Graduation Already?

I wasn't sure that I was going to create a card for this week's A La Card Monkey challenge. The theme is graduation + sketch. I didn't know anyone who is graduating this year and even though you don't have to follow the theme, I just wasn't coming up with anything. Then, in yesterday's mail came a graduation announcement from one of my husband's nieces. WHAT? Seems like she was just born, she can't be graduating from high school already! But she is. Time does fly. Here's my card:

Red and black are her school colors. I used white card stock for the base, with a layer of black, then a layer of Cherry Cobbler that had been embossed with stars. The DSP is from a pack called "School Days" that I got at Michaels. I remembered seeing a graduation owl on Terry's blog last year, so I went over there to see what she had done. I punched the owl out of silver/gray glittery card stock. For his wings I used a scalloped heart punch cut in half. I sponged around the edges with Stazon black to give him a little more definition. The mortarboard cap I hand-cut and added a black rhinestone for the button. I hand-cut the beak, and punched the feet out of scrap Daffodil Delight card stock. I added plastic google eyes, and the diploma is regular paper punched with the 1" square and then rolled and tied with Cherry Cobbler baker's twine. The sentiment is from the Happiest Thoughts stamp set and is stamped in Cherry Cobbler. I punched the ends with the 1" square punch and added Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details around the edge and two red stars. I topped the card off with some more CC bakers twine at the top.

Here's this week's sketch:


Hope you have a chance to play along this week.