Graduation 2015

So clearly I'm not too good at this blogging stuff! I've been doing a good bit of crafting, just not blogging about it.

In May, my son graduated from high school. I created some announcement covers and matching thank you cards.

         

Originally, I did not plan to do this and ordered photo announcements with the graduation information on the back. I attached the announcement into the cover with photo corners, making it easy to remove, but it still confused people when they couldn't easily find the necessary information. If I were to do it again, I would probably retype all the information and put it on the other side.


I had the great honor of being asked to make some decorations for the graduation dinner. I decided my theme would be "Let your light shine." I first made a table lantern with a battery operated tea light for each graduate.

I added a tag that I stamped the verse "You are the light of the world. Let your light shine out for all to see." Matthew 5:14, 16. When looking for a stamp with this verse, I found a wonderful stamp company called Our Daily Bread Designs. They have a great variety of Christian stamps as well as dies and other papercrafting supplies. I will be purchasing from them again.

I also added a centerpiece to each graduate's table, using a plastic graduation cup as the base. I created some decorations on skewers, added their name to the front of a graduate tag, and stamped "Let your light shine" on the back of the tag.

That took care of the graduates' tables. I needed a few extra centerpieces for other tables so I filled some mason jars with paper shred and made some paper flowers. I did a print and cut of the verse "Let your light so shine" (from the Silhouette store), and attached two of them together around another battery operated tea light. Red burlap, lace and some washi tape finished off the jar.

Next, I cut out some graduate silhouettes as large as my Cameo would cut, attached them to a skewer that I painted black, set it into a spool also painted black and glued to a square of thick black chipboard. I made a tassel from twine and attached it with a button. These were set on one of the food tables.

I made some little graduation caps to fit on the dollar tree plastic wine glasses, in which I put some mints. The tassel was made up of each graduate's name. At the last minute, I decided it needed something else, so I cut vinyl in a chevron pattern for the bottom.

I loved the big numbers in the Silhouette store with the cutouts for photos. I put a photo of each graduate in the smaller holes, then filled the larger openings with various group photos.

My favorite thing of all was this Instagram sign. I got the idea from my friend Lauren at The Thinking Closet. She even featured my version in a Reader Showcase on her blog.  How awesome is that??  Go check it out here!

It's just too bad that only two people took advantage of it! The one thing I was most excited about turned out to be the biggest fail LOL! Isn't that they way it always is though?

My son was one of 14 graduates from a small Christian school. Each graduate also had to make a memory board and they were all displayed for everyone to see. They were all really creative and lovely! I made name banners for each of their tables.

Graduation was bittersweet. I'm excited for his future but those 18 years sure flew by quickly! I clearly remember his first day of kindergarten. His little sister was devastated when she realized we were leaving him there! I get to do the graduation thing again in 3 more years! :)

It all started with a wreath...

When my friend called me in early May, stressed out about the graduation party she was planning for her daughter, I had no intention of offering to help. It was the day before my birthday, I was trying to finish up my library duties at my kids' school, and I had plenty of other projects in the works.  She mentioned that her daughter wanted a "wreath with a graduation hat in the center," something she had seen on Pinterest.  I hung up the phone and instead of getting on the treadmill like I had planned, I found myself on Pinterest, searching "graduation wreaths."  I could at least possibly make a wreath.  A short while later, she texted me and asked (begged? LOL) me to be her "decorator." How could I say no? We went shopping for supplies and the ideas began to take shape.

Her party theme was "elegant" and her colors were royal blue and silver, which made NO sense to me since our school colors are red and white! But it turned out to be a lovely choice. We decided to add a touch of red here and there and that really made things pop. The wreath is deco mesh and the decorations were made with my Silhouette Cameo using blue and silver glitter paper (I love glitter paper!) and red "shimmer" paper. These cut beautifully in the Silhouette.

I saw this card box in the Silhouette store and just had to make it. My black cardstock was kind of flimsy so I added a piece of cardboard to the bottom to make it a little more sturdy.

We can't have a party without a banner. I used blue and silver shimmer paper and small paper doilies.

 

I wanted it to be 2-sided because there were a lot of hanging options in the room where it could be seen from either side. I hung it on blue satin ribbon, and tied silver ribbon in between each pennant.

 

When I saw these shadowboxes in the Silhouette store, I knew I had to make them too. I thought the red frames were so pretty, and when we decided to add a little red to the party decorations, it was perfect.

The graduate made her mom buy a sash from the Dollar Store that said "Grad Princess." The only problem was that the sash was pink and black and mom hated it! She asked if I could make one that would match the theme. She found a blank sash at a party store, and I ironed on the words with silver sparkle heat transfer vinyl, glued silver ribbon on both sides, and added some "bling" at the bottom.

 

They were planning a photo booth so I bought a cheap wedding arch and talked them into using it for the background.  Deco mesh, blue plastic tablecloths and silver streamers made a simple, but elegant background!

And we can't forget mom! I saw this during one of my internet searches and told her I would make her a shirt too. It was perfectly fitting! I used silver glitter heat transfer vinyl, and rhinestones for the crown.

I wasn't able to attend the party because my daughter's ballet recital was the same night so I didn't get any actual pictures from the party. I heard that everyone had a fantastic time, and mom and grad princess were both happy!


I had a minute for one picture after helping to set up the decorations. :)