Snowflakes + Mother of Pearl Technique

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

Just as a reminder, CottageCutz has a new release of Halloween & Christmas dies that are now available in the online store for ordering. The DT has been showing lots of great samples and will continue to show them over the next couple of months to get your creativity flowing. There are plenty of beautiful new Christmas dies and we have something for everyone's tastes.

Today, I used a new Christmas die, Snowflakes Set for my sample card. I chose the faux mother of pearl technique for my background because it's a very simple technique to do and it has a huge impact on your finished card.  I also thought it would give the illusion of a snow squall. So perfect for my snowflake images.  Here is a video link to a tutorial on Splitcoaststampers.

And, I also wanted to show a card that would be easy to mass produce using this new die. So let's get started with some details on how I created my card.

Step 1: I used some Frost White Acrylic paint from Tsunineko. It has a bit of a shimmer to it. This paint acts as a resist and shows through the colors that I will sponge on in the next step.

I put a small amount of the frost paint on my craft mat. I used a piece of cling wrap and scrunched it up and then dipped it in my frost paint. I pounced it on my craft mat to work it into my cling wrap and also to insure that I didn't have any big globs of paint.

I then dabbed it lightly on my white cardstock. I left some open space so I could sponge the colors I was going to use. There is lots of shimmer on this panel that is hard to capture in a photo. I set it aside at this point to allow it to dry.

Step 3: Once the paint was dry, I decided on the shades of distress ink with tumbled glass and broken china.

 Once I started to sponge the ink on I added a 3rd shade of ink using peacock feathers. I liked the color variation that I achieved. You can see on the photo below the white paint has resisted the distress ink. When I finished sponging I used a paper towel to rub off the ink that was sitting on top of the white frost paint. This allows more of the frost design underneath to come through.

Step 4: Since I was going with a turquoise card base, I decided to layer the pearl panel on white. Just for some variation between layers.

Turquoise Card Base: 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"

White Layering Panel: 5 1/4" x 4 1/8"

Background Panel Size: 3 7/8" x 5 1/8"

Step 5: I cut my snowflake images from white cardstock. They are such pretty shapes and I really like the size variation.  I was able to use all 4 of the images on my background panel.

To adhere the snowflakes to the background panel, I cut small pieces of dimensional adhesive. I didn't want them laying flat against the background.

Step 6: The sentiment is from an older CottageCutz die - Merry Christmas Santa. I cut it from one of my practice panels that I made. I sponged more ink on it for more of a contrast. I also cut another phrase in white and very slightly offset it.  

To complete my card I attached it to the turquoise base. I wanted some depth between these two panels so I used some white fun foam behind the image panel. It gave it just the lift I was looking for I secured it with Tombow liquid multi glue.

 

I hope I have given you some inspiration for your Christmas cards. I am going to make a few more of this particular one. Well, that's it for me for this post. See you next Saturday.

 

Dies I used to create card:

 

  

Believe in the Miracle

Happy Friday!  It's Jeanne sharing today and I have a card that is simple yet elegant. As I was making the card I was asking myself if it needed "something more" but when I was finished I was very happy with the result.

I have a shelf across the room from my desk where I place my cards and this one really "shines".  The card base is 10 x 5 inches, scored at the 5 inch mark to make a 5 x 5 inch card.  I used black card stock and die cut the manger scene.

I used the outside of the die cut as a pattern and masked off a rectangle slightly smaller than the die cut.  I also masked off a rough star shape in underneath where the star on the die is.  I used Broken China, Salty Ocean, Faded Jeans and Wilted Violet Distress Oxide inks and a blending tool to create a night sky.  I kept the lightest color nearest the star.  The Wilted Violet is only in the corners.

I then covered the background with paper and added some splatters of the Broken China and Salty Ocean to add some interest to the white portion of the card.

The I used silver embossing powder to heat emboss my sentiment.

I adhered the die cut on top and added a rhinestone to the center of the star and a few near the sentiment.

