Hubby's Birthday.....

It was my other half's birthday on Sunday and these are the cards that I made for him, from me and the boys.
I used standard C5 and 6" square cards for the bases and for my card I used MME 'Complete Boy' stack, and for the boys' card I used some ancient DCWV paper.
My card was completed on Sunday morning at 6am! We'd been to a wedding at the Dorchester hotel in London on Saturday evening and didn't get in 'til stupid o'clock in the morning and what with preparation on Saturday I didn't have time to finish it! I'd made the one from the boys in the morning but had left mine (as usual!) 'til the last minute.That's why I cheated and used metal letters for the 'Husband' sentiment. I didn't have a letter 'A' so I used an inverted 'V' instead! Hubby didn't notice! I created a panel for the front of the card covered with 3 different strips of paper, and tied with black cord.This panel was adhered to the front of the card with foam tape. A shaped panel topped with a cute truck filled with punched red mirri/glittercard hearts was adhered to the panel with foam pads. The metal letters, backed with red cardstock,teeny faux brads created from Candi Dots,and a Safmat computer generated sentiment completes the card.

The card for the boys was simple. I cut a piece of patterned paper slightly smaller than the front of the card, matted it and adhered it to the front of the card. A shaped panel was cut from white shiny DCWV glittercard, embossed after cutting, then matted onto blue cardstock. 'Dad' was cut from brown glittercard and the sentiment cut 3 times and chopped up and re-constructed to create a tri-coloured image. The candle was cut from chequered mirri card with a gold glittercard flame. All the elements were adhered to the card with foam pads.
The inside of the card was decorated with a paper strip, shaped panel and sentiment cut from brown glittercard.
Carts used:
Hubby card:-
Shaped panel & truck-Just Because Cards
Dad card:-
Shaped panels-Formal Occasions
Candle sentiment/inside sentiment-Life's A Party
Thanks for dropping by today!
Heather xxx

A new angle for Jiminyjapes!.......

I thought that today I'd show you something different- for me anyhow! Now I know that most of you use cartridges in your Cricut as do I, but not everyone can afford to buy carts on a regular basis. There are the Solutions carts that are cheaper, but another alternative are SVG's (Sizeable Vector Graphics) Now people, compared to carts these are DIRT CHEAP! I've found them online for as little as $1 (about 75p I think!) up to $6. They are a little faffy but are great fun and the cut is SUPERB! I bought SCAL2 (Sure Cuts A Lot)loaded it to my laptop and now when I have a few spare minutes I create the cut and save it to use at a later date.
Here are a few sites that I use:
svgcuts.com
letteringdelights.com
myscrapchick.com
I bought my SCAL2 from Scrappy-Go-Lucky (scrappygolucky.com)but you can download it from t'internet - it's approximately £40. Just type SCAL2 into a search engine.
I bought the image on today's card from My Scrap Chick. I bought 4 japanese images (three little maids and and a cherry blossom branch), 12 cards and frames and 30 boxes. Because I spent more than $20 I got 60% off so the whole lot only cost me $10! BARGAIN! How much would I have had to spend on carts to get that little lot? Well over £150 I should think-no brainer really.
One thing I will say is that you don't get too many images, certainly not as many as you would on a cart, but when you are squeezed for cash they are a viable alternative. DISCLAIMER- A word of warning though- go to svgcuts.com,click on 'blog' and read the article about the lawsuit that Provocraft have launched against Make The Cut with regards to using SVG's on the Cricut before you make your purchase. Only you can decide if it's worth the risk to spend money on SVG's only to be unable to use them if PC win it's case. PC will make it impossible to use SVG's in new Cricuts that it produces so if yours goes kaput you probably won't be able to use them in a new machine.
Ok, on to today's card.
The base is a twisted easel and papers are 'Tea House' by Dovecraft. I thought that they'd be perfect for this little japanese lady. I'm not a fan of 'oriental' but I love this little image-she's so cute and demure looking! I cut her from different colours of textured cardstock, then embossed the kimono pieces. You could, of course, cut the kimono pieces from patterned japanese papers. I adhered her to an embossed panel and added the cherry blossom above her. Two punched borders, some ribbon, a sentiment circle and a WOC cherry blossom bloom completes the card. **This card could be made with the Pagoda cart as there are some little japanese dolls and cherry bossom on it**
Carts used:
Sentiment-Beyond Birthdays
Scalloped/plain circles-Winter Woodland
SVG cuts:
Little maid (1 of 3) and cherry blossom branch- myscrapchick.com ($6 for 4 cuts)
Thanks for dropping by today!
Heather xxx

Cinderella is proof......

that a new pair of shoes can change your life'
What a great sentiment! I found it whilst blog-hopping. It was actually a stamped sentiment but I computer generated it and added it to my card.
The card base is a take on a double twisted easel, only there is one twisted panel and the other is a short side step, so I suppose that you could call it a twisted easel side step card! The base is made the same way as as a double twisted easel but only one panel is scored diagonally. The other panel is shortened by an inch and scored horizontally.
The papers are from a scrummy 8x8 pack by First Edtion called 'Spring Feast' which I got from The Range. I used four different designs on this card. The fab shoes are cut from glittercard and gunmetal grey mirri. The buckles were cut from silver mirri and blinged up with clear gems. They were adhered to an oval of glittered paper which was mounted onto an embossed scalloped oval. The Cinderella sentiment was computer generated onto Safmat then adhered to another scalloped oval. Both scalloped ovals were mounted onto the panels with foam pads.The sentiment panel was embellished with a cheapo flower from The Works and some more bling. A sheer ribbon and bow were adhered to a punched border, adhered to the card with foam pads to create the stop.
Carts used:
Shoes,scalloped/plain ovals-Formal Occasions
WOW! Only one cart!
Thanks for dropping by today!
Heather xxx

Big Pins!.....

