Hoo, is checking his list?

Hoo, is checking his list. . all ready for Christmas? Santa Owl is! This weeks card was made from the Cottage Cutz Stylized Owl Die. This is one of my favorite dies because it can be used so many ways. Here I did a Santa Owl. . . .Naughty or Nice.

I did the owl in a deep red, added a belt (the buckle is from the Cottage Cutz Witch & Cauldron Die). Switched out the leaves for holly leaves (used an old punch). Added a few berries to the leaves with red card stock and clear Stickle. The Santa hat is from the Cottage Cutz Doll Accessories Set #3. I used a bright red for the hat. A really heavy coat of clear Stickles for the white on the Santa hat and the white square frame. (put a normal coat of Stickles, than come back after it has dried and add an additional coat. Otherwise it will take forever to dry and warp the paper really badly because of the moisture). I used a white ink pad to sponge a highlight of white on the red of the owl .

The Santa List was made on the computer at 8point font and printed at 90%. This seemed to be the correct size for him to hold and be readable. The card base was embossed with a holly print embossing folder. I used red ink to tint the berries on the green card and edged the green card with white ink.

And I said this die had a lot of uses, This guy is not finished yet but he does make a handsome Pirate. I switched the branch out for a bone, put a sword in his hand (cut by hand, sorry) and the best thing I added was his peg leg. Cut the foot in yellow and brown card stock, split the brown and add a peg from behind. I was going to use a toothpick for the peg and stain it brown with a Copic, but just went with the card stock. His patch I used a needle and thread to add the strings and stretched to a notch on the top and side of his head. The black owl was hightlighted in white ink with a sponge. I think I am going to ink a rustic treasure map for the background for this guy.

Remember there is a cute black top hat and scarf in the Cottage Cutz Doll Accessories #3 Die, Owl McScrooge sitting on a branch with gold coins (replacing leaves) may be making a visit!!!!

Happy Monday to all of you!

Hello Friends!

Sorry I am a little late posting today. We have been having some really nice Fall weather and I know my sisters in WI have been enjoying beautiful sunshine and changing colors. For todays card, I wanted to try and achieve a shabby chic kind of feel. I think I was successful. I have been wanting to go apple picking, but haven't made it yet. I hope to before apple picking season is over. Here in New England, there are lots of places to chose from, and you don't have to drive too far. We went apple picking when we lived in Arizona, surprisingly. The groves were smaller but the apples were good. I still prefer the cooler fall weather of the Midwest and the changing colors. Massachusetts has a very similar climate as my home state of Wisconsin. I do miss the wide streets and sidewalks of Wisconsin, but New England is beautiful too!

I used two mini dies today. Apples and CottageCutz Basket Mini (currently sold out). I will be back next Monday. Have a great week!! :) Janice

School Layout with my Fall Dies

For those of use with children and/or grandchildren, Fall also means Back to School and all of the great pictures that go with it! I knew I had to have this Cottage Cutz Hoot Owl because not only would he look fabulous on any and all Fall-themed pages, he is perfect for school pages as well. What school page couldn't use a wise old owl now and then, right?!


For this layout, I just ran the Hoot Owl die through my cutting machine one time with white textured cardstock and then used my Copic markers to color and shade him. I decided to leave off the branch to keep this little guy looking more ready for school than for the out-of-doors.

To create the flowers, I used this cool Cork Paper from Creative Impressions and my Cottage Cutz 3" Daisy. This cork paper is very thin but has such fabulous texture. The Cottage Cutz die cut it beautifully. I thought the cork flowers make for a fun and unique accent on my school-themed page.

Hope you are having a great weekend and getting some scrapping done in between the football! Keep checking back because you just never know when a new project is going to posted!! 

Ruth Ellen

You're A Hoot!

Good morning!  Today's card is literally a hoot.  This cute little Cottage Cutz owl from The Scrapping Cottage says it all.  What a hoot!!  LOL!!!  I had a blast coloring this little lady (I say lady, because I gave her some eyelashes) with my Copic markers.  She was cut from white card stock and I used the stippling technique to give her dimensional color.   I popped both the owl and the individual leaves up on foam dots, and added some faux stitching for interest.

 Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope you're looking forward to a wonderful weekend!  Wishing you many happy blessings and lots of happy scrapping!

Corny Cards

Is it finally fall yet where you live? I know summer has been hanging on in some parts of the country, but that doesn't mean we can't use our fun fall dies. This week I've done two cards; the first, using the Indian corn die. I love adding dimension and texture to my projects so jazzing up the corn was a must. I've added stickles, fabric paints, and ink here. I apologize for my lousy photo -- it just doesn't do justice to the colors of the corn. It's much prettier IRL.

For my computer generated message, I've used the font, CAC Valiant. It's very "pilgrimish," don't you agree? Download this free font here!

This next card took a little more time and patience but I love the details and the finished project was worth it. The corn stalk and scarecrow dies are sold individually but look how well they coordinate together.


Again, I've added stickles and fabric paints for extra punch.

Thanks for looking. Be sure to check back tomorrow and every day for more projects!

"Hay" There!

I just love fall and I love using these cute fall CottageCutz dies. For today's post I used the

Hay Wagon and some fall patterned paper I had in my stash.

I thought "Hay" There was a cute sentiment for this die. Inside you could put:

I heard it was your birthday

What's Up?

I just wanted to say Thanks

I've been thinking about you

or you can just leave it blank and write your message.

One of the things I love to do when I make a card using patterned paper is to cut about an inch wide strip and decorate my envelope with it so it matches.

Hope it's feelin' like fall where you live!

Kay

Deck the Igloo

Deck the Igloo for the season, with Cottage Cutz. What a great gift for someone that does not have or know about Cottage Cutz Dies. These cute little guys are on the Cottage Cutz Penguin Die, you get both style Penguins. . along with clear stamps of both style faces.

This card has the general background of an igloo with the doorway. I cut ice blocks from Bazzill Bling card stock (Shinny) about 1/2" x 1" blocks , Randomly clipped the corners (all not even) than shaded the ice blocks with Versamagic Chalk Ink (Turg Gem) on the bottom edge and right side. Notice I also used the same turq ink to highlight the penguins. The Penguins are trying to untwist the Christmas lights (o' ya who put them away last year?) The lights are made with large seed beads glued onto 22 gauge wire. I start with a straight piece of wire, put a dab of glossy accents on the wire (in the center) and feed a bead onto the wire. Just as I touch the bead to the dab of glue. . twist the bead, it will draw the glue to the center of the bead and move the glue around the wire and into the center of the bead. This way you are not pushing the bead into the glue and globbing up the wire or bead trying to get the glue inside of the bead. Just feed from each side and work the rest of the beads onto the wire, let dry for a fair amount of time before twisting and looping. The igloo arch doorway is on foam dots to add dimension, and the middle penguin is on three layers of foam to really bring him out. I knew I needed a few ornaments of some sort and remembered a really old, CHEAP punch that I had bought of a fish skeleton . . . so the fish skeletons worked out well. . . .An added note, if you want the lights to be multi colored on your string of lights, and want specific colors that you may not have the beads for. . .use all clear beads and highlight the beads with the Copic markers, if you are ever stuck with clear or white beads or rhinestones. . Copic markers are great to highlight with. If you have added to much color or the wrong color. . just use your blender to change or lighten the color.

Happy Monday Morning Friends!

Todays post is some Fall wall decor. I purchased this wooden paddle for a dollar at A.C. Moore. I traced the paddle outline onto the black gingham designer paper. I cut out the shape. After adhering the paper to the paddle I then sanded the edges to distress them a bit. The dies I used today are Squirrel With Acorn, Pumpkin Scarecrow, and the Pumpkin. I used colored cardstock and patterned paper to cut the images. Distressed the edges and arranged the pieces on the paddle till I liked what I saw. I hope you like it too! Enjoy your day everyone!

I'm corn-fused

Hiya! For my card today I used the Indian Corn die. I love the texture it has! Sorry to post and run, but my parents are here visiting. ☺I hope you have a wonderful day, and I'll see you back here next Sunday!

♥ Nikki ♥

Got Mud?!

There is nothing more exciting than getting a package of new Cottage Cutz shapes!! I received some of the new Fall shapes this week in my mailbox and I have been playing ever since! I pulled out all of my Cottage Cutz dies and re-organized them so I could combine my new Fall dies with my older Fall dies.

My project today is featuring the new Cottage Cutz Tractor Die. I created my tractor to match the tractor in my pictures. This shape is designed perfectly to provide enough pieces to allow great personalization, but is still quick and easy to piece together. I also used small foam pop dots under the wheels to give a 3-D look to my tractor. This shape really goes together so easily and coordinates so well with so many of the other dies from this Fall Release.

I hope you get a chance for some creative time this weekend! Thanks so much for coming by the Blog today and happy scrapping!!
Ruth Ellen

Happy Fall

Good morning!  I sure hope it's a happy Fall where you are!  I"m happy because I got my new Cottage Cutz dies in the mail a few days ago, and it's been Fall in my scrap room ever since.  I made this card with the new Corn Stalk and Happy Fall Y'all dies from The Scrapping Cottage.  I used colored card stock this time, instead of coloring with Copics like I usually do, but I did add some distressing, or sponging to the edges of the die cuts with some Tim Holtz Vintage Photo ink.  Foam dimensionals allowed me to pop up the leaves, and Happy sentiment, and this card is ready to send happy fall wishes to someone special.

 Thanks for stopping by today!  We always look forward to and appreciate your visits and your comments, because that's what keep us motivated and inspired.  Speaking of motivated and inspired, have you checked out The Scrapping Cottage Store?  There are some wonderful Halloween dies that are now available for preorder that you've just GOT to check out.  The Spooktacular Halloween and Eeekie Halloween releases will begin shipping next week, and just in time for all your spooktacular paper crafting projects.    Have a blessed, day, and happy crafting!

Hugs,

I'm a nut for the nutty squirrel!

I don't know about you, but when I saw the nutty squirrel, I laughed out loud and had to have him!! He's so nutty....just like me. We were meant to be together! LOL I put this card together just waiting for him to appear in my mailbox so I could add him to the front of the card, and he didn't disappoint. I also used the loopy edge border, in keeping with the loopy/nutty theme, of course! Isn't he a nutter!?? For extra texture, I've used fabric paints on the heart, acorn and oval frame behind Mr. Nutter. These papers are Tree Love by Nikki Sivils. Cute, huh.
Inside message:

I love the Cottage Cutz fall collection and this hay wagon is another of my faves. I've used the patch of grass from the scarecrows die also.

You can never go wrong with stickles. Stickles always add a little pizzazz!

For the inside message, I again used the nutty squirrel. He's so cute! As well as the sign from the pumpkin patch die and the grass from the scarecrows die.

The letters for the message on the sign are also from the pumpkin patch die. The "w" is just the "m" turned upside down.

Hope you're having a great week!

I got a fun package in the mail yesterday, it was my fall CottageCutz dies. The hard part was figuring out what die I wanted to use first. I had a piece of this Karen Foster patterned paper sitting in my stash so I decided to use two of the mini dies: the apples and the basket.

Even these mini dies give you options, I love it! There are two different shaped apples, a stem and a stem with a leaf all on this mini die. I just used the one shape for my apples so they'd match my paper.

The basket was so quick and easy and has a slit at the top so you make things fit inside.
I love fall and all the baking and fun crafts that come with it.
Happy fall y'all!

Din.n.n.ner is ready, come on in

Dinner is ready, come on in. . . .This weeks card is using the Cottage Cutz Witch with Cauldron. I made a shadow box style card that folds flat. The front of the card was cut with a arch shape. I cut random pieces of silver card stock and played with them a while with scissors. . rounding the corners. . doing the stone shape. weathered the stones with a sponge using black and white ink, and a few crack lines with a white gel pen.

I wanted spiders and webs, so I used a needle and thread and sewed back and forth between the stones and added a few spiders. I added a spider to the end of the thread and let him dangle over the pot. I wanted the witch to be in her most stylish wart-mart dress, so I used a white gel pen and added a few curls and swirls.

I know it is hard to show, but the edges of the card are cut with a wide cut deckle scissors from Fiskars. Crafting Edger scissors are a little (lot) out of fashion, but I still use them . . particularly the deckle style. As you can see with the photo above the bottom cut is the full deckle, in this case I wanted to keep the card shape still straight at the edge, but have a random odd cut design. . Notice the top cut, I only cut half way up the paper. It's almost like something chewed on it a little.

Here is the box shape from the top. There is two sheets of black card stock 7" high x 7 1/2" wide . Score twice on each side of the card stock at 1/2" each. This allows you to fold and have tabs on the side of the card to glue together. When you want to fold flat, just pull the end tabs and the card will go flat. Push the tabs back inward and the card will fold back to a box. I used the deckle scissors on both the top of the card and the side tabs. The face of the card is 5" x 7" when finished, the window is cut about 4 " x 5 1/2", when you add the stones and glue them with an overlap the hole is about 3 1/2" x 5'. The card is 1" thick when open.

Happy Fall!

Good morning! Today I have another Fall card to show you. I hope you aren't getting tired of them already. I love Fall. This year there has been an unusually high number of acorns falling from the trees. Thankfully I haven't been beaned in the head by one. This little squirrel is gathering acorns for the winter. You can find him here. I also used the Indian Corn die. I love this die! I used raffia to make the cornstalk. Happy Fall was cut from a coloring book. The leaves on the bottom were given to me in a Fall toss. The smaller leaves were cut from patterned paper. I used a Martha Stewart border punch to cut the grass. Have a fantastic week everyone! See you next Monday!
:) Janice