I hope you enjoyed this simple card today.  Although it goes together quickly, it does have an impact.  The Oxide inks seem to glow behind the silhouette die cut.

Have a great weekend!

Gingerbread Lady!

Good Morning Scrapping Cottage Friends!

Hi it is Pam sharing with you today! Last week I made a card with the Gingerbread Man so I thought this week I would make one with the Gingerbread Lady! I had so much fun using the Gingerbread Baking Set die and it is just so adorable!!

Design Steps:

1.  Cut out all of the pieces using DP and the Gingerbread Baking Set.  Then ink the edges for added depth.  I used little rhinestones for her eyes and a little heart shaped button on her dress

2.  Use a white A2 card base, cut a slightly smaller piece of white and run it through the swiss dot embossing folder.  Use a pre-made frame from designer paper I used Pinecone Press paper.

4. Pop up the frame on the embossed piece and add the ribbon then glue to the white card base

5. Pop up all of the pieces into the frame and add the sentiment!

Cottage Cutz Products

Our store is just filled with wonderful Christmas dies and so much more! Please check it out we would love for you to visit!

Blessings
Pam

Refrigerator Magnets

Hi, Lois here with a different type of project today.  I used a couple of the new CottageCutz bird die/stamp combos to make some refrigerator magnets.  They were really simple and quite fun using the stamps, dies, and my Xyron sticker maker -- with the laminating/magnet cartridge.

First I stamped the images onto 110# white cardstock.  I thought the heavier cardstock would be more sturdy in the final project.

Then, closely following the photos on the packaging, I colored both birds with my Copic markers.

I cut them out using the dies included with the sets.

I had bought the laminating/magnet cartridge for my Xyron 510 sticker maker some time ago and just recently pulled it out for another project.    I inserted my die-cut bird images into the machine . . .

. . . cranked the handle, and out they came.

I fussy cut them with small scissors, leaving a narrow border of magnet material showing.

And my project was complete.

I just wanted to show that you can do more with these stamps and dies than just make a fun card.  I hope you give this a try!

CottageCutz products used on my refrigerator magnets are:

Be sure to check out all the new Halloween and Christmas dies now available in the store!

Holiday Owls

Hi!

This is Anja again. I'm slowly starting to make my Christmas cards. Today I was inspired by a beautiful card from Nichole Spohr. I much prefer dies over stamps so I decided to do winter scene with cute little owls, which can be made with one of the new Christmas dies.

I used:
- Cottage Cutz die Holiday Owls,
- Distress Oxides (Vintage Photo, Black Soot, Wild Honey, Peeled Paint, Fired Brick, Lucky Clover, Pumice Stone, Walnut Stain, Frayed Burlap),
- Brusho paints (black, ultramarine, purple, turquoise),
- white texture paste,
- white pigment ink pad,
- black pen,
- white card base (11x15 cm),
- watercolor paper (10,5x14,5 cm),
- white card stock for die cuts,
- roughly ground salt,
- snowflake stencil,
- heat gun,
- double sided adhesive tape,
- paper glue.

 As always I die cut all the parts and colored them first. I used Distress Oxides. I used thin black pen to color the eyes of the owls.

Then I made quite a mess when I was working on my background. I sprayed water all over my watercolor paper. Then I put different Brusho powders on top and some more water. I let it mixed a bit and then I also used a brush to cover the whole paper. 

When I was satisfied with the color I sprinkled quite a bit of roughly grounded salt on top of it and dried the whole thing with a heat gun.

As a result I got an interesting pattern.

 Then I used a stencil and a texture paste and put some snow on top of my night sky.

I dried it with a heat gun. This texture paste dries nicely when I use the gun.

I put some white pigment ink around the edges.

And then I just glued the background on the card base, using double sided adhesive tape. I glued the owls on top of it and my card is done!

Have a fun filled Sunday and see you again soon. 

Anja Z. 

Cottage Cutz product I used: