Family Time - time to Celebrate!

Today we will be celebrating with family and friends.  There are lots of things to celebrate - our younger son's college graduation, our older son's engagement and my father-in-law's birthday - and it will be a exciting day for everyone.

I need to focus on last minute preparations so I thought I'd link back to a post from last year about using border punches.  I often get questions about these punches and last year I wrote up an explanation on how to keep the results as neat and even as possible.

Please click HERE to go to the post.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend - our weather has been a bit chilly but sunny and bright and it looks like if there is any rain today it will wait until late in the day.

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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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Graduation Card details...coming soon

The iris in the backyard is finally blooming.  Fortunately the tornado storms did not hit us directly Wednesday and this clump of iris escaped unharmed.

We saw a rainbow above our neighbor's house late Thursday afternoon.  I tried to capture it in a photo but it wasn't very powerful.  I hope you can see the rainbow in this photo.

The back deck and patio are almost ready for summer.  We planted the large hanging baskets and used some "water diamonds" to help keep the planter dirt moist. 

The "water diamonds" are made from the same polymer that is used for the water marbles - they just are irregularly shaped instead of round.  They are so pretty in the vase as they are re-hydrated.  If you missed the post about the water marbles you can find it HERE.  The water diamonds are mixed in with the soil to hold water and slowly release it to help the plants stay alive in very hot weather.  I hope to have lots of new garden photos to share once everything is in full bloom later this summer.

It wouldn't be spring if we didn't fill this old pig feeding trough with flowers.  My mother had four of these troughs and they sat on the edges of the porch, usually full of impatiens plants.  When my Dad moved to the retirement community, these couldn't go with him to the fourth floor of an elevator building so each of the siblings claimed one and they are now in four different states!

The title of this post reflects what I meant to write about - more graduation cards with an explanation of how to make the file.  My day was jam packed and I didn't get a chance to finish up the directions and upload the file but I will add the details as soon as I can - with luck that will be a little later on today.

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend - we are expecting our son and his fiancee (yes, I have been keeping that a secret until now!) to arrive this evening.  We are looking forward to a great visit and the party on Sunday to celebrate both "the Graduation" and "the Engagement."

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Creative Charms Kit of the Month Projects

Today is my day to post on the Creative Charms blog.  I usually post some additional information about my projects here but I think I got a bit carried away and wrote most of the details in the Creative Charms post.  So I'll show you a few photos and then you can click HERE to go to the blog and see the rest.  Be sure to scroll back through the posts if you haven't been there for a while - my fellow Design Team members have been making lots of great projects to share.

 

For the Fourth of July card I combined several items to make these patriotic rosettes.

I altered the "4th of July" cut slightly to make it more square to fit the available space better.  I did this on the Gypsy and also altered the shadow to fit.  The easiest way to do this on the Gypsy is to start a second layer and use the original cut as a template for checking the reshaped shadow.

The blue Braided Daisy Medley in the kit is a great match for the colors in the DCWV "Crafty" stack.  I cut a strip from one of the papers for the band on this card.

The original "hello" cut was a little dull - it needed some "spark" to stand out and get attention.

I used my white gel pen to add some stitching and make the sentiment "pop."

 

There is a red, white and blue theme to the Kit and Deal sets this month but there are plenty of other colors to work with in the Kit (the Deal really is just red, white and blue!)

 

 

The large scalloped circle was cut with a Spellbinders die and I raised the medallion with some foam squares.

The sentiment was cut with the Cuttlebug 'Everyday Greetings" combo set. I am not usually a "pink person" but I really like the sparkly and iridescent flowers.  They work very well with the glittered cardstock from the DCWV "Music" stack.

If you have any questions about any of these cards that were not answered here or on the Creative Charms blog post, please don't hesitate to leave a comment or email me.

I am still catching up with emails and getting things in shape for the party this weekend.  I will get back to the challenges - I haven't seen any posts for the latest one so I think maybe a lot of you are super busy right now too!  I extended the time to post your project via the linky to Monday the 6th, so if you were thinking about trying the Vintage Wallpaper challenge you have a few more days.

 

We have had some crazy weather here in Massachusetts - including thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes not very far away.  I don't know why the weather has been so unusual this year.  I hope things settle into dull and normal soon - stay safe!

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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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