Farm Animal Birthday

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 are staying warm during this cold snap that is currently with us.

While we are preparing for a brand new CottageCutz release, the design team has been showing you a mix of creations from some of the older dies. And, that's where my card is going today. I created this birthday card from the stamp & die combo farm animals. So lets get started with the details on how I created my card.

Step 1: As I frequently do, I started my card with the layout. I saw this sketch posted on the Splitcoaststampers site and a card idea immediately came to mind. Well a rough idea had been brewing in my mind for awhile. Then this sketch just finalized everything.

Step 2: As with any sketch you can change things up a bit. Like the shapes that are shown here. I decided to used the circles and stitched circles die for my shapes. I chose circles because of the background designer paper I am using. The paper reminded me of cow spots so I decided to go with a circle to place the cows on. The circle die only is currently on sale at 60% off the regular price. So you can pick it up for only $7.95 right now.

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

Patterned Paper: 4 1/8" x 5 3/8"

White Circle: 4th largest die

Black stitched circle die: 4th largest

Step 3: I stamped the cow images, used the corresponding die and colored the images with both Copic markers and Prismacolor pencils and gamsol. Gamsol is odorless mineral spirits that is used to spread the wax in the pencil around.

Copic Markers: E000 + E02

Primsmacolor Pencils: Black PC935 + Warm Grey 70% PC1058

 

Step 4: I thought the cows needed a little pop on the white circles. So I cut a scallop circle for a cloud template and I stamped the hay from the "on the farm" stamp & die combo. Sponged the clouds with distress ink and colored the hay with alcohol blenders.

 Step 5: I am ready for the card assembly. I attached the cows to the circle panels with Scotch mounting tape. And used the same adhesive to attach the circles to the patterned paper layer.

Step 6: I decided to make layer 4 of the above sketch my sentiment panel. I wanted the panel to be a pierced rectangle but the rectangle dies were just a bit too big to fit in the corner. So I adjusted the size of the 4th largest pierced rectangle.

The first photo below shows the finished panel with my stamped sentiment as well as the original size of the rectangle.

I placed the panel back in my big shot and just moved the die to where I wanted to re-cut it.

Once I re-sized the panel, it was the perfect fit for my sentiment as well as the corner of the card.

And that my friends, completes my card for this week. If you have these stamp & die combos, I hope I have given you a new idea for using them. If you don't have them they are still available in the online store. In fact, the on the farm stamp & die set is on sale for 50% off. You can get it for just $10.

See you all next Saturday!!

 

Dies I used to create card:

 

 

 

 

Kitty Valentine

Happy Friday!  It's Jeanne posting today with another Valentine's card!  I love this sweet kitty and had to make her grey like my sweet, old grey kitty, Andreya.

I started with an A2 (5 1/2 x 4 1/4 inch) card base in Real Red, a piece of patterned paper cut to 5 3/8 x 4 1/8 inches and a heart die cut using the largest of the Stitched Hearts dies.

Next, I cut out the cat and small heart using the patterned paper and two shades of grey - Basic Grey and Smoky Slate.

I used Smoky Slate ink and a sponge dauber to add some depth to the edges.  I colored the ears pink and nose black using Copic markers.  Then I assembled the cat.

I put an  adhesive sheet on the back of the red cardstock and die cut the sentiment.

Finally, I assembled the card.  Since the sentiment die also cut out a little red bow, I thought that would be the perfect finishing touch for my sweet kitty.  You can see it in the final card.

Dies I used:

Thanks for stopping by today - have a wonderful weekend!

Fox and Friend!

Good Morning Scrapping Cottage Family!

It is Pam sharing ideas with you today!

I can honestly say I am almost done with my Valentine's Day cards!  I can't wait to send them off to friends and family!

The one I created for you today is one of my favorites!  I love the little fox and his birdie friend!

Designer Steps:

1.  Start by using the Sweet Fox die and cut out a rust colored fox and a light tan fox.

2.  Use the rust colored body of the fox and ink the edges for depth.  Use the light tan for the chest and tip of the tail.  Also ink the edges of both of those pieces.  With your makers color the tan bird blue and the wing dark blue.  Color the heart red, the nose and eyeball black

3.  Assemble the pieces as shown above.  I used a white gel pen for the eye dot

4.  Next cut out the grass using the Spring Grass die and green card stock.  Cut out the fence in white using the Victorian Fence die.  Cut out the piece of cloud DP with the largest Double Stitched Rectange die.  Glue all pieces to the DP

5.  Add the fox to the DP by tucking it into the grass

6.  Use an A2 white card base with an embossed inset

7.  Place a piece of fun foam on the DP panel and pop it to the card front.  Add the sentiment and your Valentine is complete

Cottage Cutz Products

This card is such a sweet Valentine and it was very quick and easy!

Blessings

Pam

Get To Know Anja Zurga

Hello Scrapping Cottage friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with us. We started a new feature several weeks ago that we are continuing with today on the Blog.  We would like to give you a closer look at our designers.  It's  a "get to know the design team"  and today we are featuring Anja Zurgman.

As you know my name is Anja. I'm 31 years old and I come from a small village in the center of Slovenia. I'm a psychologist by profession and in September I started working for a small NGO that helps victims of road accidents and their relatives. We are also doing educational workshops on road safety for kids, teenagers and their parents. 

I’m not married yet and I don’t have any kids. But I have a border coli named Oxi, a cat Oli and a house bunny Toni. They are great inspiration sometimes. I love reading books and watching sports. I’m a big tennis fan, I also like to watch winter sports and handball. 

When I don't work (which is very rare as of lately) I craft. I mostly create cards and explosion boxes. I love working in 3d. I always listen to music when I’m crafting. It feels strange if I work in silence.
I specialized in paper crafting approximately five year ago when I found Pinterest and bought my first Big Shot (it is still the one I'm using today). Before that I was mostly making jewelry and crafting with felt. But now paper is the material I use most. 

I prefer using white paper and coloring it my way. I always use 300 g paper that I color with Distress Inks and Oxides. I could not craft without those. One of my favorite crafting supplies are also Cottage Cutz dies. When I was little, my favorite toys were Lego bricks. And putting together all the small pieces from Cottage Cutz dies reminds me of building the bricks.

I started writing my blog Ideje od A do Ž (Ideas from A to Z) last year when I met some of my crafty friends from Slovenia. Before that I used Google + to publish my work. 
My crafting role models are definitely Vladka Šerbinek and Janja Albreht. I remember how I was eagerly waiting for every new blog post they published. I still  am :)

Here are some of my favorite projects made with Cottage Cutz dies:

HOPE

Hi, Lois here with another card using one of the dies in the CottageCutz get-well release.  There is

a card-making technique that is currently popping up all over the place -- the Eclipse technique.   Basically, it involves stacking layers of die-cuts for a raised, camouflaged sentiment or image.  I used this technique today on my Joy Fold Card, in which I used the CottageCutz HOPE die.

The cardstock and patterned paper for my card was cut as follows:

Pink - 4 1/4" x 8 1/2"

Brown - 4" x 8"

Patterned paper:

     1 piece - 4" x 5 1/4"

     1 piece - 2 3/4" x 4"

     2 pieces - 2 3/4" x 3 3/4"

Pieces of white and dark pink cardstock

I used a second, larger sheet of patterned paper the same as the paper I will be using on the front of my small panel.  I matched up the pattern of the smaller piece and placed my die so that the word would be centered on the smaller panel and the patterns would line up.

I then found a piece of darker pink cardstock and cut five of the large ribbons from the dark pink cardstock (as well as the small "inside of the ribbon") and the rest of the letters from white cardstock.

I then ran the letters through my Xyron sticker maker so that it would be easy to stack them.

I colored the small "inside" of the ribbon with a Copic marker (see small photo in upper left-hand corner) and stacked the letters, making sure the patterned paper was the top layer.

To construct my card, I scored the 4 1/4" x 8 1/2" pink cardstock at 5 1/2" and the 4" x 8" brown cardstock at 4".  I then added the patterned paper, as shown.

The small panel is centered on the inside panel of the card base, so that the small top panel folds over the left hand panel of the base.

I then carefully added the letters, making sure that the pattern on the letters lined up with the designer paper.

For the inside, I cut a brown and a white oval shape, using the CottageCutz Double-Stitched Oval.

I stamped an encouraging sentiment on the white oval and carefully trimmed it down by cutting on the inside stitch marks . . .

. . . glued the white oval onto the brown oval and adhered it to the inside of the card.

I added the photo clip to the bottom left-hand corner with a matching brad to hold the small panel closed, and I was finished.

CottageCutz dies used on this card are: