National Pet Day

I'm continuing my month as hostess for the CCEE Stampers.  There are many lists of "holidays" on the internet.  One of them listed yesterday (April 11th) as National Pet Day.  I asked the team to use a pet (dog, cat, bird, whatever) on their cards.  I chose an owl, Harry Potter's pet.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more pets.  Do you have a pet?  If so, maybe you'd like to join in on this challenge yourself.

SCS Sketch Challenge - Flowering Dogwoods

I recently rejoined the Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge team for the next six months.  Today's  sketch was designed by Diane Carpenter.

I substituted some pretty dogwoods from Heartfelt Creations for the stars in the sketch for my card.

I used seed beads in the centers of the dogwoods. I'll share a little secret with you for adding the seed beads.  I put the flowers in a coffee filter, added the glue, and then poured the seed beads all over the flowers. When the glue dries, I just shake off the excess beads, which all stay in the coffee filter -- instead of flying all over the place.

CottageCutz Botanicals

Just a short post today to show off a couple of sample cards I have on the CottageCutz blog.  CottageCutz just released a Llama and Botanical collection of dies, which are currently on sale at 25% off.  Check them out.  My two sample cards both use dies from the Botanical collection.

Be sure to check out the blog for the other two samples.

Thinking of Plants

I am so happy to show off part of a brand-new release from CottageCutz -- Botanical 2018.  There are 12 dies in this release, chock full of succulents, flowers, and llamas!  They should be in the CottageCutz store shortly.  The die I am featuring today is called Shelf w/Plants.

To start my card, I cut the pieces from a small scrap of white cardstock.

I colored the die-cut pieces while they were sitting on my sticky board.  This made it much easier because the pieces didn't move -- too much!  After I colored them (using the packaging for inspiration), I assembled the various images.  I used three different green markers for each set of leaves, which gave them a bit of dimension when they were assembled.

I then cut the cardstock for my base:

Cream cardstock - 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", scored at 4 1/4"
Patterned paper - 4" x 5 1/4"

I cut the oval using the largest of the Nested Wacky Stitched Ovals . . .

. . . and assembled my card base, adhering the patterned paper -- but not the oval..

I applied foam pop dots behind each of the assembled die-cut images and adhered them to the oval.  

I stamped the sentiment below the shelf, adhered foam pop dots behind the oval, and added the oval to the card base; and my card was finished.

CottageCutz dies used on my card are:

National Tartan Day

I'm the hostess this month for the CCEE Stampers.  Tomorrow is National Tartan Day.  I asked the team members to create a card using plaid.

I am a big fan of the Outlander series, both the books and the TV show.  National Tartan Day gave me the opportunity to use some stamps reminiscent of that series.

Be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more plaid fun!  And, if you haven't read the Outlander series, I would recommend it highly!

Decorated Recipe Cards

CottageCutz has a fun series of breakfast item dies called Rise and Shine.  I decided to do something different with them today.  Instead of making a card using some of these die-cuts, I have created some decorated recipe cards.

Some time ago I bought a little kit for making a personalized recipe box.  Unfortunately, I never did anything with the kit; and it was still sitting in one of my craft cabinets.  When I saw the Rise and Shine dies, I thought I might be able to use them with part of the kit.  I pulled out three of the blank recipe cards and started there.

Looking through my recipes, I decided which ones could be used for this project.  I narrowed the choices down to Pumpkin Bread, Raised Donuts, and a Chocolate Cake.  I wrote the instructions out on the cards.

I then cut out the images from three of the Rise and Shine dies -- Homemade Bread, Coffee and Donuts, and Kitchen Chef.

Using various Copic markers, I colored the die-cuts and constructed the pieces.  I added a bit of clear glaze to the chocolate icing on the donuts.

All that was left was to adhere the various die-cut images onto the recipe cards.  

This was a really fun project.  At some point I may finish it!

CottageCutz dies used for these cards are:

More Than One Score Challenge -- Explosion Card

The Scor-Pal design team members are celebrating April Fool's Day by putting a surprise element in our projects today.  My card is a fun technique -- an Explosion Card.  When you look at the front, it appears to be a normal card . . .

Don't you just love those cute little Wizards from Kindred Stamps new stamp set, Students of Magic?!

. . . when you open the card -- BAM!

. . . a surprise!.

Lots of scoring on that inner panel.

After folding on all the score lines, the insert is glued inside to the top and bottom pieces.