Oh What a Knight!

Our valiant knight graduated and he had to be rewarded with a special card!  Well, I hope he thought it was special.  Again I do what I do, I started off my design with school colors and mascot.  So Maroon and Silver and a Knight (they also use navy but I didn't know how much so just went with what I know). 

I stamped the background with my stamp positioner and Memento ink so I could get deep coverage.  Then I lined up tape and foiled the silver lines by burnishing the foil into the tape.  All that sounds easy but took long enough to do.

Then I decided to take a leap of faith and learn to use my Silhouette Cameo.  I stamped my graduation hat and knight and a diploma on cardstock and scanned them into my computer and then used the Silhouette software to combine the mortar board and the knight into one image to make a cut file.  I never seem to start with the easy things!  I managed it with the help of YouTube and a bit of patience and love how it turned out.  I used my stamp positioner to line up the diecut with the stamped images starting with the mortar board which I stamped and masked to stamp the knight in.

I colored the knight with Copics and then die cut the circle with Nestabilities and stamped the "you did it!" in Versamark and clear embossed.  I think if I had to do it over I would have gone with white embossing to make it pop a little more.  After that I layered the circles under the graduating knight.  The last bit is that I decided to decorate the envelope to match in an ombre effect of gray to maroon.

Ingredients
Card Size - 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 in;
Cardstock - Recollections 110lb: white; Bazzill Maroon; Foil Paper;
Stamps - High Hopes Stamps: Knight, Grad Cap; Stampendous: School Years; Kitchen Sink Stamps: Playful Numbers;
Ink - Memento: Tuxedo Black; Rhubarb Stalk; Gray Flannel;
Accessories - Silver foil; Dimensional tape.

4 Star General Graduation!

I created this card based on the school crest for the recipient.  He is in their first graduating class ever, so wanted to try to make it special.  To be honest, I wanted the deckled edge but had difficulty cutting it because the cardstock was so thick.  It was ok for a one off but I definitely wouldn't do it for a group of cards with this cardstock.

I don't know about your area of the country but most people here just do a picture card with a graduation party announcement rather than announcing the graduation itself.  I miss the traditional card.  I know I had loads of friends from other schools and loved getting their announcements with their school crests when we all graduated.  So with that in mind I went traditional with this card and replaced the last layer with the cap and diploma. I cut the "banner" end by partially die cutting Nestabilities Squares and used my Scor-Pal to add some extra detail to the final panel.

Our graduate is getting the "universal gift card" - money!  So I originally made the pocket with the stars punched out, to echo the front... the problem was when it was back lit you could see the line and the stars through to the front so I used some more gray cardstock and lined the whole of the front.  Luckily I taped it and was able to just lift the pocket enough.  I love that the money isn't just going to fly out of the card onto the floor.

I also made certain the pocket overlapped the end of the card to create a contrast on the front to make it easier to see the edge.

My picture is a little bit fuzzy.  Sorry about that, but you get the general idea.

I will be honest with you, although I am happy with the outcome, I'm not thrilled.  The stamped panel bothers me.  I did consider sponging it but really didn't want to make it worse and I think clean lines for a young man's card are more masculine.  I also considered highlighting the raised embossing but didn't want to make it look amateurish if the pen slipped.  Sometimes I guess we have to accept happy and move on.  I have more cards to make for graduates of this school in the future so I can refine my techniques with them.

Ingredients
Card size - 8.5 x 5.5 in;
Cardstock - Recollections 110 lb; Bazzill;
Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps 3 step Graduation;
Ink - Memento - London Fog, Nautical Blue;
Dies - Spellbinders Nestabilities Squares, Stars