Blue Damask - Missing You

Blue colors with a textile theme - a damask print, a woven-textured panel, a pinked edge, and a faux striped ribbon made from embroidery floss.  In real life, the blues work well together.

The sentiment is inlaid into the negative shape, so I used the leftover die cuts to make a second card, the same but with the sentiment colors reversed. 

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) spring rain (light blue), blueberry sky (medium blue), enchanted evening (dark blue), and the damask print from PTI enchanted evening pattern pack.
• The sentiment "Missing You" is cut with Silhouette Cameo using PilGi font.  I modified some letters in the words, moving the dots of the "i"s down to attach to the strokes, and opening up the closed loops of the "g" and "Y" - to avoid the tiny detached pieces.  I also thickened the lower loop of the "g" slightly to be less fragile when cut.
•  I cut two sentiment panels, one in light blue and one in medium blue, then interchanged the pieces.  I put a 1" strip of Scor Tape across the back, then added texture with Stampin' Up square lattice embossing folder.
• For the pinked edge, I used PTI pinking shears border die.
• The embroidery floss is DMC # 800 (light blue) and 799 (medium blue).
• Technique:  To make the faux ribbon, I adhered a 1/8" strip of Scor Tape to the dark blue card stock, then gently stretched across three lengths of embroidery floss, and pressed them down firmly with my bone folder.  The Scor Tape and floss are wrapped around to the back of the card stock about 1".  This technique makes a very nice flat embellishment, with a lovely sheen in real life.

Created for Operation Write Home, "supporting our nation's armed forces by sending blank handmade greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them." (371)

Storage - Embroidery Floss

These two photos show how I store my embroidery floss.   I really enjoy using DMC and other floss on my cards, sometimes like narrow ribbon or twine, and sometimes for flower centers.

Last spring,  I was wishing for a simple, easy way to store and use my floss.  The idea of winding it all onto bobbins did not appeal to me.  Browsing in my local needlework shop, I found a solution that has worked beautifully for me.   After almost a year of using it, I think it's safe to say that I love it and I'm happy to recommend it to others.

It's called the Thread Tux by Yarn Tree.  The bags come in a pack of 100, with a choice of several label colors.  The bags are available on line, but I didn't post a link because I haven't personally ordered from any of those stores. 

Each skein of floss slides into a separate bag.  The closed end (at the top in my photos) has a 1/4" hole that seems pretty sturdy.  The open end (at the bottom) has a zipper seal, with a hole above and below the seal.  The loose end of thread comes out above the seal, then back in below the seal.  This gives it just enough friction to stay in place.  Note: the thread is not pulled through the zipper seal, but weaves over and outside it, through the holes. 

You could place the bags on a round binder ring, but I have mine on knitting stitch holders - in my case, 2 of them, each with about 50 bags.  (The aluminum stitch holder, about 5" long, is like a big safety pin without a sharp point.)  I put all of that into a gallon plastic zipper bag, which flattens down nicely in the box where I keep it.

What I like about this storage system:

• No winding thread onto separate cards or bobbins.
• I can write the card stock name onto the bag label area, making it easy to find the matching floss.  I use a ball-point pen, which writes easily and wipes off cleanly with alcohol if I need to change it.
• By inserting each skein into its bag in the same direction (color number toward the bottom of the bag, facing away from the bag label), I can easily see the floss brand and color number.
• The floss dispenses smoothly and easily, even when the skein is getting empty.  If it sticks a bit, I just pinch the skein at the top end while tugging gently from the bottom.
• I can keep an extra skein in the bag, with the skein I'm using.
• No tangles.
• Easy to see what I have, and how much is left.
• Not a big investment - the bags cost around $7 or $8 per 100, and the knitting stitch holders cost around $2 each. 

What I don't like?  Well, nothing for me.  For serious embroidery maybe, the slippery bags could be a nuisance.  But for how I use them,  I have no complaints. 

PTI Winter Wisteria with Anchor #108 floss

This post is just to show a picture of Anchor floss color #108 with PTI Winter Wisteria card stock.

Felt Flower with Tiny Tag

Playing with some new felt. Though I love to use bright colors, the bottom card seemed a little too bright. I'm happier with the top card, where I replaced the red with an orangey-brown color.


Card details:

• Card stock and felt by Papertrey Ink (PTI): blueberry sky (blue card base and felt flower center), canyon clay (orangey-brown flower (felt), eyelet lace strip, and tiny heart on bottom card), pure poppy (red flower (felt), eyelet lace strip, and tiny heart on bottom card), harvest gold (yellow), simply chartreuse (deep yellow-green), and spring moss (light yellow-green tag).
• Dies are PTI eyelet lace border and tiny tags. Embossing folder is Lifestyle Crafts diamonds and dots.
  
• The tag is tied on with bright yellow embroidery floss and adhered with foam tape. It's a 2-layer tag using the solid (no heart) tag as a base. I put Scor Tape all across the base tag layer, then pressed down the heart tag on top. That left an opening with Scor Tape inside, and a solid base to adhere my tiny contrasting heart.
• Sentiment "love" is computer-printed with green ink in "Stencil Std" font (bold).
• Flower is punched with 1-1/4" EK Success scalloped circle. Flower center is hand cut. I will buy some dies for the future. Although I was able to punch the PTI felt, it wasn't easy. I had to punch it part way, then turn the felt a bit inside the punch, then finish punching. More force than I like to use, and probably not so good for my punch. And would only work with a symmetrical shape.
  
• I sewed french knots with bright yellow embroidery floss, then pulled my thread tails to the front (4 threads at a time) and separated the threads.
  

Created for Operation Write Home, "supporting our nation's armed forces by sending blank handmade greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them." (133)

Pastel Flower Dot Cards

A simple design with scalloped circles, ribbon, and embroidery floss, all colored with Copic markers. Light green (above) and pink (below) on ivory. It didn't seem to need a sentiment, so I didn't add one.

The base layer and center 1.25" scallop are Neenah baronial ivory, a yellowish cream color. I colored the ribbon and outer 2" scalloped circle with Copic marker G40 (green) and RV10 (pink).

The embroidery floss center is a mix of cream with pink or green. I made the pink and green floss from white, colored with G40 or RV10. After separating the floss into individual strands, I used a very small crochet hook to pull it (all at the same time) through a 1/8" punched hole. The floss is adhered with Scor Tape on the back and a dot of Ranger Glossy Accents on the front.

Created for Operation Write Home, "supporting our nation's armed forces by sending blank handmade greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them." (034)

Sunshine Card on Blue - Embroidery Floss

Two colors of embroidery floss and a tiny paper flower for the sun. A paper cloud for the sentiment, "You ... are my sunshine."

The sun's rays are strips of 1/8" Scor Tape with two full strands of embroidery floss. The sun's circle is a spiral of embroidery floss laid down on a 1 3/4" circle punched from a sheet of Scor Tape. At its center is a tiny paper Hero Arts flower with a self-adhesive gem, colored with Copic markers Y38, Y21, and Y000.

The paper cloud is Neenah, cut out freehand, edged with Copic marker B41. The card stock is Papertrey Ink Spring Rain (light blue) and Neenah Baronial Ivory, edged with Copic marker Y38. The font for the computer-printed sentiment is Apple Chancery.

Created for Operation Write Home, "supporting our nation's armed forces by sending blank handmade greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them." (010a)

Sunshine Card - Embroidery Floss

Another card experiment, this time with cotton embroidery floss. I have several dozen skeins of different colors, bought 25 years ago to try some freehand art embroidery, another one of my unsuccessful non-marker art attempts. So I decided to try using it like ribbon on a greeting card. And one thing led to another.

Technique: All the floss is adhered with Scor-tape, an extremely sticky double-sided tape. For the sun's rays, I used 1/8" tape - just wide enough for 2 full strands of floss side by side. Then for the grass, I used a horizontal 1/2" strip and placed little U shapes of floss across it. All pressed down firmly.

The center of the sun is a small round plastic "gem" embellishment, tinted with orange Copic marker. Around that, I laid down a spiral of light yellow floss, streaked with Copic, on Scor-tape on top of a scrap of card stock, then more Scor-tape on the back of that, all cut into a circle and pressed down. (010b)

• Paper: Top layer - Neenah; Card base - Papertrey Ink Perfect Match card stock (New Leaf, from the 2009 cardstock sampler) - 4.25 x 5.5" when folded.