Hoppy Birthday my Sweet Girl!

As evening approached and it was nearing time to leave the office today I was feeling sad. My life is moving at such a hectic pace that I just haven't had the time to create and tomorrow is my baby's 10th birthday! OK, so she's not a baby any longer; in fact we are moving out of the single digit birthday's in our home. In that split second I knew that I just needed to do it --- I needed to take that hour and create my sweet girl a special card.

Trina is an animal lover and when creating cards for her friends, one of her favorite images has been frogs, so... what image could be more appropriate than this darling Flower Frog by Hero Arts!

When conceiving Nestabilities one of my goals was to develop a product that could be used to create shaped cards. It was today, when a couple of customers came to pick up their orders that I realized many individuals have not been readers and customers for a long time. Many of you may have not seen a card created in a shape, so I would like to remind you how easy it is to create a card that is unique in shape, by using the larger sized Nesties.

The fold line in my Endive cardstock is located at the top of this photo. Note how I left a gap between the die and the fold line. I did not want to cut into the fold line. At this point my intent was to use the patterned paper as a "lilypad" and decided it would be easiest to cut this as one unit. I stacked my sandwich and ran it through my Big Shot.

I then selected Copic colors that coordinated with the papers I was using. I did not color carefully because I knew I would be cutting out this image and time was of the essence.

As well,l I wanted to add depth to the color in a quick and easy manner. Prismacolor pencils, together with Copic markers, create such beautiful depth in your images. It is so hard to capture in a photo, but I quickly added color pencil to my image using a crosshatching technique.

As I placed my image on top of the coordinating papers I realized that I needed to add some warm gray to the overall image, so that it would coordinate better.

Using W00 I simply colored over my image and voila - it coordinated beautifully. I'm not certain why the colors in my photos don't ring true, but in real life the blend is perfect.

OK, I'm a child at heart - LOL! When I saw the adorable images from Hero Arts I just couldn't resist bringing in googly eyes. I selected a package that will give you a ton of variety - a little goes a long way and every kid (including us big ones) will love giving this card a shake. I quickly snapped the picture above to help you "see" what this image would look like with two eyes of the same size. Being a little quirky is what I find so endearing about this image and so I settled on using two different size eyes.

As I was finalizing the layout of my design I realized that the balance was off with my lilypad in the bottom corner. Wouldn't you know it - I was out of the paper I had initially selected, but fortune smiled on me as I opened the remainder of my Sugar Rush pad. This paper just jumped right out of the book and I actually like it better than my first choice - LOL!

I knew that I would not be able to cut this image in the same manner as the first and so I simply laid out everything in my die to figure out the best location. I then removed everything, placing the circle in the same location and completed my cut.

One of the things that fascinates me about clear stamps is the ability to bend them into shapes. I wanted to do a play on the words Happy Birthday and so after stamping and embossing my sentiment I sewed a button over the "a" so that I could wish my sweet girl a very "hoppy birthday." 
  

I have slipped this card into her binder, so that when she opens it at school in the morning, birthday wishes and thoughts will greet her. Yep, I left the office smiling from ear to ear. I love my girl - Hoppy birthday sweetheart!!!
  

Comments

[dsi xl]

So cute!! And I like the 2nd paper better, too. Hope the birthday is as much fun as the card,This is really a nice work and I like this frog very much as it looks so nice, five day later my daughter birth day will come,I will also enjoy her birth day like you

[r4i sdhc]

Hello
This is really a nice work and I like this frog very much as it looks so cute.Hey to be lated Happy Birthday to a girl.Thank you very much for showing this work.

[higher search engine ranking]

this one is so cute. I really adore green. and i also like frogs stuff toys.

[BeverlyBL]

So cute!! And I like the 2nd paper better, too. Hope the birthday is as much fun as the card. My granddaughter will be 10 this month as well. She may have a Hoppy Birthday too. Thanks.

[Chris K]

The card is adorable. I'm sure she loved it.

[Barbara]

How cute, and I love how you share your techniques!

[Elaine Allen]

What an adorable card Ellen. Trina is sure to love it. AND thank you for the wonderful tutorial.

Trina - Happy Birthday Sweetie! Have a really special day!

Elaine Allen

[cards4u]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRINA!!!! Enjoy your day : ) Thanks for sharing your mom with us!

[Karen T]

This is so cute Ellen. I especially love the frogs eyes! I hope she loves it too.

[Sharo Harnist]

So utterly sweet, Ellen -- I know she loved it!!

[Charmaine]

I love the card...the froggy is so cute!

Charmaine

[Sara]

ELLEN!! This is entirely too cute. And thank you for the mini tutorial!!

[Darlene]

So cute and I am sure your 10 year old will appreciate it.

[Michele Luxenberg]

How sweet! I would have loved to get this surprise while in school for my 10th birthday! heck.. my 42nd is coming very soon and i'd love it ;) Thanks for sharing!

[chriss blagrave]

What a sweet little card. Great colours with that Origins dp, love the stitching you added, the orange button and the googly eyes. Frogs need googly eyes. Hoppy Birthday Trina!