Simon Says Stamps

For many graduates of 2020, there were few opportunities to collectively toss their caps in the air and celebrate their accomplishments together. This card is for the class of 2020!

The wait for this stamp and die set was worth it. The quintuple slider dies make a quick and interactive card that has the graduates’ caps moving up and down.

To start, I used a stencil to ink in a cloudy background that ends with tiny confetti being stamped in blue up to the bottom of the slider slits (as if the confetti was falling out of the caps.) Next, I stamped the arms and caps using a black ink that dries fast and doesn’t bleed if watercolored over. Using the colors of the graduate’s college, a pale blue, I colored the caps and gowns using watercolor pencils and a thin tipped waterbrush.

Next, I did all my die cutting of elements using the matching dies and the squarish quintuple slider. In my test card, I had placed the die that cuts the slots into the background card, upside down. So, making sure that I had all the slots lined up at the top end of my background and using the slider die as a guide to know where the position the slot cutting die, I cut the slots. (Watch the assembly video to see how the alignment is done.)

To assemble the slider mechanism, I suggestion watching another assembly video to understand how the slider flaps wrap around the slots and how best to keep the flaps aligned. Once the tiny foam squares are adhered to the flaps, the decorating of the card can begin. (Don’t forget to add some hint that the slider tab needs to be pulled up by adding a die cut arrow which is included in the slider die set.)

I found some scrap printable glitter paper in my stash and stamped the main sentiment directly on to it. For an added touch, I stamped “Hats off to you!” near the top front, and inside the card, I stamped “Good luck on your new adventure!” both in black. I decided the inside needed something else, so I stamped in blue above the good luck a tiny rolled diploma.

The back flap of the envelope had a cap stamped in blue to give a hint as to what was inside.

Materials Used:

Stamps/Dies/Stencils

Simon Says Stamp! -Clear Stamp and Matching Dies-Hats off Grad -sss102120
Simon Says Stamp! – Quintuples Slider Wafer Dies – sssd112138
Craftin Desert Divas – 6×6 Stencil -for clouds, roads, hills

Inks/Watercolors

Papers

White and blue card stock from stash
Staples Printable Glitter Paper
Recollections Value Pack of Cards & Envelopes 6 ½ x 5 inches

Miscellaneous

Foam tape/squares/dimensionals from stash
PVA Glue – Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic Glue

Double-Sided Tear Tape – com Clear Double Sided Adhesive Roll ¼ inch

Say yes to adventure. Chase your dreams. Who knows where it will lead you? This is a card that tries to capture all these sentiments and to celebrate achievement.

The inspiration for this card comes a desire to use all of my bicycle dies, but morphed into a card trying to only use one paper set (Chasing Dreams by Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper). The bicycle die set is by Simon Says Stamp and has the wheel as a separate die so you can cut the perfect tire from a separate color and has a separate basket die as well. The balloons, string of lights and banner flags are from one of my favorite die sets by Sizzix and Courtney Chilson. A fine tipped black marker was used to color the bike’s handles, pedals and balloon strings. A white gel pen was used to color in the balloons’ highlights.

While the outside of the card is to suggest the current moment, the inside is to suggest how pleasant the future will be if you chase your dreams and say yes to adventure.

All of the pop-up, stamped, watercolored and die cut images come from the Hero Arts January 2019 My Monthly Hero kit. I had to cut off the top awning of the flower stand and lower it to fit inside the card. I reinforced the back side of the stand with strips of scrap paper before attaching with double-sided tape.

The tiered stand was inspired by a tiered pop up cake by Karen Burniston for Elizabeth Craft Designs. Since the die is no longer available, I had to improvise to create the right proportional shelves.

The outside sentiments come from the paper stack while the inside sentiments are from two separate sets. The “you’re wonderful” is stamped and embossed from the Hero Arts set and the ”Celebrate” is die-cut from Momenta Firefly’s Celebrate Happy Birthday die set.