Ahoy Matey

Hello Scrapping Cottage friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with us today. It's Mary Marsh here bringing you the Saturday edition of the Blog.

We have a brand new release of Beach & Tropical dies in the online store. We have 14 new designs in this release and they are currently on sale for a limited time at 25% off. 

They are so perfect for creating beach themed birthday cards, thank you, thinking of you etc. Let your imagination soar! The Design Team has been showing some great samples to spark your creativity. If you haven't seen them, look back on the Blog for lots of eye candy. 

For my card today, I am using the Ahoy Matey die and created a birthday card for a 7 year old boy. He loves Pirates so this one will be perfect for him. I usually give him 2 cards and this Pirate card is the other that will be his.  This one is part of the Pirates & Sea Creatures release. They are a companion to the Beach & Tropical release. And, it's also still on the 25% off sale price. 

Design Steps:

I started off my card this week with the colors. I saw the color challenge #804 On Splitcoaststampers and thought of this Ahoy Matey die immediately. The colors are perfect for a parrot. 

granny apple green, mango melody, misty moonlight

Once I had the colors, I cut the parrot and the Ahoy Matey phrase in the challenge colors.

I found this layout online and decided to use it for my card design. It would allow me to use designer paper and have several layers for my card. These are 2 elements I really like for my cards.

For the horizontal rectangle, I wanted a look to complement the stitched circle I used. The Pierced Rectangle set doesn't cut this size so I worked the die to get the size I wanted. First I took a piece of mango melody cardstock and cut it 4 1/4" long  x 3" high and then I made my first cut with the die.  

Then I marked this piece at 1 1/4" and laid the die back on cardstock for my 2nd cut. I used Purple Tape to secure the die. This brand is easy release and doesn't tear your cardstock. 

This is the finished piece- a perfect 4 1/4" x 1 1/4". It's just another way to get more mileage out of the dies you own.

Next, I selected my designer papers. I decided to focus on the granny apple green for the 3" and 4" rectangle layers. The circles are cut with the 3rd largest Stitched Circle & Circle dies. 

Now that all my card elements and images are cut, I am ready to start card assembly. 

I attached the parrot  to the circle panel with dimensional adhesive. 

The layers are attached to the white card base (4 1/4" x 5 1/2") with double sided tape. 

The image panel is next  and that also is attached with double sided tape. 

To finish off my card I added the "ahoy matey" phrase. I did cut it twice to give it more depth on my card. A few enamel dots in the misty moonlight color and it's done. I hope I have given you another idea for a way to use this new and oh so cute die. See you next Saturday!

dies I used to create card:

Beautiful Friendship

Happy Friday! It's Jeanne today with a beautiful floral card celebrating friendship.  The card features three dies from the new Tropical collection.  I LOVE this collection - hibiscus flowers are one of my favorites followed by plumeria.  Both are in this collection!

 

 

I wanted the flowers to be very organic and fluid so I decided to watercolor my cardstock that I would use to cut the flowers.

This was very easy to do.

I took a piece of Mixed Media paper 6 x 11 and just started watercoloring with three analogous colors - a yellow orange, an orange and a bright pink.  This gave me the color palette I was looking for.

Using the Hibiscus Flowers, the Tropical Bouquet and the Sloth dies, I cut my flowers from the watercolored cardstock and my leaves from various colors of green.  I took my greens from the designer paper I decided to use for my accent strip.

Next I cut a panel 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches (A2 card size), a strip 1 x 5 1/2 inches and three circle using the largest of the Stitched Circles dies.  Two in green and one in white.

I stamped my sentiment in the lower left and glued the strip to the right side of the card.  I stacked all three circles together and glued them to the upper right overhanging the circle.  I then used scissors to trim the circle.

To glue the flowers to the card, I started with the two main flowers and adhered just their centers.  In this way, I could tuck the leaves behind the flowers.  When everything was on the card, I added glue with my fine-tipped glue.

