Tag - CottageCutz Nutty Squirrel

For a friend's birthday this year I decided to not give her the usual pack of greeting cards but instead chose to make her 20 tags. Little did I know what fun it would turn out to be!

I think most of us crafters have a container or two with images or dies cut but not used. Well, these come in so handy when making tags. I opened up one of my containers and could not believe how many of the images I could use.

For this tag I picked up a really cute CottageCutz die called Nutty Squirrel, the sentiment is from a Flourishes set called Tag Lines, the oval is a Nestabilities one and the tag is from Go Kreate - Rectangular Frilly Frame #3.

I initially thought I would not have enough of a selection of dies for tags, well, I was amazed at just what one can use, that plus the fact I really do have a lot of dies.

CottageCutz Cat Peeker

When describing CottageCutz dies to fellow crafters I tend to say if you enjoy jigsaw puzzles then you will love their dies.

This is a card I did for DH's birthday a while back using a Peeker Pocket which is also a CottageCutz die.  I did cut the pocket down as it was a little too large for the card.  The background papers are CM, the large scallops are from a SU Bigz XL die called Tasteful Trim and the scallop circle is a SU punch. I cannot even begin to remember where the sentiment is from as I do have quite a number of different companies stamps that I buy and I have quite a collection of sentiments.

Marij Rahder Suzy 4

I am enjoying the Suzy stamp sets and this one has Suzy in a bathing suit with various outfits and acccessories.  The images are also easy to cut out and simple to colour in.

For Suzy I used Copics with chalks for the blush on the cheeks.  This is the first time I have attempted black hair and I am delighted with the way it turned out.  For the dress I used Copics highlighted with a Spica pen and for the gloves I used Smooches and Lipstick Spica pen.

As this card was going to be hand delivered for a friend's birthday I thought a flower would be different.  I searched through my stash and could not see anything I liked so I created this one using the Magnolia DooHickey Poinsettia die.  I used 2 of the large flowers and one of the small.  I then curled the petals around a pen to give them a bit of shape and sprayed them with Shimmerz Spritz.  Once they were dry I curled them again and Distress inked the edges using Barn Door.  The leaves are from a Marianne D die called Frames / Leaves.

Suzy is matted on a yellow Nestabilities Oval, a black Nestabilities Labels Twenty-one, a yellow Nellies Multi Flower cut in half and a black Nestabilities Circle also cut in half.  The background paper is CM and the sentiment is Life Sentiments from Kaisercraft.

Peachy Keen Bunny Dolls Easter basket

This is the last of my Easter baskets so no more hiding chocolate from DH !  I have to hide the Easter eggs so otherwise they would slowly disappear.  The dog and I do not eat chocolate so it only leaves DH !

For this basket I used the Fancy Favor Stampin Up die and made the handle from a coloured pipe cleaner.  The yellow egg behind the bunny is a Spellbinders die called Nested Eggs which I sponged with Distress Inks.

The Bunny Dolls set comprises of 3 bunnies, a waistcoat, bowtie, Easter egg basket, a carrot and 2 sentiments.  This makes it easy to dress up the bunny which is what I did here.  All colouring was done using Copics.

Peachy Keen Easter Bunny treats

I used the same Mega Rectangle Nestabilites basket as I did for last Friday's post but this time they were for two little girls.  As I had just received the Peachy Keen Bunny Dolls set I thought this bunny would be perfect for the front.

The colouring in of the bunny was super fast with only bits of pink on the ears, cheeks and paws needed but the egg, which was paper pieced from iris folding papers, took a bit longer.  The bunny was also easy to cut out and I added a strip of green 'grass' from the MS icicles border punch which was trimmed down.

Tissue Paper technique with another Inkadinkado Down by the Seaside

Here is the last of the 3 cards I made using the tissue paper technique.  This Inkadinkado stamp was just perfect for the orange tissue paper and I think it makes a wonderful anniversary card for a male.

The card is pretty self explanatory, the only time consuming bit was me not wanting to get out the sewing machine and doing the stitching by hand. The sentiment is from a Flourishes set called Tag Lines.

Easter Duck baskets

Not sure if there is such a thing as an Easter Duck, but I thought it would look cute for little boys rather than the pink girly bunnies.

The box is made from Nesties Mega Rectangles - 2 of them, laid landscape and scored at 1½" and 4½", then along the bottom, which is the longer side, score at 1".  On the bottom 1" side cut on the 2 vertical score lines up to the 1" mark and fold boxes in making 2 halves.  Tape and pop together.  For the handle I twisted some twine, punched a hole on either side and knotted the twine on the inside.

For the duck I was wanting to get my Cricut out to make it but as I was in an ankle brace and using 2 crutches that day I could not manage it by myself, so I went to plan B which was to make a duck up using punches.  Normally I would have a look on my computer to see whose design I could copy but I actually made this one up all by myself.  The recipe is as follows :

The bowtie is made with the remnants of the SU Spiral Border punch which you overlap.  I also sponged all the pieces and bent in the one wing to hold the basket.  The grass is my usual MS icicles border punch trimmed.

Easter Basket with SU Mini Milk Carton Die

I was after an Easter basket which I could die cut but it had to be a decent size.  As I had recently organised my SU dies I remembered the Mini Milk Carton one and realised I could use it by covering over the majority of the score lines using a decorative paper and joining 2 of them together.  When I cut the die on my Big Shot I did not use a crease pad so the score lines were not too pronounced.  The base of the die was angled into an octagon shape and taped down then covered over inside and out with a Nestabilies circle.

For the handle I hand cut a strip and decorated it with a piece from the SU Tasteful Trim die, the sentiment is also SU and the paper used was from a pad locally sourced.  The scallops around the top of the basket are also from the SU Tasteful Trim die.  I used Spun Sugar Distress Ink over the side and bottom folds as well as on the handle and scallop edge trim.

The bunny was one I found over at Rusty Daisy Studio - it bought a smile to my face when I saw it and it was so easy to make up.  DH came up with the idea of popping the bunny onto a strip of cardstock which had been scored half way. 

Punch Art Mouse

This card started off with me wanting to use the CottageCutz Peeker Pocket die.  I also wanted to copy a mouse I had seen on a blog, I think it was from Paper Punch Addiction's Kim Score.  I did not have the correct size circle punch for the outer ears so had to use Nesties circles which I think turned out better with the ridges.

The head is the SU ornament punch, the arms are also SU - word window punch, the face is from Peachy Keen's Wide Eyed and Bushy Tailed.

Background papers are CM and I used a MS border punch for the sides.  The sentiment is from SU as are the punches it is stamped on.  The bowtie is from my stash.

Punch Art Sheep

This card was cased from KB Papercraft for DH on the occasion of our wedding anniversary a couple of weeks ago.

The sheep are really easy to put together, the only different punch I used was for the ears - I prefer to use an ovoid punch as I think the ears look cuter.  I added a bit of bling to the female sheep and popped them onto paper from a FabScraps pad I have.  The dotty background paper is from the same pad.  The 'grass' is a MS icicle border punch trimmed - one day I will find a punch or die with the type of grass I am looking for !  The sentiment is from a Clear Dollar set called Thoughtful Notes.

Tissue Paper Technique with Inkadinkado Down by the Seaside

This simple card is made using the tissue paper technique I posted last week but this time with orange tissue paper on a white cardstock.

The image is matted on black paper and popped onto white cardstock embossed using the SU Square Lattice folder.  I used another layer of black paper before placing it all onto a white card.  The card was topped off with black buttons, orange embroidery thread and a couple of shell images from the same Inkadinkado stamp set.

CottageCutz / Peach Keen Design Tear Bear

I did not intentionally set out to see how many different companies products I could use on this card but it seems to have ended up that way.  The list is the following :

Bear - CottageCutz and it comes with Peachy Keen faces
Heart - CottageCutz Cat Peeker die
Sentiment - SU Congrats
Sentiment Die - Marianne D Creatables Frames
Small dog - Popcorn the Bear Bundle of Joy
Border Punch - SU Scallops
Pearls - from my stash
Colouring medium for dog - Distress Inks and an aquabrush
Background paper - Creative Memories
Blue paper - from the local stationers bought loose

Wow, even I did not think I had used that many different products !  Me thinks I have too many toys to choose from !!

