QuicKutz Blog: Adventures in Die-Cutting

create your own embossing template

You know how much I enjoy thinking outside the box. Well, not only did that incorporate into the title on my page, it also incorporated into how I used an image from Silhouette to do something other than look like a pretty die cut on my page. :)

Take a look at this page of our recent trip to Glacier National Park. Yes, those are my crazy daughters jumping into the c-c-c-old river.

And here's a closeup.

You can take a good majority of the Silhouette shapes and make them into embossing templates. Of course the more complex shapes would be harder to work with--and may not even work, but you get the idea. And on this image? I didn't even use a light box! If you can feel for the edge, you can gently run your stylus around, finding all the edges, and then make a more deep impression.

Here's how to do it:

1. Place the arrow shape (arrow_1556) onto a new document screen and size it as needed.

2. Add a rectangle around the box to create the "template" cut out shape. Copy/cut it twice so that you can make a deep enough template. This is how it will look on your screen.

3. Cut the images and adhere them together so that they look like one piece, like this:

You could also use the positive space as an embossing piece, but using the negative space gives you a little more security to work with. I have used Heidi Swapp ghost letters to emboss with before (without a lightbox) and it worked fine.

4. Lightly adhere this shape to the front side of your cardstock and flip it over. (I use Herma repositionable dots.)

5. Carefully feel for an edge of the shape (I just use my finger) and then using your embossing stylus, lightly run it around all the edges. Once you've done that, you can make a deeper impression.

Voila! You're done! I would practice on a some scrap cardstock first just so you can get the feel for it. I'm sure if you used a lightbox it would work even better, but it can work without one as long as the image isn't too complex.

And you just thought that Silhouette was for die cut shapes, now didn't ya. ;)

a few answers about print & cut

Hey all! I see there's been a few questions regarding Print & Cut. Let's see if I can answer them, with the help of my sidekicks in ye ol' customer service department (thanks guys!).

I have a Mac. Will Silhouette work for me?

Yes! But you need to run the Parallels program that runs Windows to do it. Once you are running Windows on your Mac, then you can download and use the Robo Master software and access the images from the Online Store. You can also use the Silhouette with Adobe Illustrator, but you wouldn't be able to use the Robo Master software or access the shapes from the store.

This was Helen's comment she wrote about using Mac:

If you have a Mac, you have to get Parallels and then run Windows XP on the Parallels and the silhouette software on the windows xp. I heard that one lady got the Parallels for $69 and the Windows xp on ebay for $65. This is the only thing that she uses the windows for on her mac, but then the silhouette software works like a champ and she can download all the wonderful QK shapes.

You can also find some additional information here.

What type of printing media should you use to print your P&Cs?

You can use cardstock (or printer paper), however, I find that using photo paper or presentation paper will give you a much richer color. When you print on cardstock, the color absorbs into it making it a little duller in color. It's fine, but the photo paper or presentation paper (which is like cardstock) will make it look much better. This has nothing to do with the P&C feature, but rather, it's just the way printers and printing media work.

Is there a tutorial on grouping and ungrouping?

A simple walk-through can be found here. More detailed information can be found here.

Does where you place your paper on the cutting mat have anything to do with how P&C will work?

Yes. You must place your printed paper on the cutting mat and feed the 1st and 2nd registration marks into the Silhouette first (it also says Feed This Side First). It is also very important to make sure the registration marks are between the white pinch rollers on the Silhouette. They must be centered inside the rollers.

You can check out further information on proper placement here.

Does removing the two narrow strips of yellow backing make a difference on your mat?

I've always taken mine off. I find that my machine does cut into that area at times, so I'd rather not have it there, especially because it doesn't make a difference for me in how it rolls through the machine.

The customer service dudes say that the strips are there to provide a smooth, non-sticky track for the rollers to roll on during the cutting process during those times when smaller materials are used--in other words, when the rollers are not rolling onto the 8 1/2" wide material. The thought is that having the rollers move over the sticky surface may impair the exact registration of the tool's cutting performance. Removing the side strips is not recommended, but from experience, it will not harm anything and usually will not affect the cutting performance.

Does this work on the Wishblade?

Unfortunately we do not have the answer to this. You would need to contact Wishblade for more details.

Can you change the color of the P&Cs?

The answer is no. However, there will be alternate color choices on some things here in the future.

Editing the colors is a feature that we've received a few inquiries about. We are aware that some people may want to alter the colors. However, at this time, it's not a feature of the software. 

Does P&C work on the original Silhouette?

Yes! It works on both machines.

Does it matter which mat style I'm using?

No. The optical eye in the machine reads the registration marks on the printed paper, so the mat shouldn't matter.

Once you've purchased a P&C and it's downloaded into your library, how can you tell which ones are P&Cs? The "P" is no longer by the image now.

I would suggest creating a folder for just your Print and Cut images. Select all the P&Cs you've downloaded and drag them into this new folder. That way, you'll have all those images available to you at the click of a button rather than searching for them through your entire library. I would also suggest doing this at the time of purchase.

Also, when you choose an image to place into your document, it will be apparent at that point as to which is which since the P&C images will be in color and a regular cut image will be in outline only.

