Graduation Card

Graduation season is upon us and I have several cards to make this year.  This simple design is great for a boy or a girl.  Once you set up a file in your software it is quick and easy to cut.  I got the free SVG design file from Kay at Clever Someday (she is extremely clever!) and you can find it on her site HERE.  Please be sure to leave her a comment to say thanks if you visit her site and download the file.

This is how the SVG file opened in my Silhouette Studio Designer Edition software.  You need to select the image and then click on the scissors icon on the top right to open the Cut Style window and add the cutting lines.

I thought the letters were a little too heavy for the card I was making for a girl so I used the internal offset to create slightly slimmer letters and shapes.  Then I selected both the rectangle and the Class of 2013 shape, centered them using the Align menu and right clicked and chose "make compound path" from the drop down menu.

I planned the card in the program but only cut the top layer with the machine.  The rectangle with the cut out is sized at 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches and I centered the image within that space.  Then I selected both the rectangle and the Class of 2013 shape, right clicked and chose "make compound path" from the drop down menu.

The shape cut very neatly and I now have these "leftovers" to use on another card if I want to.   I kept track of the centers of the two "0"s and the "A" and adhered them to the card front (rather than using or creating a stencil font).

The card base is cut at 7 x 10 inches and folded in half to make a 5 x 7 card.  The gold layer of cardstock is cut at 6 3/4 x 4 3/4 inches to allow for a border around the edge of the card.

Since the card base is dark blue, I needed to add a mat layer inside the card for a greeting and to provide a good spot for signing the card.  I used a Martha Stewart Wide edge border punch on the two long sides of a 7 x 4 3/4 inch rectangle of white cardstock.

The word "Congratulations" is cut from the font Sweetheart Script.  This is a very thin font.  I probably could have cut it at this size in vinyl but it was a little too thin for paper.  So I did a slight offset of the word to make it easier to cut and attach inside the card. 

The school colors for our niece are blue and gold - hence the color choices.  I was lucky to have a gold envelope in the correct size for the card.

The weather turned out to be rainy on the day of the party but we still had one very happy graduate!

High School graduations are just starting here in the Northeast.  Have the students in your part of the world graduated already?  Do you have lots of cards to make and gifts to wrap?  
After the rainy weekend we are looking at weather that may reach the 90's this week !

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Happy Graduation - a simple card design

We have several graduation celebrations to attend this month and I decided to create a quick and easy card design that could be customized to suit each graduate.  I used the Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Art cartridge to create these cards.  The cake cartridges are full of phrases that are perfect for many card giving occasions - after all, cards and cakes go together!

I wanted to make a larger 5 x 7 card and I made the card design on the Gypsy since there were only a few pieces to cut.  I'll list all of the sizes so you can duplicate this if you want to.  These sizes are with the "true size" button selected (the one that is an "a" with lines above and below on the Gypsy keypad).  For Design Studio, you would just enter the values I have listed in the width and height boxes in the Shape Properties box.

The graduation cap is on the main keypad (5.31 wide x 4.13 high).

 The cap layer is on the shift of the main keypad (5.31 wide x 1.61 high).

The Happy Graduation sentiment is on the phrase special feature key (5.68 high x 1.71 wide).

The blackout shadow of the sentiment is on the shift of the phrase key (5.91 wide x 1.93 high).

I used a 5 x 7 guideline rectangle to help size the card elements appropriately.  This could be from any handy cartridge since it will not be cut (so it doesn't have to be from a cartridge you own).  In Design Studio I can also do color previews to get an idea of how the finished card will look.

 

The two tone design is easy to change to work with various school colors.  I was able to cut the welded piece and the two layers on one 12 x 12 mat. 

 On this card I added some gradient gem stickers along the edge of the cap and a larger gem sticker on the tassel.

 

I first put the stickers on the blue part of the cap but I decided they were blending in too much so I moved them to the yellow top section.

 I use foam dots (a lot!) to raise the finished cut from the face of the card.

 The sentiment inside was one that I printed on SafMat a while ago (here is a LINK to the post about this handy material).  It is nice to have a supply of sentiments already printed up and ready to use.

I also used a sentiment printed on SafMat on the inside of this card.  The white liner cardstock was punched with a Martha Stewart border punch from the Deco Shells Punch around the Page set.

It's great to have everyone home for a few days - we have lots of plans for the weekend, starting off with the Library Book Sale Saturday morning.  It looks like the weather will be nice and we will be able to use the deck and backyard for our party on Sunday.  Have a wonderful weekend!

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Deal and Kit of the Month for June from Creative Charms

 Happy first of June!  At the beginning of each month, Creative Charms announces a new Deal of the Month and a new Kit of the Month and I have all of the details for you today.  This month there is a lot of red, white and blue to help you get ready for the 4th of July.  I'll be posting my projects on the Creative Charms blog tomorrow with some more information about the projects here on my blog.

This is the June Deal of the Month called "Patriotic Burst."  This kit contains 225 pieces and the regular price would be $19.00 but for the month of June, you can buy it all for $6.99


The items included are:

·         Red Vintage Jewels – 12 Pieces
·         White Vintage Jewels – 12 Pieces
·         Blue Vintage Jewels – 12 Pieces
·         Red Gradient Jewels – 76 Pieces
·         Blue Gradient Jewels – 76 Pieces
·         Red Gem Garden – 12 Pieces
·         White Gem Garden – 12 Pieces
·         Blue Polka Dot Brads – 6 Pieces
·         Red Polka Dot Brads – 6 Pieces
·         18” Red Fancy Polka Dot Ribbon

You can find the Deal of the Month on the Creative Charms website HERE.

Here is the June Kit of the Month called "Red, White & Blue for You."  This kit contains 73 pieces and the regular price would be $25.56 but for the month of June, you can buy it all for $14.99


The items included are:

·         Blue Flared Flowers – 4 Pieces
·         Blue Braided Daisy Medley – 4 Pieces
·         Red Braided Daisy Medley – 4 Pieces
·         Blue Felt Flowers – 6 Pieces
·         Blue Gingham Butterflies – 3 Pieces
·         Blue Fun Butterflies – 4 Pieces
·         Blue Washed Flowers – 6 Pieces
·         Red Itsy Glitsy – 36+ Pieces
·         Layered Felt Flowers – 6 Pieces

You can find the Kit of the Month on the Creative Charms website HERE.

There is always so much in each of these kits and deals - if you order them each month, you will very quickly build up a great working collection of embellishments and you'll be ready to take on any project!

I had a hard time getting things done Tuesday, due to allergies or the remnants of the cold I had last week.  I do have a few simple graduation cards to share now that they have been received by the intended graduates.  I actually pulled out the Gypsy to quickly weld the shadow of the sentiment to the cap emblem.  These are great to make in the school colors for your graduating friends.  Of course, I added some gradient gem stickers to give it some sparkle!

I hope you have a wonderful day - it looks like more nice weather this week for us - please keep your fingers crossed that it lasts through the weekend for our party!

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Graduation Celebrations

In many parts of the country the graduation season is over, however, here in Massachusetts most high school graduations are in the first two weeks of June. We have several young friends graduating this year and so I have been making some graduation cards.

Here are the pieces of the card.  I used a 5 x 7 card base, and cut a black layer at 4 3/4 x 6 3/4 inches.  The top layer is cut at 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches from a graduation pack of Creative Memories paper that is discontinued.

The diploma is cut from the A Child's Year cartridge at 4 inches.

The Congrats for the inside of the card is from Gypsy Wanderings and is cut at 3 inches.

I cut the shapes from American Crafts metallic black cardstock with a linen texture.  This cardstock has a white core.

I didn't care for the white edges so I used a black pen to color the exposed edges.

Paying attention to details like this makes your final card look much more polished.

I used foam squares to raise the diploma for some dimension on the card front.  (My messy pen marks don't show on the front!).

I cut the diploma a second time in yellow gemstone Core'dinations cardstock and hand trimmed the two pieces to form the ribbon tie.  I added a metal tag with the word celebrate to join the two sections and cover the hole in the center of the diploma ribbon.

The "Congrats" cut was all I needed for the inside of the card (with a personal note added by hand).  There is a lot of great word art on the Gypsy Wanderings cartridge that comes pre-loaded on the Gypsy.

 It was very handy to use the Gypsy to make this card.  I could check my sizes and quickly cut the two elements I needed for my card.  I have been using my Gypsy more since the update - for simple tasks like this I don't even need to bring my laptop to the Cricut.

Congratulations to all of you who have loved ones graduating this year - I wish them happy and successful futures.


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A successful shopping trip!

We made the trip to IKEA today - and now I can really get organized! We found the Expedit shelves and did a little figuring to be sure that we could get the configuration that would fit my space and create a comfortable work and storage area.



I ended up with two bookcases that have 4 x 2 cubes and one that is a 2 x 2 cube. The first box we opened had lots of pieces - and no directions!



Fortunately, the second large box did have the directions!



They were fairly simple to assemble, but it is a bit fiddly getting everything to line up.



Here is the first large set put together - we will do the rest tomorrow and then my husband has promised to build a platform on wheels to hold the three of them together as a movable island (they will be horizontal, not vertical as this one was in the photo). I want the entire unit to end up at countertop height so the platform will help to raise the shelves up - and I will be able to move it within my space if I need to have more floor space.



I got a couple of these plastic inserts - I will probably get some more for the lower level of shelves. The 2 drawer units that match the shelves were also reduced from $30 to $15 so I got some of them for the upper level.



With the other Saturday activities and the 60 miles roundtrip to do our shopping, I didn't have much of a chance to do any crafting today - but I did make this card for my neighbor to take to a graduation party.



I used Lyrical Letters for the "Congrats" and the diploma is from Wild Card. I cut the first diploma from glitter cardstock and then I created a shadow in Design Studio to help it stand out from the background paper. I added a bit of bling for the ribbon around the diploma and layered a cute patterned paper and red cardstock on the white 5 x 7 card. I also used the metallic cardstock from the DCWV Citrus cardstock stack - that mirror finish is so shiny and pretty (but hard to photograph!).


I can't wait to get my "birthday" shelves in place tomorrow (and thanks to those of you who sent me birthday wishes - my birthday is actually not until the second week of July but I wanted to get my organization project done before then so I can celebrate in style!)