Chloe and Ben on a Swing

I've been having lots of fun playing with the new Chloe and Ben stamp/die sets from CottageCutz.  Here is one I made recently.

Do you remember as a kid playing with your best friend?

Honey of a Day!

I've got another cute CottageCutz stamp and die set to show you today -- Ben w/Beehive.  These bears are just the cutest things!  If you haven't seen Chloe and Ben yet, take a look at the whole set.  My card is relatively clean and simple, although the die cut is popped up on foam dots.

Supplies for this card:

Yellow cardstock 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", folded in half

Black cardstock 4" x 5 1/4"

White cardstock 3 7/8" x 5 1/8", scrap for stamping Ben

Honeycomb stencil

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Ranger Distress ink - Scattered Straw, Wild Honey

Copic markers

Clear Wink of Stella

Foam pop dots

CottageCutz Die - Ben w/Beehive

I stamped the image of Ben and the beehive with black ink onto a scrap of white cardstock, then colored the image with various Copic markers.  I added some clear Wink of Stella to the bees to give them a bit of sparkle.  I then cut him out.

I temporarily adhered the white cardstock to my work surface and taped the stencil on top.  Using an ink blender tool, I sponged the Scattered Straw and Wild Honey ink over the stencil.

I constructed my card by layering the black panel onto the yellow card base and layering the stenciled white panel onto the black.  I stamped the sentiment in black at the top of the panel and popped Ben and his buzzing friends on with foam dots.

I hope you like my card and will check out the rest of the Chloe and Ben stamp/die sets in the Scrapping Cottage store.

The die used on this card is:

CCEE1708 Tic Tac Toe

It's Liz's final week as hostess for the CCEE Stampers, and she gave us a fun challenge this week.  It's a Tic Tac Toe game.  We were to pick three blocks -- vertically, horizontally, or diagonally on this grid.

I chose the blocks horizontally across the bottom row.  Even though I used an owl, which is a bird, I think it still would qualify as a wild animal.  I love making fancy fold cards, so it was a no-brainer that I would chose the row which includes that one.  And I did both wet and dry embossing.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog to see how the rest of the team handled this fun challenge.

Ben - Up, Up and Away

I've made another card using the Sketch Challenge 632 from Splitcoaststampers, this time with one of the stamp/die sets from CottageCutz, Ben Up, Up, and Away. 

Here is the layout from the challenge. . .

. . . and here is my card:

Supplies for my card are:

Red cardstock - 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", folded in half at 4 1/4", three small panels 1" x 1 1/4", scrap for label
White cardstock - three small panels 7/8" x 1 1/8", scraps for Ben and label
Red/white polka dot patterned paper - 5 1/4" x 4"
Scraps of blue, red, green cardstock for balloons
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black and Lady Bug
Copic markers and White gel pen
Copic Colorless Blender
Word Window punch and Modern Label punch
Foam pop dots, tape runner
CottageCutz dies - Ben Up, Up and Away; Calendar Icons

To begin my card, I die-cut three balloons from the Calendar Icons die, coloring the strings with a black Copic marker.  I then stamped, colored and die-cut Ben.  A little hint for getting the "fuzzy" look to Ben's fur.  After coloring his fur (but before coloring anything else), squeeze a little bit of Colorless Blender onto a piece of terrycloth.  Gently dab it onto the fur.  This will remove some of the color in places, giving it an uneven look.  Should the ink bleed into the white areas, you can "repair" that by dabbing on the white gel pen after the ink is completely dry.  I had to do that around his feet.

After cutting the small red and white panels, I assembled them by gluing the white panels to the red panels and popping the balloons in the centers with the foam pop dots.

I stamped the sentiment onto the white scrap, punched it out with the Word Window punch (as well as punching out the Modern Label from red cardstock) then assembled my card, using the layout as my guide.  It went together quite quickly.  Here again is my completed card.

The CottageCutz dies used on my card are:

CCEE1707 - Feminine Birthday

Liz continues as hostess for the CCEE Stampers again this week.  She tells us that today is her and Lynn's mother's birthday, and in her honor Liz asks us to make a feminine birthday card for some special lady in your life.  Next week is my best friend's birthday, so I made my card for her.  CottageCutz has some new stamp/die sets.  One of them is birth month flowers.  The flower for February is the violet.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more birthday cards.

CottageCutz - Chloe Money Holder

I'm sure we all look for creative ways to give money as a gift.  Last fall during the Splitcoaststampers Falliday Fest, one of the tutorials presented was a shaker money holder.  At the time, I didn't have a Fuse tool; so I used sticky tape.  I received a Fuse tool for Christmas, so I'm trying it again -- this time using one of the new CottageCutz stamp/die sets featuring Ben and Chloe.

