Bear Collection

Hi Everyone,

Today I am bringing you a card made with Butterfly Bear from 2 Cute Ink's Bear Collection.  The Butterfly Bear captures the playfulness of a relaxing day in a garden.  This stamp makes for very cute Valentine's Day card.

Enjoy the fabulous projects from our designers through the new year.  Have a crafty 2014!

Tweet Gradient with Balloon Birdie

Hi Fellow Crafters,

Thank you for joining us on the blog today.  Whew!  The holidays are behind us, and now I must have 40 Valentine cards ready by the first of the year.  Perfect time to bring you some quick & simple cards.  

Today I am bringing you a slightly different way of coloring your digital stamps.  For some time now, I have been wanting to learn how to use the gradient tool in Photoshop for select elements of a digital stamp.  I found a great tutorial and had my balloon on the Balloon Birdie digi colored (gradient) in no time at all! (Yes, I am just so proud of myself....tee, hee.)  So this cute card is ready to go in less than five minutes!  Very easy project!

You can learn to gradient color your digital stamps here, compliments of Adobe.

Fox Present

Hi Everyone,

It's great to be back with you today!  

We are bringing you another inspiration-packed week from the design team. My card today features 2 Cute Ink's new Fox Present.  Enjoy!  And have a very Merry Christmas!  I will see you right back here next Monday.

Sweet Reindeer Lights

Hi Everyone,

Welcome and Happy Monday! I'm so glad you joined us today.  2 Cute Ink's Little Reindeer make a sweet collection - clearly Reindeer Lights is perfect for the holiday season.

Today's card is a shaped card using a free label file (Maggie's Label 3) from Magnamity.  I took the "label" file and sized it to to be 5-1/2" x 5-1/2".  I welded it to a rectangle for the card base.  I resized the label for each layer, then added a strip across the front (accented with a border punch).  The reindeer is colored with Copic Markers - with Stickles added for the Christmas lights, his nose, and accent dots in corners.  He is popped up alongside a big holiday wish created with just a word processor.

  

This card brought a little serendipity - I did not intend for the card shape to resemble a Christmas ornament.  When I was finished, however....there it was!  So I added a piece of rumpled ribbon to the top to finish off the ornament.

Have a fabulous crafty week, and I will see you next Monday.

Just for you!

Hi, it is Timi here today. 

This time I have a fun little 'Just for You' card featuring the new Fall Girl digi stamp.

It was a lovely stamp to colour in with my Promarkers.

I used some designer paper to create background for the cut out image. I added some bakers twine to embellish and it was ready. Quick, fun card!!

Have fun with all the fantastic new releases from 2 Cute Inks,

Timi

Aquarium card with Angel Fish

Hi, it is Timi here today. I am going to show you a quick and fun tutorial on how I created this "aquarium card".

A few things you will need:
Angel Fish Digital Stamp
blue cardstock
piece of acetate

Cut a piece of card stock 4x12 inch. Score it at 4, 4 1/8 and 3 7/8. Cut a window out of the card stock as show in the picture.

Print the Angel Fish twice and only colour one in.

Fussy cut the colored fish out and the other one needs to be cut to match the size of the card.

Place foam adhesive on the coloured fish and adhere it on the other printed fish.

Colour the piece of acetate with alcohol inks

Assemble the card: glue the acetate on the back of the window; glue the panel with the fish on the side that is behind the window. 

You can add white card stock inside for you message.

I hope you liked this idea,

Timi

Snowflake Owl - Glitter Technique

I fell in love with the free digital stamp 2 Cute Ink was sharing this weekend - Owl Doodle.  Since I'm no artist with my markers, I instead decided to glitter my image.  Heidi asked if I would share the technique - You know me...anything to be able to showcase my work!  

So Heidi sent me her latest digital stamp - Snowflake Owl - and as soon as I saw it, I saw cool, ice blue!

Here is my card - and step-by-step instructions below!  If you find yourself using this technique with 2 Cute Ink digital stamps, please share on Facebook or send us a link to your page in a comment....would love to see what you do!

Supplies Used

• Snowflake Owl - Digital Stamp (2 Cute Ink)
• White Cardstock - 1 sheet for cutting owl, 8-1/2" x 5-1/2" for card base
• Robin's Egg Blue Classic Glitter Cardstock (The Robin's Nest)
• Double-Sided Adhesive (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
• Microfine Glitter - Glitter Ritz (Elizabeth Craft Designs) 
• Real Teal
• Robin's Egg Blue
• Ice Blue
• Sky Blue
• Mystique
• Cool Highlights
• Warm Highlights
• Border Punch - Apron Lace (Fiskars)

Instructions

I just purchased a Sizzix eClips to replace my Cricut machine.  For those of you with Cricuts and Sure Cuts a Lot, the steps are almost identical.  You will only need to play with your pressure and/or blade depth on the Cricut.

First I placed a 6" x 6" piece of double-sided adhesive on a piece of white cardstock - leaving the protective cover on the top.

Two-sided Adhesive - on white cardstock - on cutting mat

On the electronic cutter, Trace the digital stamp image.  Break apart the image.  I moved the solid owl image to its own layer.  So my screen looked like this:   

To cut, I set the Pressure to 3.  This cuts through the protective covering of the adhesive....but not through the cardstock.

Next, I "hid" the layer with the detailed image, and displayed the solid owl image.  I set the cutter to cut two times - with a Pressure of 6.  This will cut through both the adhesive and cardstock.  See completed cut image below (excuse the messy glitter-catcher cardstock beneath).  You can see the detail cuts on the image's protective covering.

Carefully remove protective covering over outline only

Using tweezers, I peel off the protective covering for the areas I want to glitter in each color.  I like to begin with the outline.  The way 2 Cut Ink's images are designed, it provides a nice "outline" as such.  I begin with glittering the outline...which makes it easier to find all the detailed pieces.  

Cover with glitter; brush off excess

I complete those same steps for each different glitter color.  You can see, once the outline is glittered, the rest of the pieces are easy to see.  Use tweezers to remove the pieces you want for each color.  You can see by the pics, that I am generous when covering with glitter.  All excess goes back in the jar, so no need to be skimpy.  For each color, remove protective covering, cover with glitter, brush off excess.  Repeat.

Generously cover with glitter. 

Shake off excess glitter.

Rub off excess glitter - Rub hard to get a smooth look.

The next time I use this image, I will probably make the owl's belly white - my snowflakes aren't showing well with the little variance in blue colors.  With a white belly, blue snowflakes would really stand out (live and learn).

For this particular card, I did not resize the image.  However, the snowflakes were too small to cut easily, so I did enlarge them...then used the same technique to glitter.

A 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" piece of Robin's Egg Blue Classic Glitter cardstock provides the card front.  I used a border punch on both sides of a strip of Robin's Egg Blue Classic Glitter cardstock, ran it through the Xyron (upside down), and covered it with a combination of Cool and Warm Highlight glitter to provide a blue-on-blue effect.

I popped up the owl....and glued on glittered snowflakes.

If this inspires you to use this technique, please share on Facebook or leave your link in a comment....we would enjoy seeing your creation.