Change is Coming to the Cottage

We have some fun challenges that will be starting Saturday, May 14.  And what's a challenge without a prize?  How about a chance to win a $25.00 gift certificate to The Scrapping Cottage!  Every 2nd Saturday of the month The Scrapping Cottage will have a new challenge, so we will be looking forward to seeing how you use your Cottage Cutz dies.  I will be hosting our first challenge on Saturday, so please do come back and play along.  It is so fun to gain inspiration from each other.

So on to my card.  Today I used the new Birthday Bird die.  What a cute die this is!  Of course, I think all the Cottage Cutz dies are cute!  I like to use bold, bright colors most often, I think.  So bold and bright it is!  This little birthday bird is having a wonderful time.  He is celebrating because he is excited about the new challenges!I will be back on Saturday to start our first challenge.  Have a great day!Hugs and smiles, Janice

Mommy I love you thissss much

 Happy Mother's Day. . . .I made this Mommy card with the Cottage Cutz Bunnies Die, this die will allow you to assemble your bunny is several different poses. You also have the clear stamps to do three style faces. I added beads to the side of the card, baby blocks with mom and a girl angel charm. 

 Here you can see the bunny stretching her arms out so hard that one eye is closing. . the one eyed stamp adds so much personality. I highlighted the bunny in ink and added a few thread lines to the overalls. I embossed A, B, C in the background. The Verse "I Love You This Much" was done with my DYMO Machine

Here is the same basic bunny, but I made both ears up and used the stamp with eyes wide open!. Rather than used the feet as normal I cut them in black as if they were bottoms of shoes. Ran a string under to show on each side. . shoe laces. I also used the Cottage Cutz Stitched Flower Die to cut the buttons and the Cottage Cutz Rick Rack Border Die for the stripe.

OK here is just a added note for today. .I am trying something new with the 4x6 Cottage Dies. I have people ask me all the time how do I store the bigger dies. Well!!!! When the Cottage Cutz Die and Stamp sets came out I thought. . how do I keep the stamps protected and with the die. Above you will see the DVD size cases that Stamping Up sells for cling rubber stamps. They have a sleeve on the outside to put the paper label and I stick the stamps to the inside cover of the case. Also you can see how I stamp the stamps in black on the back of the picture before slipping into the sleeve. . so I have a clear view of what the stamps will do. So what are the negatives. . the case is to big too thick. . waist space !!!! . . Well it also fits the really big seed packet die, I have four border dies in a case also. You can put two 4x6 dies in each box if you want. There is two sides of the box sleeve to put your picture label. As you see with my second picture. I was able to put the Ducky Die and the matching Accessory die together. You can also add a zipper bag inside the box with extra pieces that you may have cut with the die but not used (waist not . . loose not). The CD Boxes do really stack neatly on a shelf.  This is really a possible solution for the bigger dies. **** at least for now.

Thank You   Barry

Celebrate A Beary Happy Birthday!

Good morning!  Happy Friday to you, and welcome to The Scrapping Cottage Blog!!  I have an adorable 8x8 layout to share with you today, made with the newly released birthday dies from The Scrapping Cottage.  I've had the most fun playing with these dies, and I don't think I'll be getting enough of them anytime soon!!  This release is AMAZING!!!!!

For this page, I used the Peeker Pocket (from a previous release), Birthday Peeker Bear, Pennants (plain), Pennants Pinking, and the Celebration Phrase, all from the birthday release.  I cut the bear with white card stock and colored him with my Copic markers.  The pocket was first stamped with the Burlap Background stamp from Market Street Stamps for an added look of texture to the pocket, then I added stitching with a white gel pen.  I cut the "Celebrate" in several different colors and paper pieced some of the letters for some color variation.  All the little stars and confetti are from the Celebration Phrase die, and I used those here and there for a fun touch.  

Thanks so much for taking visiting today!  Have a happy and blessed weekend and happy crafting!!

Holy cuteness, Batman!

