Get To Know Janja Albrecht

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 Janja Albrecht.

Hello, my name is Janja. I live in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, with my husband. We are together over 41 years. Mom of two grown-up children, and a grandma of three wonderful grandchildren, all boys.

Welcome to Slovenia, the only country with the word LOVE in its name! It is located in the heart of Europe, on the sunny side of the Alps.

I have been crafting for as long as I can remember, and I do all different types of craft. Seriously, I began my paper crafting journey when I retired.  

I have always loved to paint and draw, and paper has always been my favorite material. I'm addicted to it, so that instead of souvenirs, I carry home from different journeys all kinds of papers.
 

Socializing with grandchildren and reading fairy tales is reflected on my creations.

I always try to create a story on cards. First, I make a sketch for the entire scene on a white paper. Then I choose the colors, and start creating.
 

Animals are my favorite motives. Among the CottageCutz dies there are many of them, and they are all very cute. CottageCutz dies can be beautifully combined to each other.

I also like vivid colors. You will recognize my cards by them.

My creative space:

Since February 2016,  I have been a member of the design team at The Scrapping Cottage. During this time, a lot of cards were created. These are some of my favorites.

Easter Morning

Hi, Lois here today.  I'm hoping that winter is over here in Florida.  I don't do well in the cold!  To keep my spirits up, I've been enjoying playing with the new release of Easter/Spring dies from CottageCutz.  Be sure to check them out over on the website while they're 25% off.  My card today uses the Spring Tree of Life die.

I wanted to try a bit of background sponging on my card to depict a sunrise, so I cut the image from white cardstock -- which would not take away from the background.

Using sponges, I made my background from Ranger Distress inks -- Scattered Straw, Wild Honey, Worn Lipstick, Milled Lavender, and Tumbled Glass.  I wanted the sun to be in the lower right-hand corner, so I slanted the colors.

I then laid my die-cut onto the sponged background and marked the edges.

I trimmed the panel slightly inside the pencil marks and glued down the diecut.

Then I cut my card base:

Purple - 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"

Pale yellow patterned paper (a watercolor wash) - 4" x 5 1/4"

Lining up my yellow paper in my MISTI stamp positioner, I stamped my Easter greeting . . .

. . . and constructed my card, placing the die-cut piece at an angle.

I cut a frame from the same purple cardstock as the base and added strips of foam tape to the back.

I then mounted the frame on top of my die-cut -- and I was finished.

CottageCutz dies used on my card are:

Valentine's Vines

Hi!

It's Anja here. Can't believe it's already February. This 2018 is going fast. We are all snowed in and I'm happy I can stay at home and make some cards. I have another card today for you that can be used as a Valentine's card. I really like this beautiful angel die and I think it would be a shame if I could only use it during the holiday season.

For this card I used:
- Cottage Cutz dies (Angel With Holly, Fancy Doves With Vine, Cupcake (Mini)),
- Distress Inks (Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Chipped Sapphire, Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint, Fired Brick, Barn Door),
- watercolor paper for background (9,5x20,5 cm and 8,9x19,9 cm) and die cuts,
- white card base (10x21 cm),
- white card stock for background (9,2x20,2 cm),
- Zig brush markers (flesh tones),
- black pen,
- watercolor brush,
- heat gun,
- adhesive foam pads,
- embossing tool,
- embossing surface,
- paper glue,
- water spritzer.

First I made the background. I cut tree rectangles (the sizes are written above). For the smallest rectangle I put some Distress Ink on my glass surface and spritzed a bit of water over it. Then I tapped the paper on it to pick the blue color. I dry it with the heat gun.

I colored the largest rectangle around the edges.

And then I cut another rectangle from plain white card stock.

I cut all the pieces from watercolor paper (300 g) and colored it with Distress Inks. I put the color on my surface and picked it up with the brush.

I used embossing tool to add some dimension to the vines.

When I had everything ready I glued it together. I used adhesive foam pads to glue the angel and the bird on the card. And this is the final result.

 

Have a nice Sunday and a crafty week ahead.
Anja Z.

Cottage Cutz dies I used:

Fresh Spring Floral Wreath (new die)

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.

Here is some good news that comes in the middle of winter! We have a new release of dies. There is a In-Stitches release with 12 new dies and a Spring release with 21 new designs. And, some other good news is that for a limited time, you can get the new dies at 25% off. Just in time to create your Easter or Springs cards.

Today, I am using the  new Fresh Spring Floral, Lil Bunny Peeps and Spring Meadow dies. So let's get started with some details on how I created my card.

Step 1: Since I was creating a spring wreath, I chose some spring like colors for the card base and the wide rectangle frame I was using.
Sweet Sugarplum Base: 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Wide Rectangle Frame: 4 3/4" x 3 3/4"
White Rectangle Layer: 4 5/8" x 3 5/8"

Step 2: I cut the wreath, flowers and stems using garden green cardstock, sweet sugarplum and rich razzleberry cardstocks for the flowers.

Step 3: I started the frame assembly at this point because I wanted to attach the wreath directly to the white panel. Used double sided tape on the white panel to attach to the rectangle frame. I decided to stamp my sentiment before I started adhering the wreath. Just thought it would be easier that way. I used my MISTI since it's a clear stamp and sometimes you don't always get a good impression on the first try. And in this case, I did not so I stamped it twice.

Step 4: Continued the assembly by attaching the wreath, flowers, and leaf stem to the white panel. Once I started, I decided to make the leaf stems a lighter shade of green. I wanted them to stand out a bit.

Step 5: I thought the card needed something else in the way of an embellishment. So I cut a butterfly from the new Spring Meadow die for the wreath center. Then I also added a bunny for the frame corner. I cut this in the rich razzleberry cardstock using the new Lil Bunny Peeps die.

To complete my card I attached the frame to the card base. I was going for the tone-on-tone look so I used dimensional foam tape on my frame to lift it off the card base. It gives it a little more depth since the card base is also sweet sugarplum.

That's it for me for this week. I hope I have given you an idea for a card using the new Fresh Spring Floral die. And, remember these dies are currently 25% off the regular price for a limited time. The rectangle die is currently 44% off the regular price.
Have a great week and I will see you next Saturday.

Dies I used to create card: