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Putting together a slideshow is no small feat. It’s not easy to dig through a lifetime of pictures and choose only a sampling that reflects your life story. But the end result is worth the work. With a few man-hours and a little personalization, a wedding slideshow can be an experience the people will enjoy and even remember. Your wedding will probably be the only time in your life that you can force a large, captive audience to watch ten minutes of footage all about you, so why not make it entertaining?  You may even get to watch your guests reacting like this:

Mr. Eggplant’s cousin watching our slideshow.

Or like this:

My MOH during our slideshow.

Me, totally embarrassed from the tween-year pictures that Mr. Eggplant included in our slideshow.
*All images property of Apertura Photography

I can’t believe I’m about to share my awful adolescent pictures on the internet. But for the sake of helping other brides, I will endure a little embarrassment.  If you happen to find our slideshow useful, you can thank Mr. Eggplant for the video. Without his help, I wouldn’t have been able to post it for you guys. He went through the trouble of voicing over names to protect the privacy of our family members. He also has quite a few unflattering, nerd-o pictures in the video, so beware.

(Minutes 1:35 to 3:29 are all baby pics, so skip to minute 3:30 if you get bored.)

The slideshow project was Mr. Eggplant’s baby from start to finish. As a mass communications major in college, Mr. Eggplant has always had a love for all things media-related. He really wanted our slideshow to be funny, entertaining, and illustrative of our story. Many long nights were spent poring over video footage and scanning piles of baby pictures. Papa Eggplant gave us some video footage of me as a toddler. The footage added an element that our guests really enjoyed. After everything was scanned and uploaded, we spent a few hours recording a narration of the video. Mr. Eggplant taught himself the tips and tricks of iMovie through various web resources. As a final touch, he thoughtfully paired the perfect songs with each video and photo montage. The tunes that he picked and the timing of the music made all the difference in the world (watch minute 6:50 of the slideshow if you’re not sure what I’m talking about. ).

I hope you enjoyed our wedding slideshow. If you have any questions regarding Mr. Eggplant’s process, leave ‘em here and I’ll send him on over to answer.
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The back of the die is padded with foam. If you press down on the foam, you can feel the metal stencil edge that cuts through the paper.

For my project, I only needed to cut one flower so I trimmed a small piece of paper down and placed it over the shape that I wanted to use. To use the dies, you will need to use the sandwich technique that I showed you in my first tutorial. (A plate + B plate + die tool + cardstock + B plate). Once I finished assembling the Cuttlebug sandwich, I cranked it through the machine.

I removed the top plate and here is what the die cut looked like.

After removing all the surrounding paper scraps, I was left with a single perfectly cut flower.

Note that the top B plate of the Cuttlebug sandwich will have permanent impressions engraved from the metal edges of the dies. The plate warps a bit when it is sandwiched with the dies and will eventually need to be replaced after heavy usage.

I added the flower as an embellishment to another thank you card I made. The card is 5.5″ x 4.25″ and the center rectangle is 4.25″ x 3″. I layered the center piece with different patterned paper and ribbon. “Thank you” is stamped on a small piece of white paper and layered onto a rectangle of celery-colored cardstock that I cut with a pair of scalloped scissors.

Here’s a close up picture. I added a little rhinestone to the middle of the flower to give the card some sparkle.

Go out and buy your Cuttlebug today!
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This Cuttlebug embossing folder is called Divine Swirl.

I cut a piece of paper to the size that I wanted it and then placed it between the embossing folder.

Next, I did the whole cuttlebug sandwich process that I talked about in my last entry and I cranked it through the machine. Out popped a sheet of swirly embossed paper!

This is a slit punch. It punches a half circle through a sheet of paper. By punching a bunch of half circles in a row, I can create scalloped borders for my cards.

Here is the finished product of the scalloped circle punch.

I used it as a border for my swirly paper.

Finally, I stamped a few images on white and guava-colored paper, cut them out, and stuck the pieces onto a piece of brown cardstock for the final product.

Here’s one last close up view. I wanted to give the card depth so I used pop up foam squares to adhere the pieces to the cardstock. I love the effect!

There are so many neat folders and dies available for the Cuttlebug. You can use them for cards, invitations, altered items… The possibilities are truly endless!
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This is an embossing folder. It’s about 4.25″ x 5.5″ (the size of a small greeting card). This particular design is called “Swiss Dots” and it will emboss a dotted pattern onto your paper. Embossing folders for the Cuttlebug cost around $5-6 each.

Here’s another view of the embossing folder. It folds in half and one side of the folder has the negative image while the other has the positive image.

First, insert a piece of paper between the folder like so.

Then place the folder in a “sandwich” between the embossing plates that are included with the machine. The order is: A plate on the bottom, then B plate, embossing folder with paper, and lastly a second B plate on top. The plates are labeled very clearly and it’s more simple than it sounds. The sandwich/plate technique is slightly tedious, but it allows the Cuttlebug to be adapted to other brands of die-cutting stencils and embossing folders rather than being restricted to only Provo-Craft products.

Next, place the plate sandwich onto the Cuttlebug and run it through by turning the crank on the right side.

Remove the paper from the folder and voila! Polka-dot embossed paper.

Here’s an example of a finished “thank you” card that I created for one of my bridesmaids using the embossed paper. I just love the textured element that it adds to the cards.

One last closeup shot.

My only complaint about the Cuttlebug is that I wish they had bigger embossing folders available. 4.25″ x 5.5″ is the size of 1/4th of a regular sheet of paper and it’s limiting in the scope of projects one can create. Michaels sells Cuttlebugs for $89.99, but I’ve seen fabulous deals for these machines. Recently Joann’s had a bug for $49.99 with free shipping. I definitely would not pay full price for one of these. You can find a good deal on one if you look around a bit.

Next, I’ll show you how the Cuttlebug can make ultra-fabulous die-cuts.
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I am a huge gift person and I love giving very personalized gifts to others. I decided to put together a special package for Ray and Erwin:

1. A Guitar Hero tee for Ray (he LOVES his guitar hero. )
2. A videogame controller tee from Heavy Tees (no longer available on their site) for Erwin who loves graphic tees and also wanted to purchase a new gaming unit.
3. Ray & Erwin love coffee so both received a reserve coffee gift with 1/2 lb of Kona and 1/2 lb of Jamaica Blue Mountain beans (YUM).
4. Wind up sushi for Erwin who loves sushi (Ray disklikes all seafood. ).
5. An Oops bottle opener/coaster for Erwin.
6. Vintage robot magnets for Ray.
7. Jazz guitar ice stirrers for Ray.
8. Stuffed ninja dolls for both, representing both of their stealth-like photo skills.
9. Hurricane Popcorn from our Hawaiian honeymoon.
10. Chocolate chip cookies in a handmade box.
11. Milk to go with the cookies (a Tokidoki blind box).
12. And a card made by me.

I’m happy to say that they received their gifts this week and loved them. Here are some fun pics of the gifts that they posted on their blog:

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Supplies:
8.5 x 5.5 inch pink cardstock
Two shades of green cardstock
Adhesive
Flower punch
Black ribbon
Black ink pad
A seed stamp (a black marker to draw seeds would work just as well)
Paper cutter

First, put your pink card stock on a table vertically and score it at 4.25 inches. Fold in half so that you have a 4.25 x 5.5 inch card.

Next, we will make the melon rind.

Using your paper cutter, cut one of the green cardstock sheets into a 0.5 x 4.25 inch strip. Cut the other shade of green cardstock into a 1.5 x 4.25 inch strip.

Use adhesive to stick the smaller green strip to the larger green strip.

Adhere the melon rind to the pink cardstock.

Use the seed stamp (or a black marker) to stamp melon seeds.

Punch a “bite” into the top right corner of the melon with your flower punch.

Decorate with the black ribbon and inside, stamp (or write) “You’re one in a melon!” If you’re making a thank you card, you could also use, “Thanks a melon!” or “A melon thanks!”

Have fun!
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Here are the supplies I used: Wilton’s blossom and heart cookie treat pans ($6 at Wal-Mart or use a 40% off coupon and snag one at Michael’s), 6 inch cookie sticks, clear treat bags, and a roll of raffia.

Since the cookies were travelling accross the country for several days, I needed them to stay as soft as possible. I used Tyler Florence’s Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. This recipe calls for a lot of flour and the end result is a softer, cake-like cookie.

Tyler Florence’s Big, Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 (8-ounce) block dark chocolate, coarsely chopped. (I used 1 1/2 cup chocolate chips, which I then realized was 1/2 c. too much. Oh well.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

Place the butter, sugar, and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer; cream together on medium speed until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat in the vanilla and eggs. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and continue to mix until a smooth batter forms.

Turn off the mixer and fold in the chocolate chunks using the spatula.

To form the cookies, scoop about 1/4 cup of cookie dough into your hands and roll it around into a ball; place them about 3-inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets; you should get about 4 cookies on each pan. Press down the tops of the dough slightly and bake until the cookies are light brown, 12 minutes for chewy cookies, or about 15 minutes for crispy cookies.

These cookies rise quite a bit in the pans, so if you attempt this treat, fill the pan just a tad under. Insert one of the 6-inch cookie sticks into the dough before you pop them in the oven. Once they are finished baking, let them cook for at least 5 minutes before removing them from the pan or the dough may break. After they are completely cooled, place them inside of a treat bag and tie them off with a strand of raffia.

Yum! Cookies on a stick are so much fun to eat.

Here are the cookie treats ready for mailing. I “accidentally” broke a few, so I had to eat them. Shucks.

You can do so much with these pans. You can bake a sugar cookie recipe and decorate the treats with icing. I’ve used the round pans to make baby rattle treats for my director’s baby shower. The possibilities are endless!

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