Almost Back To School! Crafty Secret's Design Team Challenge and Linky Party!

 Today is a busy, busy day! Not only is it the start of JustRite's August release, it is also Crafty Secret's design team challenge and linky party!  Our theme this month was fall/back to school.  Well being the teacher that I am, I couldn't pass up the back to school theme.  I found this adorable easel card from the Silhouette store.  It was designed by Lori Whitlock.  (Love her designs!) 

 I added this adorable Crafty Secret's image and sentiment.  I have a full tutorial below showing the steps I took to make it.  

The image and sentiment came from the Childhood Images and Journal Notes booklet.

I printed off coordinating paper to match the image.  When I print it is usually a 5x7 size.  I find this is perfect for cards! 

I cut the easel using my Silhouette. 

I wanted my banner to be several different colors so I cut it a few different times with different paper. 

Here are the banner pieces I decided I wanted to use. 

I thought I'd reinforce the back to school theme with some fun alphabet letters to embellish the center of my bow.  I was worried if I tried to glue them directly to the center of the bow that they wouldn't "sit" properly.  So instead, I punched a small circle for them to rest on. 

I added glossy accents and plopped my alphabet letters in the center. 

While that was drying I went ahead and glued my banner and bow into place. 

I wanted the back to have a bit of depth, so rather than gluing it on the back, flat, I used dimensional foam tape from Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L.  You can tell I am really not very neat about placing it...the paper will hide it! ;)

I used one more bead for the center of the star and again applied glossy accents to it. 

And here is the card once more to see it all put together. 

Now it’s your turn! Visit each of the design team blogs listed below. Then create a NEW project of your choice featuring Crafty Secrets product and link it up to the blog (http://heartwarmingvintage.blogspot.com/) no later than 11:59PT, Sunday, August 17thth. You do not need to follow this month’s theme to play along. If you do not have any Crafty Secrets goodies, check the FREE DOWNLOADS located in the sidebar of the Crafty Secrets blog. Be sure to link to the Crafty Secrets Blog in your post, and let us know what Crafty Secrets product you are using in your project. One lucky player will be randomly selected to win a $50 shopping spree in our online store. Each player who participates will receive a $6 credit to the online store. We’ll be popping by to leave you some lovely comments on your blog post, too. Thanks for playing along, and good luck!

Crafty Secrets Design Team
 Kathy Clement, DT Leader 
 Darlene Pavlick, 
Diane Hover
Elizabeth Lincoln
Gloria Stengel 
Melody Clement 
Michele Kovack
Shantaie Fowler, 
Sheila Rumney