Supplies used on this project are:

Plastic page protector

Sequins (black, gold, white)

Ribbon

We R Memory Keepers Fuse Tool

CottageCutz dies - Bumblebee Chloe, Sweet Valentines

White and Yellow cardstock

Scor-tape and foam adhesive circles

Copic markers

Wink of Stella

Xyron sticker maker

To begin my project, I cut one corner of the 8 1/2" x 11" page protector down to 6" x 7 1/2".

If you've never used a Fuse tool before, you should probably practice a little bit before attempting a project.  You need to let it warm up for about 10 minutes to achieve the proper temperature.   The tool comes with a 6 1/2" ruler/guide, but I needed to fuse the 7 1/2" side; so I used a longer metal ruler.

This made a pocket, which I folded in half, using a bone folder to make a good crease.

Open the pocket and pour in some black, gold, and white sequins -- distributing them evenly on both sides of the crease.

Then fold the pocket back together and fuse along both short sides.

It just so happened that I had some ribbon with bumblebees on it.  I cut a piece of ribbon long enough to go around the top of the pocket and lap over slightly.  To make adhering the ribbon easier, I ran a strip of Scor-tape across the back of the ribbon.  Then I applied the ribbon around the top of the pocket.  I made a bow and attached it to the left-hand side of the front of the pocket.

Now it was time to finish decorating the front of the money holder.  On white cardstock I stamped, colored, and die cut Bumblebee Chloe.  I used some Wink of Stella on her wings to make them sparkle a bit.

Then I ran her through my Xyron sticker maker to make sure she had adhesive covering her entire back.

Again on white cardstock I stamped, colored and die-cut the Honey Pot, Honey Applicator and some bees from the Sweet Valentine set.

I cut a banner from a scrap piece of yellow cardstock and stamped the "Bee Happy" sentiment at the top, then attached the small die-cuts to the banner with foam adhesive circles.  I adhered the banner beneath the bow, using Scor-tape, and the Chloe "sticker" to the right side of the money holder.  All that remained was to put the money in the pocket between the front and back "shaker" sides.

This was a fun project, and I imagine I will be making many of these!  I hope you try one, too.

CottageCutz stamp/die sets used on this project are:

CCEE1706 - Valentine

Liz continues as hostess for the CCEE stampers today and reminds us that Valentine's Day is in 5 days and asks us to show a little love by making a handmade Valentine.  She also included a color challenge (red/black/white -- and a bonus of silver).  At first glance, you might miss the black -- but look at the birdie's eye.  It's small, but it IS black.  My card uses some new CottageCutz Valentine dies.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more Valentine fun.

CottageCutz Flip Calendar - Part 3

I'm here today with the final four pages of my calendar.  In addition, I will show how I made the base.

Supplies used in this post:

CottageCutz stamps/dies – On the Farm, Baking in the Kitchen, Aster Flower – September, Marigolds Flower – October

Copic markers

Foam pop dots

Heavyweight cardboard
Scor-Tape
Scor-Pal
Zutter Bind-It-All machine and wires

As I did with the previous months, I stamped, colored and cut the pieces of the scenery for my last four calendar pages.

I then constructed my scenes, as before, adding whatever icons I wished for each month.

Now I was ready to build my base.  It needed to be rather sturdy, so I used heavyweight cardboard.  I cut two panels slightly narrower (5 ¼”) than my calendar pages and 3 ½” longer (10 ¾”).  I scored one of the panels at 7 ¼” and 9”.  The other one I scored at 7 ¼”, but then I cut off 1 ¾” from the end.  This would allow me to be able to fold the base more easily – with less bulk.  In addition I cut a small “hinge” for the top 5 ¼” x 2”, scored at the 1” midpoint.

Using a Zutter Bind-It-All, I punched six holes, centered, at the top of the two base panels and at the mid-point of the “hinge” and then applied two-sided adhesive tape on the “hinge” and the lower panel of the shorter base piece.

Carefully, I attached the pieces together to form the base.

Again, using the Bind-It-All, I punched holes at the top of each calendar page, making sure that they were centered in the machine before I punched.

Using a 1” Zutter wire, I attached the calendar pages to the base.  And my calendar was finished.

At the end of each month, just flip the page and reveal the following month.  After the June page is flipped, all that is necessary is to turn the calendar around for July. 

And, if you wanted to be able to use the calendar again the following year, all you would have to do is make new monthly calendars and carefully replace the old ones.  Here are all the completed pages of my calendar.

I hope you have enjoyed the process of making this calendar.  Maybe you’d like to try making one yourself!

CottageCutz stamps and dies used on today's post are: