Hello my stamping friends. Today I am thrilled to be sharing my first post as a guest designer with Concord & 9th! I will be sharing creations with each of their July release products every Friday for the next four weeks, including today.
Today I get to share with you the Sew Pretty Bundle. This bundle includes a stamp set, a die set, a set of embroidery floss, a set of needles and some heavy weight card stock. I had so much fun creating with these products and stitching on my cards that I had a hard time stopping at just three cards! I have pictures of the card for you, how I made them and a video so you can watch the making of all three cards as well.
I started this card with a simple Polkadot background. I used the Polkadot Wall stencil from Fun Stampers Journey, Peacock Feathers Distress ink and a blending brush to create this soft polkadotted background on a piece of heavy weight card stock (which is included in the Sew Pretty bundle). Then I used the diamond shape die from the Sew Pretty die set, ran that through my Platinum 6 die cutting machine to die cut the diamond shaped stitching pattern. I love that there is an opening in this die so you can put either of the flowers from this set in that space. I stitched the diamond with the Teal Colored DMC floss from the kit. It was an easy stitch; after making one stitch by going up from the back and down on the front you go up from the back on the next open hole and then back down through the last whole that you already went down. Kinda like taking a back stitch. Repeat this all the way around. This is how I stitched all the cards I made today.
Next I used the small flower die to die cut the flower shaped stitching pattern. Then I stamped the flower and the leaves with Rouge and Frayed Leaf inks by Altenew. The images were very easy to line up with the stitched pattern. So, to clarify, the dies in this bundle do not cut out a shape, they die cut the small holes in a shape so that you can stitch that shape. After stitching my flower I fussy it cut it out to mount to my card.
I stamped "dear friend" in the center of the diamond with Evergreen ink by Altenew. I just love all variety of sentiments in the Sew Pretty stamp set. Then I mounted my flower to the card front and added some rhinestones to dress it up a bit more.The card front then got mounted to a card base of Neenah Solar White card stock that measures 5-1/2" x 11" piece of card stock, scored in the middle at 4-1/4".
You can also die cut a complete and full diamond shape, by using the small die that fits into the opening of the diamond. They designed this die with a wave on the end that matches a wave on the end of the diamond, so it kind of locks into place when you put them together. That means you don't have to stress about getting it lined up exactly, the matching waves ensure that. GENIUS!
I first die cut the diamond stitching pattern and then used my MISTI to stamp the coordinating diamond shaped on both sides of the card front in Honey Drizzle ink by Altenew. Then to stitch my diamond I used both the yellow and red DMC floss from the kit. To do this I separated the floss so that I had 3 strands of each color, put them together and threaded my needle with both. Then I stitched my diamond as I described above.
After stamping and cutting out the flowers I used a piercing tool to poke two holes that are close together in the center of each flower. I then used the matching thread to make a French Knot in the centers. I used Crimson ink to stamp "Thank You" on to a strip of Whip Cream card stock. the sentiment and flowers are mounted to the card front with foam tape and squares. The base of this card is Summer Days card stock cut to 4-1/4" x 11" and scored at 5-1/2".
When you do stitching on your cards it become the star of the show and you don't have to do much more to the card for it to be a great card.
I could not show you this bundle with out stitching the "hello" on a card, which brings us to card 3.
I started this card by stamping a background with the diamond stamp and Silver Stone ink. I was pleasantly please that even though I got a little off center, my imperfect background ended up working for my card. The lesson learned here was to keep going and not to give up on too soon. Once the background was stamped I die cut the stitching patter for Hello. And since I love gray and yellow together I chose the yellow DMC floss to stitch my hello with.
Here's a couple tips when stitching the hello. 1. Stitch in the order and as if you were writing this word, this helps you go in the right directions. 2. When in doubt look at the back of the packaging for this die set, it shows a stitched example that I found helpful when I was not sure where to go on the "o".
Let me tell you my thoughts on why it's so cool that this bundle comes with heavy weight card stock. As I stitched the hello on this card I was pulling my thread pretty tight. I did not want a "baggie" look on this sentiment. I realized that had I been doing this on lighter weight card stock I might not be able to pull my thread as tight, for risk of ripping the paper. I recommend using the heavy weight card stock every time you stitch a card. Which is why it is so cool that Concord & 9th not only includes it in the kit but has a refill pack you can purchase separately AND it's only $2.50! You can also get an Essentials Refill pack of the DMC thread/floss, needles and heavy weight card stock (card front size).
To dress this card up I splattered the background with Silver Silk by FSJ. My sentiment strip has "Happy Birthday" embossed in white. And I used the larger floral images from the stamp set to accent that. This image can also be stitched with the coordinating die. But that is for another card on another day. I had to stop somewhere and did not want the video to be too long. Speaking of the video, I have it here for you. Be sure to click over to my YouTube channel to check out all my other videos and subscribe if you have yet to do so. I post new video's every week.
Be sure to let me know if you have any questions or feel free to just leave me a comment below, I love to interact with and get to know you! You should also check out the Concord & 9th blog today because there are two other guest designers this month that have creations with this bundle today too!
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