Oh Where, Oh Where, Has Priscilla Gone?

Actually I haven't gone anywhere!  A trip to Hawaii or Europe might be nice, but not me...I've been crafting!  I have had two recent classes that put me in my craft room for hours at a time, and I couldn't be happier with the results.   I can almost say it was worth it!  Fortunately I did make a little time for my grandsons, and for planning a first birthday party for one of them, so I didn't give up on life entirely...I just had a lot of fun experimenting with my paper!

So enough about me...let's look at the results.  First up, a card for a special, private, class that I held yesterday.  This customer, and her mom, requested a "Card in a Box" for a graduating granddaughter.  And she is graduating from California State University, Sacramento (Sac State, to many of us) and that's where my daughter went.  So pulling out her diploma gave me my color combination:  green and gold.

And here's the results:

I was really quite pleased with myself--this card really shines in person.  Starting with the typical "card in a box" template, using Basic Black Card Stock, I added paper from the wonderful Modern Medley Designer Series Paper, layered on Very Vanilla Card Stock.   The box was put together with Sticky Strip (a MUST have for 3-D items!).  Then I inserted the z-folded "crossbars" so I could start adding my elements.

I searched my catalog of stamps, finding different phrases that I thought would work well for a graduate:  Hip Hip Hooray (from Hip Notes), Celebrate (from Starburst Sayings), Woo Hoo (from Just Sayin') and Way to Go (from the retired Starring You).   These were stamped in Garden Green, or embossed with Gold Embossing Powder, and then trimmed, flagged or layered on green or Gold (from the fabulous Gold Foil Sheets). 

Now making a graduation cap was challenging--I researched ways to do it, and ended up drawing a line, 2" long on a piece of Basic Black cardstock.  At the one inch mark (half way) I drew a perpendicular line that measured to 5/8" on the top and to 3/4" on the bottom.  Then I connected the corners, making an elongated diamond shape, and snipped it using my Paper Snips.  Then I used my 1/2" circle punch to cut two side-by-side half-circles; this was then punched using my 1" square--to make the bottom of the cap. 

I glued the two pieces together; then I needed to make a tassel.  I took the new Gold Bakers Twine and pulled the gold thread out.  Wrapping the now-plain, off-white colored twine around two fingers three times, I then carefully tied a thread around the top loops.  The bottom loops were snipped and voila--a tassel!  This was added to the cap with a gold brad...looks so cute!

Finding a retired piece of "Newsprint" Designer Series Paper allowed me to hand roll a diploma, which was tied using a little snippet of the Bakers Twine. 

I cut a few letters using an alphabet die and my Big Shot to congratulate the graduate; her name was added to the other side on my customer's card. 

We finished it all off with lots of stars--I still love my Merry Minis punch pack from an old holiday mini (but still available).  Some were punched from the Gold Foil Sheets, and others from some Garden Green cardstock run through the Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder.  And they "float" by being added using skinny strips of Window Sheets (clear plastic sheets). 

The back of the card is easy to write on, and says it all--Congratulations from Zoo Babies and You Did It is one of the stamps in a photopolymer stamp set called Star Stamper.

Needless to say, my customer was delighted with her creation--and I bet her granddaughter will be too!

All supplies available here. 

Let's get creating!