With your indulgence, I am including this view to show that I have double-stacked a red fun foam "congrats" die-cut under the white for some interest and texture. I'm afraid that I could not find one photo that showed everything that I wanted for this one card front.
I have been waiting for much much-beloved nephew, Ben's graduation, couldn't wait to see him in his cap and gown! Ben is extremely dear to me, he and I have spent a lot of time together as he was growing up, from his first week of life onward, He would spend so much of his summer at my place (I treasured every moment), that his wonderful Mom, my SIL called my place "Ben's cottage", and I wouldn't have had it any other way, I love that boy with a fierceness that is so strong. He's not my son, he's my brother and SIL's son and they are great parents, yet, Ben is the closest that I will ever come to having a son, and I am very grateful for his presence in my life.
Of course, with the pandemic, graduations all over the world were canceled. So, this card plus his gift was it, and it was very important to me to make some sort of cool card for this young man who is just so very wonderful in my eyes!!!
His school colors at his high school were red, white, and blue, and so that's where I started, I have very few graduation supplies. I had used another "grad" die from Simon Says Stamp for his junior high grad card, and so I had ordered from my favorite online paper-crafting store, Simon Says Stamp a "grad" die and a "congrats" die from their own line in the same font, and I absolutely LOVE the clean lines and the whole sense of proportion with these two dies, and I look forward to buying more sentiment dies in this same line! I also purchased from SSS's own line a multi-pieced graduate cap die set and used mirror cardstock in red and navy from Crafter's Companion's luxury line with some foam dimensionals to add more definition. I cut the sentiment words as well as the main sentiment word inside the card plus the 2020 on the envelope from red, white, and navy fun foam, because I really like the dimension it gives with one pass for each word through my Gemini. The only potential downside is that mailing a card with these fun foam sentiment words that I love (and have used on many to most of the 50 hand-stitched cards that I made a couple of years ago, giving 44 of these to my Mom as well) has a high potential for being damaged going through the mail system. But as I knew that I was hand-delivering this card personally to Ben, that this should not be a problem.
When I created Ben's junior high grad card, I tried something new for me--I covered each of the grad die-cuts I had made from various rainbow colors in a thick layer of Glossy Accents, and I absolutely LOVED the effect, loved it!!! One SCS member, whose artwork I greatly admire said in a comment under that card that the effect of the Glossy Accents onto the fun foam die looked like molten glass, and how I loved and greatly appreciated that comment!!! This time, mainly due to the much more precise font of these sentiment words, I wanted a thinner coating but wanted it to look just as gleaming. On the inside of this card, I used the same congrats die, and I used the same Glossy Accents on the main word sentiment in combination with some sheets of graduation-themed sentiments with which I chose one in black cardstock with white lettering for the contrast. In addition to having another graduation cap on the front of the envelope, I die-cut the numbers 2020 from a wonderful numbers die set from Crafter's Companion Sara Signature, these numbers are chunky and bold, and I coated these navy fun foam numbers in lots of Glossy Accents as well, and I really liked the effect, but because of the lighting, it's difficult to see.
Here's a close-up of the painted Grad SSS die on Ben's middle school grad card where a fellow SCS
member said that these die-cuts looked like molten glass-- Forums at Splitcoaststampers
One thing I wish that was seen in this view is that for the front of the card for the word, congrats, which you see in white, I have another fun foam layer in red under the white congrats, but it's not seen, and for that reason, I am hoping to upload another view to show this double-colored sentiment die-cut. I thought that it looked kind of cool!
What was MOST important to me was that Ben liked this card (he received his 18th birthday card that same day, on his 18th birthday), and he knew that I had put a lot of effort and hopefully creativity into this very significant graduation card for him. I am VERY proud of this young man, who he has become, with his many gifts and talents, and his heart for others and for God. I don't think that I could love him more!!!
Thank you so much for taking the time to take a closer look at my card. When you leave a comment on one of my cards, please know how much I appreciate that kindness.
Please stay safe and be well especially during this very difficult and unusual time.
Best wishes,
Joanne
Date: Thursday, February 18, 2021 GMT Views: 603
Favorited:1
Paper: Crafter's Companion luxury red mirror and blue mirror cardstock, Scrapbooking Made Simple Simply Defined Distinctions A7 heavyweight bright white card base and envelope, Navy cardstock, red, white, and blue fun foam
Paper Size: A7 (5" by 7")
Accessories: Gemini, Simon Says Stamp congrats/grad/multi-piece grad cap dies, diagonal stripe EF, glossy accents, black with white print SSS grad sentiment sheet (inside sentiment), Crafter's Companion numbers dies (envelope)
Techniques: Die-cutting with fun foam and metallic mirror cardstock, embossing with cardstock
Registered: June 4, 2009 Location: Deatsville, Alabama Posts: 71499
Sat, Feb 20, 2021 @ 3:04 PM
Wow - this came out so well! Great card design and the look is amazing with the glossy accents, Joanne.
Your story of how much you love him is really touching. How lucky you both are to have each other.
Lovely creation and lovely thoughts! Hugz
------------------------------ Nancy Williams - Hope your day is Spirit-filled and ink-filled (in that order)! DRS Designs-DT, Punchkateer, Favorites Notification Team, Dirty Dozen Alumni
Registered: March 13, 2011 Location: Langley, B.C. Canada Posts: 27499
Sun, Mar 14, 2021 @ 6:38 PM
What a wonderful thing to have such a great relationship with Ben. And this truly is a wonderful grad card done in his school colors. Love the diagonal stripe e.f. that you used. Makes this such a cool looking grad card!
