Several months ago, I never envisioned myself taking a needle and thread to my cards. Fast forward to now, and evidently, things have changed. Behold, my first string card!
So what changed my mind? Recently I was asked if I’d like to try some stitching dies (which you’ll see appearing here in the coming months!) and I said sure because I love trying new things. Obviously I’d need some embroidery floss too, so the next day I headed out to my nearest craft store to buy some. I intended just to buy it in silver, gold, and a couple of colors, but of course, I ended up being fascinated by the selection and found myself walking out with a full rainbow of embroidery floss, an organizing box, needles, and a needle threader. Let’s just say I’m ready to make a LOT of cards with embroidery floss!
In addition to my compulsive purchase, a few days later, Ellen Hutson’s June release went live, which included an A2 piercing plate cover die. The ideas instantly started flowing through my brain as to all the things I could do with it, including practicing for the stitching dies that were also on the way in the mail! You can see my though process here – buying the piercing plate just made SENSE. Add to cart was clicked, and the rest is history.
Ok, so this card. For my first crack at a string card, I decided to keep it super simple, just to establish some sort of baseline level of confidence. I chose a few colors of embroidery floss, then used the A2 piercing plate with some white cardstock to create the area I’d be stitching into. (You can’t tell by looking at the finished card that the plate was used, but it’s lying beneath the top card panel and seemed like the easiest way to get uniform widths of string for all of my colors.) I used a simple rectangle die to cut the middle portion of the pierced panel out, threaded a needle with some pink embroidery floss, and began working my way back and forth, back and forth, switching colors until I’d reached the bottom of the rectangle space. After tying off the final color, the needle work was done!
Rather than leaving the rainbow-filled area as a rectangle, I used one of the new Essential Arches nesting dies to create an arched window in a trimmed white panel. I adhered it on top, then moved on to the bits that make this a birthday card. The Cake stamp set by Julie Ebersole has some super cute (and delicious) looking treat images in it, so I picked the cake, embossed it in silver, and cut it out with the coordinating die. While I was at it, I also embossed the words ‘Happy Birthday to You’, and cut it out with one of the smaller Essential Arches dies. After adhering those to my card with a bit of foam tape, I finished with a few clear sparkling sequins and called it a day!
As far as the string and paper stitching goes, this was a pretty easy card to make – just a little time consuming. But I’m really looking forward to using the piercing plate more (so that you can actually see it on the card!) and if that’s of interest, stay tuned because that’s coming up this Friday! In the meantime, I’d love to know… what are your thoughts on string and stitched cards? Do you enjoy making them? Curious to try?
