School days are almost over for the year, so with the start of the last six weeks this week, inevitably I've been hearing "How many more days until summer vacation, Mom?" :) So I decided to revamp my Christmas Countdown calendar into a "Days until school is out" calendar! Since I have two girls, I went with a flowery/girly theme, but you could also do a gender-neutral or boy theme . . .
This cute new graduation stamp from JustRite Stampers' Favorite Occasions 10 Borders & Centers set made the perfect flower center I was looking for. (It looks like this stamp set is scheduled to start shipping May 10!).
I thought I'd share a tip on how to align the custom lettering I created on the Harmony Classic Circle Stamper I (1-5/8") with the Times New Roman 15-pt. font in the border space. I use the horizontal footings/grooves as an indicator (white arrows shown in the photo below) of where to place the font letters, so they will be perfectly aligned with the center image:
I stamped the image with Memento Rhubarb Stalk ink onto Neenah Natural White cardstock and then colored with these Copic markers:
I used Cosmo Cricket's Girl Friday papers and Spellbinders Nested Flower die to create the flower. More Girl Friday paper covers the 4" x 8.50" insert I created with Craft-a-Board, so it would stand up nicely. The "OUT" letters are also from the Girl Friday collection. I cut them out, outlined them with Copic Spica glitter pens in Olive, Pink & Turquoise, then inked each of the letter squares:
Zva Creative Crystals, Martha Stewart Butterfly punches, and Papertrey Ink vintage buttons complete the insert. If you remember my other calendar, where I have placed my tall insert is where a pad of notepaper would normally go. Good news, Taylored Expressions is carrying these wonderful wooden alterable calendars now!
Since I only have 42 days left until summer vacation sets in, I'm off to do some more creating . . . it's Weekend Sketch Challenge time again tomorrow and I'm hosting. I'll have a little bit of blog candy to go with this weekend's sketch challenge, so I hope you'll check in here around 8:30am in the morning to see my sketch and play along!
