Will Hoot for Loot

 Will Hoot for Loot. . . This weeks card is an adult Halloween card. Less fright night and less cotton candy. I wanted a card that was Halloween themed but decorative. The face edge of the card is cut randomly with a large flower style punch. Than a strip of green polka dot card stock down the center. I wanted a stark contrast of the owl against a bright color. I used the Cottage Cutz Stylized Owl die from last years but made a chance to his eyes. The back of the card card stock is peach, so when the card is closed . . peach shows around the lacy flowers.

 As you can see. . this owl has those sad puppy dog eyes that are beggin' for candy. Rather than make the complete owl in shades of orange. . I made the chest in white. . than I used a swirl style clear stamp, added a few swirls and used a sponge to add a dab of orange ink, than colored the vine in green Copic. Added Copic dots in green and orange, than micro black dots with a 03 Prismacolor pen. You can also see that I used the swirls several other places on the card, that way the card background matched the owl.

 Ok. . the saddddd eyes. . .I used the base circle from the die and cut the two white base eye. Than cut the same two base circles in peach . . stacked the two base peach eyes on top of each other and than cut them in half to make the eye lids. I know you are asking. . WHY did you cut two peach . . .why not cut one peach circle and cut it in half  for both eye lids. Well because I know I can't cut a circle that small exactly in half, so I just stack two and cut the best I can and I know that both eye lids will be perfectly the same even if they are not perfectly in half. The black portion of the eye is a standard hole punch with a third cut off and glued under the edge of the eye lids. The last part of the eye is the two micro dots off the die. Also notice the micro dots added to the sides of the eyes with the Prismacolor pen. If you glue the eyes on where the eye lids are straight. . he will not looks so sad. I cut the eye lids in a lighter color card stock than the head, than used Copic orange to bent the eye lids back into the head. This way they stood out. 

On this photo you will see the white circle under the owl . This is how you do the lettering with an arch (a templete of sorts ). Decide the space that you need around the owl. . in this case 3 1/2", cut a scrap paper and arrange the circle on the card with the owl in the center in the correct location where the owl will be (temp glue with runner). . . glue your letters above and below. Remove the circle than glue your owl down.

 I also used the Cottage Cutz new Alphabet die called Splish Splash. It is a 4" x 8" die with both upper case and lower case alphabets. . including numbers. The size alphabet was perfect for this card.

This is a another sample of the front of the owl. I cut the paper with the die, than stamped and colored before popping the shape out of the die. .

Thanks Barry

I'm Ready for Fall!

I'm so glad the seasons change. I can't imagine it being hot or cold all year round. I am so ready for fall and here in Utah the only signs of fall is the kids are back in school. We've had plenty of hot temps here but that doesn't stop me from starting my fall cards.

Today I used the tree from MLS Summertime Fun die. I grabbed some fall paper from my stash and some matching cardstock for my trees and went to town. I also used the Raking the Leaves die from last years release and cut out 2 of the small leaves to add by the sentiment.

The twine I used was brown and white. The white stood out too much against my cream background so I took some Antique Linen distress ink and inked the twine a bit to subdue the white.

We love to hear comments from our followers so leave us a note and let us know what you like. Have a great week!

Spooky Treats Card

I absolutely love Halloween. Have since I was a little girl and nothing has changed. The costumes, the candy and the decorations are simply "Boo"tiful!!! Hi everyone, Erika Taylor here today to share with you a little Halloween card I created. If you haven't seen Spooky Treats before, you just have to take a look.

For this card I used the tombstone from the Spooky Treats die set. First I cut it out in black card stock. then a second one was cut out using white card stock. I applied Versamark to the white tombstone and embossed with a great Antique Pewter embossing powder to give it a more realistic feel. I love that the Cottage Cutz dies can be altered using embossing powders. Here she is...

Just so the tombstone wasn't floating, I added some fringed grass to anchor it. The little R.I.P letters are also a part of the Spooky Treats die, which I added a little Stickles to so they would POP. If you want to see a larger photo, just click on the photo itself to see the details.

Speaking of Halloween, have you seen the new Halloween dies that have just been released? Holy Doodles BATMAN!!!! I'm gonna need one of everything. Over the next while, I think I'm going to create some more Halloween goodies for all of you, so if there is something in particular you'd like to see, just leave a comment and let me know.

Until next time
Toodles
Erika Taylor

MLS Halloween

Hello friends!  Here is a card I made using the My Little Shoebox, Spooky Treats.  Sorry for the poor quality photo.

 

I also wanted to show you a few assembled carnival pieces.  The Ferris Wheel and Game Booth.

Have you had a chance to look at the new Halloween release?  It is so cool!  Also don't forget about Angelica's challenge.  You may click here to read all about it.  Hope you will join in the fun!  Have a great day!

Hugs and smiles,
Janice

Boo!

Good Morning!  Is anyone else glad it's Friday?  Whew!  What a week!!!!!  I am so ready for the cool weather of Autumn,, and my favorite holiday, which is Halloween, so I've been breaking out the Halloween papers and crafting away.  Did you know that there's a new Halloween release out at The Scrapping Cottage?  There are some wonderful new designs for 2011, and we've got some fabulous dies from last year to play with, as well.  That's what I've been playing with, and I've combined several dies from several of the releases this year for this card.  

 In creating this card, I used the following Cottage Cutz dies:  Knickety knack Cat 3x3, Ghost and Bat 3x3 (both designed by Peachy Keen Stamps, and include stamps), Airplane with Banner & Sign (designed by My Little Shoebox), and Circle With Eyelets.  I added some sparkle to this design with the glittery paper, and I shadowed/shaded the cat and moon with a little sponging.  To give the cat a little more dimension, I cut two cats, one in black, and one in light gray and glued them together, offsetting the gray just a little bit.  This gives an awesome shadow effect, and was a technique that was shared on this blog, by my fellow designer Erika in this post a few days ago.  The sentiment was stamped with the "Boo" stamp, which is included in the Ghosts & Bat die/stamp set.

I'm so glad you could spend some time here today!  I wish you a very happy Friday, and a blessed and beautiful weekend!

Oh, I almost forgot!!!!  I wanted to remind you about our latest challenge here at The Scrapping Cottage Blog.  Angelica is our hostess this month, and she's got an awesome sketch challenge posted for you to play along with.  Just click on the blinkie in the top left sidebar of this blog, and it will take you directly to the challenge.  There's a $25.00 gift certificate to The Scrapping Cottage up for grabs to one lucky player, so what are you waiting for?  Let's see what crafty goodness you've got up your sleeve!!!

Pack Your Bags!

While I'm afraid the only travel plans in my near future is a trip to Charlotte....I still thought it would be fun to make a travel-themed card with a pocket built in, to hide away tickets for a special get-away.

I used the Scooter and Tug Boat die set from CottageCutz- and I must say, they are stinkin' cute! The papers are from Best Creation - Travel Forever. I also got to play with the new Shape Studio Tool Square 25 from Epiphany Crafts, to make my custom epoxies.


Don't you think that this would make a fun way to surprise someone with a couple of tickets to someplace wonderful?

hugs,

Gini

Water For Elephants Goes Layout

When I first looked at the Popcorn/ Cotton Candy Die all I could see the cotton candy as was a banner.  I thought how cute that would be.  So I started making the banner and realized this is going to be to big for a card...gonna have to make a layout with it. Once I got into it I also realized how influenced I was being by the current book I'm reading " Water For Elephants".  I have to tell you I'm really enjoying this book and can't wait to see the DVD next month.  It's about a circus during the depression...so I think you can see the retro circus feel.

Once I had settled on a theme and really started putting everything together it just flowed.  The Graphic 45 circus paper along with a vintage photo of a turn of the century circus troop...it was all just perfect. 

I used the Ticket Booth flourishes for corner flourishes on the green cardstock and also the scallop is from the Ticket Booth. I always think it's fun to look at the dies and see what all you and create beside the obvious.  I  enjoyed doing this layout just for fun...it wasn't a family picture, or anything important to document...it was just FUN!!!

Hugs,

   

Sweet Thank You

Good Morning everyone! Angelica here, hanging onto the last bit of summer. For today's project, I wanted to create something using the new My Little Shoebox collection from The Scrapping Cottage. These designs are a little whimsy, but still feminine enough to create a soft and delicate "thank you" note.

 I pieced almost every element from the Laundry Line die and the Pink Peony Flower die using "Good Day Sunshine" by My Mind's Eye. I inked everything with just one color of Distress Ink - Antique Linen. I thought it really gave it the vintage country look I was going for. (Seems like I'm always going for vintage country these days!) The sentiment is from "Thankful Hearts" (Verve Stamps).

Here's a photo to show you the dimension you can create with the MLS Peony die. It's gorgeous and really simple to put together. I doodled a bit on the flower and leaves with a white Gelly Roll pen.

Don't you just love that dress? SUCH cute designs in this collection!QUICK TIPS:

• I use Zig Two-Way glue for all my Cottage Cutz piecing. It dries clear and quickly. It won't leave an icky residue, either. 
• I always run one 4x4" sheet of white cardstock on my new dies first. Not only will you then be able to see where each element will cut after mounting the foam, but you'll have extra pieces in case you want to ink any element a solid a color. I always, always cut extra. :)

That's it for today! I hope you enjoyed it and left feeling inspired. Have you played along in the Cottage Cutz August challenge yet? I created a simple sketch and we'd love to see what you come up with! Up for grabs is a $25 Gift Certificate to The Scrapping Cottage.

Have a beautiful day! ~ Angelica

Carousel Birthday Wishes

Hello everyone and Happy Monday to all! 

Today I used the Beautiful Carousel Horse (4x6) Cottage Cutz for my card :) This is from the Carnival Release !

I LOVE this darling Carousel horse, and thought using a cream card stock would be perfect for my card. I then airbrushed all the pieces with different copics listed here:

RV02,RV04,BV00, V09,V06 I added some pearls to the stand, and to the horse.

I used tacky glue to glue all my pieces together, this was super easy to do, and then set it aside to dry while we had dinner :) hehehehe

for the eye on the horse I used Viva Black Pearl Pen.

When I saw this design paper that is how I got my inspiration for my Carousel horse.  I thought adding a little pink would be a nice pop for the shades of purple I used.

Next I added my favorite sewing stitch. And lastly a little bow with flower!

Thank you for looking and have a wonderful week!!

Hugs,

Cheryl

Happy Sunday ! - Hi, There!

Hello again , from Sunny Singapore ! 

I must share that tools in my papercrafting are such  gamechangers for me! 

I'm NOW having even more fun than before with my Cuttlebug , 

diecutting with our latest , adorable releases.

No project now feels complete unless I add even one little tiny Cottage Cutz diecut ! 

It's that gamechanging for me ! 

For my first card here , I wanted to try out the coordinating Orchid die 

with the My Little Shoebox Enchanted Garden line. 

And loving  frames at the moment , I couldn't resist adding half a circle ornate frame 

to "contain" my piecing . ;)  I also glitzed up the Orchid Flower with some Stickles ! 

A little bling is never wrong , huh ?! I also used foam pads to pop up the design as and where I wanted more dimension. 

No matter your cardmaking style , whether it be on the simpler side or otherwise , 

the use of diecuts to me simply gives you a unique finishing  no matter how many times 

you use the same design ! 

For this Thank you card , I have combined the girl silhouette and ribbon diecuts from the Cameo and Oval Frame die  with the ornate circle frame  for a more balanced design with this card orientation. 

I wouldn't say that clean and simple is my go to style usually with cards, 

but it was easy to be inspired to try  to this clean , graphic look for 

a change here ! ;) 

So, don't allow your Cottage Cutz dies to be in cold storage .
Keep them always in sight on your crafting table and the more you use them ,
the more your creative mind 

will find ways to get more out of them ! ;) 

Pearl

Tou are invited

 You are invited this week for a party!. This weeks card is an invitation for a kids birthdat party. I used the Clown Game die from Cottage Cutz on the cover of the card. This die has the clown water game. The die can also be used without the balloon part of the die.

 On the inside of the card I created a box with an acetate window. I than filled the box with balloons. I trimmed the box with Balloons using the mini balloon dies from the birthday collection by Cottage Cutz, along with a lot of dots for confetti.

 This is a photo of the boxed open. The box was 2" x 3 3/4" x 1/2" with a a wacky random cut hole cut for the window.

 This view shows you how you need to add a spine to the card, in this case 1/2" . The card will be shaped like a book.

 I also used the clown die without the balloon top, lip hole and base from the die. This way you can use the die for a clown head only.  I added to a 2 1/2" scallop square and strapped to a 12" candy tube filled will Jelly Belly beans. You could have also filled the card box with jelly Belly bean. . not using the balloons.

All you need to do to attach the clown is add a strap on the back to bridge the tube. You than just slide it on. The tube was 1/2" round.  .so I made the bridge slightly smaller so it would fit snug and not slide off.


Its a cute way to sent a gift with an invite. When sending an invite. . add something that is related to the event inside the card.. . . The kids will love it. . . OK. . .  start blowing those balloons up.

Thanks Barry