SOS103: graduation *OR* anniversary

one of my favorite things about the challenges at shopping our stash is how often we get to CHOOSE what to make, based on what sort of cards we actually need at the time. how convenient is that? this week is yet another example: since june is traditionally a month with quite a few graduations and anniversaries, we figure you might have a few of those occasions looming, so why not make a card for one or the other... or both?!

i needed an anniversary card this week; ok, more accurately, i needed it *LAST* week, but it's going to be sent this week, and i hope the couple in question will think it worth the wait. i definitely had a ball making this one, it's full of allllllll kinds of stash, of every description, thrown in there together: i've got real vintage (the cool bird illustration + the ivory eyelet) copied vintage (the sheet music--copied onto index stock to make it stronger... but also... i was afraid i might mess up the first one, so i made an "insurance" copy!) i've  retrieved some elderly stash (the metallic bronze cardstock + a few scraps of basic grey paper that i've used as mats); tapped some newish stash (those glitz giant rhinestone thingies + 7 gypsies deco tape) and employed some "found objects"... in the form of the faux dogwood flowers, which were ripped from a stem at the back of a vase in my dining room, lol! :) the best part, fun-wise, was machine stitching the dogwood branch on the paper behind the flowers. which, of course, you can't really see because the flowers are right on top of it... but it's still kinda cool in a "moral high ground" sort of way! :) :) :) i took a photo before i assembled the card:

i lightly drew a branch shape on my cardstock in pencil; not because i was going for perfection or botanical accuracy or anything cool like that (lol!) just so that i'd more or less keep the design within the space i'd allotted in my collage. then i machine stitched with dark brown thread back and forth along the pencil lines, adding branches to the stem, and twigs to the branches, as i went along, until i had something i thought looked pretty good. and then, yeah, i went back and glued the flowers on top! :) but in real life, you can actually see a bit more of the sewing from various angles; plus, it was REALLY fun to do, so i'm ok with it being a "subtle detail" instead of a big "feature element" in this case!

now off you go to see what the rest of the SOS gang have done, because as always, there is a FAB mix of styles and techniques, and we've got both anniversary and grad cards galore, so whatever you need to make, we've got you covered, darlings! ♥