Graduation card with musical background paper

I created this card for my niece who is graduating from high school this year.  She will be going on to study music in the fall so I chose to create a musical background.
I started with a page from a damaged songbook.  It had an unfortunate encounter with flooding and had become unusable.  It was donated to me to use for my cardmaking - got to love free supplies!!
I added several watercolour washes to the page in warm colours but mostly greens and browns.  Next, I stamped it with stars in dark green distress ink and then stippled (SU) it with brown ink. I cut this label (TH) out of green cardstock and gold embossed my greeting onto it.  I used my homemade stamping jig, which I have been using quite a lot lately, to get it properly centered.  I added dots around the edges using a gold gel pen.  The ribbon was incorporated into my card when I stitched the decorative paper to the card front.  I trimmed the ends diagonally and mounted my greeting over it using mini gold brads.   Was fun to create this background paper!
Therese

An Art canvas with a life quote

I created this art canvas for a young woman who is graduating from high school in June and attending university away from home.
I gave the deep 8" x 10" canvas a teal acrylic paint colour wash on the front and sides then added a few blue spatters before leaving it to dry.  I cut the letters from black art paper using a set of Cookie Cutter alphabet dies and used a piece of low tack masking tape as a line to set them all in place and adhered them with white glue applied using a fine tip bottle.  After drying it overnight, I stamped flourishes around the front edge using black Memories ink and a small flower/flourish clear stamp.  I had to apply a little support from underneath in a few places to get a full impression.  I used my stipple stamp (SU) and the black ink to add a bit of texture within the flourishes and the lettering.  I used a black permanent marker to colour the back portion of the sides and used masking tape to ensure a nice straight line.

To seal my canvas I applied a coat of matte Modge Podge to the sides and the front. Once that was dry, I added a length of black cotton lace to the front portion of the sides using a thin piece of double sided tape on the back of the lace to keep it in place and stapling the two ends at top center.  This beautiful fabric flower covers the staples.  It is held in place with a glue dot and a couple staples in the outer layers to ensure it is secure.  I used a black sharpie to colour the staples so they don't show.  I added a hanger on the back and signed it. It is ready to go!!    Really enjoyed making this canvas!!
Therese