Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Canvas

Good Morning.

Can you believe? it's almost the end of the year! Time flies I must say.

It's been a busy time for me, hardly managing to do any crafting! however today I have made a canvas 30x40 for you, hope you will like it.


I have made this canvas as a Christmas gift to my sister in law, she had her beautiful daughter born in September, isn't she precious?



I have used oh little star cut file from the store.


wishing you all 
Happy New Year.

hugs 

xoxo

Fearless






Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Today Starts Here

Laura here with you today. My husband and I were able to go away for the first half of December to Costa Rica! It sure was nice to escape the cold and stormy Pacific Northwest. One of the places we visited was in the Los Santos region. It is called Los Santos because most of the towns are named for saint. We stayed near Santa Maria. Our first day we visited a coffee co-op processing plant that processes for all the local farmers. The area is full of valleys and mountains. You can go from 11,000 down to sea level in no time at all and all through the valley are coffee plantations. We learned all about the growing and processing of coffee there and it's an amazingly lengthy ordeal.

When I saw Cuppa Joe, I knew I would have to use those cuts for this portion of the trip. As a bonus, it's sort of Christmas colors with the red cherries. That is the first thing I learned, coffee starts as a cherry. The coffee bean we know and use is one half of the seed inside this cherry and it goes through an awful lot to get to your cup.


I started off by inking my craft mat with a red and two brown distress inks. I spritzed with water and pressed my watercolor paper into the ink. I love the watery/splattered look it left. Next I cut out a mat from the Retro Rectangles, which look like coffee beans to me. Next, I cut out 3 of the files from Cuppa Joe, from an espresso color, and inked up a bit to give some texture. A touch of red for the hearts and creamy coffee color makes them pop. I added my photos of the cherries on the tree and being brought in for processing, arranged my cuts and added a few embellishments from We Are Family and Hey Boy. Next came writing my stories onto journaling strips and scattering about the piece.

"Before your coffee ever hits your cup, it starts off as a cherry in a place like Costa Rica. We visited Coopedota in Santa Maria, CR and learned all about the process to get to your cup. First the cherries are picked and brought here where they are sorted, separated, dried, hulled, dried again, given rest, and either sold green or roasted and bagged in beans or grounds."

"Fun facts:
There are many layers to a cherry
The skin can't be eaten, but the insides are juicy and taste like honey
There are two bean halves (1 seed) per cherry
They use the hull (parchment) to fuel the furnaces
The plants require shade so other crop trees, like banana and avocado, are planted within. The limbs are trimmed to regulate shade"







I hope you learned something and think of all the work that goes into your next cup of coffee. I loved both of the cut file! Head over to the store and see how you can use them today.





Monday, December 28, 2015

Guest Designer Janet Zeppa

We are excited to welcome today's Guest Designer, Janet Zeppa!  Janet always does an amazing job incorporating cut files into her layouts, and we love seeing the layouts she links up each month for our Cut It Out Challenge.  So we couldn't resist having her as one of our monthly Guest Designers!  She has a gorgeous layout to share with us today, using the Deck the Halls cut file and the Thankful Tidings cut file.  But before we take a look, let's get to know a little bit more about Janet!





Hello everyone! My name is Janet Zeppa and I am a Canadian living in Ontario very close to the beautiful Niagara Falls.

I am a wife and mother to 3 grown up children with lives of their own. I also am a new Grandma and loving every minute of it!

I am a semi- retired Medical Laboratory Technologist. Since my career is so scientific and technical I love to bring out my creative side in the world of scrapbooking and cardmaking. I started scrapbooking about 11 years ago when I wanted to document my daughter’s wedding.

I am so excited that Ashley asked me to be a guest here at the Cut Shoppe. I think cut files add so much to all crafting projects!

Thanks so much for joining us Janet, and now let's take a look at her beautiful layout!




https://www.etsy.com/listing/258531432/the-deck-the-halls-cut-file-includes-3?ref=shop_home_active_17

https://www.etsy.com/listing/256793935/the-thankful-tidings-cut-file-includes-8?ref=shop_home_active_7
 
I love what Janet did with the chevron tree from the Deck the Halls cut file set!  What a great idea!  And how fun are the rhinestones she added, especially the garland at the bottom!

Thanks again for guest designing with us Janet!  You can find more of Janet's work, by visiting her Blog, Janet's Joy.

http://www.ashleyhortondesigns.com/

Sunday, December 27, 2015

winter weather in Los Angeles



 Hey there, Aimee here to share a happy snowman layout
 using theWinter Weather cut file


   


The other day I was on my way to Echo Park in Los Angeles to do a little Christmas shopping. 

 

On my way there I saw this snowman made from tumbleweeds. It was just down the street from Dodger stadium. 

 

Of course I told Kevin to drive slow as we made the turn so I could snap a quick shot of him!

 

Isnt he cute? I love to see the random decorations through out my city during this time of year. 


 

And this is so a So Cal snowman, I just love that palm trees lining the street behind him. Its so LA.

 

 Thanks for stopping by today, what do the snowmen look like in your city?


 

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Love Today

Hey there, friends!  Missy here.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  I can't believe it's already over.  I have a new layout to share today using the Bits & Baubles and Say Anything cut files.  I wanted to challenge myself to use one of the Christmas cut files on a non-holiday page.  I chose the candy cane heart, and cut it out multiple times on various patterned papers.




I used the American Crafts Dear Lizzy Daydreamer collection here, and I love how it turned out.  I overlapped and interlocked all the hearts for the background design.  I used white gesso to coat a lot of the background and then used various spray inks to add pink, aqua and yellow to the paper.  I added in some bits and pieces from the Simple Stories Carpe Diem collection as well as some shiny silver puffy heart stickers from Freckled Fawn.


I just love all of these colors together, and the texture from the gesso creates a really great look.  I added in some grey elements as well.


I used a flair button from A Flair For Buttons...I love the white and grey bokeh hearts surrounded by pink thread.  I used dark grey thread for machine stitching.


These cute stamps are from Elle's Studio.  I layered in a bit of torn striped washi tape on all four sides of the photo and added some pink stitching at the top of the picture.


I cut this "LOVE" piece from the Say Anything file.  I used Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Tinsel to make it metallic silver.  I love how it came out!  I used a small piece of patterned paper to back the little heart.


Here's one more close up of all those hearts weaved together.  I love that this cut file can be used for a non-Christmas project.


Here's my process video if you'd like to check it out...hopefully you'll get some inspiration from it!



Thanks for stopping by today!

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

The Night Before Christmas

The layout I’m sharing today is using the lovely free cut file Night Before Christmas, that’s out today.


I choose to cut it really large on white cardstock & then misted & splattered it in a variety of different colours before attaching it to black cardstock to make it stand out, to help it a little I drew all around the edge of it with a white pen.



I then made a photo mat using a variety of different papers & added it to the page over a wood slice, I added a few bits of ephemera around the photo cluster, a doily, flair badges, puffy stickers & a lovely red glitter bow. I finished the page with a few splashes of silver color shine & some silver texture paste through a stencil.






Thanks for looking today & I wish you all a great Christmas & a happy new year, xoxo


FREE Cut File | The Night Before Christmas

We've finally made it to Christmas week, and it's only two days away!  YAY!  Today we have our final FREE Cut File available for download.  You can download The Night Before Christmas cut file by clicking HERE.  I hope you have enjoyed this month's FREE cut files and if you missed any, just scroll back through the last few weeks to download any that you didn't get a chance to pick up.

https://app.box.com/s/peaobr3rqhdfx4odi6mhx77djji5u4wz

And if you're doing a little Christmas shopping in The Cut Shoppe Etsy store, don't forget that you can still save 31% off of your purchase with the Discount Code MERRY31!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheCutShoppe

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

http://www.ashleyhortondesigns.com/ 
 

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Snow Day

Hello! Jennifer here to share a layout I created using some of the new fun cut files from the shop!  I instantly fell in love with the Frosty Flakes cut file and couldn't wait to use it on a page!   It is simply gorgeous and perfect for this time of year!  

For my title, I used silver gold foil and a title from the Bits and Baubles cut file.  I layered my letters over journaling cards from the Joyful collection. 
I layered more journaling cards and cut out labels from Joyful to jot down details about my photo.
Using the Frosty Flakes cut file as my background, I  added some spray mist and a mask from Studio Calico on the edges of my page.  I also added in some wood veneer trees and snowflakes from my stash!
To add a little more bling, I adhered some sequins as well as added enamel dots to the outside edges of the cut file.



The Frosty Flakes cut file is a background cut file, that can be used for your scrapbooking and papercrafting projects.

The Bits & Baubles cut file set includes 8 Christmas themed icons, that can be used for your scrapbooking and papercrafting projects.

Be sure to check out all of the fun holiday cut files to use on your projects!  Thanks for stopping by today!