Can you say stinkin' cute!? Cottage Cutz and Peachy Keen collaborations has done it again. Just look at this little guy. And there's more cuteness where that came from, but you'll have to wait till next time for that. ;)


But come on! Who wouldn't fall in love with this adorable little duck with that sweet little face. :) Well, I did and right now that's what counts because it's my turn to share with you using this cutie patootie die and stamp set. LOL! In addition to the duck with his cracked egg, I used the flower and grass patch from the mushroom flowers die....


....and printed my message on a nesting oval shape. The pattern papers are October Afternoon, my fave, and of course I used my favorite dimensional helper, foam tape!

Thanks for coming by the blog today. Keep an eye out for lots more to come from this stinkin' cute collaboration release! One word for this set....borrowed from my bud, Nikki --ADORBS! ;)

Seize the Cake

One of my favorite things to eat is the cake my husband gets me each year for my birthday. Since I have made cakes and decorated them for years it's a real treat to get a bakery cake for my birthday with that yummy filling inside.

This CottageCutz Celebration Cake die is great for all those fun ocassions we get together with family and friends. I have said it many times before and I'll say it again...these dies are so versatile!

Here is my birthday cake card:

My daughter got married last October and her colors were aqua & orange with black and white accents. These colors are tough to find together but with this cake die I recreated the wedding cake for a future layout I'll do on her wedding cake.

All this cake is making me hungry! Too bad I'm on a sugar free diet right now :(
Have a good one!
Kay

MOM my funny flower

 For all the Mom's out there, this week I made a Mother's Day Card with the Cottage Cutz Funny Flower Die. The die comes with the large flower, three styles of leaves. . and Clear Stamps to make the funny faces on the flower. In addition there are four mini clear bug stamps.

 The three leaves help you add personality to the flower. I sewed the vine with heavy thread and added the little blossoms and leaves  (1/4" hole punch cut in half). The leaves were all cut from a pale green card stock and colored with three shades of green Copic markers, The flower was a med pink card stock highlighted in three shades of pink Copic markers. The Mom was shaded from the center out with the same three shades of pink Copic markers.  Shading from the middle out adds a new look to the letters, rather than top to bottom/dark to light.

 I added the fence to break up the pink, and also to show you how to create a wood plank look on your card stock (most embossing folders are too large a print for a fence). I think Bazzil Bling gives you the best texture because of the finish on the paper, but you can do the same with less of a texture on basic Bazzil. Start (look at sample piece) with your knot hole and work stripes down and around the knot hole, be sure to be uneven widths and also stop here and there. . restart and go to the next line. Never start a knot hole in the same place and never put more than one knot hole per plank.  I know the tool that I use has several names, . . Ball Burnisher, Scoring tool. . They are double ended and come in several sizes. Martha Stewarts comes maybe 2MM on one end and 3MM on the other. They are really hard to find. (they come with wood handles in the clay dept.,  Martha Stewart's is a cream handle,  McGill is lime green/yellow and fiskars are royal blue).

This little guy I did in yellow with the eyes closed smiley face stamp and added one of the bug stamps from the set buzzzz-ing around his head. Swirled a few wires for vines. . . .Yes it's a southern Suu-ny Dayz . . .

Thank You and Happy Mothers Day to all. . . . .  Barry

Banana Split Anyone?

Good morning friends!  Today's card features the new Mouse With Banana Split die by Cottage Cutz from The Scrapping Cottage.  I love this die!  You could use it to make Summer Fun cards or Birthday cards.  You could put just the Split on the card or you could have the mouse running toward the ice cream excitedly.  I applied Crystal Effects to the bowl to make it look like glass.  I used bright, bold, festive colors to make this celebratory card.  Have a fantastic day!Hugs and smiles,Janice

Easter Puppy Card

I had a friend ask me to create a card for her 9 year old nephew who loves dogs. Of course I went right to my Cottage Cutz dies! I didn't have the puppy die, but I did have the Cottage Impressions Dog with Santa Hat stamp. Obviously I didn't need the Santa hat so I only inked the parts of the stamp I needed. After I stamped the image, I filled in the top with my Copic fine pen. Then, I colored him in with my colored Copics.

Thanks for stopping by today! Please keep Alabama in your thoughts and prayers. The damage and loss of 100's of lives as a result of the massive tornados that ravaged our state has been disasterous. I have lived here all of my life and the devastating events of this past week are truly the most horrific I have ever seen.

Celebrating Royal Love

Good morning and welcome to The Scrapping Cottage Blog!!  There's a royal celebration going on today, and my card was made just for this special occasion.  To celebrate the marriage of Prince William to his beautiful Princess Kate, I created this card using the Cottage Cutz Frame 1 die that was released for Valentine's Day.  The stamped sentiment is a Cottage Impressions stamp from the same release.  I stamped the "Love" with Versamark, and heat embossed it using black embossing powder.

Lots of background bling, and bling everywhere for that matter gave this card a crown of royal jewels.  An organza bow with stick pins which reminded me of the Queen's scepter finished this one off .   I used this card as part of a blog hop celebrating the Royal Wedding, and I'm giving away some blog candy to one lucky commenter on my blog, so if you have a chance, please stop by MY BLOG and hop along with us.  You'll find some amazing and inspiring creations and several chances to win some candy.  

So happy you could stop by today.  Make it a beautiful day and do some happy stamping!

XoXo

Good morning! Happy Thursday! :) For today's project, I used the adorable Cottage Cutz giraffe to make an I miss you card.


Isn't he, excuse me, she, sweet! Her friend, bluebird, is from the bunny with umbrella die, from the spring/Easter release. The little birdie is the perfect companion to any of the Cottage Cutz animals. I have a confession...the scalloped circle behind the giraffe is actually the piece I was planning to throw away. I was going to use the inside circle instead, but this looks so cute I changed my mind and used it instead! LOL

For my message, I used the label and XOXO stamp from the Love release.

Thanks for visiting the blog today. Come back again soon for upcoming projects featuring new releases!

Floral Tea

 Floral Tea. . .just a hint of floral added to Starbucks Awake tea. This weeks card is made with the Cottage Cutz Teacup Mouse die. I used a wide border punch to create a lattice and added a few flowers from the teacup die. I used pink card stock for the teacup because it showed the flowers off the best. The flowers were done in pale blues, teals and shades of pink.

 The mouse looks so cute hanging over the edge of the teacup. I added a little teabag dangling in his hand. Most of the coloring is done in ink pads with a sponge, but the teabag looked better in three shades of Copic markers. They seemed to give a better tea stained effect.

 To show you a little of how I colored the card stock. . the three leaves above are in stages (it may be hard to see). I lightly color the side of the first leaf in Copic Leaf Green, than sponge (highlight) the bottom part of the leaf in Memento Bamboo Ink. This gives you several shades of color tones, depending on where and what colors overlapped. Lastly on the third leaf I added the gold shimmer from a Sakura Pen in a few random area's. Each leaf looks slightly different. The other note here is that I colored the leaves while they were not punched out. If you pick the paper off the die machine gently after cutting, the design pieces will stay in tact. This allows me to work the color to where I want it.  . . because the large part of the paper is holding my leaves. I do not have to worry about holding that tiny leaf (in my case with fat fingers) or over coloring the leaves after they have been glued down. I have greater control over where the color is and also the direction of the color.

 I also did a matching teabag tie on. The base paper is 2" x 5 3/4", with score lines at 2 1/2", 3" and 5 1/2". Cut a 1 3/8" square window on one side and clip the top two corners. The Cottage Cutz Mouse die head fits perfect on the corner of the window. . . .with his little hand hanging over. Make a mini hole protector with a 1/8" and 1/4" hole punch. Add a string to the top of the teabag (I used the heavy twisted thread that comes like embroidery floss, but teenagers use it to make friendship bracelets. It comes in a mixed bag of colors, has a nice rope texture). Slip a starbucks teabag into the pouch. They come in really nice silk net bags.

Tie your creation to the side of each teacup at your next event. Add one to a breakfast tray next time you are helping someone under the weather. Make a few and throw in a basket next to the pot at the office.    Go on . . .make someone feel special today!

Sorry for the delay. Had a bit of electronic mishap this morning. I think my pictures may have posted to a inter office memo at the White House. Opps.

Thanks Barry