Make a Cute Handmade Graduation Card

It’s that time of year again — graduation season! Whether you have an elementary school kiddo, a high school senior, or any graduate in between, the excitement and anticipation of this special milestone moment is real. Let’s give them a proper send-off with something crafted just for them. Today, we'll show you how to make your own cute animal-themed card complete with fun puns like "you're so sinkin' smart' or "you're koala-fied." This project is quick, easy, and oh-so festive – so grab your cardstock and get ready to create an adorable animal-themed graduation card to express your congratulations!

• Stinkin' Smart Clear Stamp Set
• Acrylic Stamp Block
• Pigment Ink Pad
• White Cardstock
• Heat Tool
• Embossing Powder
• Embossing Pen
• Craft Paper of Choice: Colors, Patterns, and Designs
• Coloring Medium of Choice: Markers or Colored Pencils
• Glue
• Scissors or Cricut
• Envelope

• Prismacolor Alcohol-Based Markers
• Glue Tape Runner
• Address Stamp
• Tweezers

First, gather all of your materials so you have them accessible. Place your white card stock onto a craft mat or paper to protect your surface. If you are not working with a pre-folded card, fold your white cardstock in half, vertically. Using a bone folder is optional, but it helps create a crisp hard fold.

Now it's time to stamp your designs onto the card! Using clear stamps is easy, simply peel your stamp from it backing sheet and place it onto an acrylic stamp block. The photopolymer is slightly tacky, so your stamp can easily stick and be removed from your stamp block.

Next, ink your stamp with the ink pad and color of your choice. In this project, we are using black pigment ink. Pigment ink dries slower, making it ideal for heat embossing, which is a technique we are going to use today. We started out by stamping the "congratulations" banner at the top of the card.

Tip: Stamp with even pressure, being careful not to rock your stamp when placing the image onto the paper.

Now it's time to finish the rest of the stamped images. Place your animal of choice in the center. We chose to use the skunk in this project as it paired well with the black embossing powder. Next, stamp the matching phrase towards the bottom of the card.

"Stamp your designs fairly quickly, while pigment ink does take several minutes to dry - the ink needs to be wet for embossing"

Heat embossing is a fun and simple technique beginners or experienced crafters can do and leaves behind a professional look! Before your pigment ink dries, sprinkle the embossing powder over the inked designs. Don't be shy, cover the design thoroughly, we'll save the excess powder. Take your card and tap the extra embossing powder onto a separate piece of paper where we can fold it and put it back into the container.

Tip: Use a small brush to remove any extra specks of powder that remain on the card's surface. Remember - the embossing powder will heat set wherever it lies.

Lastly, use your heat tool in a circular motion at least 6 inches away from your surface to set the embossing powder. Voila! You did it!

Now, let's add some color! Feel free to use your own creativity here. We used a simple, fun red color for the graduation cap and shaded a gold gradient onto the banner. Pick your own color pattern or try adding some small embellishments to decorate the animal.

Lastly, create some visual interest with a pattern of some celebratory confetti. We chose to keep it traditional and used a gold metallic ink here. We thought this complemented the color of our banner. But again, feel free to add your own style and flair by using different colors or adding additional embellishments.

Creating this card was a fun journey—we put our creativity to the test and utilized a few stamping techniques to bring it all together. We hope you have just as much fun making it as we did. Adorable animals always bring cheer to any graduate. Now, go forth and spread joy with handmade cards, one recipient at a time!