the Design Team has all sort of inspiration using felt, so be sure and check out The Cuttlebug Spot and please play along. Last chance for awhile. You might want to consider subscribing so as not to miss our return. Don't forget us!

The Cuttlebug Spot Buttons Challenge

Continuing our focus on embellies this month, our weekly challenge at The Cuttlebug Spot is buttons. I knew immediately I wanted to use the adorable La Mode dragonfly I'd gotten at J's awhile back and set about looking for a good embossing folder to use with it. I decided upon the folder from the Cuttlebug Friends Forever Card Making Combo and the "hello" sentiment from the Everyday Greetings set, both still available, and on SALE at Custom Crops. I fashioned antennae from fun wire I had strung though the holes in the dragonfly's body and took the colors from the wings and chose tiny buttons by Fabulous Findings (also from J's) to glue onto the embossed flowers. The sentiment was cut twice and glued slightly offset and I added a polka dot mat and it was done! Super simple but I love how it came out. Be sure to stop by The Cuttlebug Spot for more inspiration from the rest of the team. I'm also entering this in the My Partner In Crafting Crime Challenge which is conveniently, BUTTONS! WOW, short post! How about that?

The Cuttlebug Spot All Tied Up Challenge

We're all tied up at The Cuttlebug Spot as this week we used string or twine on our projects. I decided to do something a little different for a change. I've been dying to try the faux leather technique using the Cuttlebug and came across this wallet project on SplitcoastStampers. I followed the measurements, but wanted to make a more "tooled leather" Western look because I wanted to lace around the edges of my wallet instead of machine stitch. I started with kraft paper and used the Cuttlebug Floral Fantasy folder which is an oldie, but is still available at Custom Crops. After embossing my cardstock, I inked the embossing a bit with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink and then the entire thing with Versamark and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. OOOH, COOL!

The inside is lined with bandana print paper by MS that I though captured the Western feel. It is held closed with tiny thin magnets from Basic Grey. They are really strong little suckers and had to be attached with Glosssy Accents and left to dry a long time!

Besides doing the lacing rather than machine stitching, I changed the orientation of the gusset pieces so I could lace through them too for reinforcement. I used my MS Score board and piercing tool to pierce evenly around almost the entire wallet. I did it flat first before adding the gussets. Then was kinda tough to get through the gusset pieces because they had to be taped in place before piercing through them as well, but I used the already pierced holes as a guide. I managed by piercing into a small rubber eraser so as not to tear the card stock and voila! the final embellishment was a metal button brad by Recollections that I had to glue on because I forgot to attach it before I taped on the inside lining. Still worked though. LOL Be sure to have a look at The Cuttlebug Spot for more fabulous DT inspiration.

Oh So Charming at The Cuttlebug Spot

Continuing our month of embellies, The Cuttlebug Spot is featuring charms this week. I was really pretty excited about this one because I knew immediately what charm I wanted to use. I got these cherries in the clearance at M's awhile back for a buck and they had originally been $19.00. Apparently to go on a bracelet with a clip on clip so it's removable on my card. I figured I'd FINALLY get to use my Spellbinders Cherry Pickin Frame so I had that cut, embossed and colored with gel pens very early on. I'd just gotten new Cricut blades, too so I decided to cut the sentiment from Just Because Cards on my Cricut at 1 1/4", a size I wouldn't normally attempt for a delicate cut like this but it cut like butter and I was on a roll (or so I thought). I pretty much thought I was WAY ahead so I put my card aside to work on some of my other DT things and picked this back up yesterday figuring it would be a snap. Not so much!

Here's where things got tricky. You might want to pause here and get a cup of coffee or glass of wine, depending on what time of day it is in your neck of the woods because I'm gonna ramble again, or you can just skip it all, look at the pix (there are more than usual) and of course leave me a comment (hopefully) and go about your merry way. This card took FOREVER (all day and into the early evening, actually), even though I had all of the major stuff done. It's because I put so darn many self imposed rules and restrictions on my DT cards. I take my DT positions VERY seriously. I try to do each in a style that suits the particular challenge blog be it Cricut, or stamping, or vintage, or macabre or CUTTLEBUG, so you're not gonna see a Cricut card or stamped card with a teeny bit of embossing thrown in as an afterthought because I really want to showcase the Cuttlebug and perhaps show you a different technique, new goody or whatever. Now that's just me. Basically, the challenges are good as long as you use your Cuttlebug somewhere, but I challenge MYSELF with this (and hopefully encourage you to explore your Cuttlebug capabilities a bit more in the process). So I didn't just want to slap this stuff on a card and call it done. I wanted to incorporate more folders, a new card fold, you know, something different but was stumped.

I wanted to use, in particular, a folder from the Cuttlebug Preserves Cricut Companion set because it had cherries on it and also something that looked like a basket (finally decided on the Sizzix Plaid folder from one of their Basic Grey Christmas sets, both on SALE at Custom Crops) but that cherry frame was pretty BIG. I got it in my mind to do one of those sort of petal cards (a square in the middle with half circles at each side that fold up sequentially). Not really sure if I explained that right, but I did designed and cut one on my Cricut and embossed every other one with the 2 folders I mentioned but them couldn't decide what to do with the frame. Put it inside? Obviously this was a no go, because I ended up cutting off 2 of the flaps that WERE embossed with the Preserves folder to stick on version 2 and this is what was left. Hopefully I can use it for something else in the near future.

So on to a regular gate fold card but the thing wouldn't stay closed so I made a band and stuck the frame on that and took this pic but I didn't like this either. the band hid too much of the embossing and was a pain to slide off so I tried again...

ripped the ribbon off, taped it to card stock the same width and attached the frame again. Better, but with the band off the card was so darn plain... so I abandoned the band idea completely. (I do love that cherry ribbon though)

Ripping that frame was pretty difficult but I managed so here's how the final version opens. The colored part of the frame is popped on one side of the gate fold (reinforced with a second frame glued to the back for strength) the the sentiment side is attached directly to the other. Conveniently, when the 2 sides intertwine, the card stays closed. WooHoo! So you see, many times my designs turn out nothing like I originally planned, often take 5 times longer than anticipated, and drive me to drink at the end of the day. I wonder if any of you STILL want to get inside my head while I'm crafting. Bet not. LOL Now go have a peek at my my fabulous teamies have done with this challenge and why not try a hand at it yourself?

The Cuttlebug Spot Hat Pins Challenge

This month The Cuttlebug Spot is all about embellishments and our first week features hat or corsage pins. Some of us (like me) used manufactured pins (my little hearts are from Maya Road) while others made gorgeous ones using beads and pearls. Our own Theresa has a wonderful video on making your own right on The Cuttlebug Spot this week. My card is a sort of "Welcome Spring" card using the pyramage technique. I originally saw this technique on Sherry Cheever's Blog and she has a video HERE. The image was a freebie from ? and I used my Nesties Lables Nine for the layers. The embossed frame is from the Heritage Cuttlebug Companion set . The pretty velvet leaves are from 7 Gypsies.

I inked the frame to bring out the embossing a bit and popped it. Usually when I cut a frame in a mat I use a larger Nestie so the underlying mat shows around the image, but I'd used all 5 of the Nesties in the set for my image so I had nothing larger. I still like the fact that it is slighty recessed, though. The rest of the team has done a fabulous job with the challenge so stop by the Cuttlebug Spot and we invite you to play along for a chance to win a $ 20.00 gift certificate from Custom Crops. But remember, although the challenge is about embellishments, we still expect you to use your Cuttlebug or similar machine somewhere on your card.

The Cuttlebug Spot Pop Up Cards

Oh I sure have enjoyed this fabulous month of card folds with The Cuttlebug Spot. Our last inspiration is Pop Up cards and again, there are so many different kinds to choose from. I decided to go with the Surprise Pop-up found HERE on Splitcoast Stampers. I basically followed the tutorial, but wanted to make it a bit more special by using a Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page mat which caused be to modify the pop up dimensions slightly. The white mat is embossed with the tiny hearts from the With Love Card Making Combo and the pop-up sentiment is from the Sizzix Baby set.

I wanted it it to be as pretty closed at open so I started with a 5x6 3/4" rectangle and punched around with the Swirling Lace set. I added a 4x 5 3/4" yellow mat on top of that and then cut the width of the pop up top at 3 3/4" instead of 4 1/4" and cut the side slits for the slider at only 1/2" rather than 3/4" from each side. The pull tag is 3 1/4" wide. Because of this, I could only use 1/8" tape to adhere the top to the back to leave room for the slide tag.

In order for the pop up to slide easily it is best to stamp, or print your sentiment. I used rub ons mostly from Melissa Francis. The little hand and feet are brads from M's. Too cute, eh? The Cuttlebug Spot DT has come up with fabulous stuff this week (as always) so pop on over and be inspired!

The Cuttlebug Spot Opens the Gates

Our challenges all month at The Cuttlebug Spot are highlighting unique card folds and this week we're opening the gates with gate fold cards. I wanted to try something a bit different by making my gate fold card look like a gate so I used my Spellbinders lattice border (the one that cuts on only one side) to cut and emboss the top of the gate as well as the front pieces that open. I started with a piece of white card stock that was 6x11" and scored it to make a gatefold. Then I cut down the scores to where I wanted the top of the front of the card to end and then cut it across. Then I used the border along the top back and turned the card over and aligned the die at the fold of each side and ran it through the Cuttlebug again. (Again, hope this makes sense. I haven't really had time to do a tutorial, sorry) Then I cut blue mats and white mats which I embossed. The front panels are embossed with Swiss Dots, and the inner panels with Formal Squares.

The top of the inside mat is embossed with the Cuttlebug border folder from the Organic Flourish set. I scored a line and then embossed the remainder with Swiss Dots. The ribbon which is woven through the lattice on the front and holds the card closed is captured by the inside mats. Of course I added a few adhesive pearls and some butterflies punched with MS punches for embellishement. I haven't finished the inside because I'm not sure of the occasion. Wedding or anniversary, perhaps? Well, there are lots more fabulous gate fold cards at The Cuttlebug Spot so why not check them out and have a go yourself?

The Cuttlebug Spot Step Card Challenge

It's our second week of unique card folds at The Cuttlebug Spot, and today we're steppin' it up with Step Cards. Again, there are loads of possibilites for this type of card and I decided on a Center Step card that I found (Oh, oh, I can't seem to find it). I'll keep looking, but basically it's the same as a side step, but there are tall pieces at both sides. I started with a piece of card stock that's 7 x 8 1/2 inches and the cuts are 1 3/4" in from each side. When it folds it'll fit in a 5 x7" envie, considering the Nesties Beaded Oval I used for the back panel.

The stamped image is from Heartfelt Creations Hydrangea/Posy Branch PreCut Stamp set that I colored with Copics and fussy cut it out. These images coordinate with Nesties, in this case the Posy Patch Flowers PreCut Stamp Set for the 5 popped blooms on the branch that matches the Spellbinders Posy Patch Die. The tiny flowers are a bit challenging to line up with the Nesties but there is a video to help with that HERE on the Heartfelt Creations blog.

The green panels are embossed with the Cuttlebug With Love Border set and Swiss dots behind the Nestie, and the pink side panels with the Crafts Too Daisy folder. the sentiment is a peelie mounted on a Fancy Label from the Cuttlebug Emboss Plus set mounted on a Petite Scalloped Nestie. The butterfly is a MS punch. Now be sure to take a look at the fabulous variety of Step Cards by my super creative DT mates and play along for a chance to win a gift certificate from The Craft Barn.

The Cuttlebug Spot Tri-Fold Card

This is my second post of the day, so please scroll down for my Tiddly Inks card, and don't forget the BBTB2 blog hop (in case you missed it yesterday. There's candy involved.)

All month at The Cuttlebug Spot we'll be focusing on card folds. This week it's tri-folds and because it's fast approaching, we're to make one with a Valentine's theme. When Googling tri-fold cards I came upon a number of different styles but I finally settled on a "Swing" tri-fold. I've made several of these before and followed the video HERE to do it with my Cuttlebug and my Nesties Scalloped heart.

I wanted an unabashedly romantic, vintage style Valentine and needed a larger folder to emboss the inside mat and found these gorgeous roses and birds in the Cricut Companion Rock Princess Cuttlebug set. The center of the folder has the word "Rebel" on it (which may be appropriate, but wasn't exactly what I had in mind for the card) so I made sure when I placed the mats in the folder that the hearts would cover that part. A little note on the front mat. If you choose to have one, you should use removable tape to tape it in place on the front of the card before cutting it with your Nestie for a perfect fit. the Nestie easily cuts through the two layers. Then you can remove the colored mat for embossing and permanently adhere it later. (Hope that makes sense)

All sentiments are computer generated and the pink hearts (also Nesties) within the scalloped ones are popped for dimension. The label is cut and embossed in one step using the Cuttlebug Emboss Plus Fanciful Labels folder (LOVE it!) and adhered half way to the left of the front of the card only, so it will swing when the card is opened as well. The little dove on the front is a MS punch. As you can see, when the card is opened, the heart swings over. Don't you just love a card with a little movement?

Fully opened, the rest of the sentiment is revealed. All it needed were a few adhesive pearls. Yikes! It certainly is PINK, isn't it? and so's my background! May have to change that, but for the moment, I wanted to get the message out. Well anyway, you'll be amazed at the variety of tri-fold cards the DT has made for this week's challenge so be sure to check them out HERE and we'd love you to play along to win a $20.00 gift certificate to Custom Crops. (You need to make Valentine's anyway, don't you?) xxD

The Cuttlebug Spot Be Inspired Challenge

If you've been following The Cuttlebug Spot this month, you 've noticed each challenge was to "Be Inspired". This week is no exception, with the inspiration being a magazine ad. With all this crafting going on, I've let most of my mags expire but I did find a copy of Architectural Digest which saved the day. (Not much goin' on in BonApetit, I must say). My interpretation is a bit feeble, but I did manage the colors (sort of) and was able to use another of my Cuttlebug Emboss Plus folders called Perfect Perennials. I cut using kraft card stock and went over the embossing with my Copics. Behind the cut out I used Birds and Swirls. The butterfly is an MS punch and the "Thank you" is from the With Gratitude Card Making Combo. I added a few Prima flowers and some adhesive beads and that was it. Pretty simple. Now go have a look at the creative designs by my teamies. We hope you'll be inspired to play along.

The Cuttlebug Spot Inspired by Children's Games

We're being inspired all month at The Cuttlebug Spot and this week it's by children's games. I've chosen Twister because I've always loved bright colors against a white background and dots to me mean PARTY! The background is embossed with the 5x7 Polka Dots Cuttlebug folder, and the 24 colored dots are embossed by the various textures from the Snow Fun 3x3 combo.

I actually punched the dots because it was faster, and I was able to emboss 4 at a time using the folder like this. Easy, peasy. (The hardest part was gluing them on straight.)

The birthday 'prise ( read "surprise") is cut twice from the Beautifully Boxed 3x3 combo. The yellow ribbon is cut and pasted directly over the white for contrast. I was really happy with the simple design that I think would work for guys or gals of any age. The DT came up with some really creative ideas so be sure to check them out HERE and play along for a chance to win a $20.00 gift certificate to Custom Crops.

The Cuttlebug Spot Inspired by a Song

This week at The Cuttlebug Spot we're taking our inspiration from a song. I immediately knew the artist, Eva Cassidy, but as she's my fave, the decision of which song was pretty daunting. Eva has the voice of an angel and unfortunately she's with the angels now, having passed away at a young age from melanoma. She did not sing original songs, but was a genius at arranging the songs of others. Keeping the Cuttlebug in mind, I finally chose "Fields of Gold" which is fitting because it was the first song I ever heard her sing over the radio and I actually went online to the radio program listing to find the artist, it touched me so. I'd never particularly liked Sting's version but Eva's is magical. Her voice takes me away to a special place I hold in my heart. Please have a listen.

I made a shaped card using the frame from Accent Essentials, hiding the inside contours and welding them together. Usually I try to do my Cuttlebug Spot card with only the Cuttlebug, but I noticed on the Bontanicals Lite cart there was a sheaf of grain that I wanted to incorporate, so I used the frame again and welded that shadow of the grain to it. I thought this made a lovely foreground. My fields of gold are embossed with the Bird Call Cuttlebug folder that I fussy cut and popped. (I also cut off the bird) I used the Sizzix Tim Holtz Rays folder for the jealous sky and a Nestie Inverted Scalloped Circle for the sun.

To add a bit of texture to the sheaf I used the small dots from the butterfly cut and emboss combo set just at the tips.

I did quite a bit of popping to get the the amount of depth I wanted and inked everything in warm tones of Distress Ink to help enhance the embossing. The sentiment, of course, are words from the song, computer genterated and cut with Nesties Label One. The inside sentiment is also lyrics from the song that I need not share. You know...

I have no music on my blog but if I did, it would probably all be Eva. I hope you listened while reading about my card, and if you have a chance, find more of her music to enjoy. Now pop on over to The Cuttlebug Spot to see what inspires my fellow teamies. I'm anxious to find out myself. (I usually wait until the new challenge is up to post but I was anxious to share this one. Sorry if I jumped the gun.)

The Cuttlebug Spot Inspired by a Book Challenge

Yea! The Cuttlebug Spot is back and we're full of inspiration, both for our readers AND the Design Team. Each week this month we are asked to be inspired by something and today's inspiration is a book. Of course my mind went immediately to "Alice in Wonderland", but I thought I'd branch out a bit and used some of my new Cuttlebug goodies so I chose "Bambi" instead. (Yes, it was a book before it was a movie.) I actually have 2 new folders that feature a deer but decided that this Sizzix Dearly folder by Basic Grey was the way to go. It's actually a Christmas folder and has some snowflakes, etc. on it so I did some major fussy cutting to extract the deer and swirly foliage from the background. The fabulous frame is the new Cuttlebug Carly Emboss Plus Folder and I've colored the embossed areas with a white gel pen.

The frame is popped for dimension and I added two Nesties Petite Scalloped Oval layers around the opening. There's additional texture with Swiss Dots (a new folder, I actually WORE OUT the old one) behind and the sentiment is a clear stamp from the Oh Deer! Technique Tuesday set, mounted on Nesties Mega Ovals and Scalloped Mega Ovals LG. (Do you believe all of the Ovals they have? VERY confusing!) Final touches were some butterflies punched with an MS punch and the ever present adhesive pearls.

I'm getting somewhat anxious here since I've got lots to do today, so I may have jumped the gun a bit by posting before the new challenge is on The Cuttlebug Spot blog, but be sure to pop by later to check out the fab new creations by the team. I'm also entering this in the Sentimental Sundays Celebrate Friendship (plus sentiment) challenge.

Happy New Year at the Cuttlebug Spot

Since this is the last challenge for The Cuttlebug Spot until after the New Year, we're celebrating 2011. Had a bit of a tough time with this since I'm not even close to being ready for Christmas, so the thought of New Year's puts me over the edge) but I browsed through my pics for something "New Year's related" and came across this vintage photo from (?) and thought it was a hoot. I printed it 4 times and cut it out with decreasing sizes of my Nesties Classic Rectangles so I could get the pyramage effect. The fun shaped mats behind are Nesties Wonky Squares (I even love the name!) and the white one is embossed with the Cuttlebug Seeing Spots folder. (Looked like all the bubbles in the photo) The larger mat is cut from holographic paper which was sort of difficult to cut because there's a thin sort of plastic coating which didn't want to cut through, even after running is serveral times through the Cuttlebug. The groove was certainly enough to allow me to carefully follow the lines with my scissors, though. Phew! the large black mat is embossed with the Cuttlbug Polka Dots folder which is 5x7. Wish they all were.

The image layers were popped to give the 3D effect and I thought the tinselly fiber looked sort of festive and vintage. 2011 is cut with the Quickutz Haunted Mini Alphabet. (Yes, I know it looks like the Cricut Blackletter font, but I really try hard to keep my Cuttlebug Spot cards all Cuttlebug whenever possible.) The stars are peelies. So I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season but still has time to stop over to The Cuttlebug Spot to see the rest of the DT projects, which are infinitely more creative than mine. Nilda is even giving you a break by only requiring a comment to be in the running for this week's prize from The Craft Barn. Okay, gotta go. Another hair appointment and then back to the city. When the heck I'm I gonna finish my decorating?

Christmas at the Spot

Well, we're back at The Cuttlebug Spot after a Thanksgiving break and we're celebrating Christmas by using our favorite embossing technique. I chose double embossing; using two folders on the same piece of card stock. First I embossed with the Snowflakes limited edition Cuttlebug folder (available at Custom Crops and on SALE through tonight, so hurry!) and then embossed the same piece again with the Tim Holtz Snowman folder. This lightens the inital embossing somewhat, but is is still visible even where the embossing overlaps. See on the snowman? I used my Copics to add a little shadow to the snowman to help him stand out a bit more and continued with the frosty feel by adding a mat with icicles using my MS punch. The layered snowflake is from a the Spellbinder's Create a Flake 1 die and the sentiment is torn from the Tim Holtz Holiday Words folder and again enhanced with the use of Copic markers. The final touches were more Snowflakes along the edge using a longer Cuttlebug border folder (don't remember where I got this one, HSN?) and a string of adhesive pearls. Brrrr! Hope you guys back East are keeping warm. It was 64 degrees yesterday in San Francisco.

Our prize this week is a $20 gift certificate to Custom Crops so hurry over to The Cuttlebug Spot for more inspiration and come play along for a chance to WIN!

The Cuttlebug Spot Thank Yous

Well we've been working on Thanksgiving dinner all month at the Cuttlebug Spot and our last offering is a thank you to our dinner host. This whole set of challenges would have been alot easier had I kept the same design scheme, but I'm kinda ADD, so of course nothing matches. It's okay I'm not hosting Thanksgiving anyway, just making butternut squash lasagna and pumpkin and pecan pies.

I always like the idea of Core'dinations card stock and have a bunch so I pulled out some whitewash with an orange core to try it. I used my Cuttlebug Autumn Type folder and sanded away. It never really comes out as dark as I imagine it will. The card itself is the reverse side of that color card stock. Oh well, we've got a sort of pastel Autumn thing going but this was my 3rd attempt for this challenge so I just went with it. The lighter orange is also Core'dinations with a brown top (obviously used in the reverse). The "Thank you" is a Sizzix folder cut with my Nesties rectangle with the window cut with the scalloped version. the leaves were cut with my Nested Maple leaves. One was obviously embossed with Swiss Dots, and the other, scored with my MS score board. I used the Nesties instead of my Cuttlebug maple leaf because it was a tad smaller.

Then it was just a matter of a little popping and voila! DH said the muted color of the Core'dinations make it look Southwest but I kinda like it. Now rush over to The Cuttlebug Spot to check out the fabulous creations from my teamies and be sure to leave a comment because we have a fab new sponsor and you don't even have to make anything to WIN! WooHoo!