My tip for today is to discuss ways you can take your die-cutting to the next level. Now, there is certainly no right or wrong way to make and use die cuts! Especially our Cottage Cutz dies that are so doggone cute on their own that they hardly need anything extra. And much of the time, these die cut shapes look great just as they are.
However for today's tip, I thought I would give you a few suggestions with some examples in order to get your own creative juices flowing in new and different ways so that you can experiment with some new die cutting tips on your next project.
Probably the easiest and quickest way to add some extra pop to your die cut shapes is through your choice of paper. There are so many cool and unique types of specialty paper available today that you can use to to make your die cut shapes look really authentic and also really POP off the page.
Some of my "staple" specialty papers that I always like to have handy are gold and silver. I just use a little bit here and there when I need it. I can't even begin to tell you how long I have had the two pieces of gold and silver that I am using right now because most of the time, all I need is just a tiny little piece of the paper.
Silver paper is great for anything metallic looking on your die cut shape. Just a little touch of shiny silver paper makes such a difference. Think about how great the new
Cottage Cutz Lock and Key Shape will look using silver paper for the metal lock and key - or what about some of the mini shapes like the
Chocolate Kiss or just use a small piece for the heart cookie cutter from the
Valentine Baking Set Shape.
Here are a few more examples of die cut shapes where I have used specialty silvery paper in small amounts to give the appearance of metal on my finished shape.
Gold is another type of specialty paper I always keep on hand. Gold works so great for buckles, bells, jewelry, crowns, etc. I just cut out a tiny piece to lay directly over the part of the die I want cut out of the gold. Here are some examples where I have used my gold paper for accent.
The third type of specialty paper that I keep in my stash is a glitter paper. For me, I like to always have some white and black glitter paper, but I find myself using a lot of pink, too (but I scrap mostly girly layouts). And just think how cute the new Valentines Cottage Cutz dies would look with pink glitter accents on the hearts what about glittery pink icing on some those adorable cupcakes, etc!!
Now, I personally LOVE glittery accents (as evidenced by my collection of Stickles) so I actually try to keep a larger variety of glittered papers in my stash besides just the basics. For instance, nothing brightens up a Halloween pumpkin like orange glitter cardstock! My favorite collection is the Glitter Cardstock Matstack from DCWV. The smaller size papers allow me to get lots more color variety for my $$ which I really like!
Let me show you a few examples of die cut shapes where I have used some glitter paper on all or part of the die-cut shape.
I hope this post has inspired you to dig into your stash and see what types of fun and unique papers you have hiding in there that you could be using on your die cuts. Come back tomorrow to see a layout I created using the
Cottage Cutz Bear Shape - but not how you think! Hmmmm.......what could I have done :) Guess I'll see you back here tomorrow to find out!
To make my list card, I covered one side of the card with snow flake paper and covered the other side with a piece of notebook paper. I used several of the snowmen from the Cottage Cutz Snowman Family die on the snow flake paper. It is the perfect die for my snow trip list. 
And when I get back from my trip, I will have the perfect embellishments for my layout.
So did you guess it???? Yes, I used the Grizzly Bear from the Camping Release and turned him into a Polar Bear. I don't know about you, but I think he makes a great looking polar bear, too. Now I can use this die all year round!
The Raccoons were so easy to cut out and piece together thanks to the handy cheat sheet included with the die. I simply ran the die through my machine three times with each different color of brown I had picked out to use. All I had to do then, was pull each piece as I needed it until I had two raccoons pieced and ready to go!
I cut out the die using white paper.