Can we easily design our own P&C images? Is there a tutorial for this?

You can find a tutorial on making your own P&C images here.

Will the monograms be available in the Online Store or only through Portfolio CDs?

The monograms will be available only in the Online Store. They weren't there at the time of the original post because it was a sneak peek. :)

I see there are a few other questions regarding P&C not cutting correctly, or something like that. If you're struggling with using the P&C feature, you can go here for a full tutorial and here for troubleshooting. Or, you can contact customer support at sillhouette@quickutz.com

I have found these tutorials on silhouettemachine.com to be very helpful!

I will check back from time to time to see if there are more questions to answer.

Have fun!

print & cut: silhouette's best kept secret

Okay, so maybe it’s not really a secret, but how many of you have heard about Silhouette's Print & Cut feature? I’m not exactly sure when this little baby was introduced to the world. What I do know is I went for two years without knowing about it and when I heard about it I was completely ECSTATIC! Really, truly . . . just ask Michelle, my boss. I was literally floored when I heard what Silhouette could do. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. Of course, that just got me all kinds of excited at the possibilities of making a never-ending embellishment. Seriously. How many times do you hold onto that one accent because you need to save it for just the right thing . . . and if you use it now, you may not have it later for an even better page.

Well, with Print & Cut it’s never-ending, it’s whatever size. How stinkin’ cool is that?!?!

Let me just give you a brief explanation in very basic terms . . . along with a little sneak peek, of course. ;) Take a look at Nichol Magouirk’s use of this monogram letter and word tab on her absolutely amazing page. LOVE it!

When you add the Print & Cut image into your document in the Robo Master software, it will display—in color—with a red cutting line around it. You’ll simply add registration marks to your document, print the document, place it onto the cutting mat, and Silhouette will read the registration marks and know where it needs to be cut.

Again, excitement and overjoy! After working a couple years creating scrapbook products and sending them off to get produced—waiting for this big huge production cycle, you can imagine my absolute delight when I heard I could print and cut ‘twenty’ of my own images—and in a variety of sizes, if needed—in no time at all. I’m sorry, but really, I can hardly contain my enthusiasm! :)

So let’s take a closer, more in-depth look at how to do this.

Here I’ve brought that same “Happy” monogram into a new document. You'll notice how there's a red line around the image. That's the cut line.

To add registration marks, select Edit/Registration Mark Settings (or you can choose File/Document Settings and check Use Registration Marks).

Next, you’ll get this screen. Just click on the Use Registration Marks and you’ll see the little sample document on that screen change to include registration mark placement markers. Just leave the rest of the settings as is and click OK.

Once you click on OK, your document will now look like this:

Select File/Print and send your document to the printer. Here’s how it looks all printed and fancy (I sized it down first).

Note: For my printer I needed to change my document size to 8.26 x 11 because if it was set to the default of 8.26 x 12.5, my printer treated it like a legal size document and printed too close and off the end of the page. I should have gone into my printer controls and created/selected a page size that would accommodate that, but I was too lazy. ;)

You’ll notice on the end that it says “Feed this side first.” That’s the end you put into the Silhouette and then press Enter to load it. Or, if you’re using the original machine, roll your paper. At this point you can go ahead and cut your image like you normally would—making sure Search Registration Marks is checked on this screen:

A couple things to note at this step here. First, if you are using the SD machine, make sure your LCD display says Load w/Carrier and not Load Media. I was unaware of this the first time I used it (I'd accidentally changed it) and of course I had a hard time getting it to work right. If you need to change that setting, just press the right arrow key on the machine until you see that option.

Second, if, by chance, the optic eye is having a hard time finding the registration marks, try positioning the blade so that it is over a registration mark (the corner lines). If that doesn’t work, there may be other factors why it might not be reading it and you can find more information about that here.

Sometimes it may take a few tries and a little patience to make sure it’s all working right for you. But I guarantee, you will LOVE it when you use it!

Once it’s cut, it’ll look just like this:

I know. Oooooooh, ahhhhhhh.... I’m sayin’ it with ya. Normally the Print & Cut images don’t need any bleed—it gives you a precision cut. However, since designing these Print & Cut images was fairly new to me, I decided to throw in a bleed just in case. And as you can see, I didn’t need it!

Using Print & Cut is awesome for cutting a whole bunch of images at one time . . . either a multiple of designs to just have on hand or maybe you’re making 20 cards and want an accent. Or what about cutting several images to take to a crop for your friends? Can you imagine cutting out 30 of one of those monograms by hand for a bunch of cards? No way!

Here’s a few other tips:
* Printing on photo paper or presentation paper can produce better printed results. Presentation paper is like cardstock, only it gives a much richer color. I would use this often to print mock-ups back in the day (okay, it wasn’t that  long ago).

* A photo printer will always give you a much richer color result.

* You can find another couple great links for using Print & Cut here and here.

Now, for a couple more samples. Here’s one I made using that gorgeous word tab created by Loni Stevens (coming soon). Love her stuff! I also used Silhouette to cut my title.

I tried to add more to this page, but every time I did, it just didn’t work. I can tell simplicity is definitely me these days. ;)

Now, how ‘bout this other page by Nichol!

