Watch For It Wednesdays # 13

Today's tip is a simple one and many of you may have been doing this one for a long time but I've just started doing it. :) Do you love to add some depth to your scrapbook pages, cards, etc. ???? I've been using chipboard for quite a while but it involved buying it already in shapes and either raw or already covered by the manufacturers with pretty papers, etc. With the raw
chipboard, I would sometimes cover it with a patterned paper but it was always a chore to get
the paper cut so that it fit perfectly. The bottom line was that I had a lot of chipboard but seldom used it.
I was working on a card when the lightbulb went off (yes, my lightbulb is slow sometimes). :) I had a package of chipboard in assorted colors (white, black and raw) and took
one of the black pieces (pictured above) out. I ran it throught my Sizzix Big Shot with the Sizzix Stamp Frame die and I had a beautifully cut out chipboard shape. I was excited because I knew that I could now cut another one from patterned paper and glue it on top of the black piece. The
end result is a piece of patterned paper chipboard that looks like it was "store bought." :) Also
by using the black chipboard, the edges were colored and pretty with absolutely no effort
on my part as shown below with my amateur photography. :)

I used my glue pen to glue the patterned paper to the chipboard. Several companies are making sheets of chipboard in raw, white or black. (My package of assorted pieces was by Grafix.) You can bet I'll be using my Sizzix a lot more with chipboard now. I love making my

own chipboard embellishments with it. The picture below is the finished result.

The card below is my sample with this chipboard. I wish you could see it in person because it adds so much to the card. Also, if you didn't know better, you would think it was a store bought

chipboard embellishment. :) The Sizzix Originals, Bigz and Bigz XL dies cut chipboard like "buttah." :) If you haven't tried this fun tip, then what are you waiting for???? :) I can't wait to

get some larger pieces of black chipboard to cut some of the Bigz shaped scrolls, etc. :)

Let's Do Lunch with the CottageCutz Ice Cream Parlor Set

When was the last time you had lunch with a friend? This is one of my favorite things to do. It seems like our lives are so busy these days that we overlook a lot of those important relationships in our lives. So, set a goal to call a favorite friend or family member and spend the afternoon getting caught up over lunch. Who wouldn't love to get this fun cheery card in the mail inviting you to lunch?

I used the CottageCutz Ice Cream Parlor Set die. Each chair punches out in its entirety with a few pieces you need to put together for your table. I've shown below what the actual die looks like. This die is great to use those Quickutz Adhesive backed sheets with. I just ran my die through my Revolution with adhesive backed white cardstock and then took my metallic silver marker and colored in the legs of the table then peeled them off and stuck them on the card. For the chair seats and the red background on the table I just cut some red pieces and glued them over the white ones on the chairs and tucked the red table under the white one.

Then I lightly chalked the edge of the table and took my red and green Stickles and made a cherry on the table to match my background paper. "Let's do Lunch" was cut from the Quickutz Banana Split 4x8 Alphabet.

If you haven't tried these CottageCutz dies yet now is a great time. These dies are custom made especially for The Scrapping Cottage and are high quality dies made in the U.S.

Sizzix Circus Collection

Have you checked out the Sizzix circus collection? :) I love them all but especially the lion. Not
only is he GRRRRREAT for your zoo or circus photos, etc. but also for making some FUN cards.
My first card example used some patterned papers and a computer typed sentiment. I also used KaiserCraft pearls for his eyes (they are the perfect size). Fast and easy which is always a winner with me. :)
My second card example only used cardstock. I typed the "no lion" on the computer and printed it out on white cardstock (also the sentiment below it). The lion is two different shades of red cardstock. There is also just a touch of black cardstock to balance things out on the bottom sentiment. I did some pen work with a black pen and added KaiserCraft black pearls for the eyes (these pearls are GRRRRREAT eyes for the lion). :) I added a Dymo label tape "Happy Birthday" sentiment on the bottom.....again FAST and EASY card. :)

Be sure to check out all the GRRRRRRREAT products at Scrapping Cottage.......they're awesome, no lion! :)

Summer of Fun is back!!!

