Hoppy Birthday - Waterfall Froggy

This is a Birthday Card I made for Him indoors's sister, both of us have younger sisters, and both of them are chefs and although they are not the same age they both have the same birthday!!! (Him indoors and I's birthday is a day apart, and the six years he has on me of course!!!!) seems we were destined to be together either that or destined to be broke!
anyway on with the card!



This cute little frog is from Stampin Up (Unfrogettable) he so cute!! I do love moving cards, anything with a little quirk really, The waterfall component is made using the Cricut Design Studio, and the George Cartridge

To make the frog "jump" I stamped him first with his head and body on the square and then on the next square using the same image, I just stamped his back legs as he jumps away


See the tiny little frog eyelets!! aren't they sweet!! no idea where i got them, I have loads of bitties in my stash that I have collected over the years, only problem is I don't want to use my stash in case i cant get any more!!! (hence the three paper rule, 1 to use, 1 to stroke and 1 to keep for ever)
To add the colour to this card, I used mostly my brand new bienfang watercolour self wicking water colour brushes, these are AMAZING, i have really enjoyed using them, and there are so many different ways to play with them! For my toadstool on the bottom square i used my sakura glaze pens for the red and my sakura souffle pen for the white spots,

After I made the waterfall component up and folded my card blank, i took the "Hoppy Birthday" stamp from the set and using dew drop VersaMagic in Aloe Vera and Sea Breeze i randomly stamped the card blank,
I tied a green gingham ribbon around the card

I love to make my inserts as eye catching as the main card, so in this card using the computer i typed in Hoppy Birthday, Hope your day is Unfrogetable (I know i know, him indoors groaned loud enough for you all but when the pun fits!!!!) the little image in the bottom corner is from a font would you believe, its a font called Komedy Kritters using the capital V and then painted with the bienfang pens

any questions or comments i would love to hear from you!

Amanda

Cute and Simple, bow

Lois on the cricut message board asked about the ribbon on my card a Tisket a Tasket (link here) so i have made my very first picture tutorial, I used Picasa 3 which is a free tool from google its very easy to use, and can make some basic fixes and effects.

Daddies Girl

This is my little person and him indoors, the paper has been cut on the diagonal and there is a ribbon down the middle covering the join which says family ties, the two small picture frames are wooden and have a burnt effect with flowers around them, there are two vellum quotes from DCWV all about girls vellum quotes, the bottom one is the title and says daddy's girl the one at the top is my favourite and reads "My Finger may be small, but I can still wrap my daddy around it" these are both attached using brads
The photo in the middle was what we crafters call a Happy Accident the focus on the camera was out, but it really works in the context of the page. it is of him indoors and little person having a wee kiss and has a rub on over the top which reads " You can't help look through this book without realising how much i love you, but don't underestimate the love that your dad also has for you! Your father has a soft place in his heart for you but he expresses his feelings differently. I use my scrap book to tell you my thoughts. Your dad may not write in a special book but he reveals his love for you in other ways that may not always be visible"

This is my scrapbook, and this is the first page I did, I layered in three different papers, the first being a 12x12 soft grey and pink stripe, the second a smaller 8x8 pink stripe and the small 6x6 is actually the words to twinkle twinkle which i have been singing to my little person since she was born, the word sweet is chipboard letters from a set i was given and the hearts are wooden and painted red, the word dream is a metal embellishment

although not obvious there are clear stickers on the photographs, the bottom one which is little person sleeping on top of me (she always takes liberties!!!) and it says, "there is nothing sweeter that sleeping with your babies, and letting their breathe touch your cheeks"
the picture at the top with little person sucking her thumb, says "people who say they sleep like babies, don't have any, L J Burke

Gift Card Box

This was made for my brother I had purchased one of those credit card type gift cards that are so common now, and i wanted something nice to give it in so i created this, the cut file for this has small lines to guide you with folding the card to make the small box i used one small glue dot on the back of the gift card to keep it in the box part of the gift card.
There is also the scalloped detail on the inside and out of the card which is included on the cut file, the cut file is using plantin for the main card and mini monograms for the scallop circle
Gift Card Box Cut File

A Tisket, A Tasket a green and yellow basket

this card was made for a friend of him indoors, mum so i wanted something traditional with a contemporary twist (listen to me i sound like i know what i am talking about!)
The basket is from the my community cartridge on the cricut, and the daisies i bought from a local craft shop, the happy birthday is a silver peel off as is the silver border and the ribbon which is my contemporary twist lol is from a qvc kit, don't you love the bow i wont tell you how long it took me to realise there was a nice easy way to do this!!!
The dragon fly on the handle is a little metal embellishment and the tiny lady bug is wooden and so cute! i actually love this card although there is no movement or anything particularly "unusual" about it, it came together so well, and i know the recipient loved it, and you know what? that's all that mattered!

boy spinner card

Using the same instructions as below, this time the spinner card is for boys, I have used an odd shapes dinosaur on my spinner this time, I found adhering a weight (I used a glass bead skittle thing) under the head helped the card spin better

