My little nature girl

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! My post today is featuring the Cottage Cutz Bluebird and the Cottage Cutz Loops Edger. I purchased this new paper from Bo Bunny and I wanted to create my accents to match - in comes my Cottage Cutz. The CC Bluebird is the perfect compliment to the bird on the patterned paper.

Here is a close up of my die cut so you can see some of the details of the shape. As you can see, I used the grey from the paper for the bird's beak as well as the branch and leaves so it would coordinate perfectly with my paper.

I took these pictures of my daughter to show what a prissy little girl she was. In order to play in the dirt, I had to put a towel down on the ground so she wouldn't get any dirt on her! That was my little nature girl!! 

Glad you could join us today! Come back tomorrow for more inspiration and fabulous projects featuring our Cottage Cutz dies.

Ruth Ellen

Flashy Flamingo

Good morning!  Another Friday is upon us, and I hope you have plans for an amazing weekend doing whatever it is that you love.  That one's easy for me, as I have plans for a quiet weekend and hopefully lots of crafting!  I had an amazing time at CHA last week, but it's good to be home and  in the craft  room again.  Today I'm sharing a fun card with you that I created with the Flamingo Die by Cottage Cutz, which can be found at The Scrapping Cottage.   I made my flamingo a little on the flashy side by adding a lot of bling around the edge of the circle panel, and that long, graceful neck was the perfect place to put a bow for this flashy lady.  Quick Tip:  After tying the bow, I gave the tails a little curl, and secured them in place with a tiny glue dot, so the curls would stay where I put them.  

I used lots of bright patterned paper to give this even more fun color and interest, and as I usually like to do, I colored the die cut after it was assembled with my Copic markers, and added some highlights with my white gel pen.  I was happily surprised with the size of this particular die, because I love to color larger images, and after assembly, this die cut measured nearly 4 1/2 inches.  It is the perfect size for a card, and would be excellent for a scrapbook page, as well.  Even better would be a whole flock of flamingos for a scrapbook page!! 

I'm so happy you could stop by today, and I wish you a wonderful day filled with happy crafting!  

Sweet!

This is my favorite of the cupcake dies. Love the heart sprinkles and the heart cherry on top! Papers are DCWV from the Sweet stack. I cut the title letters, the cupcake paper, and the border along the bottom from the cover page of the stack.

For Olivia's birthday card I used the new peeker-pig...

...and one of the bon-bons from the stacking candy die. I used my paper crimping tool to make the candy wrapper more realistic.

Here I've used the boat and dock die on a fishing page.



I love adding texture to my projects. For texture on this page I used jute for rope to tie the boat to the piling. Cute, isn't it.

I love you "MOW" than ever!

Ok, I know I get a little weird with my sentiments sometimes but I can't help it.

Whenever I get a CottageCutz die to work with my mind starts racing and then the ideas for whitty (weird) sayings just pop into my head.

When I saw this die I thought about the first time my son mowed the lawn and we videotaped him for a few minutes. It's still fun to watch and I can hardly believe that was 16 years ago!

I thought this die would be fun for occasions other than mowing the lawn.

By replacing the word more with mow it allows you use this cute Lawn Mower die in some different ways.

So, I'm going to tell you one "mow" time, you gotta have this die.

Have a great day everyone!

it's all about the candy

It's all about the candy, any every child will tell you that. This week I used the Cottage Cutz Die called Ghost with Legs. I made a card and matching gift tag. The gift tag was attached to a Chocolate drizzled pretzel, a quick way to make a tray of party favors. as well as nice gifts for the office.

I did not alter the die that much, but did decide that the trick-or-treater needed arms for the treat bags. I used the same part of the die that is used for the legs, all I did was make them white. The handles on the treat bag is the buckle, and the treat bag was an older die shape. The rick rack on the treat bags came from the Cottage Cutz Gingerbread Doll Die.

Good Morning Friends!