I am so excited that Quickutz is doing the Summer of Fun promotion again this year! And what a great start! This String Bean Border Alphabet is just too fun!! This border would be perfect on school layouts as well as lots of other child-themed projects. But the "fun" doesn't stop there! What a cute little alphabet you get, too! And how can you resist a QK alpha for only $19.99!! Don't miss out! These will go fast!

GARDEN EXPLORATION

For today’s post I did a Garden Layout using some of my favourite photos of my daughter Cheyenne when she was a baby. I spread the layout over 2 pages so that it did not look all crammed into one page. She was a real ‘outside’ girl and just loved the garden and all the messy dirt that went with it. A short time in the garden would solve any tears or grumpy days she had.




For this layout I have used the following dies & products:-
QUICKUTZ CHEMISTRY ALPHABET 4x8-CHEMISTR-MU
QUICKUTZ LIMITED EDITION EXOTIC ISLAND ALPHABET
TIM HOLTZ DISTRESS INKS


QUICKUTZ BUTTERFLY REV-0088. I used vellum as the solid back piece of the butterfly to give it a smooth transparent look.
KAISERCRAFT RHINESTONES
KAISERCRAFT PAPER FLOWERS


QUICKUTZ TREE BORDER CC-BDR-021
QUICKUTZ PINWHEEL QC-0010-S to make the leaves for the backs of the flowers on the trees and kept them in place with some silver brads. The flowers I used are the smallest size of the Kaisercraft flowers.


COTTAGECUTZ WHEELBARROW OF FLOWERS SC-CC4X4-030
QUICKUTZ CLOUDS BORDER CC-BDR-032


COTTAGECUTZ WATER FOUNTAIN SC-CC-4X4-029
QUICKUTZ SNAIL KS-0103
SIZZIX ORIGINALS FENCE

A Dream Come True!

For those of you who saw my post last Friday, this is part 2!

For those you of you who may have missed last Friday's post,

there is wonderful story in the making so please go check

last Friday's blog to get up to speed! :O)

Creating this book and this entire experience, with all of its smiles

and tears, has been such an incredible blessing for my family

and I. You have been a part of the story with your well wishes

and your thoughtful comments....I have loved sharing this with you.

So tomorrow is the big day! We will present the family with

their dream vacation tomorrow and we hope it exceeds

every dream that they have ever had about Disneyland!!

I was so excited to use another adorable CottageCutz die to

help make this book extra special! The Cup of Java, available ONLY at the

Scrapping Cottage, is the most adorable die and it looks expecially

cute with Mickey's touch. This die is one of a kind and can be used

in so many different ways for so many different things! They sell out

really fast so pick yours up today!

Thanks to everyone for your encouragement and your prayers

for this beautiful family....I wish we could all be flies on the wall

to see the delight and joy that this magical trip will bring to them!

We have a WINNER!

We received nine very cute card entries for our Card Sketch Contest. It was tough to choose just one. But after discussing this with the blog team we decided that our winner is................................................



Carrie Buss! Congratulations!

You can email the Scrapping Cottage with your choice of a 4x8 Quickutz Alphabet!

Thanks to all those that participated, we hope you will join us for our next contest coming soon.

Monogram notecard

The Scalloped Nesting Squares from the May Quickutz release are must haves for your die collection. They are great for journaling spots or for layering with other shapes. The scalloped edge is such a simple way to add more interest to your paper crafting projects.

Watch for it Wednesdays!! #12

I have been using my Silhouette A LOT lately. Isn't funny how you go for awhile not using one of your tools and then all of a sudden *BAM* you can't scrap without it!

One of the greatest advantages of the Quickutz Silhouette is its ability to cut any True Type Font you have loaded onto your computer. There are virtually 1000's of fonts available for free all over the internet. All you have to do is Google "Free Fonts" and you'll find tons of sites to get fun new fonts for your Silhouette. However, if you don't know how to download these fonts into your Fonts Folder, you will not be able to access them from your Silhouette software.

My tip for today is to show you how to create a shortcut on your Desktop for your Fonts Folder to make this downloading process much simpler!

