Here is a simple card for all of the graduates in your life. Just change colors and maybe the punch borders to make it a little more feminine for a girl graduate. I used the Upper Crest Border Punch because I wanted something that wouldn’t be too fancy for a guy. I used a removable adhesive to place the two punched strips back to back, then I glued down a 3/8” strip over the seam and centered a 1/8” over that.

My “graduate” owl is easy to make, it only uses two shapes. The owl’s eyes are 6” tight rolls wrapped in a contrasting color. The owl’s “ears” (I know they are not really ears, but they are where they would be if they were ears, confused?) are 6” teardrops. A 3” teardrop is glued point down between the “ears” as shown. Use a 4” teardrop for the beak. The sides of the owl’s face are 6” tight rolls with 3” tight rolls to fill the space next to the beak.

Fringe and glue a 1” strip of 1/8” paper for the tassel. (TIP-if you use a fringer, fringe a 1” strip of ¼” or 3/8” paper and then trim down to 1/8”.) glue tassel to back of head with a tiny piece of string. A triangle cut from 3/8” strip of black makes the top of the “mortar board”.

The “Congratulations “ stickers come in silver or gold

Mother's Day

Those of you who know me, or who have watched the video on my web site, know that I am a tea drinker. When I was growing up, my sisters and I would buy bone china tea cups for my mother for her birthday or Mother’s Day; today I proudly display her tea cup collection in my home. Over the years, my mother and I shared many cups of tea . . . I even managed to find a McCormack teapot like the one she had when we were growing up. (She sent away for it and told me it cost her $1.25). Today, my mother (who is 87) and I still share many cups of tea, but now it is usually over the phone. She lives in a beautiful assisted living center in Florida near one of my sisters, and I live here in Connecticut. We always give each other tea related gifts; in fact, that is what inspired me to make the quilled tea cup featured on the website and here on the blog. This year I am going to get to have tea in person with her in Florida, but I still decided her Mother’s Day card should be tea related. Here are the directions in case you would like to make one.

I started with a Pink card since that is her favorite color. I trimmed the card to exactly 4”x5” so I could use the Quilted Corners combo corner/border punch on it. I cut a piece of light green parchment paper and attached it behind the cover of the card to make the scallop show. Then I quilled a little white teapot. I used two full strips which I rolled together and then formed in to an eccentric circle for the body of the pot. I used a 12” strip to make the half circle for the base. A 12” shaped marquise made the spout, and a 6” open S-scroll made the handle. You will notice I made one side of the S-scroll larger than the other. I then made a 6’ crescent for the top of the pot and flattened a 3” tight roll for the handle.

The flowers in the bottom corner are made with a tiny heart punch. I put a drop of tacky glue on a ¼” hole punch and then fold and arrange the tiny hearts. Once they were dry, I arranged them with a couple of small leaves. I don’t make very many punch flowers, but I love these because they are so delicate. i do have an instruction sheet that includes directions for the little flowers. Happy Mother’s Day to all of you!