Monday, May 28, 2012

Natotela

A friend of mine just graduated from nursing school.  Born and raised in Zambia, she became a U.S. citizen this last December.  At her graduation party, I knew there would be others from Zambia presenting her with gifts.  I wanted to give her something special to honor her accomplishment and heritage.

A set of "thank you" cards seemed natural enough.  But, why not incorporate the language of her home, too?  Natotela is Zambian for "thank you". 



You may also recognize another theme to this set...  Pink!  Her favorite colors are pink and red.  So, I picked out some of the best paper and color combinations and paired the pinks and reds with brown and light olive green. 



I picked out different fonts for the lettering of "natotela" and "thank you".  I used the Silhouette to merge the letters and created the offset shadows.  When it seemed appropriate, I used the same paper for the letters on different cards where the base and top sheet were also different. 

The top piece is chosen to coordinate with the base, then torn at an angle and the exposed edge inked in matching ink.



I will be using this design again.  Would be great to include other languages, too. 

Natotela sa na.  Thank you so much for looking at my site!

On the road again...

Back in June 2008, I made a special order graduation card for an 8th grade girl with a VW bus theme.  Someone saw that listing on my etsy site, and wanted me to make one for her daughter's high school graduation this year. 



She loves the peace and flower symbols.  And while her favorite color is red, I also wanted to incorporate her HS colors of green and blue. 



I used some pop ups to add depth and dimension to the layers of the card.  I also had the perfect prima flowers and stickles to complete the image. 

I just love a stroll down memory lane!