ScanNCut Magic!

Disclosure: I am a paid consultant for Brother International Corporation and have received a ScanNCut from Brother to evaluate. However, the opinions expressed are entirely my own and based on my use of the product.

ScanNCut from Brother International (tm)  has quite a few functions that makes it unique as a cutting machine but of course most of these are made possible because of the built in scanner :)

One of my favorite functions is called Direct Cut.

Direct cut is exactly what it sounds like... it cuts directly from your surface either a shape or design or your choice OR a selection direct from the pattern of your surface.




 I used the Direct Cut function to cut this beautiful design out of my graphic 45 paper.

 

 ScanNCut makes fussy cutting obsolete. No need for scissors, ScanNCut does all of the tricky cutting for you. 

Look at the beautiful precision of this cut and I didn't use scissors, only ScanNCut!

Here are a few more detailed shots of this layout.

 

 

And look at how I was able to use the background scan on this scrap of paper to use the pen tool to create my title! It is hard to see because my paper is off white, but you can see the faint outline of the paper on the screen below.

 

And here is the title printed on the scrap of paper with ScanNCut.

Make sure to check out the ScanNCut site, it is now LIVE and FULL of inspiration! Also share this with your friends, it is amazing what ScanNCut can do!

www.ScanNCut.com

Also check out my facebook page Liz Hicks Studios for the latest and greatest on ScanNCut and my other projects.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Liz♥

Bad Girls May Kit...

It's that time again, only this time... Bad Girls is giving you a totally nostalgic work of art to call your own. Just in time for your mothers day wishes, Bad Girls brings a totally amazing kit, "Post Cards from Paris". This kit is FULL of amazing product from 7 Gypsies, Prima, Hambly and Bad Girls private collection! I really enjoyed this months kit, it was full of some wonderful vintage ephemera, brass and of course beautiful Prima flowers and 7 Gypsies PAPER! I especially loved the flocked paper. So here is what I came up with:

Magic

2 Hear you Speak

Tea for 2

Sweet Baby Girl

EYE to EYE Mini Album

So here are this months Layouts, I am getting ready to upload them onto the Bad Girls site, so if you want the background of the layouts and any techniques that I used feel free to pop on into the gallery and check them out.

I am still recovering from this weekend, it ws Sooooo much fun getting to spend it with Wendy and Kyle, the four of us (James took a train down to meet us the last few days) just could not stop laughing, my stomach still hurts! Any how, I have been meaning to post some pics of trip to Colorado and this past weekend, I will try and do that this week.

Enjoy your week!!!

~Liz

Bad Girls project- Sweet Profile

This layout was created with the Bad Girls April Kit. A quick tip to maximize your lettering is to use it as a mask and paint over to create the illusion of the title, adding glimmer mist also helps you customize the color to your liking, and if you are an over acheiver (which my hands are still mad at me for) you can hand stich around your title to get the totally outlined effect. The big butterfly is a cut out of a hambly and used as a mask.

Hope this helps keep your creative gears in motion!

~Liz

The Good... The Bad.... And the STICKY!

So let me break it down like this!

THE GOOD...

Well some of you may have heard it on my Facebook post, but yesterday my sweet son ate grilled chicken for the first time, it may not sound like much, but to a mom of a 5 year old boy who only eats chicken nuggets, fruit and PB&J's this was VICTORY! He has issues with harder textures so this was a definate win for our family!



SO now the Bad.... and oh is it BAD!

Here is one of my Layouts for Bad Girls, I have added a slide show of my DT work at the bottom of my blog, but by posting these individual posts, it helps for those who want to be able to see detailed pics. Here is the layout called Curious Boy. I hand stitched the rain drops, added paint, stickles and of course cardboard, and VOILA... one of my most favorite layouts to date! I based this page off of a sketch that Kara did over at Bad Girls. Check them out if yo uget a chance, this months kit is Totally spring and Sooooo much fun!

You may have noticed that I added another design team to my list, I was asked a few months back by Kerri over at SCRAPBOOK ADHESIVES BY 3L if I would be interested in joining their DT, and well since I already use their goodies anyways, I said OF COURSE! I am seriously pinching myself with the wonderful companies I am so very blessed to work with!

SCRAPBOOK ADHESIVES BY 3L is my absolute favoritist (and yes this IS a word, I have been using it since the second grade!) in the whole wide world!!! They rock with the versatility of adhesives that they offer. Take a look at their site when you get a chance, they also have an online shop now that you can purchase from and all sales are directed to retailers, so the sales are not taken away from the retail market. My goal with SA is to show how you can use their adhesives as art mediums rather than just sticky stuff you use to scrap with. I am on a quest to show EVERYONE how to wear their adhesive on the outside! Believe me, you'll love it!

So if you didn't guess... that was the sticky... although it could qualify as the good too!

thanks for peeking in today!

~Liz

Hello 3...

Here is another layout of my sweet baby girl. This is using even more of my Bad Girls March Kit. With this layout I tried a few different things to make my product stretch, hope they help your creative mind start to crank.

Using decorative paper to create a frame, and using Prima Say It In Crystals (clear) to add depth to your frame

Using your foam self adhesive letters as a stamp.



With this layout I wanted to try and have fun, but my mad scientist brain never stops. I first started with the Prima patterned paper sewed some random stripes down the side and then split them open to reveal the cardboard that I backed the page with. After I slit it open I used water to roll the paper back and give it a curled distress look.

The frame

I free handed a bracket frame and cut out the middle. I then cut up some Prima Say It In Crystals and layered them around the frame. I then painted the crystals to match the frame. This gave the frame depth, and well I love textures!!!

The Flowers

Because the flowers were mostly pink and red, I used my never failing Glimmer Mist to alter the flowers to match my fancy. I then flanked them with the ever lovely Prima velvet leaves and created quilled vines with the Crate Paper ribbons. I centered my flowers with the extra crystals that I had from cutting them up for the frame. I took each individual crystal and cut it up, and layered them onto each other.

The Title

This is my favorite part!!! For this, I used the lullabye letters from American Crafts, to create the stamped look, I took the letters I needed and using repositionable tape by SCRAPBOOK ADSHESIVES BY3L, I glued the non adhesived part (the top) of the letters to a stamp block and as this left the original adhesived back portion of the letters exposed, I covered this portion with clear embossing powder so that I could stamp with the letters. I used paint to stamp with and the cool thing about this, is that you could still use the letters after you are done stamping with them, so again...adding another use for your product!

The outer frame

The outer frame is a combo of the decorative paper from Creative Imaginations and Prima's Flirty Little Secret paper line. I cut around the outer edge of the Prima paper and took the very outer edge of the decorative paper. I sewed them together. Lastly I randomly cut out leaves, that was a happy accident that well, I was trying out for another layout, and well it worked well for this one.

All the contents used for this layout can be found in the March Bad Girls Kit.

ALSO I was just linked from the Marks Paper Facebook site to a Marks Paper Giveaway, here is the link to the info on the givaway (two full lines of paper!) and also while your at it, check out the Facebook group.

I hope this crazy concoctions finds you well and you are having a great day!

~Liz

Therapuetic

Yesterday I found myself full of emotion. Overwhelmed once again but this time with the everday normal stuff. And for these days I am thankful. The normal days as stressful as they may be, I longed for them as I spent each morning preparing for the juggling of Sawyer's therapy and Jackson's Preschool. I stil remember the chaos that I called life just hoping for a normal day to take a break and breathe. Well now that those are here, I promise to always remember them as a blessing regardless of what each day may bring. Things have been a little crazy here as some of you may know. Although the reality of life may try and tear down my joy, Nothing can take away my miracles and keep me from being an overcomer.

This LO, caught me by surprise. I walked into our kitchen and found my daughter lining up lotion bottles. Something that I would have feared (as a sign of Autism) before but now find comfort in as just a normal childhood behavior. Just before fear was ready to grip me, I remembered that I am past that. But I couldn't pass up this opportunity to record my thoughts.

Fear No More

Journaling-

I never would have thought that lotion lined up would bring me to tears.Although the days of worrying about Autism in our house have passes. I still cannot forget the wonderous miracle of what we have overcome.I am no longer a prisoner of fear, but yet a casualty of hope.