Frog Card created with file from Royal Inspirations SVG site

Hello everyone.  Thanks for stopping by.  No files of my own to share today but I wanted to show you this card that I made with a file from my friend Retta's new site, Royal Inspirations SVG. I have obtained several of her new files recently and wanted to share a few of them with you here.  I have two things made already, this card and something else I will share with you tomorrow.  Retta's files are amazing and contain a lot of detail work but yet still cut so easily with my Make the Cut software and my Black Cat Cougar. So don't be fooled by the name of her site, she not only has SVG files, but she also provides her files ready to go for Make the Cut (MTC) and Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL) users.  With those three options, she is sure to have a file type that will work for almost everyone!

This jumping frog is Retta's file.  I added a quick crown and lily pad of my own.  The corners of the mat were punched using a Martha Stewart punch.  I thought it looked like "bubbles" of water!  Notice all the detail to the frog!  Didn't Retta do a great job with all the detail to make him so adorable!  I thought he would make a cute card to send to my niece who recently broke up with her boyfriend.  I decided not to add any wording to the front of the card and simply added it to the inside.  Inside I put, "Look at it this way . . . another frog has been eliminated so you are that much closer to finding your handsome prince!"  I think she will appreciate it!  (She broke up with him so all is good there!) I pop dotted the frog and the crown up for dimension after adding some inking and glitter pen work.  I embossed and inked the lily pad as well.  It was a quick and simple card that I hope will make my niece laugh and it was so simple using Retta's handsome frog!  Be sure to stop by Retta's new shop and see all the other wonderful files she has to offer. You can find her site, Royal Inspirations, SVG here: http://www.mainstreetartsandcrafts.com/rettas/.

As always, thanks for stopping by!  I have another file of Retta's to share with you tomorrow.  It is even more adorable and great for a special birthday!  Then, I have some other things that I have been working on in the past few months but haven't found the time to sit down and share with you yet so be sure and stop back by soon and I will do my best to get those added too!

Happy Valentine's Day - Using Print and Cut and Node Editing in MTC

I found this image over at http://freevintagedigistamps.blogspot.com/2012/01/free-vintage-images-wheel-be-valentines.html and decided to use it for a "print and cut" to make a valentine for my DH who loves to ride bicycles. However, I didn't want the image exactly "as is" in the file so I did a little tweaking inside MTC with the node editing tools to get rid of somethings I didn't want (like the flowers and bottom portion) and to "break" the heart away from being "attached" to the bike riders and to fix it so the 's on "Valentine's Day" would cut out as one word "Valentine's". I then created 2 shadow layers of (one bigger than the last one) that heart to add some depth and dimension to pop it up with and then created anothe heart with 2shadow layers to put the "Happy Valentine's Day" wording on. I used the swiss dots embossing folder on the red background paper.

Here's the image as I got it from freevintagedigistamps' blog (I've got it sorta watermarked since I was posting here but follow link above to get the image without the wording across the middle). If you like vintage stuff she has lots of free files and things on her blog. I recommend that you check it out!
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And here's the card I made after pulling it into MTC did some node editing, etc. as explained above and then did a "print and cut". On the inside I added, "always".



Thanks for looking. (Can't believe I had DH's valentine's day card done almost a week ahead of time!) 

Dachshund Silhouette - (Weiner Dog) for SCAL

Here is a silhouette of a dachshund.  My BIL and his wife have always owned dachshunds.  I wanted to be able to have a cut of one to use to make them a card or other things.

Download the dachshund .svg file here.

Pyramid Favor Box

I found this instruction sheet for a Pyramid Favor Box at Jo-Ann's some time ago.   It notes that it is courtesy of Inkadinkado (I think because the project sheet has you stamping on your project after you have it cut out but before you put it together.) I finally got around to tracing the pattern off the back, scanned it in, pulled it into Inkscape and made an .svg pattern with it for use with MTC or SCAL.  I had to handtrace the original since it is printed lightly on the back with the written instructions over the top of it. (Hate when they do that - makes it hard to use!)

I usually use the red liner tape available at Walmart or any craft store to put my boxes and or bags together so that I know that they will "stay" together once I have put treats in them.

Special Notes: * the "sides" where you do the folds seem to be a little longer (taller) then the front and back sides (maybe it's just my folding). Once you fold them in and glue the "sides" to the front and back trim off any extra length by hand.  It's just a quick snip. *  Also, you'll need to "pinch in" the sides of the box to allow for the front closure flap to pull over the top correctly. * see the attached photo that shows you where to score and fold (basically you score on the triangle sides and the middle square). Click on picture to see it better and in larger size.

Here are two sample boxes that I made to try the pattern out. 

Notice in the last  picture posted here how I have "pinched" in the sides of the box to allow for the top flap to come over and down properly.

You can download the Pyramid Box .svg file here.

Thanks for looking.  As always, I'd love to see any projects that you create with this file.

Approximate finished size of the project is 3" x 3 1/2" x 1 1/2"

Another "Pop-up" Card - Enhanced with Color

After I reposted my last post about the Lettering Delights Snowman Pop-up Card which I had "enhanced" with color and used the "Print and Cut" functionality of MTC and my cutters I remembered that I had done another "Pop-up" Card before Halloween that I had never gotten around to showing on my blog. (I did post it in a card challenge on the Black Cat Forum so you may have seen it there if you peruse those boards). Instead of making it a "print and cut" however, I had made it a file to "paper piece" together.

I had found this site - http://www.robertsabuda.com when I was googling around on the Internet one day. He has a bunch of free templates for making different types of pop-up cards. He provides PDF files of his images that you would then cut by hand. I used one of his templates and created my own cut file for it using MTC. I made it so I could cut the "base" image in black and then made the "pieces" to cut out in colored paper as well. I did that using the new knife feature in MTC 4.+. (Lovng the new features in MTC - makes creating files so much easier!) The front of the card is some halloween paper that I had that already had the haunted house image and I just cut it to size. Wording is a stamp I had. I used a MS spider web punch on the corners of the wording block. Drew in the face. Hope you like it and I have shown you some other ideas as to how to use MTC and its new tools to take files you already have or find and make them your own!

Unfortunately, I don't feel that I can share my MTC file since the file was simply created using Robert's PDF file. However, creating your own using Robert's PDF files and the tools in MTC is really very simple to do and I encourage you to give it a try. I would be happy to answer any questions that you had. Just leave me a comment. If you do give one of Robert's files I try, I would love to see what you create. Come back and leave me a comment with a link!

Thanks for stopping by!