Dannie's Designs

Another Graduation

This week has been jam packed full of activities.  School is ending which means awards assemblies, graduations, and parties.  Yesterday my oldest "graduated" from middle school.  He is absolutely adamant that it's not a graduation but rather a "promotion."  He says you only graduate from high school or college, not middle school.  So in honor of his "promotion," I made him this card.

I had to make sure his card was masculine, yet had nothing to do with graduation.  No diplomas, graduation caps, etc.  He was very pleased with the card and that's what counts.

The inspiration for the card came from a card I saw a long time ago by Laurie Schmidlin.  I also used this sketch challenge.

I inked up the stamp on my Versamark pad and then on the colored ink pad.  I stamped it and then embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I love using this technique to emboss in any color ink pad I own.  Just be sure to clean your stamp between each stamping.  Otherwise your Versamark pad will be extremely colorful.

I stamped the sentiment on the bottom of the inside of my card.  I finished it off by using a ruler and a Chocolate Chip marker to add the lines around the edges.

I'm off and running.  Since it's the last day of school that means they also get out early.  Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps:  Paradise, Something to Celebrate
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Pear Pizzazz
Ink:  Versamark, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories:  Buttons (Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Pear Pizzazz), Clear Embossing Powder, Glue Dots

Graduation Card Tutorial

I got several emails asking how I did the fold on the graduation card that I recently posted.

I apologize for not getting back to you sooner, but I came down with a terrible cold.  It zapped every bit of energy out of me.  I'm feeling a little better now and was able to sit down and take some photos for you.

***You may want to practice with a piece of printer paper first***

Step 1:  Start with an 8" square piece of cardstock.  For best results, stamp your images BEFORE you start folding.  Fold the cardstock in half with the stamped images on the inside.

Step 2:  Unfold the cardstock, rotate it 90 degrees, and fold it in half going the other direction.

The cardstock should have a "+" sign going across it from the fold lines.

Step 3:  Open the cardstock flat and turn it so it's shaped like a diamond as seen in the photo below.

As you can see, there are four squares on the cardstock.  One at the top, one at the bottom, one on the left, and one on the right.  Keep that in mind for the next couple of steps.

Step 4:  With the stamped design on the outside, fold the cardstock diagonally across the left and right squares as seen in the photo below.

Step 5:  Open the cardstock flat.  Now it's time to fold the cardstock on all of the scored lines at the same time.  The left and right squares will get folded in to the center as seen in the photo below.

When you are finished, the cardstock will be folded into a 4" square.

Step 6:  Lay the cardstock so that the top square (from step 3) is on the bottom.  Take the top corner of the front layer and fold it down as shown in the photo below.

That's all of the folding. I added adhesive to the back of the top square and adhered it to a 4 1/8" square piece of Basic Gray cardstock.  I also added a 4 1/4" square piece of Real Red cardstock behind the Basic Gray.  Be sure that the final layer isn't larger than 4 1/4" so it will fit in a standard size envelope.

Last I stamped and layered my sentiment.  I added adhesive to the bottom half ONLY of the sentiment and then adhered it to the front layer that is folded down.  I lined up the left and right corners of the sentiment with the fold on the front panel.

I tried to be as clear as I can, but if something in my directions doesn't make sense then please don't hesitate to ask questions.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Graduation Card

I can't believe it's Wednesday already.  Things have been crazy around here.  I've been rearranging bedrooms, putting new furniture in, and spring cleaning.  It feels so good getting things done that have been on my "to do" list for over a year!  I keep telling myself that one day I'll conquer everything on my list, but I doubt that will ever happen.  It seems that for each item I cross off my list, I'm adding five more.

This past weekend my nephew graduated from high school.  That makes me feel so old!  I can remember seeing him for the first time when he was two weeks old.  He was so tiny.  How did he manage to grow up so fast? 

Of course I had to make him a graduation card to celebrate this huge achievement.  I dug through my stash of cards looking for inspiration and I found a really fun folded card.  I decided to use that for his card.

It's a square card that sits like a diamond.  If you open it up, it looks like this.

There's plenty of room inside to write a message and have all of my children sign it.  The border was made using the Graduation Day wheel.  I put a scratch piece of paper over the center of the Very Vanilla cardstock and then wheeled around the edges.  I finished it off with some sponging around the edges. 

UPDATE:  Click here to see the tutorial on how to make this card.

Well, I'm off to tackle more things on my list.  Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps:  Tassel Time, Graduation Day Wheel
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Real Red, Going Gray
Ink:  Real Red, Going Gray
Accessories:  Sponge