Winter Loaded Envelope

Hello everyone! It's Janet here for my first post of the new year. January has certainly started with a cold slap in the face for many. It's been rough but I don't mind having an extra excuse for hibernating in my craft nook! How about you?

I'm detouring from my normal video tutorial to show you a loaded envelope I created using a winter theme. I have long admired the beautiful and complex looking loaded envelopes that many in the crafting world have shown off. I finally took the plunge and made one myself and I really had fun with it. I honestly was skeptical when people said they found making loaded envelopes relaxing but I have to admit that I found it therapeutic. I created as I went with little more than the basics planned before I started. First I picked a theme (winter) and then chose dies I thought fit the theme. I picked a color scheme and made the empty envelope with paper stock that worked. Then I set about cutting pieces for the project, coloring and putting them together. Finally, I looked at all the die cuts I had completed and started creating the elements that would ultimately load the envelope. Many of the items I made are featured in the photos below.

       

In the end I created cards, flowers, snowflakes, various clips with snowflakes and deer, rosette wands, gift card holders and several pockets and tags for my loaded envelope. I have a few extra pieces left over but I will be able to use them in future projects. I'm not sure how others approach making the items that will go into their envelopes but this method worked great for me. I had a lot of fun letting the pieces tell me what to do with them. I certainly encourage you to give it a try!

To see all the parts and pieces and learn what dies I used, please click on the video thumbnail below.

Thanks for visiting today. Stay warm and safe!
- Janet

Dies used in this project:

Heartbeats

Hi, Lois here today.  Crafters are always working months in advance, so today I'm bringing you a relatively simple Valentine's Day card, using some CottageCutz dies (an old one and a newer one).  I'm a fan of the Sketch Challenge on Splitcoaststampers, so I used last week's layout and varied it just a bit.

This is my card.  I stretched out the three images further across the center and added a sentiment.

When I started my card, I did not have plans for the extra panel (the black one), so I cut the cardstock I thought I would need.

Red - 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", scored at 4 1/4"

White - 4" x 5 1/4"

Red/White gingham - 1 1/2" x 5 1/4"

After lining the back of a piece of red cardstock with a section of Scor-Tape two-sided adhesive sheet, I cut the die-cuts.  Because of the adhesive back, the die-cuts were a bit wonky when I took them out of the dies, but I knew they would straighten out once I added them to my card.

I then constructed my card . . .

. . . and added the die cuts.

At this point I didn't think there was enough contrast on my card, so I pulled up the white panel, cut it down by 1/8" on both sides and added a black layer, which I had cut at 4" x 5 1/4".  I then added some small black sequins.

I was much happier with this version.  CottageCutz dies used on this card are:

Puppy Love

Hi!

It's Anja here. I hope you had nice holidays. I had a few days off and managed to get some rest before I started working again on Wednesday. I like to start new year fresh so this weekend I'm working on my craft room. I bought some new shelves and now I'm trying to sort all my supplies and organize them again. I decided to put some stuff away because I'm not using it anymore. Hope I can finish everything today.

For my Sunday post I made a Valentine's card and a matching envelope. I used the Puppy die, which is now available in the store for a great price.

For the card and envelope I used:
- Cottage Cutz dies (Puppy w/ Ribbon, Heartbeats, Phrase Love, Circle Set),
- Distress inks (Barn Door, Pumice Stone),
- white card base (15x 10,5 cm),
- white envelope (16x 11 cm),
- red paper (10x 15 cm and 16x 7cm),
- patterned paper (9,2 x 15 cm and 15x 6,2 cm),
- red, grey, black and white card stock for die cuts,
- adhesive foam pads,
- paper glue,
- white pen.

I used colored card stock to cut all the pieces. I added some grey around the edges of the puppy.

I die cut love phrase from red card stock. I cut off the part of letter "l" to match the ribbon.