Slider Card for the Baby Bug and George

Slider for Plantin and the Baby Bug

Slider for Expression and George

Spinner Card for a girl

Okay my little person was invited to a birthday party recently for a fellow five year old, I wanted to make something pink, but not get caught up in the hannah montanna, high school musical thing. This spinner card was made using a cut file i have for the design studio and is made using the cricut, the slider mechanism is actually two, one pence pieces stuck together the instructions are as follows

You will need,

300 gsm Card stock (it needs to be sturdy as it will get played with a lot)

Backing papers in contrasting colors/designs

George Cartridge (for the slider template and spinner)

Zooballoo (for the scalloped card and insert and envelope) - note the envelope is not on the baby bug cut file

Foam pads (small)

2: 1 penny or 1 cent pieces

Topper of your choice, I used the flower

The cut file has 5 labeled pages

The Slider Template: I cut this twice once in a heavy cardstock (300gsm) and then cut again in my patterned pink butterfly paper and glued it onto the first cut.

Card: I then cut the card again twice, once in sturdy 300gsm white cardstock and then again in a contrasting paper which I glued onto the card

Insert: I cut this from basic printing paper nothing to fancy, but you could use contrasting paper, or printed

Envelope: I cut the envelope from paper stock

The Spinner: I again used the 300 gsm cardstock to cut the spinner circle

Instructions:

Take your topper and attach it to the spinner (you can use a printed image that fits onto the spinner circle or as I have done use something slightly bigger,

lay your first penny down and in the middle of it attach a foam pad, carefully attach the second coin so it is directly over the first, then attach to the centre of the spinner circle using double tape or strong glue.

If you first lay the slider template over the card where you want it to go and mark where the tram lines are, you could stamp a greeting here to be seen through the slider if you like and have one small enough

on the reverse side of the slider template attach a double layer of foam pads ,ensuring they are not going to be near the tram lines very carefully ease the slider pennies into the tram lines then attach to the card front with the double layer of foam pads, (it needs to be double to allow the slider to slide freely)

you can also cut slider template down if you like, it does not need to be as big as i made it on the cut file, i just cut it down a bit for my needs, just make sure you leave room to attach the foam pads to attach it to the card

If you are using a larger topper than the spinner circle do not use permanent adhesive until you are sure of its placement for spinning.

attach the insert into the card (I always put the double sided sticky tape on the first page of the card so it opens with the card)

I hope these instructions are okay and I have not made them too complicated!!!! its such an easy card to make, and so much fun to see the kids faces (both little and large!)

Well here we go!

I have been thinking on and off for a while now that i would start a blog but looking at all the blogs available on the great world wide web, well to be honest it scared me half to death!! I cant compete with these wonderous creations out there!!!! However as time has gone on i realised its not about competing its about showing what I am capable of, what I can create! So i have bitten the bullet and started, now i am making no promises as so posting every day, in fact over the next few days there will no doubt be a huge flurry and as i upload all the cards and things to date, and then it will hopefully become a regular thing but if i go missing for a week its just means i have had nothing created to upload, or nothing interesting to say!
my name is Amanda and I am a paper-a-holic, I believe a person should buy three sheets of the same piece of paper, one to use, one to stroke and one to keep OK i have a lot of paper, i have way to much paper but don't tell Him Indoors that as i do like the option to buy more!
I have been with Him Indoors since 1996 and we married in 2001, our daughter, our very own little person joined us in 2003. She is amazing, a true amalgamation of the best bits of both of us (well except my temper and stubbornness as my mother gleefully informs every time she digs her heels in!) and we have 4 puddy tats who have made us their owners cause regardless what anyone tells you, you never own a cat, they own you.

OK i am waffling i know, but if you are going to read my blog, get used to it, i like to waffle!

Due to some health issues when i was pregnant i have been left permanently disabled with a chronic pain condition, and as my little person grew up i wanted to do something with her that did not involve running around, so we started painting bits of macaroni and playing with bits of paper, then as i began coming online to buy craft goodies, i became aware of a huge population of crafters from all over the world, and so many new ideas and paper crafts i had never known existed,
I began "pottering" and made a card or two, and offered to make some cards for my parents, and family, and slowly began to immerse myself further in i started scrap booking which i love but my heart lies in my card making, I like making my cards with a "quirk" whether it has moving parts or a pun, just something different from the norm, although i can do traditional if pushed i mean asked nicely!
I bought a cricut this year, and upgraded to the expression six weeks later, and i LOVE LOVE LOVE it, I also have the design studio, and am constantly amazed by the talent of people who can take a basic shape and turn it into something truly amazing, I have used my cricut now to make many waterfall cards, and i like to try making patterns for "fancy" things, i have exploding boxes, and slider cards patterns i have created myself, which i would now like to share, so this blog will be my means to share my creations, both the pictures of what i have created and hopefully cut files for the cricut design studio.

I look forward to sharing with you and to reading your comments!

Amanda P