Cottage 6 Studio

ATC Madness

That's what I created around here about a month ago.  Not sure what I was thinking really; signing up for two ten-for-ten ATC swaps due at the end of the month when I am scrambling to get my Christmas Card Challenge in at the same time.

I'm sure I was thinking that I would be disciplined enough to get one of those projects done early.  Well, not so much.

These swaps are hosted by another member of the Year of Color blog.  It was something that was started after the blog, so we were catching up by having two themes due at the end of February; Blue & White and Pink.

For the Blue & White theme, I planned to use one of the antique blue photos from an album I scored over the summer.  This was when my computer issues got to the level where a new computer was inevitable, so it wasn't meant to be.  I turned instead to my favorite photo stamps and some blue ink.  What do you think?

Photo stamp and sentiment by Oxford Impressions, flourish and damask stamps by Purple Onion Designs.

Of course, I ran out of the bg paper so I only made 5 of these, and then designed another ATC for the last five.

 

Bird, bird sentiment and birdcage by Oxford Impressions, damask stamp by Purple Onion Designs.

Then it was on to the Pink ATCs for February.  I discovered something...pink is most definitely not in my comfort zone.  The design took forever and it drove me crazy.  This is what I finally came up with.  Not half bad.

Stamp by Paper Candy.

That was my weekend of ATC Madness and Christmas Cards.  Good has come from this experience.  I never want to get to the point where this is more stress than fun.  So I have been more careful about how much I load on my plate lately.  If its going to make me cranky, I don't do it.

 

I was up very late that Sunday finishing everything, but as luck would have it, we were hit with our worst snow storm of the winter and I got to stay home the next day.  That meant I had time to make the hostess a thank you card, which I made with some goodies I won from Suzanne at Oxford Impressions for guessing the theme of her new Marie Antoinette plate.

 

 

Carriage stamp from Oxford Impressions, text is computer generated.

Speaking of fun, I had a blast yesterday making some seasonal art, which I'll show soon.  Until then, there's still more catching up to do....

Vintage St. Patrick's Day!

So here we are at the last weekend in March and I'm finally sharing some St. Patrick's Day art with you, even as I am working on things for Easter.  Well, better late than never.

I was on etsy looking for some German scrap for easter and spring projects and I found the coolest little St. Patty's Day kit.  I had a nice sturdy green Vintage Bingo card that I wanted to alter as a door-hanging for St. Patrick's Day, to hang from the Welcome sign I shared a few posts back.  I had a clip-art image in mind to use, but I was stuck there until I came across this kit.

As soon as it came (on a Saturday - how great was that??) I brought it into the studio and rifled through it and the ideas started to come very quickly.  Since this is an Irish holiday, I knew I wanted some lace on the project, so I added a few pieces to the mix on the worktable, pretty soon, I was piecing things together for an embellishment.

Eventually, I decided to take one of the flower stamens and cut off one end so that I could thread it through the glass bead and the yo-yo.  Then I wrapped that around a piece of the vintage lace that I had decided would look great on the bottom of the card.  Now what?

I am as far as you can get from a seamstress, but I decided that sewing this little contraption together would definitely be better than using glue.  So I wound the stamen around as tightly as I could and sewed it together.

After that, the piece came together really quickly.  The piece of vintage wallpaper that came in the kit was just perfect.  I cut some designs out of it, and I really like the effect, it gives it some more of the lacy quality that I was after.  This kit even had some vintage seam binding which was perfect for attaching the finished piece to our Welcome sign.  Overall, I'm pretty happy with it.  If I hadn't been making this while I was transitioning between computers and learning the software, I'd have made the main image a bit bigger, but I really like the overall effect.  But please excuse the photos, its been cloudy and dreary here for days and I am still learning the tricks on the new computer.

Next up is the only other thing I made for St. Patrick's Day this year; a card for Donald's parents who are in Florida until May.  Before I even hit the purchase button on this kit, I knew I would use the German scrap on their card - isn't she awesome??

The shamrock was traced onto heavy duty manilla cardstock and stamped with the script background (source unknown) then sponged and edged with Distress ink and the scrap adhered in the center.  The card itself is made with one of my favorites from The Paper Cut which is also sponged with Distress ink and some green Japanese cardstock with a lovely texture.  I finished it off with a piece of vintage lace that I picked up recently here on the Island.  And there you have it.  She was a big hit!

So Happy Belated St. Patrick's Day.  Drop by the cottage again this week for some ATC Madness.

More About Cottage 6

Yes, I know, I promised you St. Patrick's in my next post, but I forgot to take pics of my St. Patty's Day door hanger over the weekend and Donnie forgot today and you just can't get a decent pic in our hallway at night.

Since I couldn't get my blog header together, I thought I should at least share some pictures of PEI and Cottage 6, so here it is.

Yes, that's me sitting on the front steps.  And here's the beautiful beach.

Yes, the sand is red.  All the earth is red on Price Edward Island; lots of iron.  That's why the potatoes are so good.

Here's me again.  I love this picture, the water is so still and glass-like and lobster traps always bring back the best memories of the Island.

You can't visit PEI without visiting Lucy Maud Montgomery's house or catching Anne of Green Gables the musical at Confederation Centre in Charlottetown.  I almost fell over when I found this copy of Anne of Avonlea at a street fair last fall.

And you really can't visit the Island without seeing a lighthouse or two...no really, I mean, you literally cannot.

I've been very pulled toward these memories lately.  For a while I was thinking it was unhealthy, living in the past, some form of escapism.  But today it occurred to me that perhaps I'm being pulled back to an earlier, better version of myself.

It's time for a change...no two ways about it.

Well, its bedtime, so I guess we'd better get back on the ferry and get home.

OK, I promise, next time, St. Patty's Day.

Welcome to Cottage 6 Studio!

It isn't quite the welcome I had planned, but that's just the way life is sometimes isn't it?  For now, I am using one of Typepad's templates.  I had hoped to at least have my own banner up there, but it just wasn't meant to be.  I've been working very long hours lately and I have not had the time to learn as much about my new photo software as I had hoped.  But it serves its purpose.

If you've found me through the old blog, you know the story of Cottage 6 - if not, you can find it here.

Well, I definitely have some catching-up to do.  I never shared any of the cards that I made in February for the Monday Mailer at Stamper's Corner.  So here are the three that I actually took pictures of.  (Ok, we'll have to make that two - one of them is still on the old laptop.)

This is my favorite of all the cards I made last month.  I used a wood heart from Michael's, painted the edges and then applied some of my favorite vintage flocked wallpaper from Donna Layton, along with part of a vintage dictionary page.  When it was dry, I applied some silver Stickles and some very small beads.  The base of the card, which is difficult to see in this picture is brown card stock, layered with pink card stock and a page from a vintage shorthand book which was cut with deckle-edge scissors and distressed with Distress Inks.

This second card uses a couple of my favorite stamps from Stampington.  The background paper is from an assortment that I picked up a few years ago, and hated most of it as soon as I opened it.  I like the cupid paper, though and I think it works well here.

So, that is all from Cottage 6 for this time.  I still have some more catching up to do.  Next time - from Valentine's Day to St. Patty's Day.