Froggie Card for Twinkling Tuesday-Penny Card Tutorial

I have a new e-friend who is a beginner card maker. She asked me for some beginner advice, I emailed her back and realizing how many things we ‘experts’ take for granted, I am starting a series of tutorials for things I might have previously considered too easy for most readers. Everyone has to start at the beginning right? So I did a tutorial for this fun penny card. I only used the most basic of supplies to prove you can do a lot even as a beginner with limited supplies. If you don’t want to follow the tutorial, feel free to scroll down to Step 9 showing the final card.

Supplies:
Cardstock for card base 4.25x5.5” folded
One white panel 5x3.75”
Cardstock scraps for paper piecing
Black ink
White glue
Sharp, fine tip scissors
2 pennies
Foam dots
1/4” and 1/2” hole punches
Ruler
Pencil
Coloured ink (optional)
Markers (optional)
Glitter (optional)

Step 1: Stamp your frogs on cardstock. I would have coloured them with Copic markers but I wanted to go with limited supplies. TIP: When cutting out thin areas like the frog’s arms and legs, cut out the body first. Then cut out the ‘fingers’, then the arms. If you cut the arms first and you aren’t careful, you can rip them off while cutting the fingers.  Notice I have two of the mushroom’s top and extra eyes!

Step 2: Notice the mushroom now looks 3-D because I layered  it with foam dots. Layering of stamped images cut from coloured or patterned paper, then glued on a background is called paper piecing. If these frogs were wearing clothes, I could cut them from patterned paper and glue them on top. Get the idea? Layering the mushroom top over the mushroom using foam dots is called paper tole but some refer to it as paper piecing. I also coloured in the spots on the mushroom, shadowed the mushroom’s gills and shadowed some areas on the lower part of the frogs. Fancy markers? Nope, Crayola IQ markers, grown up versions of the childhood classics!

Step 3: Cut and score a card base. Standard card maker size is 4.25x5.5” which is a half sheet of 8.5x11” cardstock folded in half. Cut your main layer 5x3.75” which gives you perfect 1/4” borders. I marked a dot at 1/2” in from the corner for my next step. I goofed! It should have been 1/2” in from the sides but 7/8” down from the top. You will understand better with later photos.  Punch a 1/2” hole with the dot as the center on both corners. Don’t have a 1/2” punch? Trace a dime, poke a hole through the center with a pin and leave the pin in. Poke the pin through your pencil dot to line it up. Trace and hand cut. You could just trace the dime but it would be hard to place them evenly in both corners exactly where you want them.

Step 4:  Draw lines from the top of one circle to the other. Repeat for the bottom. Cut along both lines with scissors, craft knife (AKA XActo knife) or your paper trimmer. I used a knife for the straightest edges.

Step 5: This shows the paper after cutting. Place a foam dot right in the center of your penny. If you only have square dots, trim corners to create an octagon. If your foam dot is larger than your slit, be sure to trim it down before applying.

Step 6: Place the penny under the slit. Place the other penny over top.

 

 

Step 7: Cut out a circle to glue over the penny. If the image you wish to place on top is larger than penny, no need to cover it. I didn’t have an appropriately sized punch. Nestabilities? Nope, I traced a nickel and cut it out! Now start planning where you want your paper piecing to go. If part of the image is not cut out, stamp it in your desired colour on the background like I did for the grass around the mushroom. Glue down or foam dot your paper piecing.

Step 8: The mushroom is glued on with ordinary white glue. Both frogs are attached with foam dots. The flower was done with a technique called ‘marker direct to stamp’. Colour each area with fine-tipped markers, plain old Crayola again. Now the next step is really important. Hold the coloured stamp in front of your mouth and slowly and heavily exhale over it. This is called huffing. Because the marker ink dries as you colour, you need to remoisten the marker. If you want a sharp image, huff; if you want a soft, watercolour-y image, use water from a misting bottle to remoisten. I just huffed. Stamp and cut out the image you want on the penny. I used a dragonfly, coloured in with Crayolas, covered it in clear drying glue with dollar store glitter. Glue onto the penny.

Step 9: Flip your cardstock over. You need to place foam dots in all 4 corners and two in the middle, roughly under each frog, TWO DOTS THICK. You need this depth to allow the penny to rotate freely. I goofed, my slit is too close to the top of of the white piece. I didn’t leave room for foam dots in the top corners. (I used some thin strip foam I had.) The space between the slit and the top needs to be wide enough for the foam dots and still allow the penny to slide past. 3/4-7/8” should be enough even if your dots are larger than mine. If you are going to send this by mail or if the card will spend time in an envelope, add THREE layers of foam dots. I found out the hard way that the foam compresses under pressure. When you try to get the penny to roll, it won’t budge because there is no room between the two cardstock layers.

Our Temporary Twinkie, Nicky didn’t want to do a colour, sketch or inspiration challenge. He went for a theme! FROGS! Easy Peasy, I have two frog sets and I even keep them mounted for Jameson to use. Please play along with Twinkling Tuesday by making a frog-themed card! Upload to SCS or PCP using MTTSC20 or your blog and be sure to leave a link at Madelynn’s Twinkling Tuesdays blog! Now don’t forget to visit all of the other Team members, they all need some love too! I love visiting all of their blogs, the variety is AWESOME!!!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Unfrogettable
Ink: Stazon black, eggplant, celery
Paper: purple and two greens from Bold Brights (forget the names), white
Accessories: 1/2” punch, Crop-a-dile, foam dots-Jody Morrow, foam strips-UK, Crayola markers, glitter-$ store
Techniques: Paper piecing
All products SU! unless otherwise noted.