Off to Great Places — A Back-to-School Card

And just like that… we’re talking about back to school.

I’m not entirely sure how that happened. Summer seems to have flown by at record speed—although judging by the temperatures, apparently summer itself has not received the memo that it’s nearly September.

But the leaves are beginning to show those first little hints of change, school supplies are everywhere, and in just a few days my five-year-old grandson will be heading off to school again. So naturally, all of that found its way onto my craft desk.

For this card, I started with First Day from Sweet November Stamps. With backpack on and ready to go, this was pretty much exactly the image I had in my head for this one.

Why I Love Creating With Digital Images

Digital stamps have become one of my favorite things to work with because they give you so much flexibility.

There’s no waiting for a stamp to arrive, no searching through a drawer wondering where you put it, and—one of the biggest advantages—you can resize the image to suit your project.

Need it smaller for a tag? Done.

Larger to become the main focus of a card? Also done.

I particularly enjoy the digital images from Sweet November Stamps because they have so much personality. The characters are fun to color, the details give you plenty to play with, and they lend themselves beautifully to creating a little scene rather than simply placing an image in the middle of a card. In fact, working with Sweet November images is how I first started drawing in my own backgrounds behind a digital image. I would have never thought I could do that, but the images make it so easy.

And so for this image, apparently, Colton was going to school.

Creating the School Scene

For the background, I used a randomly generated black-and-white sketch featuring a traditional-looking school surrounded by some greenery.

I considered coloring the entire thing.

For approximately three seconds.

Instead, I decided to leave almost all of the background in black and white, adding just a touch of soft color to the greenery.

That turned out to be one of my favorite things about this card.

Leaving the school scene mostly uncolored keeps it interesting without allowing it to compete with Colton. Your eye goes straight to that little boy in his bright clothes and backpack, standing in front of this great big school and presumably wondering what exactly everyone has signed him up for.

Seems about right for the first day of school.

Color, Cut & Pop

Colton was colored with my Copic markers, then fussy cut and attached to the card front using foam tape. That little bit of dimension helps separate him even further from the sketched background and makes him feel like he's actually standing in front of the school.

Quick Copic tip: When I'm coloring a small image like this, I like to work with a limited number of shades rather than trying to blend half the marker collection into one tiny backpack. Two or three shades from the same colour family are often plenty to create highlights, midtones and shadows. Sometimes knowing when to stop blending is half the battle!

And yes, I also own Ohuhu markers. Because apparently one collection of alcohol markers wasn't enough. 😏

I'm curious—what do you color with? Are you firmly Team Copic, an Ohuhu fan, or do you have another favorite marker hiding on your craft desk?

A Little Red Seemed Only Fitting

Once everything was together, this scene was practically begging for red.

I matted the school panel onto red cardstock and did the same with the sentiment before adding everything to the card base. The red pulls the colors from Colton's shirt into the rest of the design and gives that mostly black-and-white background just enough punch.

For the sentiment, I chose the familiar Dr. Seuss quote:

“You’re off to great places, today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!”

It seemed especially fitting for a card inspired by a little five-year-old about to walk through those school doors.

And maybe that's why I like this card so much.

It isn't complicated. There aren't a hundred embellishments or seventeen different techniques fighting for attention. It's simply a little boy, his backpack, a great big school waiting in the background—and an adventure that's about to begin.

Meanwhile, Grandma will be over here with her Copics and her coffee wondering how on earth we got from the beginning of summer to the first day of school quite so quickly.

Apparently we're all off to great places. Just some of us are just bringing coffee.