Cupcake Birthday Card

I dusted off my Imagine this weekend and made a few things.  I have been using my Imagine primarily to print paper since I never have had good luck in getting it calibrated to cut a full sheet of images neatly.  If I print and cut just a few images at the top of the page, I can usually get acceptable cuts. 

My first cuts (the images on the left) looked very odd.  The color was off and I could tell that the black ink was missing.  I remembered having this problem before and tried cleaning the print heads (under "settings").  I did this three times but I could never get the black ink to work so I gave in and replaced the black ink cartridge.  That did the trick, as you can see in the images on the right above.

I usually skip over some of the "cute" images, but this cupcake with a girly face from the Better Together Imagine cartridge appealed to me.  I cut it quite large - at 3 3/4 inches tall.  I cut an extra layer of the frosting to add some dimension to the card.

I cut two mat layers for the A2 card.  The pink layer is 5 1/4 x 4 inches and the blue layer is 5 x 3 3/4 inches.  By cutting the top layer this size, I was able to use a 5 x 7 inch Cuttlebug folder and emboss the front with the pattern running horizontally.

 I was careful to line up the paper so the top row of cupcakes was complete.

This embossing folder is from the Once Upon a Princess Cuttlebug Companion set - this set of four is one of my favorites of the "Companion" sets.  I find that often there are two folders I like and two that I don't care for in the sets but I like all four of the options in this set.

 
The images on the Better Together cartridge are shaded to give an "inked" effect.  I wanted to add some more sparkle, so I used my Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust glitter pen to emphasize all of the lines of the stars and the black contour lines.

The glitter from the pen makes the frosting look much more festive!

Some foam adhesive circles lift the top layer above the base and hold it tight.  I adhered the base layer of the cupcake directly to the embossed front.

Lifting the frosting from the base cupcake brings the image to life.  I also added an outline to the mouth with the Sakura pen and used two tiny gem stickers for the eyes.

I printed and cut the "Hey cupcake" phrase from the Better Together cartridge.  It also needed a bit of sparkle so I outlined the words with the sparkly gel pen.

If you look carefully, you can see the added definition given by the glitter pen.  I completed the sentiment with a stamp and colored the tiny crown with Promarkers with metallic gold on the circles and more glitter pen outlining to finish the image.

Here is the inside of the card before it was signed.

I placed the cupcake at a slight angle, making sure that the embossed cupcakes were covered neatly.

Don't you love those long eyelashes on the cupcake face!  I guess if you are going to do cute you need to "go big or go home" (as my Grandma used to say!).

If you don't have an Imagine, you can make a very similar card with one of the many, many cupcake images to be found on Cricut cartridges.  You can stamp or draw the face in the same style.

Once I got the Imagine printing sorted out this was a pretty simple card to put together.  I think I may take another stab at the advanced calibration.  If I could only get the entire sheet to print and cut correctly I would probably use this machine more.

Be sure to check out the information about the Spring Training 2012 course that Ella Publishing is offering from April 23 to May 4th.  Check the post HERE to get more details and to leave a comment for a chance to win a free spot.  Only the comments left on the original post will be included in the random drawing.  There are five great instructors and access to the videos will never expire.  

I'll be drawing a winner late tonight and will post the name on Tuesday.  If the random number generator doesn't pick your number, I think the course will be well worth the price - so go ahead and sign up and join in the fun!

We have a holiday today - it is "Patriot's Day" in Massachusetts so there will be a parade in our historic town.  The Boston Marathon is also today and I am worried about the runners since the temperatures are predicted to be in the high 80s!

Subscribe to Capadia Designs