FAIRY CUT FRIDAY: Cutting a frame

A standard Hallmark, that's been modified
over the years.

Hi, all!

It's been one of those busy Fridays for me, capped off with a wonderful time babysitting the cutest granddaughter in the world. I hoped to get this posted earlier, but time just slipped away.  It's still Friday, right?

Today is another FAIRY CUT FRIDAY, and if you are following along, you know what that means.  On each Friday, I'll post a project I made using Fairy Cut software to operate my Cricut. If you leave a comment to this post and are a follower of this blog, at the end of the month, you can have up to four chances (one comment for each Friday) to win that month's FREE FAIRY CUT SOFTWARE LICENSE, generously provided to me by the people at Fairy Cut for my blog readers! 

Fairy Cut, for those who don't know, is similar to -- but in my opinion, better than -- Make The Cut, or Sure Cuts A Lot.  It enables you to download images (e.g, click art) to easily convert to cuttable files; or you can use Fairy Cut's built in images or access a service like Universal Scrapbook to find a gallery of additional images to cut.

OK, on to today's project:  This card (shown above left) was a quick to-do.  A friend of mine has a birthday that's 6 months from mine -- hers is in February, mine in August. Four years ago, one of us sent the other a standard Hallmark that speaks of how charming and terrific the birthday gal is. Inside it says, "Save this card and send it back to me on my birthday."  Well, we did ... and still do.

However, each year the sender takes a turn in blinging up the image. One year, I gave the gal on the card a martini in her left hand ... another year, my friend gave the gal jewelry. Last year, I gave the gal a book to hold in front of her and this year, I converted the book to a beribboned birthday gift.  More on the gift on another post...

The beautiful frame in sapphire blue is a "stock image" cut from Fairy Cut. It was easy to drag/size the frame to the right size. I blinged the frame with three gems using my I-Top tool, and added the tiara too.  The tiara was multi-cut from heavy glitter chipboard by AC (American Craft) Specialty Paper, using an image from Cricut's "Tie the Knot" cartridge. 

I found the great chipboard on sale at Michael's in the Christmas 90% off holiday aisle. Originally $12.99 for twelve 8x8" sheets in six "Christmas colors", I got it for $1.29.  Is it any wonder that I snatched up all four packets of it?  It's gorgeous -- in silver, gold, red, white, pink and lime green.  Pink and red will certainly find their way onto Valentine's Day cards, and the lime green? PERFECT for St. Pat's.  Be sure to scan those holiday aisles for similar values. 

Another shopping tip: on Fridays, Michael's runs a 10% off your entire purchase for Knack members. Teachers of all kinds can sign up for Knack membership -- not only school teachers, but also craft teachers. Even if you only "teach" by blogging .....  Happy to share that little tip!

Your friendship is golden!

Friendship .... such a beautiful thing.
We cherish those with whom we need say so little, and they understand how much we mean. Dear friend!

Today I had a chance to spend a few hours in the Craft Loft, doing everything and nothing. It is the most relaxing way to spend a day for me -- in peace after a hectic week.

I was reflecting a bit today while playing, thinking about friendship. Isn't it true that women have more friends than men? I have some "golden friends" -- you know who you are! -- who I cherish more than I can say. Our time together may not be frequent, but I know that if I needed her or if she needed me, nothing could keep us apart. These are the friends whose sentences we can finish, where conversations continue even though they are years apart, and our years meld together to be one. And like this card says, a friend is someone who knows all your faults and still loves you.

So dear Golden Friend, I thought of you while making this card. And here's how I did it ... One 12x12" sheet of light olive cardstock, cut in half and then folded again in half to make a 6x6" square card. Layered, complimenting prints with a chocolate (has to be chocolate when we're talking about friends!) paper. I inked all of the paper edges with a cocoa-bean colored pigment ink from Inkadoodle.

The flower is from a pack of K&C Company embellishments I found at Michael's in the clearance aisle. TOO CUTE! Then I needed a suitable brad and had none, but remembered I recently got an I-Top from Imaginesce. This neat tool takes a paper or fabric of your choosing and smooshes it onto a metal top and brad bottom with a quick squeeze. Inked the brad too! And voila!

Happy Rehab!

I live in a seniors community (I know, I know -- I look so young in my picture! LOL ... well, it was my baptism photo, what can I say?!), where many of my best buddies, including Mr. Smiley, have had their joints replaced. That calls for a special card. But is it a "get well" card when it's not that they are ill. "Hope you're up dancing soon"? Maybe.

One of my pals is in an inpatient rehab center now, following a hip replacement. I'm hoping the new hip will give her wings to soar, living a pain-free existence. With that in mind, there are probably plenty of ideas rattling around in my head, but here is the card I came up with:

The pretty aqua color paper is from a favorite stack. As soon as I get the name of it, I'll edit this post to include it. The butterfly was Cricut-cut, and the base card was hole punched using my ol' standby Martha Stewart Around-the-Corner Eyelet punch. The font is one I'm sampling from MyFonts.Com printed on my HP Printer. On the butterfly's antennae (jewelry wire), I embellished with Jolee 4mm bicone crystals in aqua. This week, Michael's has Jolee Swarovski crystals on sale 2 for $7 ... time to stock up! (I make beaded jewelry, too, so beads are always handy for card embellies.)

I hope your soul soars today too!