Art Impressions Doorways & Shoppe Window Bakery

I have a booklet from Art Impressions with a whole lot of ideas on how to use their Doorways and Shoppe Window selection of stamps.  As I have a few of the insides of the shops to choose from I thought I would start off with the bakery to use on a birthday card for a friend.

Wanting to use Distress Inks to colour the images in, I cut a piece of watercolour paper one and a half times the size of the front of the card and then scored it on the left hand side.  This piece is folded over to make a flap like so :
                                     
The sentiment is a Hero Arts wooden stamp, the cupcakes are from Inkadinkado and are coloured in using markers and Spica Glitter pens.  The door panels are paper pieced and the bakery section on the front is coloured in using markers and Spica Glitter pens.  On the front of the card I masked the images and sponged around them using Distress Ink Antique Linen to give a paint look to the card.

Stamping on Tissue Paper with Flourishes Kids Play stamp

Not quite sure where I saw the technique of stamping on tissue paper but it is really quick and easy to do plus I get to use stamps which usually sit in my drawer.

I have a stock of tissue paper from flowers DH buys for me and for this card I chose white.  I then crinkled it up and flattened it out again.  Using black Ranger Archival ink (I love that range) I stamped the image onto the tissue paper.  The tissue paper is then glued onto cardstock which must be smaller than the size of the tissue paper.  Using a glue stick (I used Pritt) generously cover the cardstock and then lay the tissue paper on top of it.  Tidy it up by folding the tissue paper to the back of the cardstock and glue down.

For the balance of the card I matted the tissue paper cardstock, which was white, onto black paper after wrapping a SU Certainly Celery ribbon around it.  Using a piece of SU Certainly Celery card embossed with the SU Square Lattice folder I then popped it all onto a white card.  The sentiment is from the same Flourishes set punched out with a retired SU punch and layered onto a Clear Dollar Tabs & Tags die.

Envelope Gift Bag

This is a project I saw Angie from Chic 'n Scratch do so I thought I would give it a go.  I had trouble finding the right sized envelope then wondered what I could fit in it.  What I did find was what I believe to be an A5 sized envelope (230 x 160mm) which worked really well. 

This is a really quick and easy project and it pays to watch the video Angie has made.  As my envelope was way too big to emboss I covered the front and back with paper instead.

The great thing about the size of this envelope is it comfortably fits 4 normal sized cards & envelopes in see through bags.  This makes a super thank you gift.

CRICUT - SPRING COLLECTION CARTRIDGE

I was curious to see how the Cricut cut this image out and when it did I thought it looked way too plain.  I then experimented with a variety of different Distress inks and the die cut sat on my desk for quite a while with me thinking I would eventually toss it out.

When I was digging around in my selection of Hero Arts stamps I came across a patterned cling one which had potential so I used it diamond shape.  I then embossed the die cut with a CB folder and sanded the corners off.  The green paper is CM and the script on the yellow paper is from a SU stamp called En Français.  The edges of the card, which opens up in the centre, have been distressed and sponged with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink to finish it off.  The card opens up like this :

Excuse the shadows but the sun was really bright when I took the photo.  Enough of the hot weather, roll on the cold and rainy days of winter !

BOX - CRICUT - SPRING COLLECTION CARTRIDGE

When I had my Cricut out I found this cute box.  The size is such that it would fit small cards (half the normal sized cards) which I think would make a rather good Thank You gift.

I am using American Craft 65lb weight cardstock in the Cricut with great success and thought I would experiment with this colour - not one I am particularly fond of.  The Cricut does cut out the four corners which makes it so easy to co-ordinate matching paper, in this case CM, and tuck the paper into place.  The sentiment is one from CB, the flower is from my stash as are the pearls and the leaves are from one of my many punches.

