Cuttlebug Challenge Red, White and Blue with Buttons.

This is my first ever entry into the Cuttlebug Challenge so I am happy just to get it respectable with a 6 year old and 8 year old boy helping as much as they can since its school holidays! So the Challenge was 4th of July (which we don’t have here in Australia) or Meda’s Birthday (Happy Birthday Meda!) including red, white and blue with buttons and the bonus of using the swiss dots embossing folder. Well I fulfilled all except the swiss dots, since I do not yet own the folder and my nearest real craft store is 8 hours drive away!

So, with my boys helping, we chose the Cuttlebug 2x2 Stars to cut red, white and blue craft foam. We embossed some Craft Market light blue card stock with the dots folder from the Cuttlebug With Love border set. Then we used the Nestabilities Scalloped Large Ovals by Spellbinders to emboss and cut the blue foam and white cardstock to make the centre feature. Then we stamped the sentiment and used some embossing powder to add some sparkle and amusement for the boys as they watched it melt. Then we finished the card with a few heart buttons from our stash. The three of us had fun doing this challenge and I think I will have two eager helpers waiting for the next challenge!

I learned a lot doing this challenge since I have only been card making since about February. Firstly I finally found a way of getting the Cuttlebug border not to leave a mark where the edge of the folder sits; I had to put a layer of hot glue on the outside of the top of the folder and let it dry then run it through without the second B plate but with the silicone mat (embossing mat). There is probably a much easier way to do this I am sure but it did work! Feel free to enlighten me of any easier ways.

The second thing I learned was to use double sided tape to hold things in place with tape when embossing and cutting with Nestabilities. They have a habit of moving when I lift the silicone mat.

Thirdly, never dismiss the kids craft foam, it worked quite well for this I thought. It added height and took the embossing well.

Lastly but most importantly I learned to never turn my back on an 8 year old, a pile of buttons and glue... I will leave that one to the imagination but it took a while to remove the glue from my desk! Still we did have fun and that’s the main thing.

Thanks for reading, have a lovely day!