Does anybody use nappy pins anymore? I used to for my boys. We lived in Saudi when they were little (until No1 son was 4 & No2 son 18mths) and I could dry a line of terry nappies in no time under the Saudi sun! But I never used pins THIS big! These pins are TOO big I think but heyho!
Standard C5 card bases were used along with scrummy K & Co 'Itsy Bitsy' papers. The bottom edge of the card base was punched with a Woodware ribbon slot punch (on the front of the card only) and polka dot ribbon threaded through it and a bow added with glue dots. The pin, cut from silver mirri and glittercard, was adhered to an embossed panel which was adhered to the card front with foam tape. A scalloped circle holds the sentiment also cut from glittercard. A pearl heart was adhered to each of the pins, and a WOC rose adhered to the corner of the embossed panel completes each card.
Carts used:
Pin-Wild Card (or you can use one of 3 pins on the New Arrival cart)
Scalloped/plain circle-Winter Woodland
Little One sentiment-Stamping Solutions
Thanks for dropping by on this glorious spring morning! It's beautiful here in Hampshire!
Heather xx

Happy Birthday Hannah.....

No 2 son trundled off to his friend's sister's birthday party last Saturday and he took this card with him.
The card base is a standard C5 and the papers are from g.c.d Studios 'Material Girl' 8x8 pad.The layout is simple,with three patterned and two plain papers.The dress was cut from plain white card then patterned paper and the two pieces adhered together (this makes a nice solid embellishment that doesn't sag). The hanger was cut from silver mirri.The completed dress and a rather funky shaped panel, cut from Papermania pink textured cardstock and plain paper was adhered over a ribbon trimmed panel.
'17', 'Happy Birthday' and 'Hannah' were all cut from blue glitter card. '17' was adhered to a scalloped circle. 'Happy Birthday'and it's pink shadow and 'Hannah' were adhered with foam pads.
A bow and a layered bloom completes the card.
Carts used:
Dress & shaped mount-Formal Occasions
'Happy Birthday'-Stamping Solutions
'17', 'Hannah' & scalloped/plain circle-Winter Woodland
Thanks for dropping by!
Heather xxx

Happy Birthday Kate!......

It was my niece Kate's birthday on Saturday and this is the card that I made for her. I used a trifold diagonal cut card as a base and papers from Design Objectives (DO) Born to Shop 'Bubbles' A4 paper pack. The edge of the card was punched with a Woodware border punch. A little tip here if you want to punch the edges of your cards- when you cut the front off the card, measure approx 1cm across the top of the card from the fold then cut from this mark. This allows you to punch the front of the card without the design being punched onto the back of the card. Try it on a piece of waste first 'til you get it right.
I used two different papers, one quite busy with little flying handbags and one not quite so busy with a bubble design.A punched border with grosgrain ribbon and bow were adhered to the bottom of the front portion of the card with foam pads. The handbag was cut from black mirri card and a piece of crocodile skin effect paper was adhered to it and trimmed away (the paper wouldn't cut on the Cricut as it has HUGE bubbles in it!)A couple of large black pearls were added to the clasp,some detail added with a dressmaker's wheel and a large lace-effect black and white flower with green fabric brad was adhered to the bag front with silicone. I also created a mobile from black & silver mirri which was adhered over the bag with foam pads.'Happy Birthday Kate' was cut from black mirri and adhered flat to the centre panel of the card.Three punched flowers were adhered to the top of the back panel of the card.Small pearls were created from Card Candy and adhered to the flowers on the back of the card and to the flower centres on the punched edges.
Carts used:
Handbag-Forever Young
Mobile-Paisley
'Happy Birthday'-Calligraphy
'KATE'-Lyrical Letters
Thanks for dropping by!
Heather xxx

Sweet Pea.......

I cut this little pea pod out a few months ago just to see what it was like nad I loved it, but it's only now that I've actually used it on a card. I've tarted the cut up a bit because on the cartridge it's quite basic. I added some details to the baby's face and I paper pieced a pillow and coverlet.The card base is a C5 Z-fold and the papers are K & Co 'Itsy Bitsy'. The pea pod was cut twice from green cardstock and then embossed with a Fiskars texture plate.I cut away part of the second pod and adhered it to the complete pod with foam pads to add dimension. The baby's face was coloured with marker pens and a blender pen, and a little glitter added to the hairline. The blanket was made srom patterned paper with a scalloped edged trim. The pod was adhered to an embossed panel which was punched with a Woodware ribbon slot border punch. I threaded ribbon through the slots and added a bow.A WOC rose and some teeny pearls made from Card Candy completes the front of the card.

The inside back of the card was embellished with a scalloped circle holding the 'Sweet Pea' sentiment and the 'Welcome' sentiment was adhered above it.
A teeny floral arrangement was adhered to the scalloped circle to complete the card.
Carts used:
Baby in pea pod/'Sweet Pea' sentiment-New Arrival
Scalloped circle-Winter Woodland
Plain circle-George
'Welcome'-Sentimentals
Thanks for visiting!
Heather xxx