Apologies for being vague on the names of the products I use but my computer is upstairs and my craft desk and storage area is downstairs.  Normally that would not be a problem as I would run downstairs to have a look, but I have a broken foot (the second in 2 years) and find it difficult to get up and down the stairs with the moonboot and crutches.

BILDMALARNA - MIMOSA'S BOOK

When I saw Bildmalarna stamps being offered at 7 Kids College Fund I was delighted.  This little cutie was stamped onto X-Press It paper using Momento Black ink and coloured in with Copics.

I recently watched a couple of videos made by Suzanne Dean from Scrap Bitz (the Queen of Copic colouring)  and tried her 'flicking' technique which, I think, worked rather well on this stamp.  I do find having a larger area to colour in on a stamp helps a lot with Copics.  For the smaller, more detailed stamps I tend to use either blending pens in conjunction with markers or an aqua brush and Distress Inks.

The embossed frame on the green cardstock is a Cuttlebug one.  The spray of flowers was lying on my desk and literally fell onto the card as I was working on it, so I really do not have any idea where it came from or how long it has been on the desk.  You do not want to see the state of my craft desk!

PEACHY KEEN - COTTAGE CUTZ - COW PEEKER

Yes, I know, another cow, but at least I got the colouring on this one right !  The package came with ideas so all I had to do was copy.  I just love the end result when you mix Peachy Keen stamps with Cottage Cutz dies.

The star die is a Marianne D one, bought from Bunny-Zoe's Crafts online and in my stash I found a red circle which fitted underneath the die perfectly.  I used small CB embossing folders on either side and a Fiskars ribbon border punch at the bottom.  The ribbon was bought from Simply Creative here in Cape Town and I think the sentiment is from Hero Arts.

SHEENA DOUGLASS - A LITTLE BIT SKETCHY - MILESTONES AND MOMENTS

This was the first of the two Sheena Douglass stamps which I tried out and I did not quite get the knack of the stamp on my first try.  This often happens to me as my hands are not strong and I struggle to apply pressure to most stamps.  Anyway, I decided not to toss it out and thought I would have a bash at colouring it in.  Turns out I was happy enough with the end result to pop it onto a card.

For the whole stamp I used Distress Inks and an aqua brush.  As I had used watercolour paper it was no problem to use the aqua brush.  The stamp set is a bit like Popcorn the Bear sets in that it comes with a small 4 page booklet complete with a coloured in version of the stamp and 2 card ideas.  It does not get any easier than that !

STEMPELGLEDE - GRUNGE ORNAMENTAL CIRCLE

Am I the only one who finds it difficult to make a male 21st birthday card ?  When I ordered this stamp from Bunny Zoe's Crafts I thought it had potential for a quick yet elegant card.  What I did not know was just how quickly I was going to find a use for it.

Using the same cardstock I used for the white card, I stamped the image using Archival Ink Maroon, cut out the numbers from a CB die in white and inked it with the same maroon ink, edged the bottom with a new MS border punch I bought locally and backed it all onto a maroon piece of cardstock.

I think I am going to get a lot of use out of this stamp as it would even suit Xmas cards.

CRICUT - CREATE-A-CRITTER CARTRIDGE

I wanted to try out the Create-a-Critter cartridge and thought this little chap was quite cute.

Before assembling the panda, which is really easy put together, I sponged some of the parts with Distress Inks.  I found the background paper in my stash and the sentiment is from a Hero Arts set.

PENNY BLACK - JOIE DE VIVRE

This wooden stamp has been sitting on my craft table unused for around 6 months.  When I came across a new technique (for me anyway) on Splitcoast stampers called Out of the Box with Nestabilities  I knew I had just the right stamp to experiment with.

I used watercolour paper to stamp the image on and coloured it in using Distress Inks and an aqua brush.

The sentiment is Popcorn the Bear cut with a SU large oval, the blue cogs are from a SU punch and the red border is a SU Bigz XL die.

SHEENA DOUGLASS - A LITTLE BIT SKETCHY STAMP SET - CHEERS

The two Sheena Douglass stamp sets I bought recently have been a real treat to colour in.  I made this card for a male friend's birthday and it was a hit.

I stamped the image on watercolour paper and coloured in the finer details with a mixture of SU, Tombow and Marvy Le Plume II markers.  For the larger areas I used Distress Inks and an aqua brush.  The stamp is not at all hard to colour in and I know I will be using this one a lot for those difficult male cards.

The photo corner punch is an EK Success one, the sentiment comes with the set and I used a Clear Dollar die called Designer Labels to cut it out.  I was not happy with the sentiment being on white cardstock so sponged it with Tea Dye Distress Ink.  With the watercolour paper being slightly off white I did use Antique Linen Distress Ink around the edges of the white card just to match the two up.

MARIJ RAHDER - SUZY 3

There are certain stamp sets that have an instant appeal and this is one of them.  The images are easy to ink up and stamp and with the larger areas (they are big stamps), they are quick and easy to colour in.

DH was not certain what type the bird was and after a long discussion I thought it safer to leave it white with tinges of grey.  Suzy was coloured in using Copics with her dress being paper pieced.  The foliage behind them is from a stamp bought in Australia - Outlines Solid Grass, the grass is done with Distress Inks and Art Impressions stamps with the fence being from a MS border punch.

The label is from a SU die, the button brads from my stash and the sentiment is a Gina K Designs one from the set Spring has Sprung.         

COTTAGE CUTZ - DUCK W/UMBRELLA

Chatting to a colleague earlier in the week, she mentioned how she crafted on the weekend using duck images, well Adi, here is my little ducky.  I am loving the CottageCutz dies and when I went onto the Scrapping Cottage site to get the name of the duck for the title I found some new dies which are so cute.

The die was popped onto a smaller Nestabilities Labels 15 die, then I layered a larger one behind it.  The unusual yellow die behind is Marianne D Creatable Frame.  The sentiment is a SU one as is the scalloped oval.  Buttons and patterned paper are from my stash.

CRICUT - HERITAGE CARTRIDGE

When I had the Cricut out the other day I found this house and thought it had potential.  Of course, it looked nothing like the end product but it was fun dressing the house up.

I used a natural colour cardstock for the house which then allowed me to alter the colour by sponging with distress inks.  The idea of the gable colouring came from the Hero Arts Simple Things stamp set and I also used the front door awning and window boxes from the same set.  The sentiment is from an old SU set, the fence and trim are both MS border punches and the background paper is from my stash.  The label used for the sentiment is also from SU.

MARIJ RAHDER - SUZY 3

A colleague recently celebrated 10 years with the company and I made this card for the occasion.

I blame the colouring of the cow squarely on the shoulders of DH.  He went to bed early one night leaving me and the cow image alone.  I started off with Distress ink Black Soot and an aquabrush thinking I would do a grey / black and white cow.  Well, that looked rather dull so I added the pink muzzle and udders, then decided to paint the toenails with a Spica glitter pen.  The idea of green spots and tail just came to me and next thing I knew, I had a multicoloured cow !  The pig was also done with Distress Ink and an aquabrush.

The background is from a Gina K Designs set called Funny Farm, as is the sentiment.  The background is also painted in using Distress Inks and an aquabrush. 

Dot, I hope you liked the card. 

PEACHY KEEN - HAPPY BIRD AND PHRASES

Often with a new image I stamp it out a couple of times on different cardstock to see which colouring medium works better.  This time I stamped it out 4 times and ended up not liking any of the 3 I did with Copics and normal markers.  What did work was on watercolour paper using an aqua brush with Distress Inks for the yellow and the cheeks and a Twinklling H2O colour for the blue.  The orange bits were done with markers.

The diamond shaped red paper was done with a paper crimper, the blue die cut is one from Go Kreate, the yellow die cut and the one on which the image is stamped are both Nestabilities and the heart is from CM.  The sentiment is from the same Peachy Keen set as the bird.

COTTAGECUTZ - PUPPY W/HEART

In the latest parcel of my US purchases I had ordered a number of CottageCutz dies and this puppy reminded me of our dear little chap who is no longer with us.

The pink paper is CM, the dies are Nestabilities Labels, the sentiment is Hero Arts and the flowers plus brad are from my stash.