It's That Time Again . . .

We received our first graduation announcement on Thursday. The daughter of a younger friend is graduating from high school. I have no way of guessing how many announcements we'll receive this year but don't think it should be too many. Most of the cousin's children in Marv's huge extended family have graduated and are now getting married.

Regardless, I'm ready to make graduation cards with this cute owl, which is part of a set from Kim Hughes for Cornish Heritage Farms. If you take a peek at the set, you'll see that it's very versatile with a party hat, Christmas cap, and sayings for numerous occasions. I have some refining to do with regard to coloring the owl. I did this one with a marker, ink pad ink, and a blending pen. I'm going to try my Prismacolor pencils later, and if I don't get the look I want, I'll try something else. I might end up ordering enough Copic markers to color an owl! The paper I used is from the Archaic collection by Basic Grey. It's a collection of more masculine papers, which will be perfect for guy cards.

Materials & Tools: Colonial White and New England Ivy cardstock; Basic Grey Archaic designer paper; Black, Chocolate, Bamboo, Brown Bag, and Cocoa stamp pads; Brown Bag, Chocolate, and Bamboo markers; Cornish Heritage Farms U R A Hoot stamp set; Autumn Terracotta photo turns; Chipboard disc; 3M foam mounting tape.

A comment about the stamps from Cornish Heritage Farms, the stamps are a solid sheet of rubber mounted on Cling Mount to use with acrylic blocks. They have to be cut out, which is kind of a pain in the backside, but for this set was worth the effort.

With this post, I need to go get some chores done. Bjorn and Mathias are coming to stay with Grandma and Grandpa tonight to give their daddy a little break to spend some time with friends. I bought cupcakes at the grocery store, which will instantly turn the evening into a party. I also picked up a couple of surprises in the toy aisle at Wal-Mart. I need to buy toys while I can still understand them. Even the "Power Rangers" that Bjorn has such a hankering for are a little over my head. Mathias is a big Dora and Diego fan. Anyway, I am fulfilling my obligation to spoil them . . . As Mathias would say, "A widdle bit." I'll be back later with a card or two.