It's day 2 of a spring release from
Taylored Expressions!! My cards today are about graduations. I have a high school senior this year! I'll have to do a card for him, and cards for all of his friends.
Plus my husband is involved in youth ministries and in youth lacrosse and many of those kids graduate every year. From a cardmaking perspective, it feels like Christmas around here as I am already working ahead on long lists of graduation card recipients!!
Be
sure to check all of the other designers starting on the
Taylored Expressions blog because there is just too much for one designer to show off in just a few days.
All the products that I have used are linked at the bottom, but remember that new products aren't live until
Thursday, April 9th, 7 a.m. PST.
Taylored Expressions is celebrating Release Week with some fabulous giveaways! Visit the TE Blog each Sneak Peek Day this week for details on how you can enter to win.
This release includes big
Just a Number dies along with a
Class Of die in a class font. There's also a new cover plate called
Shining Star which has stars radiating from the center. And previously released at TE is the
Grad Cap die. These all work together for fabulous graduation cards.
I did have a creative moment in that I wanted the stars from the
Shining Star Cutting Plate to radiate from the corner but since the plate cuts an entire card front, that's difficult to do. So I cut two shining star fronts, adhered them together, and then used a corner of it as a stencil with embossing paste to create my radiating stars. (FYI - the entire Shining Star Cutting Plate is also a fabulous look and it was carefully designed to coordinate with the previously released
Ray of Sunshine Cutting Plate. The pieces cut with the Ray of Sunshine Cutting Plate fit exactly behind the stars on Shining Stars to get different colored strips of stars without dealing with each individual star!)
It's so great that as a cardmaker I can create graduation cards to match school colors! My son's high school colors are purple and gray so I used Jelly Donut and Poppy Seed.
I love the classic look of the Class of die and I realized these dies can stand alone quite well. I also realized that if I went to that much work on one card, I'd be working nonstop until graduation to make all of the cards that I need this year. On this next card, I used the same products except I skipped the stencil and embossing paste. I also added a few stars using the Shining Star Cutting Plate cut with the Metallic Neutrals cardstock pack.
Then I realized that the great look of "class of 2015" didn't even really need the grad cap die.
This is a card that I can do in bulk!! I just have to change up the colors for each graduate.
As a side note, cards like this are greatly simplified with the use of the new-to-me product - Stick it Adhesive. There's been product like it before but I've never been totally happy. They are sheets of adhesive that are super thin so die cut well. You just stick a piece on the paper that you are cutting, then die cut, then you just peel the back off and adhere. There are two things that make this stand out for me. First, with other adhesives, I've often gotten strings of adhesive when I pull it off - no strings on this one. Second, I can never adhere correctly the first time. That's why I'm a liquid glue person - I need to be able to move things around. The Stick it sheets start out repositionable!! So when I put it down crooked to begin with, I can adjust it. You can see that my "class of" and my numbers are straight and are firmly adhered! I think I have to order these things in bulk.
I do like formal graduation cards but that doesn't fit every student. Taylored Expressions has a new set that delivers a fabulous message but is a little more fun - The World is Waiting. I paired it with some scraps of map paper and arrow paper, and I used the tag and little flags from Build a Tag 2.
The globe is a perfect circle so you could also punch it and pop it. There are other great messages in this set such as "Make the World a Better Place" and "The World is your Playground". I love the fonts on this set - it keeps it fresh and fun.
I hope you enjoyed graduation day!! I'm thrilled because I have four graduation cards done (and I have one more coming on Thursday. Check out the other designers starting with the Taylored Expressions blog to see all of the other sneak peeks today. And don't forget to leave a comment for a chance at prizes.
SUPPLY LIST
Remember, links to new products will not work until Thursday, April 9th, 7 a.m. PST.
Class Of
I linked the Handy Pack of Stick It Adhesive below which includes five 8x6 sheets of adhesive, but there's also a pack of large sheets which are 8x12.
The World is Waiting
The paper and cardstock is just a mix of scraps and cardstocks that coordinated with those scraps.
The base of the globe is done in the various grays, then highlighted with the Sand White to get the same look as the background map. Copics are available in the
Taylored Expressions store.
