Royal Tea Bridal Shower Blog Hop

Once again, it's blog hop time!  Since we're starting a day before the royal wedding, we're declaring it a bridal shower, but we'll be here for two days of projects.  If you've arrived here from Theresa "The Scrapbooking Queen", you're in the right place.  If you're just starting out, you're welcome to head over to Cardmonkey's Paper Jungle and hop through the whole list.  When you're done here, you'll want to be sure and head over to Michelle at Queen of My Craft Room and see what she has up her sleeve!

 So, I mentioned the other day that my daughter is excited to get up early and see some of the hoopla surrounding the royal wedding.  I'm sure she's not the only one planning a "viewing party", so I thought I'd create a layout appropriate for scrapping the event!  (Remember to click on the photos to see them larger.)

Be sure to click on this photo to see the medallions I stamped on the background using Versamark ink!  Looks much better in person, lol.

This picture shows better detail on one of the stamped medallions and the way I cut my paper strips to follow the medallion's shape.  I cut my title using the Elegant Cake Cricut cartridge, and welded the font shadow using the Gypsy.  I added some self-adhesive gems for a little added bling.

Here's a closeup of my flag pennant banner and the cardstock strip I embossed using a Cuttlebug folder.  The gold string is actually 3 strands of DMC Light Gold Thread (282) braided together.  The flag pennants are part of a printable set from Lettering Delights, and the entire set is free through Saturday!  They also have matching SVGs and an alphabet, all on sale during Dollar Days, which ends TODAY.  The anchors for my banner are just gold brads, spaced at 1.75".

I used gold crowns to bookend the journaling block.  Since I wasn't totally sure where I was putting them, I made the crowns separately and adhered them to the CS later.  I stamped in gold ink on white vellum, heat embossed with gold embossing powder, and trimmed around the images with micro-tip scissors.   I added some self-adhesive gems to the crowns for a finishing touch.

Supplies used in this layout:

• red, white, and blue cardstock from my stash
• Cricut cartridge, Elegant Cakes, and Gypsy
• Cuttlebug embossing folder, Textile Texture
• Medallion Stamp, Stampin' UP!
• self-adhesive gems in clear, red, and blue; Close To My Heart
• gold brads
• DMC Light Gold Thread, #282
• British flag pennant printables, Lettering Delights (you can get lots of freebies just for creating an account; get more every Friday via their FB page!)
• Royal Birth stamp set, Close To My Heart
• Versamark and metallic gold stamp pads
• gold embossing powder and heat gun

Now, time for some blog candy!  I'm giving away two MyAcrylix stamp sets, Friendship and an exclusive mini stamp set, plus a 6x6 mini album in red (perfect for scrapping your Royal viewing party!).  In order to win, just leave comment on today's post.  I would love if you would become a Follower, but it is not a requirement to win!

Thanks for stopping by today - hope to see you back soon!  Now it's time to hop on over to Michelle at Queen of My Craft Room for her project.

Bring on the Bling With Red & Green - Cutters Creek Blog Hop!

Welcome to the first Cutters Creek blog hop!  We're all sharing our favorites in red & green this weekend, so you should have received your fair share of inspiration by now!  If you've arrived here from Vicki's Scrappy Leopard blog, you are in the right place!  I'm officially the "last" stop on the hop, so if you're just starting out be sure to head over to the Cutters Creek blog when you're done here and continue hopping through all 8 Design Team member's projects.  We have 8 great prizes to give away - one at each blog - so be sure to visit them all and enter to win!

The prize here is a Cuttlebug Emboss Plus Postage Alphabet - cut and emboss all at once!  Just leave me a comment to enter.  Comments left up until 11:59pm on Sunday December 12th will be eligible to win. All winners will be selected Monday and posted on each blog so make sure you check back to see if you have won! You will have 48 hours to respond before we choose another winner. To be sure I can contact you, be sure to leave me your email address if it's not listed in your profile.

Now, on to the project!  I used two of my favorite Cutters Creek products on a scrapbook layout: American Crafts Glitter Cardstock and Stickles!

 Once again, I've created a project that looks much more awesome in person than I am able to photograph!  You can click on the picture to see it larger, and see details in the additional pictures.

I have a Big Tip for this layout - you can make any paper glitter paper just by using coordinating Stickles.  I used Xmas Red, and covered the red dots on my mostly green paper, and traced the darker red lines in my striped paper.  You can see it a little better in this detail shot.  (Click to enlarge.)

I used my Cricut Gypsy along with the Elegant Cakes, Christmas, and Joys of the Season cartridges to cut my title, tree branch, and ornaments, respectively.

Here's a little detail shot of the title.  It's easy to recreate using any font you'd like; I used Elegant Cakes, but any nice script-like font will do.  Doesn't that glitter cardstock look spectacular?  The key to this awesome paper is to not overdo it.  Use it to highlight a word in your title, instead of the entire thing, and you're sure not to overdo!  Also, be sure you're balancing your layout by not clumping all of your glittery elements together.

One final little bit on the glitter cardstock: it cuts wonderfully with your Cricut!  Check out this detail shot, and take a look at that ornament on the right.  That's right, I inlaid the red cut into the gold cut - spectacular!  Also, notice the "snow" on my tree?  It's FlowerSoft Polar White.

Items Available from Cutters Creek:

• American Crafts Glitter Cardstock, Gold & Red
• Stickles, Xmas Red
• FlowerSoft, Polar White
• Joys of The Season Cricut Cartridge (and Kim can usually get you any cartridge you want!)
• Glossy Accents (Works great to adhere small pieces of glitter CS)
• Cricut Expression

 Other products used:

• Mistletoe paper pack and MyStickease cardstock stickers from Close To My Heart
• Magic sketch/pattern book for 2-page layouts from Close To My Heart