 

LOVE IT!  I love how she added little embellishments to the monogram! Great idea! And the two word tabs? Perfect! And you’ll also have to take note of the other shapes she used (already available), such as the restroom boy and girl (holding hands . . . awwww), the circle background—for which she added little stamps and accents in there. How cute is that? I’m so glad she creates pages and projects for us. :)

Ohhhhh, let’s share this other card she did using one of the monograms.

Sooooo cute! You could easily make ten of these to have on hand or to give as a gift.

Thanks so much for making such great examples Nichol! Love ‘em!

So you’ve had a little sneak peek at what’s coming (tabs and monograms) to the Online Store, you now know how to do Print & Cut, so now you’ll be all ready to play on Thursday (July 16th) with new images! Yahoo!

P.S Print & Cuts are indicated with a "P" in a square in the Online Store. There are also several Print & Cuts on the Portfolio CDs. You can see those here.

making the most of your silhouette shapes

I love thinking outside the box. I love looking at an embellishment (or shape) and think to myself, "What else can I do with this?" Hmm, this must be a result of scrapbooking the same products for QVC all those years. ;)

So is it any wonder that I do the same thing with my QuicKutz shapes? Here's a page I made recently:

And these are the shapes I used for it:

 

If you'll notice on my page, I have circles cut along the left side so it's all open. I love this look! To do this yourself, place that polka dot shape into a new document, resize it so it's as tall as you need it to be, Ungroup the shape, and remove the outside border so it looks like this in Robo Master:

You could also take this one step further and remove a few lines of dots. For example, perhaps you only wanted three columns of dots. With the image Ungrouped, select the area that you want gone and press Delete. Voila!

FYI, you might want to give it a test run before you use up your last piece of cardstock though. ;) While working on another project, I thought for sure it was what I wanted and used my last piece of cardstock in the color I needed--even though I'd already done a test run on another color (the test run is actually the background on this page). Um, yeah. Afterward, I decided I didn't like it after all and had to fudge something else. Whoops.

Okay, so onto the next shape . . . the "us" ribbon tab. I didn't have any chipboard shapes to satisfy my creativity, so I made this shape, cut it out three times and glued them all together to create the illusion of chipboard. It gives it about the same thickness and sturdiness as chipboard. I also used the flat, non-textured side of the cardstock to make it look even more realistic. So really, you can make just about any shape into a "chipboard" piece this way!

Now to the last shape. The Print & Cut "Living In The Moment" embellishment (available July 16--a little sneak peek). Originally this shape had rounded corners, but for this particular page, I wanted straight corners and didn't want to lose any of the image by trimming them off. So once again, I Ungrouped the image and removed the cut line, printed directly from the Robo Master software, and used my trimmer to cut as needed. Can I just say how much I love the Print & Cut feature?! It's like the never-ending embellishment or sticker! Love it!

I'll actually be sharing some tips on Print & Cut this week, so stay tuned for that!

Oh, and do you want that little "us" ribbon tab shape? Okay then. It's yours! For free even! It's available in the Online Store now. Woo hoo! I love free stuff!

Challenge Winners

  Wow. I'm glad to hear that everyone is a fan of these new shapes! I like them too. I forgot to mention that I really like the lamp post die because it reminds me of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I'm not quite sure how you'd utilize it for that purpose, but there you go. If one of you ever does a project like that, please send me a link :). So here they are folks, the three randomly selected challenge winners and their comments:

 

#23 You guys just keep getting better and better! Love all the new stuff! I would be so Stoked to win a couple of those Dies!!! Go Quickutz!!!

Posted by: Elaine B. in Southern Utah June 16, 2009 at 06:15 PM

#31 I think they are all great- how can anyone just pick one~ I always love ,love, love fonts so I will go with the number set to choose just 1!

Posted by: Maria | June 16, 2009 at 07:20 PM

#85 I am loving this release. My favorites are the washer and dryer. I can see so many other uses for this die. I am planning on using them as stove, air conditioner unit and dishwasher.

Posted by: mollybnvb | June 17, 2009 at 09:38 AM

 

Update: Molly actually won last month so I'm going to draw one more:

 

#98 When I first saw the toilet seat I laughed, but now I think it's my favorite! I'm a card maker and can see so many humorous cards that I could make with it!

Posted by: laura j | June 18, 2009 at 06:54 AM

Thanks ladies! Please send me your choice of dies (two) from this release and your address to customerservice@quickutz.com with Blog Challenge Winner as the subject.

For all you Silhouette fans out there, we also had a Silhouette release today. Use the Purchase Online button in your Silhouette Software to access the Online Store and start stocking up on cute new summer-themed shapes including picnic, the Fourth of July and Father’s Day. Here's a little sample.

 

 

Cards by Nichol Magourik

Having trouble accessing the Silhouette shapes? Go here for detailed instructions.

what a FABULOUS week!

I just wanted to say how much I’ve enjoyed playing with you all here on the QK blog this week! All of you QK and Hero Arts fans are just AMAZING! I’ve read every single comment and have gotten a kick out of so many! And Tammy G, the Silhouette does have metal in it, so I think it totally counts for your anniversary gift! (too funny.)

And to show my appreciation for all of you coming by this week, I thought I wouldn’t make you wait until the end of the post and instead, start it off with a HUGE GIVEAWAY for today from Hero Arts and QuicKutz. Yahoo!

How’s about winning a little “creative center” of your own? Would this do?

It’s our big mama give away! It’s a Silhouette SD, 2 $25 download cards, a roll of black and a roll of white vinyl, that amazing transfer paper, oodles of Hero Arts stamps AND a $50 shopping spree with Hero Arts as well as their 2009 Catalog!

WOW! A big thanks to Hero Arts for alllll of their generous donations for the giveaways this week! Just love those guys! This has been one of THE funnest (yeah, it’s a word in my little world) weeks I’ve ever had. I have loved the creativity shared by the designers on both blogs. Seeing the two products combine so beautifully? It’s simply been INCREDIBLE!

One winner will be drawn first thing Monday morning for the whole kit and caboodle! Good luck!

Should we enjoy one more round of visual delight? Sounds good to me!

Here's something from Jen Gallacher. You'll notice she used the same "Wonderful" title as Jennifer McGuire used on her card in Tuesday's post. And take a close look at not only the stars, which she embossed with stamps, but look at that square background. Jen left some of the insides, well . . . inside of the squares for a completely different look. So cool!

Supplies
Quickutz: Phrase_Wonderful_1546 shape, Scallop_Border_Large_1232 shape, Squares_Open Square_1305 shape, Star_1043 shape, Polka Dot embossing folder
Hero Arts: Scallop Border stamp set, Hello Circles stamp set, Sky’s the Limit stamp set
Other: Photo corners (Canson, Heidi Swapp), Orange gems (My Mind’s Eye), Ink (Versamark, Memories, Stampin’ Up), Clear embossing powder, Font: Vintage Typewriter (www.scrapvillage.com), 1.75” and 1” circle punches

Instructions:

1. Cut the Squares Open Square shape from gray cardstock.
2. Remove some of the open squares and mount on black cardstock.
3. Machine stitch around pattern and add tan photo corners.
4. Ungroup the Star 1043 shape and cut stars in several shapes from yellow cardstock.
5. Use the Versamark ink to stamp the flourish circle on the stars and emboss with clear embossing powder.
6. Punch several circles from green and light teal cardstock.
7. Rub edges with brown stamping ink and mount on gray grid.
8. Mount stars inside each circle.
9. Mount entire piece on dark teal cardstock.
10. Use the spiral circle from the “Hello Circles” stamp set to stamp purple circles on purple cardstock.
11. Trim and mount below black cardstock.
12. Print photo strip with black and white photos and mount on purple border.
13. Use Sand ink to stamp “You’re a Star” from the “Sky’s the Limit” stamp set onto light teal cardstock.
14. Trim and rub edges with brown stamping ink before mount on layout.
15. Use the Scallop Border Large 1232 shape to cut a scalloped border from white cardstock.
16. Mount beneath the light teal strip and add three orange gems to some of the open circles.
17. Use the Wonderful Phrase 1546 shape to cut the word from black cardstock.
18. Use the Polka Dot embossing folder to emboss a square of white cardstock.
19. Mount the “wonderful” phrase on the square and mount on olive cardstock (machine stitching together).
20. Mount again on a square of light teal cardstock, using two large gray photo corners.
21. Rub edges with brown stamping ink and mount on layout.
22. Add a purple strip just beneath the title.
23. Use the grid border to stamp a border on green cardstock.
24. Trim and mount on title.
25. Print journaling in strips, trim, rub edges with brown stamping ink, and mount on layout.

How cute is this card from Jen too? Love it!

Quickutz: Frame_1026 shape, Card_1013 shape
Hero Arts: Many Hearts stamp set
Other: Stamping ink: Stampin’ Up, Tsunieko, Inque Boutique, Pattern paper (Crate Paper), Twine (craft supply), Pop Dots (All Night Media)

Instructions:

1. Use Card 1013 shape to cut a card from Oatmeal cardstock.
2. Fold and use Sand stamping ink to stamp small hearts from the “Many Hearts” stamp set on the card front.
3. Mount the pattern paper strip onto brown cardstock and attach to card front.
4. Wrap twine several times around pattern paper strip and tie into a bow.
5. Ungroup the Frame 1026 shape and cut the outside outline three times from burgundy cardstock.
6. Mount on the pattern paper border with pop dots.
7. Use the heart and “love you” sentiment shapes from the “Many Hearts” stamp set to stamp images on white cardstock squares.
8. Rub edges with brown stamping ink and mount on burgundy frames.

And here is one more card from Nichol Magouirk. Loving that woodgrain stamp with the flowers set into it! And again, there goes Nichol making her own pink houndstooth background. :) Amazing! Oh, and Nichol shared a video on her blog yesterday about using the transfer tape. Go check it out here!

Okay, so Erin Lincoln didn’t do any stamping on this, but she did use this image from Silhouette . . .

 

. . . to cut QK vinyl so she could decorate this IKEA table and chairs!

How stinkin’ cute is that?! And that’s a monkey, not Hank . . . just in case you needed clarification. ;) She Ungrouped the image (select the image, Edit/Ungroup), removed the outside edge, and then used just the circles. The table took nine cuts and the chair took three cuts.

