I can’t believe that my baby girl will be graduating in a few weeks! We decided to dress up her graduation cap and I love how it turned out! We used cardstock in her school colors to make flowers and butterflies and paired them with a quote. Are you or your child graduation this year? Grab your cap and let's get decorating!
Supplies
- Cardstock Warehouse cardstock paper:
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Adhesives:
- Bearly Art® Liquid Precision Glue
- Hot glue gun
- Graduation Cap
- Cricut electronic die cutting machine
Step 1: Cut your pieces
Cut out all the pieces in the Design Space cut file using the colors of your choice. I am using purples, grey, and silver to match my daughter's school colors. Since I am using heavier papers, I am using the double-cut setting on my Cricut to ensure they cut all the way through. Once cut, separate and organize your pieces into piles or trays. This will make assembly easier. I keep the letters in a separate tray, organized by word, to ensure I don't lose any.
Step 2: Glue the quote
Since the quote is the largest piece on the cap, I am going to start my assembly with that. I love this saying and thought it would be perfect for the occasion! You could do any quote or saying you like for yours. I added two offset background layers to make the letters stand out more.
Use craft tweezers and liquid glue to carefully glue each letter onto the first offset. I like using Bearly Art® glue for small pieces because you have a few seconds to wiggle it into place, and it dries clear if you get a little extra around the edges.
Once I was done gluing all the words on, I decided to pop dot the back of the purple layer and put it on the white layer to make it really stand out! If your school has more colors, you can make the offset layers thinner and add as many as you'd like.
It was at this point that I realized I had made a mistake and there was a typo in the word "believe." I went back to my Cricut file, fixed it, and cut new pieces and assembled them. After a 30-minute detour, I was ready to carry on. Proofread twice. Cut once. 😂
Step 3: Assemble butterflies
Each butterfly has a top layer with details and a solid base layer. I wanted to give my butterflies a 3D look, so I bent the wings upward on my top layer on each side of the body. Then, I applied liquid glue only on the body of the butterfly and lined it up on top of the solid bottom layer. Make sure you have them lined up before you set them aside to let them dry.
Step 4: Make the flowers
I love using rolled flowers! They are so easy to make and are very pretty. Start with the outer end of the spiral and slowly roll it up into a coil. Continue all the way around until you reach the end where the final tab is. Hot glue this circle onto the bottom of the rolled flower to hold everything in place.
*Tip- don't let go until it's dry or it will unravel. But don't worry, hot glue dries fast!*
I made a few different styles, and this is one of my favorites! You will notice that the center petals are a different size and shape, which creates a neat "center" in this flower.
Repeat the rolling and gluing for all of the flowers. I made mine all different sizes so they wouldn't look too similar when I put them all together.
Step 5: Decorate the cap
Now it’s time to arrange all your elements and glue them to the cap. I chose a spot for my quote on the right, and then built a sort of crescent shape of flowers around the left side. Then I added my butterflies as accents.
Once you have the layout the way you like it, go back and start hot gluing them to the cap. I like to work carefully to keep them in place until they are glued.
Now your cap is ready for the graduate to proudly wear on their big day! 🎉🎓
I hope this project inspired you to Make Something Beautiful® and add a bit of handmade flair to your graduation cap. Looking for more grad season inspiration? Check out our other graduation blogs HERE!
We'd love to see what you've been crafting with cardstock lately! Show us on Facebook or Instagram. You can tag us (@cardstockwarehouse) to be featured in our stories.
Happy Crafting,
Melissa
Instagram: @diy_melissa and @sweetbuttercupdesigns
Etsy: Sweet Buttercup Designs