Another Grad Card

After having finished making six similar grad cards last month, I realized a little late that I still needed to send out one more. Wanted to try something different, and got inspired by the grad card created by my friend, Teri (Big Ideas from a Little Girl) which she posted here. I really liked how the top of the mortarboard flipped up on her card to reveal a pocket underneath. My version doesn't have the fancy fold at the top of the card, but I changed it a bit so the monetary gift would pull out of the pocket as the card was opened.

Put together a quick cutfile for this on Design Studio using George as the basecard. Grad cap is a cut from the Locker Talk cartridge which I cut apart, and the diploma is actually a cut of a rolled up newspaper from the Pooh and Friends cartridge. "Congratulations" is a Sizzix sizzlit from the cardmaking set. Tassel and ribbon on diploma are purple because this was created for a very special graduate from NYU. You GO, Jonathan! We're so proud of you!!!!

The Very Best Dad Ever!

I had so much fun making my niece's waterfall Sweet 16 birthday card, I decided to do a couple more as Fathers Day cards for my dad and dh. But this time I turned the card to it's side so it would open up like a little flip book. I used a theme of "best at all you do" and proceeded to describe some of the things these two men in our lives are so good at. And since I'm still lovin' the panda on the Create a Critter cart, I couldn't resist using him again for my cards.

Pulling the ribbon on the side flips open the pages...so cool! This first card was for my dad, who imho, is and has always been the best gardener, photographer, and handyman ever!

The waterfall/flipbook was attached to the front of a card, which opened up to a pop-up.

I made one panda to represent each of us...my dad and dd in the front, and dh and me in the back with the pink dress. Oh, and of course the doggie is our little Latte. When my mom saw the card, she said, "Where's ME?" ...ooops!

Cuts from 5 different cartridges were used to create this card...Create A Critter (pandas); Paper Pups (doggie); Walk In My Garden (flowers, watering can); Locker Talk (camera); and ZooBalloo (house). Couldn't find a cut for a hammer in any of my carts, so I used MTC to create one from a digital image. Nestabilities Label One dies used for the label on the front of the card. I just love it when I can justify my spending on craft tools and supplies!

For the patterned papers on these two cards, I finally took the plunge and went digital. I downloaded papers from Lettering Delights and Nancy Kubo at Little Dreamer Designs. Don't you just hate it when you start on a project and run out of the patterned paper? By using digital papers I was assured I'd have enough even if I made a boo-boo with measuring and cutting, as long as there was ink in the printer!

This second card was for my dh...

Golf club, ball and tee are MTC cuts from digital images.

Car cut is from Locker Talk and wrench is from Indie Arts.

Computer is from Locker Talk. Windows logo on the computer screen was downloaded from the internet and printed on cardstock.

Both the stack of money and piggy bank are MTC cuts from images found on the internet.

And here we are again as the Panda family!

Hope you all had a relaxing Fathers Day, remembering how special our dads are!

Thank You from the Dog and a Sweet RAK

Here's a quick card created for my good friend Kris and her family to thank them for being kind enough to take care of our doggie Latte while we were away on vacation during Spring Break this year. It was put together in such a hurry, between the time we arrived home and were getting ready to pick Latte up...that the paper piecing came out a bit crooked and messy! Doggie is a mtc cut file from Valentine's Day and "Thank You" is from the Cuttlebug Card Combo Thank You kit.

And here's a treasure of goodies I received from a fellow blogging pal, Enjoli of Stampin Under the Sun. I was totally knocked off my feet to find these awesome goodies in my mailbox! Isn't this tent shakerbox card the cutest thing ever? Enjoli filled this with pretty beads, dewdrops and butterflies! I've been eyeing these shakerbox cards for such a long time...always thinking how pretty they are but always thinking how much work they are to create. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to receive this!

And if that weren't enough, lookit all the goodies I found packed inside the pretty mailbox! I am humbled and truly blessed to have such wonderfully creative and generous friends...thank you from the heart, Enjoli...you really made me feel so special!

Birthday Cake In A Box

I decided to do another Cake In A Box, this time for the birthday of my very good friend, Kris. The original idea for this project comes from Patti of Creations By Patti. She has several different and incredibly beautiful versions of this, as well as a detailed and easy to follow tutorial posted on her blog. Go check it out! She is truly an inspiration.

Here's a look at the inside of the box with the lid off...

The box opens up and panels lay flat to reveal the cake and birthday message.

Laid flat, this measures 12 x12...(HUGE!) with lots of room for sentiments and creative embellishing.

I used Spellbinder Nestabilities Labels One die on the panels for my sentiments and Scallop Circle die as the doily under the Sizzix Pop Up Cake.

Icing on the cake is cut from a Sizzlits Decorative Strip die, and paper blossoms are from All Natural Accents, both glitzed up with Stickles glitter applied with a paint brush. Also added Robins Nest clear dewdrops to the candle flames for added shine.

And the rose (yes, that's what it's supposed to be) on the top of the cake is my first lame attempt at making one of those spiral flowers that seem to be all the rage right now.

I used a scallop circle punch cut into a sprial and followed the assembly instructions for the Sizzix 3D flower on the Sizzix website. My original intent was to convince myself that I could create this rose without having to purchase the Sizzix die. But I wasn't entirely happy with how it turned out...so when I snagged a 40% off coupon last week, I couldn't resist buying the die afterall.

Happy Graduation!

Graduation season snuck up on me this year and caught me totally unprepared. Didn't realize so many of our friends and family were graduating this year till we started receiving all the announcements in the mail! It's a very good thing I had the cutfile for this card I created last year to fall back on.

Opening the card pulls out the gift card or monetary gift hidden in the pocket of the grad hat. Got the original template for this neat card shared by Alicia Coulombe at the Splitcoast Stampers Message board. Scroll down on her post for the links to the instructions and template she created. Or, if you own Design Studio and the George cartridge, I'll be more than happy to share my cutfile.

Ended up having to make six of these cards. The images of the guy and girl graduates on each hat are digistamps from InStyle Stamps, colored with copics and prismacolor pens, then cut out and adhered with foam tape. As a personal touch, I added each graduate's name to the front of the card using a Sizzlits Skittle Dee Doo Alphabet die cut strip, and tried to match the hats and tassels to each grad's school colors. Though I used a premade tassel (Jolees) from my stash for my first card, there were no more to be found at any of the lss I checked, so I was left with no choice but to try and make my own using DMC embroidery floss and some gold lame thread. They were actually pretty easy to do, and definitely more economical than purchasing the ready made ones.



Since I didn't have brads in all the matching colors for the buttons on the hats, I punched out 1/2 inch circles, used a Punch Bunch shaping tool to "cup" them and glued them onto the black brads to cover them.

"Congratulations" is a die cut from the Sizzlits Cardmaking set, and the "you did it" and star cuts on the inside sliding pocket are from the Beyond Birthdays cartridge. Then as a final touch I used Krylon gold and silver leafing pens to outline the edges of the hats.