Thanks so much for sharing that Erin! Love it!

Now here are the winners for yesterday's giveaway.

Winner of the embossing folder and dies is:
Diana Fisher, who said: “Just when I didn't think the stuff from HA and QK could get any cuter! Thanks!!”

Winner of the Hero Arts stamps is:
Laurie, who said, “Cute blog today!  I'm crossing my fingers that I can win today!”

Congratulations ladies! E-mail us your contact information at customerservice@quickutz.com and put QK/HA BLOG WINNER in the Subject line. We’ll get that right out to you!

Once again, thank you all so much for stopping by this week and playing in all the giveaways! We hope you continue to come and see what we’re up to!

And don't forget to check out the Hero Arts blog today and all through the weekend too. They like to party all week long. I told you they were fun people. :) Again, to Hero Arts, thank you so much for all your generousity and for all the fun we've had this week. You guys are amazing!

[this contest is now closed]

pages and projects and tips, oh my!

Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore. Obviously there’s just way too much color and pizazz here on this blog. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?

So much to share today! Let’s get started!

Here’s another page from the gorgeous Miss Loni Stevens. She’s using those wonderful Silhouette Bookends! They look amazing bordering that large photo! And I love how she embossed the heart and “16" with Hero Arts stamps! So stinkin’ cute!

(P.S. I don't know why the coloring is off on this. No matter what I tried I couldn't get it to be the gorgeous soft pink and red that it's suppose to be. "If I only had a brain....")

Supplies
Hero Arts: the dots and the vines
QuicKutz: bookends_1345, swirl_1429, heart_1439

How about this page from ever-so charming Miss Nichol Magouirk! Love how she used a background stamp to pattern-up her tree...or...well...everything on her page! Nothing like making your own patterned paper, eh?

Supplies
QuicKutz: tree_1123 (Silhouette), grass_1027 (Silhouette)
Hero Arts: S5141 Four Leaf Grid, S5208 Designer Woodgrain, D5214 Birdy, K5175 Houndstooth, G5188 Live in the Moment
Other: Stamp Ink (VersaMark, Memories Black, Staz-on Jet Black), Patterned Paper (Dream Street, Cosmo Cricket), Brads (Doodlebug), Embossing Powder (American Crafts)

And now for the lovely Miss Jen Gallacher and this gorgeous card! Love the mix of the embossing, die cutting and stamping! Not to mention the colors definitely fit in our land of Oz today . . . they are gorgeous!

Supplies
QuicKutz: Flower_1021, Polka Dot embossing folder
Hero Arts: Precious Baby stamp set, Sky’s the Limit stamp set, Pearls
Other: Photo corners (Canson), Ribbon (Offray & Sons), Pop Dots (All Night Media), Stamping ink (Stampin’ Up, Memories, Inque Boutique), Pen (Inque Boutique), 2” Circle Punch

Instructions:

1. Use the Polka Dot embossing folder to emboss on orange cardstock.
2. Wrap satin ribbon around the rectangle twice and knot before adding to card with photo corners.
3. Use the multi star stamp from the “Sky’s the Limit” stamp set to stamp brown stars on rust cardstock.
4. Trim and mount on card.
5. Use the Flower 1021 shape to cut a flower from teal cardstock (I ungrouped the inside and outside of the flower and only used the outside outline of the shape for this card.)
6. Mount on card with pop dots.
7. Use the open star to stamp sand colored stars on white cardstock.
8. Punch out with 2” circle punch and rub edges with brown stamping ink.
9. Use black ink and the “so precious” sentiment from the “Precious Baby” stamp set to stamp a sentiment on the circle.
10. Mount circle on flower.
11. Use the crown stamp from the “Precious Baby” stamp set to stamp a black crown on oatmeal cardstock.
12. Use a dark brown marker to color in portions of the crown.
13. Add three tiny pearls to the crown.
14. Trim and mount on card with pop dots.

So the other day I asked our resident Guru, all-wise and all-knowing, customer service extraordinaire—Brian, a.k.a. The Great and Powerful Oz, what was something that he gets a lot of questions about, either over the phones or at shows. He said this tip from designer Angela Urbano is something people love when they hear it. Apparently Angela used this tape back in art college and found it worked great with all her QuicKutz shapes, especially the letters in her titles.

Here’s what she says about aligning letters in your title:

The tape I use is by 3M Scotch® MagicT Tape 811 (Matte Finish- Removable). This is a matte scotch tape that can be used over and over.

1. First cut your desired title and align the bottom edge of your first letter to a guideline—the edge of your table, a ruler or pencil line, etc.
2. Cut a strip of tape the length of your title and add an extra 2" so you can hold the tape on both ends.
3. Holding the tape strip on both ends, pick up your first letter by positioning it along the bottom of your tape strip. Continue to align your letters on the strip until you have your entire title/word on the strip.
4. Take your title and figure out the placement by moving it around your page. You can tape it down and change your mind. That's what is great about this tape, you don't have to commit until you've seen it in various positions.
5. Once you know where you would like to glue it down, turn the title over to expose the back of the letters, add adhesive, flip the entire strip over and place it on your page.
6. Hold a couple of minutes until glue dries and lift the tape off and voila!

I love this tape because I can tape photos, shapes, titles and other bits down until I am ready to permanently adhere them to my page. What's even better? I save me tape strips for my next layout. You can find the tape at any office supply store like Office Depot, Target, Walmart, etc.

Now that’s a great tip!

What was that? Oh. Yes. Glinda would like me to tell you all who the winners are for yesterday. She loves a happy “little” blog and nothing makes her little munchkins happier than getting prizes, not even a lollipop from The Lollipop Guild (sorry guys).

The winner of the Zing Embossing Powders is:
Mary Botolotta, who said: “you guys are totally making me want a silhouette!!! now stop it!! just kidding..love all the ideas.and thank you for the wonderful giveaways...i'm just hoping that my name gets picked!!”

The winner of the Hero Arts stamps is:
Jennie, who said: “Wonderful prizes. I always love the sneak peaks of products "coming soon!"”

And the winner of the QuicKutz dies and embossing folder is:
Pam K, who said: “That little boy is a cutie and I love the prizes. I've been drooling over that photo frame since it came out.”

Congratulations ladies! E-mail us your contact information at customerservice@quickutz.com and put QK/HA BLOG WINNER in the Subject line. We’ll get that right out to you!

And we’d better not forget what’s down that yellow brick road for tomorrow’s winners. Here they are! FABulous stuff!

From Hero Arts:

From QuicKutz:

Don't forget to check out what's happening in the Emerald City over there on the Hero Arts blog. Fun stuff indeed!

[this contest is now closed]

round three!

Here we are. Another day into our week-long QuicKutz + Hero Arts extravagaaaaaanza!

I think we need to see some more examples! Here we have the lovely Jen Gallacher sharing this adorable page on her little boy! Isn’t he the cutest? There's something a bit mischievous with that smile, I think. ;) I love her combination of die cuts and stamps . . . making this page just POP! FABulous! Take a close look at all her little details.

Supplies: Quickutz Supplies Used:
QuicKutz: Flower_4 Petal Border 1224, Frame 1509, Phrase_Family_1480
Triangle Border Tiny 1259
Hero Arts: Many Hearts stamp set, Branch n’ Leaf stamp set, Sky’s the Limit stamp set, Scallop Borders stamp set, Borders stamp set
Other: Scallop circle punches (McGill, EK Success), Circle punches (EK Success, McGill), Buttons (We R’ Memory Keepers), Twine (Craft Supply), Brads (Karen Foster Design), Photo corner (Canson), Book paper (vintage), Stamping ink (Inque Boutique, Stampin’ Up, Memories), Black embossing powder (Inque Boutique)

Here are Jen's instructions for making her page:

1. Use the Flower 4 Petal Border 1224 shape to cut a border from yellow cardstock.
2. Mount on orange cardstock and rub edges with brown stamping ink.
3. Machine stitch to dark brown cardstock.
4. Use the open scallop stamp from the “Scallop Borders” stamp set to stamp on olive cardstock.
5. Trim, rub edges with brown stamping ink, and wrap with twine.
6. Use the floral border from the “Borders” stamp set to stamp on light teal cardstock.
7. Trim and mount on yellow flower petal border.
8. Use the Frame 1509 to cut a frame from black cardstock.
9. Mount inner frames on vintage book paper and trim.
10. Mount outside frame piece on book paper frame and mount on layout.
11. Add two white mini brads to each side of the frame.
12. Ungroup the Phrase Family 1480 shape and cut only the “LOVE” word from black cardstock.
13. Mount inside title frame.
14. Use the dot heart from the “Many Hearts” stamp set to stamp a heart on olive cardstock.
15. Cut out and rub edges with brown stamping ink.
16. Mount on title and add a button tied with twine.
17. Use the owl from the “Branch n’ Leaf” stamp set to stamp on rust cardstock.
18. Punch out with 1.5” circle punch and mount on a 1.75” olive punched circle.
19. Mount once more on 2” scallop circle punches and mount on layout.
20. Add black mini brads to the owl eyes of each punched shape.
21. Use Versamark ink to stamp the “life is brighter” sentiment from the “Sky’s the Limit” stamp set onto teal cardstock.
22. Emboss the sentiment with black embossing powder.
23. Punch out with 2” circle punch and rub edges with brown stamping ink.
24. Mount on 2.5” tan scallop circle punch and machine stitch together.
25. Mount on layout with pop dots.
26. Print journaling on tan cardstock.
27. Use sand ink to stamp the branch stamp from the “Branch n’ Leaf” stamp set on oatmeal cardstock.
28. Use the Triangle Border Tiny 1259 shape to cut a triangle border from white cardstock.
29. Rub edges with brown stamping ink and mount beneath journaling block.
30. Machine stitch in place and add two buttons tied with twine.

And now for a page from me. I love sharing sneak peeks. But it’s almost like giving a kid a sucker—only getting one or two licks—and then telling them they can finish the rest of it in a few days. I’m really not a torturous soul. I just love sharing what’s to come! I think it’s fun! :)

(See that guy sucking his Hawaiian ice there on the right? That's QK's own Andrea Smith's hubby--they were on this Scrapbooking with Lisa Cruise too. She went parasailing and he came with us shopping . . . and eating! And I should add that he was the perfect gentleman in giving his wife the spot at parasailing. What a guy!)

Here's what I used and did:

1. Cut my own title using an elongated (stretched) Impact font (I love tall letters!).
2. I'm new to the Revolution embossing world and wanted to use my new Stripes Label embossing folder. However, I didn't have a mat to use in my Revolution, so I cut a piece of fairly thick chipboard and used that as a temporary mat to get those variegated lines. They probably would have been more defined had I used what I was suppose to. ;) But hey, it worked! That's what you call improvising!
3. Used the Hawaii tag (hawaii_tag_1642), a photo corner (photo_corner_1561—love it because you can make it as big as you want), and the new shape—that diamond flower pattern—already distressed, of course. Perfect for a tropical page or a teenage boy’s page!
4. All the die cuts accented beautifully with the “Travel” border stamp and a little flourish stamp from Hero Arts.
5. Embossed stamp images with Zing embossing powders from American Crafts, of course. Love those! They are my new favorite toy!

Would you like to see another new image or two . . . or three? . . . coming out for Silhouette next Thursday (the 18th)? Are you feeling patriotic? Not quite yet? Do these help?

   

 

Now that’s something to celebrate! ;)

So speaking of the Zing Embossing powders, how about I give a few away to use with your Hero Arts stamps? Great colors to work with those 4th of July or pool pages, eh?

And some Hero Arts stamps too? Loving these designs!

Of course, our giveaways today would not be complete without some fabulous dies and embossing folder from us! I've got some ideas for that instant photo die. :)

Just leave your comment in today’s post and you’ll be entered to win one of these glorious three prizes!

And speaking of winners, the winners of yesterday’s prizes are:

Hero Arts Stamps
Carolyn, who said:
Congrats to the winners...Nichol, what an adoreable page. I just love those pics and the colors..wow! I've been watching HA blog since I started scrapping 11/07 and Jennifer Is soooooo talented...What awesome giveaways...thanks for a chance to win...I've not won anything on HAs blog so maybe I'll get lucky here...I wish I had a Silhouette...

QK Dies and Embossing Folder
Fran H, who said:
More wonderful and amazing products. Love them all! Love the beautiful card.
Thanks for posting and inspiring us.

Silhouette Downlaoad card
Jenny M who said:
What a great pack of prizes offered.  I hope I win.  Thanks for a chance to win.

Don’t forget to check out the Hero Arts blog and my blog for more fun stuff! This is going to be really sad when the week is over.

[this contest is now closed.]

another fabulous day!

Well, we’re off to a great start this week! We’ve had a lot of Hero Arts fans visiting . . . lovin’ that! We LOVE Hero Arts too!

I suppose you’re wanting to know who the winners are?

Really?

Are you sure?

Okay then. Here they are.

Winner of the stamps:
Michelle V who said:
“Love that Cityscape!! I also really like those stamps...would be great to have them. ;)”

Winner of the dies and embossing folder:
Melanie Arrowood who said:
“This is a fabulous idea! Incorporating two of my favorite things: Quickutz and stamping! Brilliant! I can't wait to see all the samples this week!”

Congratulations ladies! E-mail us your contact information at customerservice@quickutz.com and put QK/HA BLOG WINNER in the Subject line. We’ll get that right out to you!

Now, for a little eye candy!

One of my favorite combo-designers (stamps & dies) is Nichol Magouirk. She has such a way of putting it all together! It truly is eye candy! You just have to pore over all her work to soak in every little detail. For example, check out this page . . . isn’t it amazing?! Look at all the layering, so subtle, yet so wow!

Supplies:
QuicKutz: frame_1479, circle_scallop_LG_1178, circle_scallop_LG_1177, circle_scallop_MED_1186, flower_popup_0942, flower_1021
Hero Arts: K5232 Dot Flourish Border, S5101 Raindrop Background, CL184 Clear Design Thoughtful Messages, CL272 Clear Design All Occasion Messages, CL332 Friendship, CL284 Clear Design Friend, CL291 Clear Design Hello Circles, Small Pearl Gems
Other: Patterned Paper, Crate Paper. Cardstock, American Crafts. Brads, Sassafras Lass & Making Memories. Scallop Punch, Fiskars. Embossing Powders, American Crafts.

Here is a card from none other than Jennifer McGuire . . . Miss Hero Arts herself! This girl is sooooo incredibly talented! I think her name is synonymous with Hero Arts. Her stamping is genius! And it works beautifully on these die cut images from Silhouette! I also love her feature articles in Creating Keepsakes Magazine.

Look closely at all those little details on the card. Think you can figure out all that she did? Hmm . . . let’s see if you got it right.

