Graduation Step Card

I  have seen so many fabulous "Step Cards" (referring to the accordion fold feature that creates 'steps' for you to place your layers of embellishments) recently, but I have never made one. I took advantage of this week's challenge on the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog to create one. FCCB's June 2nd challenge is "Replenish Your Card Stash" which means you can make a card for any occasion or sentiment. Since my little boy is about to graduate from the 5th grade, I decided to make him a graduation card.

But before I made Aidan's card, I practiced with the "Oak Manor Step Card" design that comes with the Edisto Island collection from SVGcuts.com.  It is such a beautiful project! It definitely took some extra time to figure out how the design works. When it was all said and done, I made 2 design changes to create the card you see above:

• In order for the house and tree embellishments to stand erect, you need to use a heavy weight cardstock for your base card.  Unaware of this, I had used a standard weight cardstock so my step card did not hold its' form well.  I supplemented by making a second step card out of thin chipboard and adhering it underneath the cardstock which worked very well.  
• I also added extra leaves to my trees so that the brown of the tree trunks was not so dominate.

I gave this card to a dear friend for her 40th birthday.

Once I had the hang of the design and a sense of its' structure, I started on Aidan's graduation card. I cut my step card using my Cricut since the Edisto Island already has the cut.  I was grateful because it was late and I didn't have the mental energy to do any measuring, scoring or manual cutting.

First, I enlarged the SVGCUTS step card template to 11.45" wide so that I was able to use the entire sheet of 12 x 12" paper. I wanted to direct you to a Cricut Template for the card, but I could not find a step card file on ANY of the Cricut cartridges. Have no fear because you can cut one by hand, easy peasy. It is not at all the headache I thought it would be! There are loads of websites that have templates and instructions.  Here are a few:

Krafty Hands Online -for fantastic templates and a video tutorial.

A5 Central Step Card Template

A5 Side Step Card Template

A5 Double Side Step Card Template

Krafty Hands Online Step Card Assembly Video

Split Coast Stampers- to view a gazillion tutorials in addition to step cards.

Side  Step Card

Center Step Card

Assembly video

Practical Publishing Australia - An article on 47 stepper card templates!

Centre step templates
Holly Trees template
Side Fold and Front Step template
Side Stepper template

Once you have your card, the next step is deciding on what embellishments you want to add.  I used 2 Cricut cartridges for mine-  Locker Talk and Recess.  I tinkered with the colors to better suit the design and added a thick strip of paper to fill in the negative space on the front panel.  We will write a sweet message on the back.

NOTE:  I adhered my layered cuts like the school and computer onto heavy cardstock "tabs" (for lack of a better descriptive word) and then glued those tabs directly onto the fold ridges so that I could stagger the heights of the die cuts and prevent them from falling forward or backward.

I think this is a viable solution for just about any embellishment you want to stand vertically rather than lay backwards or fall forwards. Of course there is a bit of a slant which part of dimensional impact but nothing is being tugged by gravity which was a problem with my first card.

I think Aidan will treasure this card as he is very sentimental and the embellishments are exactly what he is associating with middle school right now...especially the laptop!

Cranky, Nasty Posters

I have to vent because I just think the internet can be a real dumping ground for stinky, crappy mean people who go around expressing their negativity under the guise of screen names like snookidogooder172 or creativebeautycakes404 (forgive me if those are real screen names - please don't leave me a nasty comment.)

I am so tired of seeing these message board meanies raking people over the coals because they posted a link to their blog, asked a question that had been asked before or spelled something wrong in a comment.  It is petty and hurtful and so unnecessary.

Has a crime been committed? Blood been drawn? Was there an act of social injustice?  Why not put this energy into something constructive like a random act of kindness, supporting someone who takes the time to share useful information or by "paying it forward?"

I can't help wondering who these people are that sit in front of their computers spreading ugliness just because they can.

I suppose there are some posters that have thick enough skin and can ignore the snarkiness without letting it affect them but there are plenty of us that can't and we are left feeling hurt, rejected, embarrassed and saddened.  I would bet that 99.9% of the time, the original poster never meant to break rules, offend someone sense of order nor stealthly peddle goods.  Doesn't SOCIAL MEDIA, by definition, include message boards?  Doesn't a blogger have the right to say "hey I have something cool to share -I worked hard putting it together and you are invited to read it, see it, buy it if you are interested and want to pop over?" Don't click on the link if you don't want to see it!

Ignorance of unspoken rules is not a crime against humanity. Making mistakes is not a federal offense. Sharing information (even if it isn't useful to you) is not worthy of your wrath. Marketing yourself in a "non-commercial" way is not deviant (I'm super not interesting in debating over what is commercial vs. non-commercial - check out Craig's List if you want to see my personal definition.)

Someone once posted a thread stating that pinning your own photos from your blog is disgusting - I disagree and said so but I said it kindly and didn't spank the poster. Wouldn't it be great if people didn't assume the worst of others?

I have had my posts attacked a number of times and it stings. I found myself fearful of responding because I knew that jerkface99 would be willing to shred me if given the fodder and I am too sensitive to participate in a battle of hate.

So... since this is my blog and I am feeling pretty irritated by the stupid comment yoyo365 left me on a post, I am spewing a little negativity of my own.  This is my word house and I didn't place my frustration on anyone specifically. I said what was on my mind and I will leave it at that. But I do have one more thing to add... A loud, spitty raspberry directed at all the cyberroadragers out there. I hope some saliva hits you in the eye.

Incredible, Amazing, Unbelievably Brilliant Solutions

These are the most incredible, amazing, unbelievably brilliant solutions to so many of the storage issues I have.  I know there are a lot of these lists out there but this one hit home for my particular troubles. I discovered them on Listotic.com after finding a link on pinterest.  I have to be honest, I'm posting them for myself as much as for you. I don't want to forget a single one.

ooops- #45 was a duplicate on their website.