Hello Everyone! Happy Monday to you! For today's card I have used several dies. I love the window dies, so I used Window w/ canopy. I love the canopy! I also used the flower pot from the Window and Flower Pot die. This card could be used for many occasions. We've Moved, Welcome Neighbor, Housewarming Party....... you get the idea. I like to make scenes when I make cards, so I used my Score-pal to make the "siding" on my house. And of course I had to make a white picket fence with this fabulous Picket Fence die! And finally I used the Daisy die to plant some flowers around the house. I used a light pink behind the 9 panel window. To create a slight shadow I highlighted each window pane with a light cool grey Copic marker. This small detail really makes the window pop! I hope you like my card! I will be back next Monday, but I hope you visit us every day to see the fabulous artistry of the other designers!

You're My Hero

Hello! It's Nikki again ☺ Sorry I am late in posting today, but I have a good excuse I swear! As you probably know, I am a Navy Wife...and yesterday my husband came home from 7 months at sea!!! So, in all the excitement, I sort of didn't remember to post this morning. LOL. On to my card for today...I used the American Eagle die and the Patriot Bunting die. I used the middle bunting piece to give my eagle a sign to hold in his little talons.

I gave the eagle a tiny black half pearl for his eye. I used my trusty white sakura gelly roll pen for all the stitching and doodling. Well, I hope you like my card for today! And if you're interested in seeing pictures and video's from my sailors homecoming yesterday...pop over to My Blog to take a look. ☺

♥ Nikki ♥

Yellow Watermelon??!!

I have been saving these pictures of my girls eating yellow watermelon just waiting for the right die to come along to embellish the page. And of course, I found the perfect shape from the Cottage Cutz July #2 Release. This Watermelon die is really a must have for any Summer page or other project. I love it because not only it is super cute, but this die comes with three different shapes for you to use all on one die!! You can't beat that!!

Naturally, since my page showcases pictures of my girls seeing and eating their first yellow watermelon, I wanted to coordinate my watermelon embellishments to match. I would never have been able to find watermelon stickers that were yellow!! Instead of using colored cadrstock, I pulled out my Copic markers to color the green and yellow parts of the watermelons. This way, I would be able to achieve more of a mottled look similar to the imperfections you would see in real watermelons. (Plus it is just so fun to color the pieces of the Cottage Cutz shapes with my markers).

You will also notice that I used the Cottage Cutz Rick Rack Edger die on my layout. This die is a life saver!! Never more do I have to go without the look I want because I don't have Rick Rack in the right color (and let's face it, I NEVER seem to have the right color!!). In order to get the longer length for the horizontal piece, I used my WfiW tip I posted previously about how to get longer lengths from the 7" Cottage Cutz Edger dies. If you missed that tip or you want a refresher, just click here to review the edger technique.

Thanks for stopping by today! Come back tomorrow to see another fabulous creation from the uber talented Nikki! I am sure she has something wonderful in store for us!!

Good morning, and greetings from the CHA Super Show in Chicago!!!!  WOW!!  There's certainly LOTS of excitement in the air as we get ready to begin the opening day of the super show.  Today I'm sharing a make and take project with you directly from the floor of CHA.  This is a little sticky note notebook, complete with pen, is perfect for jotting down all those wish list items at CHA.   

This adorable peach die is available at The Scrapping Cottage, and includes the face stamp from Peachy Keen Stamps, which just brings this "peachy" little girl to life.  I used white card stock to cut the die, then colored with my Copic markers, and the eyes are filled in with white gel pen.  I matted the peach on some brightly colored patterned paper and card stock with pop dots, and that did it for this project. 

So glad you could join us today!  Have a beautiful day, and happy crafting!!!!!

Summer is so much fun

I'm loving these adorable summer shapes. Do you have yours yet? Well, if you can't decide, maybe this will help. I've used a bunch of them on this page and I will not apologize! LOL

Starting with the title, I've used the popsicle for the "i" and the mini cooking pot from an earlier release for the "p". Other food shapes make up the remainder of the title letters.

Along the bottom of the page, for a picnic themed border, I've used the soda bottle, picnic ant which is carrying the watermelon from the ladybug die, and the ladybug which seems to have absconded with the chicken drumstick from the larger ant!

Ok, who can resist this adorable little penguin from the last release....not me! And who says penguins are only for snowy, cold, or wintery layouts?! Don't be silly! Here I've used the penguin on a summer page and it fits perfectly with the beachy theme, don't you think. :)

This little guy, er, excuse me gal, is enjoying a day at the beach in her ruffled bikini.


In addition to this new penguin shape from the Scrapping Cottage collaboration with Peachy Keen stamps, I've used the message in a bottle die. The bottle is cut from vellum, the cork is cut from cork paper, and the sand is actual sandpaper! I've added stickles for some sparkle in the sand. It is a sunny day, after all.

Hooray for Baseball

When I first saw this Happy Bird die I thought of "Hooray for You!" He looks like he is excited about something.

I thought it would be fun to make him yellow like a canary. I also used the CottageCutz Edger die called Flowervine. I wanted the flowers to be the same on both side so I trimmed the middle out and overlapped them make it the perfect size for my card. I also used to pearl for the centers of my flowers.

For my baseball card I used the CottagCutz Baseball mini die ( I love these things!) to create this baseball birthday card that would be great for just about any age. The stitching in the baseball has little dimples that you can color in for your stitches. I lightly inked the edges with some Tea Dye Distress ink.

"Under the Sun" Cottage Cutz CHA Release

Time for fun under the sun. As you can tell, we have been very busy working on new designs. Let us know your favorites by posting your comments here.

Birdfeeder, with Bitz n' Pieces

I was working a project with the Cottage Cutz Birdcage Die, when I realized the birdcage in its early stages looked like a bird feeder, so this is were the following project came from. I cut the Birdcage out twice, that way I could add dimension or prospective to the Bird feeder giving the

look of all sides, but I needed to glue the backside of the cage upside down. and slightly to the right. Now I had all eight columns. Than filled the area in the base with a scrap of paper and glued seed beads in the bird feeder for bird seed. I than cut the roof over again in silver to get roof panels and a silver spike on top. I used Glossy Accents on the silver to give a glassy surface. Added a green strip under the spike and added a green contrast on the feeder. I used the Cottage Cutz 2x2 Flourish Die and cut two pieces (snipped one side off each) and created a mirror scroll on the base of the feeder. The pole is 3/8" x 6 1/2" strip of card stock.

To add the tree branches that are inner twined in the feeder pole I cut four branches from the Cottage Cutz Bird's Nest Die. This is a great die when you need to create branches or vines on a project. I used three of the branches as is. . . weaving around the pole and cut one branch up to add branches where I thought I need a little addition. The die also has a few leaves, that I added here and there.

I had a friend drop in while I was working on the branches and they commented about having to glue all those leaves back onto the branches and I said, NO WAY. I am working backwards. So, I thought I might need to explain. . .Cut the branch out of Brown and Green, cut the brown leaves off the brown and glue the brown branch onto the green branch . Than it saves you from gluing all the leaves . **Added Note this is also great for fall, you can create a fall branch with rust and gold leaves and a few leaves that have fallen . . .

I added lots of birds feeding, The Birds were from the same Cottage Cutz Birdcage Die, I just added color to the backs of the birds with blue ink. I could have also added flowers to the branches, if I wanted more color. The total height of the completed bird feeder was almost 10" . This makes a nice sidebar to a album page. At the base add a small oval piece of paper, glue seed beads. . . . you know how much seed gets kicked out of a bird feeder!!!!

Good Morning Friends!

For today's post I have used The Cottage Cutz Hummingbird die. I love birds and this hummingbird die is a beauty!

I have been enjoying Lorie's technique of using white cardstock and then coloring the images. I colored my die cuts with copics and used a white gel pen for highlights. I hope you like it. Have a great week! I will be back next Monday with a new project.

Cheeseburger

Hi. It's Nikki again, and here's my card for today. I used the new Hamburger die, and I just think it is adorable! I cut it out of white cardstock. I then colored the pieces with my prismacolor pencils and blended and shaded with odorless mineral spirits. I applied glossy accents to the debossed sesame seeds to make them appear shiny and more realistic. I think it worked really well!

It is kind of hard to see them in the photo, but I promise it looks cool in real life! ☺ I hope you like my card for today! ☺ Have a great day, and I'll see you back here next Sunday. Oh, in case you entered some of my giveaways, check My Blog today to see if you're a lucky winner!

♥ Nikki ♥