I die cut two smaller hearts with the Heartbeat die and one larger one. I used Barn Door Distress Ink to color the edges of the hearts.

I die cut two circles (the second and the third largest from the set.

I used pattern and red paper for the background. I only had 15 cm wide pattern paper, so I cut it in to and mask it with the circle.

When I had everything cut and colored I glued it together. And this is the finished project. Card and the decorated envelope. I used white pen to finish the Puppy's eyes and the heart.

Have a nice Sunday!
Anja Z.

Cottage Cutz dies I used:

Happy New Year

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. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas celebration. I was away with my family for Christmas. It was a first for all of us. We spent a week in Hawaii and had a wonderful time.

I returned home and found that I received a few Christmas cards from friends that I didn't send one to. So I decided to make a few quick New Years cards. I am using the Happy New Year Greeting die. It has such a beautiful font and it is still on sale for 25% off in the online store.

So let's get started with the details on how I created my card and used this lovely die.

Step 1: I knew I wanted the die to be the star of this card so I chose cardstock and a subtle patterned paper. The paper reminded me of fireworks and that works perfectly for the clean and simple card I am showing today.
Black Cardstock Base: 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Pearl Metallic layer: 4 1/8" x 5 3/8"
Patterned Paper: 3 7/8" x 5 1/8"

Step 2: I cut my Happy New Year Greeting from black cardstock. I thought it would be striking against the patterned paper. Sometimes on certain dies I use a precision base plate with my Big Shot. It cuts the more detailed dies very easily.
The die cut removes from the die itself with very little effort on my part. I also have a metal shim but I like the precision base plate better. This plate gives you the exact sandwich you should use when cutting with your Big Shot.

 

 

I cut 2 of the greeting because I wanted it to stand out on the card.

 

Step 3: Started the card assembly. I attached the New Year Greeting with thin rolled up glue dots. It gave the greeting the dimension I was also looking for on my card.

 

 

Once I attached the panels and the die, it just didn't seem quite finished to me. Tried sequins in several different colors then finally decided on the black rhinestones. It added the extra pop that I wanted. They already had adhesive so it made them easy to scatter around the card.

 

 That's my card for this week. See you next Saturday!

 

Dies I used to create card:

 

 

Love in the Mail

It's Jeanne posting another Valentine today using the Love Postage die.  I just love this die; it's one of my favorites!

To begin, I used a white A2 card base (8 1/2 x 5 1/2 scored and folded at the 4 1/4 inch mark.)

I cut six red stamps and five "love" words from white card stock and one from black card stock.  I saved the little white hearts from the center of the word.

This card is pretty straightforward but did require some math (which I did for you) and some measuring.  I wanted the stamps to all line up and have an equal border.  Each stamp is 1 1/2 inches so I could make my borders around the edges and in between 1/4 inch.  My white panel for the top of  the card measures 5 1/2 x 3 3/4 inches.

Look closely and you will see the pencils lines.  I lightly marked guidelines 1/4 inch on each side and then 2 inches up from the bottom. (1/4 + 1 1/2 + 1/4)

I lined up the stamp bases on the top and bottom using the guidelines on the sides.  For the stamps in the middle I used the guideline at the 2 inch mark.  In this way I could get everything to line up with minimal pencil marks.  I then very carefully erased the marks.

Before finishing the stamps and gluing the front panel to the card base, I cut a strip of red card stock 3/4 x 5 1/2 inches and glued it to the right side of the card base.  I also cut two of the heart borders from the Sweet Love Borders die.  I needed two since they are not quite 5 1/2 inches long.  However, they go together seamlessly when glued down.

After gluing the front panel over the card base with strip, I was left with a 1/2 inch strip of red on the side.  I adhered the heart borders to that, bumped them right up to the edge of the front panel and cut off the excess.  For the "Love" word I used my clear ruler as a guideline to glue those 1/4 inch above the edge of each stamp.

For my last stamp I used the black "Love" and a white heart.

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