Announcing Additions to the Design Team

Today I have the pleasure of announcing two new additions to the CottageCutz Design Team.

Melinda Beltran 

Hello crafty friends, I’m Melinda. I have always had a crafty heart but fell in love with paper crafting by learning to scrapbook several years ago. I enjoy creating cards, scrapbook pages and fun dimensional and home decor projects. 

I enjoy blogging at My Paper Crafting and sharing with others! I have been married for 31 years to my better half who has always been so supportive of all my crafty endeavors. I have three grown children, two dogs, and one grandson!  I hope my creations will inspire you and encourage you to create and let your own crafty light shine! 

Melinda will be posting on the Blog on Sundays. 

Theary Chea

Hello there! My name is Theary Chea and I am a mother to three beautiful children. We live in Southern California along with our two fur babies. In my free time, I enjoy doing outdoor activities with my family and of course, crafting. 

Crafting has always been therapeutic for me, especially while caring for a family of five. You can find me on Instagram at CloudyCoralDesigns and YouTube at Cloudy Coral Designs 

Theary will be part of our YouTube team and posting on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays each month.

And speaking of YouTube, CottageCutz will be posting on our channel every Wednesdays. The first video went live this past Wednesday. For a chance to win the Country Farm Cows die that was used in the video, go to our channel and subscribe, like and comment. Link to CottageCutz YouTube channel here. 

Country Farm Mini Slim Line Card

Hello, my crafty friends.  Marla here with my first design team project over on the CottageCutz YouTube Channel.  Today, my card features products from the Country Farm release.  I love farm animals, don’t you?  I appreciate how you can change colors and accessories and use the images for every season. 

I’d love for you to join me to see how this fall inspired card came together. While you are at it, don't forget to click "subscribe" and ring the bell so you are notified when a new video has been uploaded. Card details can be found here Country Farm Mini Slim Line

 Cottage Cutz products used:

Country Farm Cows

Farm Tractor w/Trailer

Hello w/Shadow

Baking Spirits Bright

Good morning happy scrappers. It’s Wendy bringing the blog to you today. I hope you had a wonderful weekend crafting. I think it’s Christmas all the way now :-)

Today I’m bringing you one of my favourite dies from last year, Baking Spirits Bright. I’ve also used a very old die which is still available and that’s the Baking Pan & Utensils

To make the base card I have used a stencil with brickwork and worked through Pumice Stone distress ink. Make sure you mask the area that you don’t want coloured. My preference for applying colour is with brushes 

Next I have cut out all the snowman and their accessories. I have started putting together some of the smaller items otherwise I am likely to lose them 

Next I have fully assembled the snowman and to add a bit of fun I have added some white gelato media so it looks like icing sugar / flour

Finally I have added all items to the card and also added that baking tray with a few gingerbread men. I’ve also printed some wording to add to my card as I couldn’t find a stamp that was appropriate

I really hope you like the card. Have a wonderful day and make sure you make time to craft

Wendy

Here are the dies I used

Slimline Windows

Hi everyone my name is Monica and today is my first official post for The Scrapping Cottage and I am so excited to have been given this amazing opportunity. Today I am sharing a slimline card which features the super cute "Farm Animals" from the Cottage Cutz shop!! 

SLIMLINE CARD FRONT

1.  I used watercolor paper (Fabriano) and die cut the "Circle Slimline Window" 
2.  Once done I then took a cloud stencil I had in my stash with some oxide ink in "Broken China" and blended some clouds on the front in various places
3.  I made the center circle a shaker by covering the opening with acetate and then used foam tape along the outer edge of the circle - next drop in some shaker elements and walla instant shaker!

4.  I die cut the farm animals on some blending paper and colored each with my copics and added a touch of shading to bring my animals to give them some life and finally I used the Celebrate Shadow sentiment to finish my card off…

Below is a quick video show you how I created this fun slimline hopefully it’s not too painful to watch 😜

PRODUCTS USED:

Furever Friends

It's Anja here for my last Sunday post. Before I show you my latest card I have an announcement to make. After four and a half years as a Cottage Cutz Design Team member I decided to take some time away from crafting. There's a new exacting role waiting for me in the next weeks and I'll have a lot less time for crafting. 

It was so much fun making all the cards and paper projects using Cottage Cutz dies. Thank you to The Scrapping Cottage team for giving me this opportunity. This dies are forever going to be my favorite dies to work with. And I hope that in between diaper changes and all the feedings I'll still be able to follow all the new releases and projects from the talented ladies on the team. And maybe also make a card or two :)

And now to my last card. I again combined a set of stamps and slimline dies. This time I made a bunch of furry friends with a scenic background.

For this card I used:

- Cottage Cutz dies (Lil' Bluebird Designs Forest Friends Stamp Set, Lil' Bluebird Designs Forest Friends Die Set, Mountains & Trees Slimline),

- Zig watercolor brushes (010, 029, 040, 041, 047, 052, 060, 061, 062, 063, 065, 066, 069, 070, 071, 072, 091, 093, 096, 099, 260),

- Distress Inks,

- watercolor paper for stamping,

- white card stock for die cuts and background (9,5x20,5 cm), 

- white card base (21x10 cm),

- black pigment ink,

- acrylic block,

- watercolor brush,

- washi tape,

- paper glue. 

 

First I stamped and colored all the images. I made more to have more options to make a scene in the end. This time I used watercolor brushes for coloring.  

Next I made all the background pieces. I used Mountains & Trees Slimline and it's so easy to make a beautiful background scenery with it. I just colored all the pieces with Distress Inks and glued one on the top of another. Then I glued this paper sandwich to the card base. 

Before adhering the last piece I stamped the sentiment in the right corner. 

Last I added all the animals and colored pieces and adhered it on the background scene. And my card was done. 

Thank you for visiting the blog and leaving all the comments. I hope that my projects gave you some crafty inspiration over the years.

I wish you all a nice Sunday and all the best in the future.

Anja Z.

Cottage Cutz stamps and dies I used:

High Flying Snowman (new die)

Hello Scrapping Cottage friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with us today. It's Mary Marsh here bringing you the Saturday edition of the Blog.

IT'S NEW RELEASE TIME! The new Christmas dies are in the online store with 40 new designs and they are on a limited time sale at 30% off. It's not too soon to get started on your Christmas cards. I make about 50 handmade cards so I am anxious to get started on mine. Plus, Christmas is my favorite time of year to make and send cards. 

Also there is a big Fall sale going on right now with savings of up to 50% on selected dies. And the new Lil' Bluebird Designs stamp sets and dies are also on a 25% off sale. Lots of ideas on the Blog from the Design Team on ways to use these new stamp sets. 

Today for your viewing pleasure I am featuring the new High Flying Snowman die. So let's get started with some details of how I created my card. 

Design Steps:

I started my card this week by selecting my designer paper. I found this paper with a snowflake theme background. I also had the matching cardstock base. 

Tranquil Tide card base - 5 1/2" x 4 1/2"

Designer Paper - 5 3/8" x 4 1/4"

Then I cut the flying snowman images in colors that coordinated with the designer paper. The plane trim and banner are the greenish blue shade in the designer paper and card base.  The plane itself is red because that makes it so Christmas. You can also follow the colored image on the packaging which is always a good guide.

 I wanted both clouds and a snow bank on my card for interest and also because the designer paper pattern was a bit busy.  I used the Hills Slimline  & Clouds Slimline dies. I cut them the full 9 1/2" and that way I could decide what part of the pattern I would use. 

Next,  I stamped my sentiment on the snowbank in the same ink (tranquil tide) as my card base. I trimmed the snowbank down to 5 3/8" and also added some white glitter to the top of the bank..

Now that all my card elements are prepared I am ready to start card assembly. I attached the clouds and snowbank with dimensional adhesive. I didn't want them laying flat against the designer paper. Also, sponged broken china distress ink on the clouds for added interest. 

I used dimensional adhesive to attach the flying snowman image for more depth. Looks like I forgot to give this little guy his carrot nose.  

To finish off my card I attached the image panel to the card base. Scattered some white snowflakes on the clouds and some red glitter dots on the snowbank. I think this new die is just too cute and will make a great card for someone on my list that is out of state. 

Well, that's it for me for this week. See you next Saturday. Before I close there are a couple of announcements. 

Goodbyes and changes are always hard to announce. After being with us for 4 years, Jeanne is leaving the team because of  work and family responsibilities. We are sorry to see you go and send our well wishes.

And, on a more upbeat note we will once again be back on YouTube with videos starting this Wednesday. Marla, one of our newest designers will be publishing videos 2x a month. So make sure you check them out. 

Dies I used to create card:

Puppy Celebration

Happy Friday!  It's Jeanne today with fun birthday card for the dog lover in your life.  The card features pups from the Lil' Bluebird Designs Puppy Love stamp set and the Celebrate w/Shadow die.

I started by using a card sketch from Splitcoaststampers however as often happens I diverged from the sketch. First I flipped it and then in order to fit in all three images, I used a strip down the side instead of circles.  I stamped the images at angles to add a bit of whimsy.

To color the images I used a technique that I learned years ago.  I started by laying down a flat layer of alcohol markers.

 After laying down the marker, I added Prismacolor pencils on top of the marker.  This gives nice shading and detail.

For the card, I cut an A2 base from festive, birthday themed paper and I cut my puppy strip to 1 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches.

When cutting the sentiment the die cuts the shadow and word at the same time.

This gave me two choices for my sentiment.

I glued the strip down the right side and added a felt embellishment that I had in my stash.  I decided to use the pink background sentiment on the card.  The other one I placed in the die package for future use.

Products used:

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you have a fun and creative weekend!