Con-GRAD-ulations

I made this card for my stepmom - her nephew graduated from high school with a great scholarship. It's based off of this sketch from The Little Paper Shop.

I started with black cardstock for the base, and embossed it with the Congrats CB embossing folder. I embossed the entire card (both sides) but covered up the majority of the front with the patterned paper.

I used my 1 1/4" square punch for the gold-ish squares (handmade paper from Costco) and a 2" square punch for the black square. I used the Congrats embossing folder again, this time for the smaller red square. I managed to get just the one sentiment ("So proud") by rolling the folder through until I could see that it had made it past those letters. Then I rolled it back again, so that it didn't emboss the phrase that was underneath. I used my sanding block to reveal the white core of the paper. A few stickers completed the main image.

For the lower sentiment, I used my wide oval punch and the argyle CB embossing folder, again sanding to reveal the white core. Then I stamped the sentiment in Versamark, then immediately in black ink, and then stamped on the white paper. This is a technique I picked up from Michelle Zindorf. I used clear embossing powder and my heat gun. I rounded the corners, then added the fun little motarboard hat brads. I had to use the other brads in the photo, because I think they're adorable!

Stamps: Calligraphy Messages (Hero Arts)
Paper: pp (Memory Block), black, red, white cardstock, handmade paper (unknown)
Accessories: sanding block, Wide Oval punch (SU), 1 1/4" punch (EK Success), 2" punch (Marvy), Congrats and Argyle CB embossing folders, CB (Provocraft), stickers (Jolee's), brads (Forever in Time)