Minions Birthday card

I've wanted to make a 'Minions' Birthday card for ages now, using the Stampin' Up Owl punch. Recently I got the chance to make one for one of Len's little relatives - and they really are such fun to make, if a little fiddly!

This is so NOT my idea by any means, there are loads of Minions cards out there and we've had some fun ones in the Playground for sure. THIS is where I found some clear and easy to follow instructions using the SU owl punch (which was my mission!), along with photos of the stages. And this was the resulting card 'wot I made' - with huge thanks to Trisha for the really clear instructions:

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- a snippet of dark blue paper as a frame

- a panel of white card

- snippet of yellow card, die cut using a Memory Box 'Grand Happy Birthday' die then backed the lower part with a snippet of dark blue paper

- only at that point did I stick the yellow sentiment layer, with lower part backed with the dark blue paper, to the panel of white card and trim it down to sit on top of the dark blue frame leaving a narrow border right round

- the cheeky little Minions were made by following the instructions here (as mentioned earlier) and using snippets of yellow, black and dark blue card - plus some large googly eyes

- die cut the letters for Joe's name using a snippet of dark blue card and a Tattered Lace 'Anniversary - Classic Alphabet' die

- then just popped the little Minions in place using thin sticky pads

I used some words I'd seen whilst looking for the Minions tutorial, just printed them on the insert .................. 'Sending you Minions of Birthday Wishes'.

Snigger :)

Di
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Ninja Turtles - and a little 'Raphael' tutorial

Earlier this week it was the Birthday of a little chap we know - this is the card I made:

I used:

- 7" x 5" white card blank

- SU 'Old Olive' card stock, cut slightly smaller than the card front, corners punched with a Woodware fancy corners punch

- four hand made Ninja Turtles (instructions below), popped onto a white square of card with thin sticky pads, backed by a slightly larger square of card in the same colour as the turtle's mask

- I then positioned the four 'toppers' onto the card using Collall All Purpose glue

- and at that point, to be honest, the card was fine. BUT, Len likes little ones to have their names and ages on cards so I used Britannia dies and leftover snippets to die cut the Birthday greeting, 3rd and also the little chap's name. I know it makes it personal but I still think all the extra 'bits' are too much :(

If that's all you want to know then skip away now, if you want to know how I made the Ninja Turtles then fetch a cup of tea or coffee and read on.

You'll need:

- a circular punch or die, I used SU's 1 and 3/8ths inch circle punch

- an oval punch or die, I used SU's 'Large Oval' punch, which measures 1 and 3/4 inches x 7/8th of an inch

You can just fiddle round trying different sizes if you don't have these, they were what I had quickly available here

- snippet of green card stock (I used SU's 'Old Olive' but again, you can just vary whatever to green you think would work) and a darker green ink pad - plus dauber or makeup sponge if you have those

- snippet of red card stock.  If you're making the full set of four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles then you'll need blue for Leonardo, Orange for Michelangelo, red for Raphael and purple for Donatello (mine of useless information here!)

- scissors, adhesive, fine black pen and googly eyes approx. 1/4" diameter

And away we go:

Firstly, punch from green card stock one circle and one oval then just go round the edges using a darker green ink pad (I used SU's 'Mossy Meadow') and something like a sponge dauber or a make up sponge - this will add dimension to the turtle face.

Next, punch a circle from red card stock and about quarter of an inch from the top cut straight across the circle and then again at quarter of an inch below that to form the mask. At the same time cut another quarter inch wide strip from a piece of spare red card with one end cut into a V shape and keep to one side - I found it easier to use a pennant punch on the edge of a bit of card for the V and then to cut the strip to width.

This is what you're going to play with next, the mask piece - don't throw the biggest half moon shape away just yet though. I added a strip of very narrow (1/8th inch) ultra strong adhesive tape to the back of the top of the mask piece (ie. slightly tapering in) then gently put it in place on the round punched piece of green card. Doing it this way means you get a perfect fit for the curve of the circle, just remember to ONLY apply a very thin line of tape or glue to that top edge of the mask as you want space/a pocket underneath that mask for the next step!!

