Congratulations to Richard!

My godson, Richard, graduated recently from Minuteman Regional Technical High School. I was pleased to see that his final report card was covered in A's!

To celebrate, I made this card for him.  Not typical for a graduation card, maybe, but Richard is an avid snowboarder (he teaches the sport on Mount Washington during the winter weekends and holiday breaks).  I hunted down the stamp through Stampin' Connection (an online community of Stampin' Up! demonstrators) and set about designing the card around the image.

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I think this quote from Thoreau is perfect for a graduation card; it is from a (retired) set called Live Your Dream.  The mat (retired Bordering Blue) was embossed using a (retired) Texturz Impressions embossing plate.  The Basic Gray mat was cut using one of PTI's Mat Stack 3 dies.  The image was stamped, with a couple of ghost impressions, on a Bordering Blue oval and heat-embossed in Pewter.  It was impossible to get a color-correct photo of the whole card; in order to show what the embossed image actually looks like, I used the flash on the picture below, but then the card stock colors look very different.

Inside was a zipper die cut enclosing a secret cash gift - I love these dies for this purpose, since then the money doesn't just fall out of the card when it's opened.

The little sentiment from PTI's Movers and Shakers Sentiments was stamped sideways underneath the zipper, to be revealed upon opening.

I also made a set of thank you cards for Richard's use to write his thanks to his family and friends.

Same colors, smaller notecards, with an interior sentiment from Botanical Silhouettes.

 

Richard, I am so proud of you for your hard work and wish you the best at UNH!

Funky flowers

I haven't had much of a chance to sit down and really play with this set, Botanical Silhouettes, which I've craved since I first laid eyes on it. It was Papertrey Ink's 2011 anniversary set (which I didn't earn - didn't even know about the anniversary promotion until Linda got it).  I recently found it for sale on the PTI Forum and was so happy when it arrived in my mail box last week.  I love everything about this set - the flowers, the foliage, and especially the beautiful sentiments.  I wondered what Island Indigo would look like stamped on Pool Party; as it turns out, not my favorite color combo, but the Lucky Limeade grass and ribbon add enough balance to satisfy me.  Originally, the centers were stamped with Daffodil Delight but it didn't delight me and instead I covered the centers with some ivory Flower Soft (which looks pretty thick in the photo but in real life looks okay, although I may scratch off a little more...)

A pretty PTI Aqua Mist button with a baker's twine bow is just the right accent to complete the card.

My neighbor Toni keeps asking me to make more birthday cards.  She is in the habit of popping in to buy a few cards now and then, mostly birthday cards.  My supply has dwindled this year, so I've been trying to add some new birthday cards to my basket.  Funny thing is, tonight she needed a Mother's Day card to mail in the morning!  I changed out a sentiment on another card to satisfy her need, but I guess I should have anticipated her request.  Now to make some for my own use!