The first day of a new school year brings some jitters for students and teachers alike. Although teachers don’t expect a gift on the first day, maybe a colorful greeting card is the way to start the school year off right. Follow along to see how to create this cute and cheerful card to celebrate a great year ahead!
Supplies:
- Cardstock Warehouse cardstock papers:
- Adhesives:
- Craft Tweezers
- Cricut Electronic Die Cutting Machine
Begin your project by opening the Cricut file linked above, which includes all of the images for this project. This card utilizes Cricut’s print-then-cut feature for some of the detailed images. Proceed with printing, cutting, and scoring the images in the file. All the images used for this project are available via Cricut Access.
To begin your assembly, attach the printed sheet of ‘binder paper’ to the front of the flat card using tape runner and liquid glue. The print-then-cut feature is very handy, especially for fine details like the binder paper lines.
Next, let’s assemble my favorite part of the card – the adorable, smiley-faced notepad. The notepad is made from four pieces of cardstock. Using liquid glue, attach the Colorplan Lavender face on top of the Lessebo Black notepad base. Then add the thin Stardream Silver border, adding to the spiral notepad appearance. The notepad is finished with some nifty Adriatic Blue glasses. Some of these pieces are pretty small, so be careful with them!
Continuing with the card details, you can move on to the ‘Take Note’ card wording. Attach the Adriatic Blue letters to the Lessebo White base using liquid glue. Once complete, you can also glue the lettering to the top of the card.
For the printed ‘Great Year Ahead!’ banner, I added a bit of dimension using some thin foam tape. Place the foam tape on the back of the banner to add some visual interest and dimension to the card. Peel off the protective layer from the foam tape and place the banner on the card, underneath the ‘Take Note’ image.
Next, attach the smiley face notepad to the front of the card underneath the ‘Great Year Ahead’ banner. Be sure to leave enough room at the bottom of the card for the rainbow arches.
The space in the bottom right corner of the card needed a colorful little rainbow! Using liquid glue, attach the three rainbow arches cut from Lessebo Cherry, Sirio Gialloro, and Colorplan Marrs. I love the unconventional color combination for this happy, cheerful rainbow!
On top of the rainbow, attach the Lessebo Sunflower cloud. I used the thin foam tape on the back of this piece as well. Foam tape is a very simple way to elevate your papercrafting creations (literally!). Then, using your craft tweezers, carefully place the funky stars to the front of the card.
For the final step, fold the card along the score line, pressing firmly. Since this card is meant to resemble a notebook, I love the small detail of the folded edge at the top of the card, rather than the standard side-fold.
This cheerful back-to-school card is ready to be shared! I envisioned gifting this to a teacher on the first day of school, but it could absolutely be given to your child with some words of encouragement or to a special classmate.
Are you creating any special papercrafts to celebrate the start of school? Share your back-to-school creations on Facebook or Instagram. You can tag us (@cardstockwarehouse) to be featured in our stories.
Check out our other Back-to-School blogs for more inspiration!
Happy crafting,
Sarah
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