The small flower is popped up using foam dots.  Some of the leaves were overhanging the edges of the card and I trimmed those using scissors.

Finally, this card seemed to need a bit of sparkle.  I added a few sequins and used a shimmer pen on the small hibiscus flower in the front.

Dies used:

 

Be sure to stop by the online store to check out all the new dies.  They're on sale for a limited time!

Thanks for visiting today.  I hope you have a fun and creative weekend!

Day at the Beach

Hello Scrapping Cottage friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with us today. It's Mary Marsh here bringing you the Thursday edition of the Blog.

We have a brand new release of Beach & Tropical dies in the online store. We have 14 new designs in this release and they are currently on sale for a limited time at 25% off. They are so perfect for creating beach themed birthday cards, thanks you, thinking of you etc. Let your imagination soar! The Design Team has begun showing cards with these fun dies so take a look back on the blog for some creative ideas. 

For today I am using the new Day at the Beach die to create a birthday card for my daughter-in-law's August birthday. We just came back from a beach vacation in Sandbridge, VA. Sitting under our umbrellas on a beach chair and relaxing is just what her and I like to do at the beach.  She will definitely like this card. Let's get started on some details of how I created my card.

Design Steps:

I started off this week with a sketch that I found online. I thought it would help me create a beach scene. The rectangle layer would allow me to have the water in front of the beach chair and the circle to create the beach scene.  

Next, I cut out the beach images in various colored cardstock. I cut the chair and the umbrella from a patriotic designer paper. It looks like the ones that we have and use at the beach. For the sand, I cut in white cardstock and sponged with crumb cake ink (kraft).

I used the largest circle die for the 3.5" circle in the sketch. A cloud stencil helped me sponge in clouds with tumbled glass distress ink. I wanted a sun in this scene and decided to use the sun image from the Stitched Sun, Clouds & Umbrella die. The sun rays were a bit longer than I wanted so I trimmed them to fit in the circle. 

I cut the center rectangle piece (2 1/8" x 5 1/2") in a light blue cardstock and stamped my sentiment. I used just the words "our memories of the sea". 

For the horizontal rectangle, I used the same blue cardstock and embossed it with a wave embossing folder. I sprayed the cardstock very lightly with a little water before I used the embossing folder. Sometimes the paper will crack and rip when I emboss and this helps the fibers to break down a bit. 

Now that all the elements are cut, embossed and stamped I am ready to start card assembly. I attached the sentiment and embossed panels with double sided tape to the white card base. 

I attached the images to the circle panel with dimensional adhesive. I also used dimensional adhesive and attached to the the card base. To complete the card I added a few yellow enamel dots. 

Well, that's it for me for this post. I hope I have given you a fresh idea for a way to use this new die. See you again on Saturday. Also, we just added an Instagram icon to our Blog that links directly to our account on that site. Check us out there and follow us on that site as well. 

dies I used to create card:

Pink Isn't Just a Color, It's an Attitude!

Hello!  This is Sukie and today I have a new post to share for my design team day!  There's a fun new Beach & Tropical die release in the store which is showcased on my card.  All of these dies are also on sale!

I used the adorable Flamingo w/Hibiscus, the greenery is from the Sloth die set and the surfboards from the Surfer Van die set.

I created a simple background by blending a couple of different colors of Oxide Inks and bit of water. The bottom portion of my card was also splattered with some paint to replicate a sandy beach.

The adorable flamingo was placed on my card striking a contrast against the pop of color on the background.  

The bold and fabulous surfboards were tucked into the sand and accented with the tropical palm die cuts.

The sweet sentiment was stamped on some inked up card stock and was the perfect addition to this card.  I embellished the sentiment tag with a few more tropical palms and a tiny flower. 

Here is my final card, a fun tropical scene!  This card definitely showcases my love of flamingos!

Here are the die sets used on my card, available in the store: