Graduation Card

 Hello and welcome to my blog.  Today I'm sharing the card I made for my nephew's graduation from High School in Portugal. 

The card base is a file from Silhouette, resized to make a 6.5" x 5" card.  I used various dies to complete the scene of this very wise owl.

Here is the list of the crafty supplies I used:

Classic Tales - Spellbinders - Large Die of the Month - March 2024

Wise Owl - Spellbinders - Small Die of the Month - March 2024

Celebrate Word - Karen Burniston

Text Banners - Marianne Design

Sunray Background Stencil - Lawn Fawn

I'm excited that I will be able to hand him this card and his gift in person 😀

Crafty hugs,

DRU Challenge #145 ~ Grad/Congrats!

Hello crafting friends and welcome to a new challenge at Dies R Us.

Challenge # 145 ~ Grad  / Congrats!

Unfortunately, most, if not all, graduates this year will not be able to graduate in the traditional manner, but they will still be able to receive a card from family and friends to let them know that we are thinking about them.

Here is one of the cards I made for high school graduate. The school colours are maroon, black and white, so I tried to stick to those colours as much as possible.

I used the Frame Card Stamp 4K die from Card Deco to cut my shaped card. Love these dies, so easy to use and produces a shaped card with just one pass on your die cutting machine.  Although this die is 12" long, it is only 6" wide, so it will fit in the majority of die cutting machines.  If you don't have a set of long die cutting plates, you can pass it through one time, then move your die with card stock in place and run it the other way for a second pass.

After adhering my papers down, I used the Congrats Grad die from Tutti Designs as my focal point.

I wanted a little bit of colour variation, so I die cut it out of white, maroon, silver and black card stocks.

I then fussy cut the bow and the cap out of the maroon card stock and adhered to the white. I did the same with the silver for the stars.  I used the black in it's original form and adhered that to the white a little to the top to give it a black shadow. This helped the die stand out more from the backing papers.  I also hand made a tiny tassel and attached it to the hat using a tiny brad.

On the inside, I left it pretty plain so I could add my personal message. I just added a strip of both DP's I used on the front of the card.  That was it.  It didn't take long at all to put together, but I think it came out pretty cute.

Here is a list of supplies used to make this card, each linked to the Dies R Us store for your convenience.

Card Deco - Frame Card Stamp 4K

Tutti Designs - Congrats Grad

Thank you so much for stopping by today.  I hope I was able to inspire you to create a project, and  play along with us at the Dies R Us Challenges for your chance to win a gift certificate to the Dies R Us Store.  A new challenge begins on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Be sure to follow on Facebook and Pinterest too.

Before I go, I'd like to remind you that Dies R Us' sister store,  Didi Crafts, is now open. It has warehouses located in the USA and Canada.  It has some products that are the same as Dies R Us, but in addition, it carries international dies and other crafty supplies for a variety of crafts.  Go take a peek and be pleasantly surprised!

Till next time,

stay safe and healthy!

Congrats on your Graduation!

Hello crafting friends. My term with the Dies R Us design team has come to an end. I can't begin to tell  you how much I have loved being a part of this awesome team and how much I'm going to miss it.  But it's time to give other very creative and talented members their turn to inspire you :-)

For this post, I created a graduation card using several dies from Karen Burniston and a few other companies.  The list of supplies will be further down on this post.

The front of the card with a very cute and smart owl from Marianne Designs.

When you open the card, the balloon arrangement pops-out of the parcel.
I used the Parcel Pop-up to make this card, as well as the Flap and Closure dies to create the closure on the card. Both sets of dies are by Karen Burniston.  Tutorial link below.

An idea of how it looks as it's being opened.

And then when it's fully opened. It's such a fun interactive card, and the possibilities are endless!

Here is a close up of the "celebration in a parcel" 😀

I began by using the Flap and Closure die to create my card base, and adhering the patterned paper to the insides and to the front and closure flap.  I chose these colours because they are the university colours.

Then I worked on the parcel. I wanted the corrugated cardboard effect, but since I don't have an embossing folder with this pattern, I dug into my "old tools" drawer and got out my very old, and very neglected, straight paper crimper.  Does anyone still used them? Next I highlighted the folds with color box cat's eye brown ink.

Now it was time to cut out all my bits and pieces using various dies, and assembling the contents of the parcel pop up.  For directions on how to make the mechanism, please see the video tutorial by Karen Burniston.

On a different video tutorial, Karen Burniston mentions a way to make the lift mechanism stronger, so that is what I did.  It's pretty simple and well worth it. You just cut that little piece, seen on the above pic, and adhere it with strong adhesive to the original die cut.  The video tutorial for this is HERE.

Once the inside was complete, I cut out all the bits and pieces for the owl. It's a great way to use up all your scraps and since the dies are not very big, you can die cut the entire own in one sweep if you have one of the larger die cutting machines.

All that was left was to put the owl together, cut a mat and adhere it to the front.  I used a small velcro closure for my card, but you can use the closures that come with the Flap and Closure die set.

I'm a very messy crafter while creating my projects, and for those of you who are like me, I have a small tip for you.  Find a container to throw all your dies into.  Some of them are very small and can easily be trashed with all the left over bits and pieces.  The same goes with stamps.  I use a very inexpensive acrylic photo frame, or the ruler that goes with my glass mat, for my stamps and just the lid of a cookie tin for all of my dies.  Then when the project is finished, it's easy to clean up and pack everything back in its place.

As promised, here is the list of supplies I used, each linked to the Dies R Us store

for your convenience.

Flap and Closure

Karen Burniston

Parcel Pop-up

Karen Burniston

Explosion Pop-up

Karent Burniston

Eline's Owls

Marianne Designs

Cross Stitch Nesting Circles

Tutti Designs

I used - Graduation Set by Cheery Lynn Designs which is currently out of stock.

A good substitute is the Graduation Ensemble by Frantic Stamper

Leafy Branch

Impression Obsession Dies

Distress Oxide Ink - Vintage Photo

ColorBox Ink - Brown

VersaFine Clair Ink - Nocturne

FineLine Bottle Applicator

Thank you so much for stopping by today and for your support during my term at Dies R Us.  I hope you will continue to visit the blog everyday, not only for some great inspiration, but also to create a project, and  play along at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog for your chance to win a gift certificate to the Dies R Us Store.  A new challenge begins on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Be sure to follow on Facebook and Pinterest too.

Before I end this post, I'd like to remind you that our sister store is now open. 
Didi Crafts has warehouses located in the USA and Canada.  It has some products that are the same as Dies R Us, but in addition, it carries international dies and other crafty supplies for a variety of crafts.  Go take a peek and be pleasantly surprised!

Click below for:

STORE
 CHALLENGE BLOG
  FACEBOOK
  INSPIRATION BLOG

FRIENDS OF DIES R US PINTEREST PAGE

Till next time, stay crafty!

Happy Graduation!

Hello crafting friends. It's my turn to share a project on the Dies R Us Inspiration Blog today, I thought I would share another Explosion Pop-Up card, but this timeit's for a college graduation.  This Explosion Pop-Up die from Karen Burniston is so versatile, you can use it for any celebratory occasion just by changing colours and accompanying dies.  Take a look ...

I must admit I do like the way it came out.

 I hope my son-in-law will like too :-)

I don't really have a pictorial for you, as I feel that Karen Burniston's video tutorial explains it so much better than I ever could with pics. So if you're interested, hop on over to the DRU store to purchase this die and then watch the video. It really is very easy to put together. As for my other bits and pieces, it was just a matter of cutting them out in the various colours and then putting them together to decorate.

Here is a quick recap of the materials I used to put this card together,

 with links to the Dies R Us store for your convenience.

 Explosion Pop Up - Karen Burniston

Twist Panel Pop-Up - Karen Burniston (message mat)

Celebrate - Karen Burniston

Graduation Set - Cheery Lynn Designs

DRU is out of this die at the moment but this Graduation Set 
from Frantic Stamper  would work just as well.

FineLine Applicator

3D Foam Squares

That is it from me for today, crafting friends. I hope you enjoyed your visit and that I was able to inspire you to use your dies, create a project, and come play along with us at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog for your chance to win a gift voucher to the Dies R Us Store.  A new challenge begins on the 1st and 15th of every month.  Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Pinterest too.

Click below for:

STORE 
 CHALLENGE BLOG
  FACEBOOK

  INSPIRATION BLOG

FRIENDS OF DIES R US PINTEREST PAGE

Till next time,

Happy Crafting!