Cottage release
Cottage Countryside Release from Honey Bee Stamps
The April 2025 release from Honey Bee Stamps is full of all things spring, serene countryside scenes, and some thoughtful sympathy sentiments. See the whole new release here.
Techniques:
My plan for this card was to start with the Bird Bath Lovely Layers dies. I realized I could add in the Topiary set with it also.
I chose my colors, trying to do something a bit different so I went with something more in the style of a teal glazed pottery. While thinking about my background, I flipped through the new Cottage Countryside Paper Pad and found this deep green floral scene that worked surprising well with the teal birdbath and added a level of visual depth.
With a loose plan in place, I die cut my main shapes. I simplified my colors a bit into 2 shades of teal blues, 2 greens, two warm orange-ish colors, as well as accents of other colors such as the brown, blue water, and the bird colors. (You’ll see 3 greens in the topiary die cuts below, but I didn’t end up using the darkest because it was too close to the background color.
After die cutting, I did some ink blending on some of the pieces and glued them together.
Once I had my main elements assembled, I was able to figure out my dimensions and create my card base. (This card is 4.5”w x 6”h, folded, and 8.5”w x 6”h flat.) I used kraft cardstock as my base, and added trimmed pieces of the patterned paper to it. I did this for two reasons instead of only using the patterned paper:
I wanted to control which sections of the patterned paper were behind my birdbath and topiary - for color, contrast, and scale reasons.
I also wanted to keep a section lighter to be good for writing a note inside the card.
I cut the pot for the topiary out of Spiced Cider, which has a bit of a terra cotta feel. I wanted to highlight the detail with some subtle metallic accent, so I rubbed on some Lunar Paste using my finger. Intentionally imperfect, it also gives a rustic pottery feel to the container.
The sentiment, birdbath and topiary are attached with 1/16” foam behind them, to give them dimension without too much bulk.
Colors:
cardstock: Concord & 9th Sorbet, Grapefruit, Spiced Cider, Sunflower, Artichoke, Avocado, Lakefront, Peacock, Blueberry.
ink: Concord & 9th Sorbet, Artichoke, Rainforest, Blueberry, Nutmeg. Hero Arts Unicorn White.
other: Lunar Paste - Refined Copper. Embossing Powder - Lawn Fawn Rose Gold.
Thank you for visiting! I hope you get some time to create something soon.
Links are below if you’re interested in any of the products I used.
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