My Core'dinations Creative Frenzy

I had so much fun this weekend designing with Core'dinations papers, various die cuts and punches, and a new "Incredible" stamp set by Technique Tuesday. I am a big fan of Core'dinations cardstock because of its great colors, textured and non-textured options and no white core. I use it all the time and run to JoAnn's Fabric and Crafts Store every time they have a paper sale to stock up.

My first card above started with two pieces of Core'dinations paper from The Chocolate Box Collection. These papers are brown on one side and brightly colored on the other side. I die cut the feathers (Lifestyle Crafts) out of the gold and red sides and embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder. I also cut a feather out of chipboard and left that in the die to emboss the top feather shape.

Here is a picture of the sandwich I used in the Big Shot to create the embossed feather shape. From the bottom up, here is the order you use: 1.) Glass Plate. 2.) Feather die with chipboard. 3.) Core'dinations paper textured brown side up. 4.) "No More Shims" thick embossing mat. 5.) Glass Plate.

I have taken the picture to show each layer in order, but when running it through the Big Shot, each layer would be directly over the next one. "No More Shims" Professional Embossing Mat is a very thick embossing mat made in the U.K. by Once Upon a Stamp and distributed in the U.S.A. by Scor-Pal, and works beautifully for embossing with many products in die cutting machines.

After embossing the feather die into the brown Core'dinations paper, I used a sanding block to sand the shape, resulting in the yellow showing through. I also sanded the edges of the top layer so there was a hint of yellow showing. I stamped the sentiment from Ali Edward's Incredible set by Technique Tuesday, then attached the completed front to a darker brown card made from The Chocolate Box Core'dinations Collection. The baker's twine was added to finish the card.

OK I have to say it- the second card I made this weekend with Core'dinations paper, die cuts and my new stamp set is way cool. I love the color combo from The Black Magic Collection of lime green and very dark brown. I embossed the green card base with another Sizzix embossing folder (this one a Tim Holtz Alterations). Then I cut a rectangle from the dark brown with my Fiskars deckle scissors. The Twiggy Tree die from Memory Box was cut twice, once in the green and once in dark brown. I layered the green tree on the rectangle, trimmed off the edges and then matched up the brown tree to complete the image. The "cool' sentiment is from my new favorite Incredible set by Technique Tuesday.

My last project made this weekend with Core'dinations cardstock features my two favorite fellas- my loving husband and sweet grandson. Grandpa and Nate had so much fun raking together this fall when we watched him for a few days that I just had to pull out my camera and snap some pictures. What better way to remember the good times than to scrapbook them? I started with a beautiful "Core Color" 12 x 12 sheet and framed the main picture with burgandy Core'dinations Foundation textured paper. I used some other shades of the Foundations line to punch the smaller leaves (ek success and Martha Stewart punches) and die cut the larger leaves (Spellbinders.) The words were die cut using Sizzix Sizzlets and more beautiful Core'dinations paper. I added some fun fall alliteration from the same Incredible stamp set by Technique Tuesday.

A handy tip I can share with you: to attach small punched or die cut pieces such as the leaves and the letters, I use Sticky Dots Die-Cut Adhesive by Therm O Web. It is easy to use and sticks great! Way more economical that glue dots and much less messy than glue.

One more picture to share of my favorite Grandpa and grandson close up. Love those smiles!

Thanks for visiting today and viewing my Core'dinations Creative Frenzy. I had fun designing with this great paper and hope you enjoyed the pictures and projects from my weekend of creativity.

Stamping smiles, Karen