Another Great Grad

One of Michael's wonderful cousins (who was one of our ring bearers when he was just a little bitty guy!) is now graduating from college, so it was another perfect opportunity to pull out the fun new Great Grads stamp set! Here is the card I made just for him.

I have always loved the masculine color combination of Not Quite Navy and Old Olive, paired up with a little bit of Basic Black. This turned out even better than I expected and I think I like it more each time I look at it. I need to hurry up and make another one so I can have one to keep since this one will be mailed off very soon... and if you like it and would like to make it too, I have added it to my Instruction Sheet Archive. There you will find several of my cards (some recent, some not-so-recent) and each one has an Instruction Sheet which will tell you everything you need to know (dimensions, supplies, step-by-step instructions, etc.) on how to make that card.

For this card, I stamped the Print Pattern background on the Not Quite Navy base using Versamark ink. The Old Olive layer has the words embossed using Versamark and clear powder - what a statement that makes! For the circle emblem, I had to use my Coluzzle since it was too big for any of the Circle punches. Then I did some layering with the 1-3/8" and 1-1/4" Circle punches. The sentiment across the bottom was done in Not Quite Navy ink. I thought I was going to do it in Basic Black, but it didn't look right. None-the-less, while I was playing with the Black, I saw a teaching opportunity, so I snapped a photo and I'll share it with you anyway. Take a look at this:

If I WERE to have used Basic Black for that element, this is a clear picture of which ink I would've used. The one on the top is Basic Black CRAFT ink, while the one on the bottom is Basic Black CLASSIC ink. It's quite obvious that on a solid image like this, that the Basic Black Classic ink can look purple-y. This isn't the case with other colors, of course, but I wanted you to see the difference in case you ever need to stamp something solid using black ink. The trick is to either use StazOn or Craft ink. Basic Black Classic ink is fine for outlines, but not good for solid images such as this.

Okay, back to the card... after stamping that sentiment, I trimmed it with scissors and then I used a couple of Black brads to secure it over some of the wonderful new Old Olive Twill ribbon that is tied all the way around the card. I love that stuff! Hope they'll have more in the new catalog!

Jordan, congratula... Wait a minute. There's absolutely no way he'll be reading this so why am I trying to finish with a comment to him?! Ah well... I'll put it in the card. :o)