Showing posts with label Away in a Manger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Away in a Manger. Show all posts

Monday, December 24, 2018

All Is Calm

Hi, Lois here to wish you a Happy Christmas Eve!  I hope you have all your Christmas shopping, wrapping, baking, and card-making finished.  If not, I have one last, rather quick and simple Christmas card to share with you today.   I love the way silhouettes look on a card.  This one was made with a not-so-new silhouette die from CottageCutz called Away in a Manger.



To start my card I cut the silhouette from black cardstock.


And then I cut my cardstock as follows:

White - 8 1/8" x 5 1/2", 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Black - 4 x 5 1/4"


I cut the smaller white piece larger than I will eventually need; but, because I am going to sponge the background, I made it slightly larger to allow for trimming after I've finished my sponging.   Then, using four different distress inks, I sponged my background.


I then trimmed the piece down on all four sides to 3 3/4" x 5".  What this does is eliminate the darker color around the edges where the sponge initially hit the cardstock.  And then I constructed my card base.


After gluing down the silhouette at the bottom, I stamped the sentiment in the upper left-hand corner, and my card was finished.


As promised at the beginning of this post, this card went together quite quickly.  The CottageCutz die I used on it is:


Sunday, December 03, 2017

Holly Night


Hi!

It' s Anja again with the Sunday post. December is here and the lights are already up all around our city. I still have a lot of work to do before Christmas. I have to buy and make some more gifts and I have to make some more Christmas cards. Every year I try to make some with Nativity motive. This year I'm using the new Cottage Cutz Away in a Manger die for my Nativity cards.


For this card I used:
 - Cottage Cutz dies (Away in a Manger),
- Distress Inks (Black Soot, Chipped Sapphire, Seedless Preserves, Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky, Broken China),
- white card base (10,5x15 cm),
- white card stock for background (10x14,5c, and 9,5x14 cm) and die cuts,
- white pen,
- Wink of Stella Glitter Brush pen,
- paper glue.

First I made the background. I colored the edges of the bigger rectangle with black Distress Ink. I only colored around the edges, because the middle of the paper wont be seen.


Then I used Distress Inks to make a night sky. I started in the middle with Broken China and then went to the edges with darker shades. I colored around the edges with black Distress Ink. Then I spritzed it with water drops.


I cut the silhouette of the Holly Family and colored it with black.


Afterward I put some glitter all over the silhouette to give it a little more interest.


I glued the background on the card base and this time I used white pen to make a few stars onto the night sky.


On top of the background I glued the silhouette. And that is my finished card.



Have a nice Sunday and a pleasent week ahead. 

Anja Z.


Cottage Cutz products I used:



Monday, September 18, 2017

Nativity Bridge Card

Hi, Lois here with some brand-new CottageCutz Christmas dies. It's always fun to learn a new technique.  My card today actually has two techniques that I just learned -- a fun-fold and a background.  CottageCutz has a whole bunch of new Christmas dies, which will be available on their website on September 20th.  I used two of them on my card -- Away in a Manger and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.



The background technique I recently learned is called Galaxy Background, which looks like it would be much more difficult than it actually is.  To create the background you sponge various colors of Distress ink onto white cardstock.  The colors I used, in order, are: 1) Mermaid Lagoon; 2) Peacock Feathers; 3) Chipped Sapphire; 4) Seedless Preserves; and 5) Black Soot.  During the process you'll wonder how this will possibly look good; but, be patient, it comes together at the end.  As you can see, each of the colors is sponged sparingly so as not to overtake the previous layer.  When you get to the Black Soot, however, you lightly cover the entire card.  After sponging is completed, put a little bit of white acrylic paint on an acrylic block and dilute it slightly with water, mixing it together with a small paint brush.  Then flick the paint brush against the side of your finger to splash the paint onto the entire area.  Here is a photo of the six steps involved.  You can see how the colors build upon each other.


Now you can start your card.  Cut a piece of heavy weight white cardstock 4 1/4" x 8"  and score at 1 1/4", 2 1/2", 5 1/2", and 6 3/4".


My background piece was originally a white piece of cardstock 4" x 6 3/4".  Cut the sky pieces as follows:  a 1" strip, a second 1" strip, a 2 3/4" strip, and another 1" strip, leaving one final 1" strip.


Fold the card base as shown in the photo -- very similar to a double gate-fold card.


Adhere the sky pieces to each section of the card base.


Cut the sentiment and Nativity border.  I used glitter paper for each element -- pale blue for the sentiment and silver for the border.


Glue the sentiment onto the center section of the card, with the star extending just slightly off the top.  When adhering the Nativity border, just apply glue to the ends of the die cut.  Lay the card flat, with just the left side folded on the score lines.  Adhere the left side first, and then span the center and adhere the right side.


As you can see, the card will lie flat for mailing; but, when you fold both sides up, it will stand with the Nativity border "bridging" between the two end panels.  You can see in the following photos the 3-D look of this card.



Here again is the card from the front.



I hope you give these fun techniques a try.  I'm really hooked on that Galaxy Background!  

CottageCutz dies used on my card are: