A Fold-Out Trio

May 31

Of cute cottages 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.

Approach:

The Lovely Layers Cottage is a cute little set with so much wonderful detail. I was trying to think of something special I could do with it, and thought a little fold-out trio of cottages would be fun.

Techniques:

I created each cottage in a mostly monochromatic color palette (so one is all in soft pinks, one lavender, etc.), aside from the more structural colors that are the neutrals here. A cream and a beige color are used on all three cottages for things like the roof, windows, and trim. (Sometimes those appear in colors also.)
- I chose a main color for each cottage, and used cardstock in a next step shade and/or ink the same color as the base color to add variation in value. (How light or dark the color is.)
- Keeping each monochromatic allows me to make a lot of those little variations without them looking busy when they are together as a group.
Creating three of the cottages also gave me the opportunity to try different techniques, which was perfect because I had a few ideas that I couldn’t decide between.
- Each cottage has pattern either on the main structure of it or the center section. I used a mix of stamps and stencils from the release to create those.
- Some cottages have the pattern on the center, some on the main structure.
- I varied which parts were darker and lighter, as well as details like whether the windows were color or neutral.
The center entry section of the third house has a fold-open feature. It is small, but an extra little detail that’s fun for a small note. I plan to also use the back of that third cottage as a place to write when I use it.
Once the cottages were all “built” I used a die cut from the Lovely Layers Topiary die set to use as my hinge to connect them. I thought it could give the impression of large shrubs beside/behind these cottages, which seemed appropriate. They don’t show much, but I knew they were going to show some because of the irregular side edge of the cottage.
- I cut two of those, added some loose ink blending so they weren’t flat color, and scored each down the middle. Orientation of this piece is not critical, it really doesn’t matter. Since they cottages all have flat bases they stand find on their own, and this just needs to hold them together.
- I used liquid glue to attach these to the backs of the cottages. Using the liquid glue allowed me to wiggle things to line them up.
The shrubs and greenery also vary among the three. For the smaller shrubs on the first and third cottages, I used the hanging wisteria pieces from the vine dies and cut them green for a different style of shrub.

Colors:

cardstock: Concord & 9th Pink Lemonade, Nectar, Eucalyptus, Artichoke, Lilac, Grape Soda, Wheat. Simon Says Stamp Cream.
inks: Concord & 9th Pink Lemonade, Grapefruit, Nectar, Artichoke, Lilac, Wheat. Hero Arts Unicorn White.