It’s that time of year and my nephew is graduating from High School. He has grown into such a wonderful man, I just had to create a special Graduation card for him. I really enjoyed the time I spent creating his card (and a spare) and I am sure he will love it.
Featuring a cooky bird from Stampers Anonymous Bird Crazy stamp set and some coordinating items, this card project is fun and eclectic at the same time. Paired with an ink smooshed background and watercoloring, the bright colors just add to the overall effect of this Graduation card.
Graduation Card Supplies
Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock: 110lb for card base, 80lb card panel
Canson XL Watercolor Paper: die cuts
Gina K Cardstock in Kraft: card panel mat
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Stamp sets: Bird Crazy CMS212 & Crazy Things CMS237
Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Butterflies stamp set – sentiment
Altenew Thank You stamp set (striped background)
Misti Stamping Tool
Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black
Ranger Archival Ink Fossilized Amber
Zig Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors
Distress Spray Stain: Broken China, Evergreen Bough, Vintage Photo
Distress Oxide Spray: Antique Linen
Tonic Studios Tim Holtz Glass Media Mat
Ranger Heat Tool
Sizzix Tim Holtz Framelits: Bird Crazy & Crazy Things
The Stamp Market Oblong Hexagon dies
Tombow Mono Liquid Glue
Scrapbook.com Double Sided Foam Adhesive shapes
Ranger Glossy Accents
Stamping & Watercoloring
Using an ink safe for watercoloring, stamp selected images onto watercolor paper. If using Bird Crazy stamp set and coordinating dies, stamp a duplicate bird image.
Stamp background image (stripes from Altenew Thank You set for today’s project) onto a card panel using a coordinating color ink.
Allow ink to thoroughly set before watercoloring.
Ink Smooshing
Ink smooshing is a fun technique made easy with Tim Holtz Distress Inks, Oxides and Sprays. Today’s project utilizes Distress Ink Sprays and one Distress Oxide Sprays, but the products all work well when paired together. Using Tim Holtz’ Glass Media Mat also keeps this an easy to accomplish task.
Start by spraying a few pumps of selected ink or oxide spray onto a glass surface. Next, press a panel of watercolor paper into spray to transfer spray onto paper. Water can be added for diluted color if desired. Play around with how much spray, water, and number of dips into ink to obtain different results. Excess ink can be removed by lightly dabbing with a paper towel.
Dry panel using a heat tool. Clean glass mat and repeat process with additional colors until desired effect is achieved. To prevent excess ink blending (resulting in “mud”), keep sequential color dips to a minimum. In other words, the more you dip back into ink, the more colors will blend. Drying your card panel between colors will help minimize blending.
Allow panels to dry thoroughly before die cutting.
Die Cutting
Using coordinating Sizzix dies, die cut bird, accessories, and additional wing eyes & beak of selected bird(s).
Double-sided foam adhesive is perfect adhesive for the die cut wing, eyes and beak. This allows these elements to pop up, creating great dimension.
Using Oblong Hexagon dies, cut a shape from ink smooshed card panel, and a larger shape from Kraft cardstock (to be used as a mat).
Graduation Card Finishing
Adhere striped card panel card base, then top with matted hexagon die cuts. Arrange die cuts and adhere using liquid glue. Keep in mind a sentiment will need to fit on card panel when selecting placement.
Stamp sentiment using black ink.
Add Glossy Accents to highlight selected portions of card. Today’s project is focused on graduation, so I elected to add the accent to the graduation cap only.
I am so happy with how these graduation cards turned out! The pop of color, paired with the quirky bird is great on this card. Including the cap and diploma from the Crazy Things stamps and dies really makes this card relevant, and it’s great being able to customize a card in this manner.
Speaking of the Bird Crazy and Crazy Things sets, if you aren’t in need of a graduation card, the Crazy Things sets have elements for other holidays and life events, I’m sure you would find multiple ways to utilize the set. In addition, there is a secondary set of smaller sized birds and elements that are perfect for smaller applications. Click Here to check out Stampers Anonymous for the entire collection. This is a great set for your collection, I absolutely love these sets!
For more inspiration on colorful cards, Click Here to see my post on Rainbow Copic Coloring.