1. Cut “Wonderful” (phrase_wonderful_1546) title using Silhouette on white cardstock.
2. Stamped “Dots and Lines” stamp with Versamark onto the “Wonderful” title and heat embossed with white embossing powder.
3. Rubbed “Scattered Straw” Distress Ink over the stamped image with a Ranger Foam Inking Tool.
4. Cut flourish (flourish_1019) with Silhouette on white cardstock and rubbed with “Tea Dye” Distress Ink with a Ranger Foam Inking Tool.
5. Adhered all items to kraft card
6. Cut “You” with Silhouette on white cardstock and inked it with yellow ink.
7. Cut Butterfly (butterfly_1510) with Silhouette on white cardstock. Stamped a script Hero Arts image with Versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder.
8. Added wire antenna.
9. Adhered Hero Arts Pearls to the body.

I tell you, she’s genius! She made every single Silhouette shape come to life using a few Hero Arts stamps, some ink and some embossing powder. Wow!

Now boys and girls, it’s time for some more giveaways. I looooove giving stuff away! So how about we start with more incredible stamps from Hero Arts. Check out these designs!

And here’s some more totally cool dies and embossing folder from QK!

And because I’m feeling saucy, how about we throw in one of these for a prize! A $25 Silhouette download card!

Just leave a comment in today’s post and we’ll randomly choose three winners and announce them in tomorrow’s post.

And if you’re itching for some more examples, ideas, and tips & tricks, here's a few sites to look at:
Silhouette Idea Gallery
QK Idea Gallery
Hero Arts Learning
Two Peas in a Bucket: Die Cutting
Two Peas in a Bucket:  Stamps

Be sure to check out what Hero Arts is doing—and giving away—on their blog today! And you may want to check out my own blog too, I told you I like giving things away, didn’t I? ;)

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Hero Arts + QuicKutz. A match made in scrapbook heaven.

What could be better than using dies, embossing folders and Silhouette images on a scrapbook page? How about using them with Hero Arts stamps!

Hero Arts is an industry leader in the world of stamping. They exude creativity and are pretty darn amazing people to work with! Seriously. They are considered the innovator in the stamp, cardmaking and scrapbooking markets. The company turns 35 years old in 2009 and remains passionate about stamping, they are obsessed with quality, and ever-so dedicated to their customers. Hero Arts is also a certified green business and all of their stamps are manufactured with care in the USA. Gotta love that!

We are so excited to bring you a week filled of pages and projects using products from both QuicKutz and Hero Arts. Our little designers have been busy stamping and punching and gluing until their fingers have turned blue! Or wait, maybe that’s from the blue stamping ink. ;)

Every day this week, we will be sharing some fabulous ideas from this little design factory and there will also be giveaways on both the QuicKutz blog and the Hero Arts blog! And not only that, each giveaway will have products from both companies! Yahoo! Who doesn’t like free stuff? And at the end of the week here on the QK blog will be our big mamma of the giveaways!

Want to see some fun stuff now? Okay!

This page is brought to you by none other than the uber-talented Loni Stevens! Love how she used the cityscape on her page! It almost makes it look like a storybook. Pay close attention to all her little details–from stitching, to gems, to adding text onto her photographs. Love it!

Supplies:
QuicKutz Silhouette: Cityscape_1314 and Title
Hero Arts stamps: Modern Lines (on the brown) and Raindrops Background (on the green)
Other: Cardstock, Bazzill Basics. Gems, Imaginesce.

How about this darling baby boy card by the amazing Jen Gallacher! Not only is she talented in scrapbooking, but she is so fast! I love all the animal stamps she framed inside a Silhouette circle border. Great idea!

Supplies:
QuicKutz Silhouette: Triangle_Border_Tiny_1259 and Circle_Border_1411
Hero Arts: Precious Baby and Designer Alphabet stamps
Other: Ink, Versamark and Inque Boutique. Embossing powder and markers, Inque Boutique. Copper attachment, We R Memory Keepers. Gingham ribbon, Li'l Davis Designs. Blue patterned paper, Pebbles Inc.   

Thanks for sharing your amazing creations ladies!

Giveaway? Did someone say giveaway? Why yes, we did! One random winner will win  these three stamps from Hero Arts. How cool are they?

Another random winner will get these super fun dies and 12" embossing border from QK!

We will draw the two winners first thing Tuesday morning, so make sure you leave a comment in today’s post and you’ll be eligible to win!

What an incredible week we have in store! Stay tuned to both the Hero Arts and QuicKutz blog. It’s a week you won’t want to miss! And be sure to visit the Hero Arts blog today, because today is their “big mamma” of giveaways!

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For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Kerri Bradford and I’m fairly new to the QK company, but I’ve been in the scrapbooking business for about 10 years working with Lisa Bearnson on QVC pages and designing for Creating Keepsakes’ Kit of the Month program.

QK has always been one of my favorite companies to work with. How fortunate for me that they took me on to do some designing for their Silhouette . . . and I’m having a ball! I’m very passionate about the Silhouette and the instant gratification that comes from using it–and designing for it! I don’t think there’s any other product of any kind on the market that can have the “production time” like we have for Silhouette. Something trendy, right here, right now? We can make something for it and have it out within a month. Now that’s fast!

You’ll be hearing from me all week here on the QK blog. You can also check out my blog this week because I'll be sharing a few more things . . . and you never know . . . I might just have to give something away too! As a Silhouette image designer . . . I got connections. ;)

[this contest is now closed]