I then just ran a bit of tape roller over the 'circle punched piece' of the turtle's face below where the red mask was adhered and that allowed me to wiggle the oval into place, tucked partly underneath the mask - which of course then hides the join.

Remember the leftover half moon shape from the red punched circle I told you to keep? This is where you use it, if like me you're not very good at freehand. Just place the curve of the crescent where you think the turtle's smile should be and using a pencil draw partly round the curve.

Remove the half moon template, using a fine line black pen draw over the 'smile' and then rub away any excess pencil lines.

Final touch - snip the headband 'tail' down to about half an inch across the straight end, stick it behind the headband at the back of the turtle with the V shape showing.

Then just add the googly eyes and all of a sudden your little Ninja Turtle takes on his very own personality :) Introducing 'Raphael' :)

I gleaned quite a bit of the above from the internet but I didn't think there was enough detailed information in one place so that's why I've done this little step by step 'how-to/tutorial' for you.

Of course there are some things you can do differently which would speed things up. For example, you could just cut a straight strip for the headband, stick it in place and then round it with scissors to shape (work from behind the circle if you decide to do this as it will give you a guide). Of course, you won't have the template for the turtle's smile but I bet most of you are better at freehand than I am anyhow! And, you can get away with white and black card stock circles for the eyes - although I do like the googly eyes if truth be known!

If any of this is unclear (or all of it perhaps!) just let me know and I'll clarify things.

Di
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Fishtails - a little 'how-to'

Reading a blog earlier today, I saw that the writer had been having trouble cutting 'fishtails' into the end of a sentiment strip without the use of a safety net die. In fact her card looked fabulous with just straight ends to the sentiment strip but at the risk of seeming like granny and sucking eggs it took me until about six months ago to think of doing this. Musing here, I thought of geometry at school - you know, right angles and such. So this is how I cut my fishtails now - taking any guesswork out of the process:

1. Stamp your sentiment onto a piece of card, as straight as possible to make trimming in the next step easier.

2. Cut the sentiment strip to the width you want - if possible make it an even number of millimetres (or fractions of an inch) wide, I cut mine to 20 mm wide ie. top to bottom.

3. Decide how close you want to cut to the actual sentiment at each end and draw vertical pencil lines across the strip. Then, measuring carefully draw another vertical line outside of the measured strip- half the width of the strip away. So, my strip is 20mm wide and so the right hand line here is 10mm outside the lines I first drew. Then, measuring carefully again, bisect the panel you have pencilled inhorizontally - ie, exactly in half - which was 10mm again for me.

4.Draw, still using a ruler, lines diagonally across the two sections you just created in the photo above. Due to the wonders of maths, I now have a 90 degree angle in the inner part of the fishtail.

5. Trim off the straight ends (I do use a trimmer for this bit) and then carefully snip with small scissors along those diagonal lines you just drew.

6. All that's left is to use an eraser to rub away any pencil lines - and I coloured in the flower :)

OK, maybe it was really obvious and most of you do it already :( Of course, for more elongated fishtails, at step 3. you would just draw your vertical outside line further away. But you would still bisect the panel precisely in half across the middle of course.

A couple of other things, I just grabbed a quite hard pencil to draw the lines so the camera would pick them up - a soft pencil and a light touch rubs out much better! Plus, you could always do the pencilling and cutting on the reverse of the strip - I like to see what's going on though and a soft pencil and light touch works for me :)

If I want to layer the sentiment onto a background piece of contrasting card I just cut a slightly longer and wider strip, stick the fishtail on leaving a border round the three straight edges and then cut a V, usually without measuring. If you want to measure you only need the centre of the V in the fishtail - draw a line outwards from there and cut even snips on either side to the line.


Class closed for today - now go and play on the swings whilst muttering 'Silly old bat, we all do that trick!'

Edit: Am giggling here at comments already made about just eyeballing and snipping or even using a square or hexagonal punch - trust me, I have problems sticking a stamp on an envelope straight - plus I suffer from OCD :)

Di
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