Sunday, June 06, 2021

Christmas cards using green fabric ribbon/snippet roll on a tag with a gold star and fun backgrounds

These are the cards I created with my fabric ribbon/snippet roll/garland which I made earlier this week.  

I created these tags on which I stitched my little green trees using my green fabric ribbon/snippet roll.  I die cut them from a greenish kraft cardstock using a large crescent tag die (Ellison).  I embossed them with the Scripty (SU) 3D embossing folder and then highlighted the text and the edges in dark green ink.  I cut some brown fabric into small rectangles so I could use them for the trunks of my trees.  I started by trimming my first piece of fabric ribbon about the width of the tag and then two more just a little less wide so when stacked they made a tree shape.  I used dark green thread in my sewing machine and straight stitch.  I positioned my trunk in the middle of the bottom of my tag and laid the widest strip across the bottom and stitched it in place catching the trunk in the line of stitching.  I turned the corner and then positioned the other two overlapping each other so that there was enough room for a star at the top and stitch up that side.  I turned at the apex and stitched down the other side and met up with the beginning of my first line of stitching.  I like how the dark stitching defines the tree shape and the little snippets give it texture and interest all the way around too.  Totally great!!  I stitched all of my tags and then added red sequins using hand stitching to simulate ornaments on the tree.  For a more natural and less festive look I could have used little birds.   Next, I created the stars.  I used Ferraro Rocher gold foil glued to scrap cardstock as my decorative paper and die cut them with the smallest star on the large red Sizzix die.  I really like the rich colour of that gold foil.  I adhered my stars to the top of my trees using 3D foam tape.  Next, I trimmed out some green and red cards and then found this interesting decorative paper in one of my paper pads which was full of glittery candy canes which I was not sure what I would use it for.  In this case, with only small portions of the paper being visible it worked well.  It was a good colour and the bit of glitter contrasts well with the texture of the fabric bits.  I mounted my backgrounds to my card fronts and then adhered my tags directly to the backgrounds.  They are dimensional enough with all the fabric bits they did not need 3D foam tape as well.  I have made over a dozen of these so they will cover my May and June quota of Christmas cards for this year.  I am off to glue their inserts in and they are headed to my box with the rest of my stash of 2021 Christmas cards!!    Therese

 

Fabric ribbon/garland/snippet roll using fabric scraps in a fun way

I have been checking snippets rolls on line for a couple of years now hoping to at some time have the necessary inspiration to give it a go.  For my current set of Christmas cards I found inspiration in a little Christmas on a tag created my sewing strips of stitched fabric scraps to the tag using a triangle shape.  The little fabric pieces made me think of snippet rolls and so I got started.  I dug through my stash of green "other fabrics" and trimmed a small piece from everyone piece in the box and the cut each of them into smaller pieces with irregular shapes about 1" x 1.25 or so.  I used a 1.5" x  60" strip green polyester fabric with both sides folded to the center as my base.  I used a decorative stitch on my sewing machine which produces a wavy stitch line and then set the widest stitch width and the longest stitch length so that I had a very decent wavy pattern to stitch my "snippets" to my base. I used  dark green thread for both my top and bottom thread. I simply folded the first snippet in half and started stitching and kept adding folded snippets under the presser foot as I went keeping them well overlapped so I covered the base pretty much completely.  It was a very fun process and I simply picked up pieces from my little stack without too much thought.  I did not stitch two of the same next to each other.  I almost finished the full length of my base with what I had cut so to finish it off I cut up a few more snippet pieces. It was a fairly substantial decorative piece by the time I was done and it could easily have been used as a ribbon to wrap a gift or garland on a wreath, tree or banister.  


 So I was very impressed with the end product though it does not resemble very closely the snippet rolls I have found on line I think it would be very fun to make one of these up for home decorating.  I can certainly see a red and gold one for a Christmas tree, orange and purple for Halloween on a front door wreath, etc.  As a ribbon for wrapping gifts it would make an awesome statement with kraft paper gift wrap.  This one will be turned into Christmas cards which makes it very versatile!!  

Therese


Graduation card featuring a kraft and green background cut & folded to reveal a diamond shape filled with a gold star die cut

For my last card I started with a dark green card.  I trimmed a kraft and green paper to size and then made two cuts which allowed me to fold the flaps to the front and reveal a diamond of dark green.  I adhered it to my card and then added the gold star die cut with 3D foam tape.  The greeting is a digital from Desert Diva which I laser printed, trimmed to size and watercoloured to coodinate.  Then I trimmed the bottom edge with scallop decorative scissors and added dots with a gold gel pen in each scallop and then ran my pattern tracing wheel on all four edges to add some paper pierced goodness to it.  I filled in the little cap with the gold gel pen as well.  I tucked the greeting just below one of the flaps and adhered it with 3D foam tape.   Thinking it still needed a bit of something I added a wavy line all the way around the background with the gold gel pen.  That was better!!

Therese