You're the Tops

Hello!  This is Sukie and today I have a fun circus themed card to share for my design team post.  I'm showcasing 4 of the die sets from the new Circus die release.  They are currently on sale in the on line store.

I went with a festive design for my slim line card.  The bold pattern was broken up by adding 3 circles from the Circle Set.  Next I nestled in the Leaping Lion, the Circus Tent, and the Prancing Pony into each of the die cut circles.  The arrow from the Circus Signs was perfect for stamping a fun sentiment.  I also stamped a couple of tickets and fussy cut them for my card.

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

Have A Nice Day

Hi!

It's Anja here. I have a simple and clean card for you today. I combined two of the Safari release dies and made the scene below. 

For this card I used:

- Cottage Cutz dies (Safari Watering Hole, Safari Zebra, Oval Set),

- Distress Inks,

- white card base (15x15 cm),

- white card stock for die cuts and paper stencil,

- black card stock,

- black pen,

- white pen,

- washi tape,

- brush,

- black pigment ink,

- sentiment stamp,

- acrylic block,

- paper glue. 

First I cut and colored the watering hole. 

Next I cut and colored the zebra. This time I used black cardstock for black parts.

Then I did the background. I made a paper stencil using the oval set dies. I used the largest and cut it out of the white cardstock. I placed the stencil over the card base and set it with washi tape. I used a makeup brush to blend different shades of blue ink for the sky.

Then I added the sentiment.

And last I just added all the cut and colored pieces and my card was done. 

Thank you for stopping by. I wish you all a nice Sunday and see you again next week.

Anja Z.

Cottage Cutz dies I used:

Stop Monkeyin' Around

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 dies in the online store. It's our Circus release with 16 new designs. They are currently on sale at 25% off individual dies. The Safari release dies are also on sale at 25% off individual dies. This was our Black Friday release. 

The Circus dies are so cute for Birthday, Valentine, Thinking of You or even Father's Day cards. Just let your creativity soar. The DT has been showing some great ideas & techniques for ways to use these dies. So if you missed any check back on the Blog. 

Today for your viewing pleasure, I am featuring the new Juggling Monkey die and I created a Valentine card. My niece's little 3 year old boy loves monkeys and when I saw this die I knew I would make him a card for Valentine's Day. 

So let's get started with some details on how I created this card. 

Design Steps: 

I started my card this week with the layout. I saw this sketch #837 on Splitcoaststampers and decided to use it for my layout. 

Next, I cut my images in the colors on the packaging front. I thought they were good ones for a Valentine card. After I cut the monkey image, I realized that using the squares on the sketch wasn't going to work. So I switched them up to hearts. And instead of 3 hearts the same size, I used a large heart for the juggling monkey and 2 smaller ones for the sentiments. 

The large heart is from the 2019 Be My Valentine Puppies die. The smaller hearts are from the Hearts set. 

I also had designer paper picked out to use but when I laid the card out I had to make it longer to accommodate this image. And my paper was only 6 x 6. My cards are always works in progress anyway so I had to come up with Plan B. 

I decided to keep the layout a bit more on the simple side. I cut my card base in red at 7 1/2" x 3 1/2". Then for elements 3 & 4 of this sketch, I used some borders that  I had in a Christmas paper collection. I think they worked out great for this sketch.  

Next, I stamped my sentiment in red ink on the first smaller heart. I like using punny sentiments when I create whimsical Valentine cards.  For the 2nd smaller heart I used the "be my valentine" phrase and cut it in red cardstock. It's from the same die as the large heart. I referenced it above. 

Now I am ready to start card assembly. 

I attached the 3 hearts using dimensional adhesive to lift them slightly off the card base. It gives a nice visual to the card and  creates added interest. I decided to cut some additional white hearts and scatter them around the card base. The hearts are from the same die I  referenced above. 

Well, that's it for me for this card. I hope I have given you another idea for a way to use these new Circus dies. See you next Saturday!

dies I used to create card:

Welcome Circus Train

Happy Friday!  It's Jeanne today with a fun slimline baby card.  The Circus Train and Circus Train Animals are a marvelous way to welcome a little one.  This train would also make a wonderful invitation to a child's birthday party. And the 8 1/2 x 3 1/2 format of a slimline card is the perfect format for the train!

I wanted this card to be bright, yet somewhat soft in color since it's a baby card.

I looked through my paper and found some perfect patterns in the tones I had in mind.  I keep two reference notebooks of paper samples and this helps enormously in picking out patters and colors.  I have two posts on my blog (here and here) about how I organize them.

I cut the pieces for the train and animals from various colors of the cardstock.  I made sure to choose the seal and elephant for my animals since the paper has gray in it.

This is a card where everything needs to be aligned.  I have some tips on how I did this.

To get the wheels straight when assembling the engine and train cars I made sure to align the top of the horizontal spoke with the bottom of the car and the vertical spoke with the inside edge of the cage.  This works for all wheels but the small one in front.  That will be added once the engine is on the card.

I also glued the animals to the cage before putting them on the card so I could better align their faces with the bars.  They are very slightly off center but I wanted the eyes to show!

 

Next I cut my panels and adhered them together.

I aligned all the train pieces on the card and placed a light pencil mark over the center of the curlicue on each piece so I would know exactly where to glue them.  Then I glued down the engine, the connecting piece and the bottom of the middle train car.

I had not yet adhered the ball to the seal's nose as I wanted it to be "balancing".  It needed to be just touching the nose not glued to it.  Once the train car was in place I used tweezers to insert and glue down the ball.  Then I adhered the top and the rest of the train.

To align the front wheel I used a ruler to get it even with the other wheels.

 

My final step was to create my sentiment and some fun banners for the front.  I simply cut strips, fishtailed the ends and used a few enamel dots.

I hope you have enjoyed my card.  Please be sure to visit the online store where the new Circus dies are on sale for a limited time!

 Dies used:

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

Birthday Clown

Hello Friends

Today,  I am continuing to make my 2021 cards.  And I wanted to do a shaker so I decided to use the happy little clown with the handful of balloons to create a fun birthday card.

Design Steps:

1.  Use a white A2 card base cut a piece of white card stock 4 x 5 1/4 and then use the second from the largest Scallop Circle die to cut out the opening for the shaker.  After cutting out the hole run it through a star embossing folder.  Line the hole with double sided tape and then place a 4 x 4 piece of acetate on the tape

2.  Circle the hole with double sided foam tape add the sequins and little stars.  Add additional foam around the bottom of the card also 

3.  Cut another piece of white card stock 4 x 5 /4 and place it directly over the piece with the shaker window and then mount it to the card base

4.  Use the Clown with the Balloons die and cut out the pieces in red, blue, green, yellow, tan, white and orange card stock

5.  Using a fine tip glue and tweezers assemble the little clown with his balloons

5.  Using Happy Birthday Expressions cut out Happy Birthday twice and glue together.  Then adhere the sentiment to the front of the card

6.  Pop up the clown to the card front and the Birthday card is complete

CottageCutz Products

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you get a chance to pop into our online store and check out this latest release!  It is super fun!!

Blessings

Pam