In order to first locate your Fonts Folder, take the following steps:

Go to your Start Menu
Then click on the Control Panel (You must be in Classic View!!)
Now you'll see your Fonts Folder

Now that you have located your fonts folder, you'll want to create a shortcut on your desktop. Simply RIGHT CLICK on the Fonts Folder Icon and select "Create Shortcut".

Place the new shortcut onto your Desktop.

Now you can easily drag and drop new fonts into your new Fonts folder shortcut. Just make sure when you are downloading fonts, that you open all files until you get the True Type version. This is the one you want to drag and drop into your Fonts Folder. Then your computer will do the rest!!

Last Day... Introductory Pricing on New June Cottage Cutz shapes ends Midnight Tonight!

(Midnight Pacific Time)

The first shipment is almost sold out!!!

For those "RARE" Dads

I just can't help it - something about me has to come up with a catchy saying for cards and this one was no exception.

I was excited to get this Quickutz Spring Gift set "enjoy" because I loved this barbeque.
This is perfect for a Father's Day card or a manly birthday card.

I also used my Black Soot Distress ink to give it that charcoal flavor. Now I just need a diecut steak to throw on the barby and we'd be set.

REMINDER*** Card Sketch Contest entries are due tomorrow by midnight!

Sizzix June Release/Butterfly & Flowers Set #3

One of the new June Sizzix releases is a Sizzlits set called Butterfly & Flowers Set #3

The set has three different designs. There is a butterfly and two different flowers. This

is such a versitile set. It can create many different types of mood for scrapbook pages and/or

cards. I made a card from each of the dies so you could see each unique shape. On two of

the cards I accented the dies with new KaiserCraft Pearls that Scrapping Cottage is now

carrying. Be sure to check out all the great products at Scrapping Cottage. Happy Memorial

Day!!!!!! :)

Happy Memorial Day

Let us never forget the sacrifices that have been made for our freedom.

And the May winner is.............

By random number generator, the winner of this month's free Quickutz die giveaway is..........



seemoreclearly - who was our second poster to the Contest Thread this month.

Congratulations!! Please contact The Scrapping Cottage to select your die (alpha not included).

Thanks to everyone who participated this month!!

Card Sketch Contest: May 2009

Are you ready for another contest? Well, here it is!

Becky Fleck from http://www.pagemaps.com/ has graciously let us use

one of her card sketches for our contest.

You must have an obvious likeness to this sketch and it must be newly created for this contest. The winner will receive one Quickutz 4x8 Alphabet of their choice.

Your entries must be emailed to scrappingcottage@cox.net by midnight on Wednesday, May 27th with CARD SKETCH CONTEST MAY 2009 in the subject line.

Below are two example of cards made from this sketch. Beverly did this gorgeous Sympathy card and Kay did a manly Father's Day card (I promised I would do manly cards this month) using the Quickutz Chocolate 4x8 Alphabet and 2x2 bracket die from April's release.

Have fun! We can't wait to see your creations!

Be sure to check out The NEW COTTAGECUTZ SUMMER RELEASE Dies. Pre-Order yours today and take advantage of the special introductory price.
These new Cottage dies are FANTASTIC and I'm sure they will sell quickly. Check them out at THE SCRAPPING COTTAGE and see what I'm talking about. Trust me - you'll be sorry if you miss out.
note:- Introductoty Price will expire on Wed, May 27th. Pre-Order your CottageCutz June Release now and enjoy great savings.

PENGUIN PARADE


This week I did a single page layout of my Husband and his Brother using photos which I took of them just before his brother’s wedding. I found it very difficult to take a serious photo of them and maybe it was just their nerves, but I couldn’t help thinking that maybe the saying ‘boys never ever really grow up’ seemed so true at that moment and even though they look like men, they will always be boys at heart :-)
In my layout I used the adorable COTTAGECUTZ PENGUIN DIE SC-CC-009 because I always thought that the suits they were wearing reminded me of penguins. The COTTAGE CUTZ penguins are about 4”x2” when made up and are very easy to put together. They are a perfect size for scrapbooking layouts.
I also used:-
QUICKUTZ DISCO ALPHABET FONT 4X8-DISCO-M (ON SALE NOW - HAVE A LOOK IN STORE)
QUICKUTZ OLIVIA ALPHABET NUMBERS
QUICKUTZ SIGN RS-0265
QUICKUTZ CLOUDS BORDER DIE CC-BDR-032,
QUICKUTZ TREES BORDER DIE CC-BDR-018,
TIM HOLTZ DISTRESS INKS (VINTAGE PHOTO & WALNUT STAIN)

Mickey Mouse Tree!

The Most Magical Place on Earth!

I think I join with most of the world when I say, I love Disneyland!

I love everything about it-

the sights, the sounds, the magic, the MOUSE!!!

It is a wonderful place.

Our family has been blessed this year as we have the incredible
privilege of being a part of sending a very special family to
Disneyland this summer. One of the precious teachers at our
children's school was diagnosed with cancer this year and the
entire school has joined together to make their Disney dreams
come true! We hope their vacation is half as wonderful as they are!


I am creating this book to present to them on the day our school
surprises them with this magical gift. I am not completely finished
yet but I wanted to share a little bit of the magic with you!

I was shuffling throught my CottageCutz dies to get some
inspiration and this adorable CottageCutz Tree with Hearts
and leaves jumped right out of the package and into my hand!
Walla....a Mickey Mouse tree was born! I may still add some leaves
and hearts to the tree but I wanted to show you how versatile
and ingenious this wonderful die is. It is one of my favorites!

Can you find the new release die??

OK, now granted, it isn't really going to be that hard to find the new release die in this layout. But did you ever expect to see one of the new Special Occasion dies from the May Quickutz Release used in a Halloween layout? I received a bunch of these new dies in the mail today so of course I couldn't wait to start playing. I think the 2x2 Pears are just so cute that I was dying to use them first.

I decided to surf the internet to see if I could come up with a catchy little phrase about pears. All of a sudden I saw a saying about gourds and it hit me...turn these little babies around, take of the stem, and with a little distressing, they look like those colorful Fall gourds and other odd shaped pumpkins you see every year. So I got out all of my other QK Pumpkin dies to make a fun little cluster of different shaped pumpkins. I also used the Supermarket 4x8 Alpha for my title (which I believe is my absolute favorite of the 4x8 alphas!!)

Follow Your Dreams

These new shapes from the Quickutz May Release aren't just for weddings! I live in the land of "all things princess" so of course I immediately set out to make this Rev Wedding Dress Die look a little more princessy and a little less like a wedding dress. In order to add a bit of princess gown detail, I took the center portion of one the 2x2 brackets and placed it in the middle of the gown instead of the sash that comes with the die. I also used pieces of glitter cardstock to really give the gown some extra sparkle.

Don' forget when you are placing your order for these new Quickutz dies to include the FREE Club Die for all Quickutz/Cottage Cutz orders over $50!!

You still have plenty of time to enter our monthly drawing for your choice of one of the new Quickutz Dies from this release by leaving a comment HERE telling us what your favorites are from the May release (alphabet not included).

WATCH FOR IT WEDNESDAY #11

Have you heard about the COPIC Ciao marker craze? Well, I'm hooked! Today I want to show you an easy way to work with those dies that generally need multiple colors.

The Ciao markers have 2 tips, I like to use the brush tip the most. These are alcohol based so they can be blended together and colored over each other for a darker color.

I took a white piece of Bazzill cardstock and applied a piece of the Quickutz Double-sided adhesive and ran this through my Revolution with the CottageCutz Cupcake tier.

Then I started coloring in the pieces with my Ciao markers. This went really quick, the thing that takes the longest is deciding what colors you want.

OK, here are my colored pieces, next I went over some of the pieces multiple times with my markers to show some detail. You can see below which ones I've gone over more than the initial coloring in to get the details I want.

Then I just peeled them off like a sticker and placed them on my card. I used my Stickles to detail the pink frosting and the cherries.

Watch for these wonderful COPIC Ciao Markers coming soon to the Scrapping Cottage Store.