Baby card with pinks and greens!

I love pink and green together!!  I colour printed the little clothes line graphic (Pixabay) and layered it onto pink.  I cut the background paper to fit my card with a small border all the way around, then a thin strip of pink cardstock and then a length of scalloped pink cardstock which I had embellished with pearl fabric paint dots.  I added a length of white vintage seam binding to my background before I layered them all onto a green card front.  I added my layered image using 3D foam tape and then added the layered greeting punchie below it.  Finally, I tied a short piece of seam binding to the length on my card with one knot to simulate a bow.      Therese

Digital images, lace doily and some embossing for a get well card

A fun get well card!!!  I laser printed the image (Pixabay), trimmed it then added a piece of a paper lace doily to the bottom edge.  I embossed the top edge of a blue card using a dots border embossing folder then glued my image element below it.  I stamped the greeting on the lower right hand corner with blue ink.
The doily was rescued from a plate when we were out a while back and I knew I would find a place for it!!

Therese

Bleached backgrounds with handmade paper for these sympathy cards

These pieces of paper have been sitting since Christmas and arrived wrapped around gifts from my daughter!! She knew they would not go to waste!!  I finally unearthed them and decided to make a few cards with them. I started by modifying the dark blue gift wrap using a handmade stamp and some bleach!!  The handmade stamp is just rubber trimmings glued to a piece of wood!!  I spread some bleach on a plate and used it as a stamp pad and stamped all over the blue paper after crinkling and ironing it flat several times.  You can see the whole sheet below.

The other piece of paper was commercial handmade paper with natural additions which is beautiful and has texture on the one side.
For the first card I combined the two.  I glued the beautiful deckle edge of the brown one to a scrap of the blue one and trimmed the piece down to 4" x 5.25" which I then glued to a dark blue card front.  I watercoloured the butterfly (CLKER), layered it onto a brown rectangle with distressed edges.  I slipped a little laser printed greeting in between the two and adhered this large element to the front of my card over the join in my background.  It still needed a bit of something so I added some dots on the left hand side of the brown layer and that worked.  Love the look!
For my second card, I stitched a torn strip of the blue paper to a full background of the brown paper and stamped the greeting below in blue then glued it to a dark blue card front.  I embossed the wings of the little butterfly punchie (SU), tied on a brown fiber to create its body and then glued it to the front of my card using a small piece of a glue dot to allow the wings to be free.
I am looking forward to making a few more cards with these papers!!

Therese

Serendipity backgrounds, ribbon and digital greetings!

When I was making the scrappy backgrounds I discovered some serendipity backgrounds which I had made previously so I trimmed out a couple from one of my sheets and made these two cards.
These serendipity backgrounds have a tissue paper overlay which makes them much more subtle than the regular ones.  I used the lattice embossing folder on them which makes them almost look like fabric!!  For the left hand card, I zig zag stitched all the way around with green thread and stamped all over it with a round foam stamp in three different colours.  I glued the background to the front of a yellow card, added two lengths of gros grain ribbon on the left hand side - yellow and green. I watercoloured the greeting (Mud Maven Designs) image and added faux stitching all the way around with a green marker.  I adhered the greeting to the front of my card over the ribbons.    I love this image greeting in that it mimics hand stitching which works very well for this card!!
For my second card I stitched the background to a yellow card front after I had added a piece of yellow printed ribbon.  Those polka dots are fun!  I watercoloured the greeting (Mud Maven Designs), layered in onto purple and used 3D foam tape to adhere it to my card front over the ribbon.  I added three little butterfly punchies in the same purple. Like that!!

Therese

Thinking of you for a friend

A friend of ours was hospitalized last week and fortunately he is doing well and back home today.
I made him a card and some snacks though he has to be careful what he eats and will require some diet modification in the next few weeks.
I started with a navy blue card and adhered a layer of naturals handmade paper to the front, added a colour printed image of a light house then a strip of hand decorated navy gift wrap.  To finish off I added a little punchie greeting.
We must be grateful for every thing and all that is good!!

Therese

Reusing elements from handmade cards

  In the stack of cards that were donated I found some handmade cards.  They were not A2 sized so I chose to use the main elements as focal elements for my cards.  For the first card I cut out this beautiful hand painted image of three rose buds.  I had to cut them apart and recombine them with the leaves at the bottom so I watercoloured the space in between in green which tied them together quite nicely.  I stitched this focal element to a pink rectangle then layered a piece of dark green below on which I mounted a laser printed greeting punchie which I sponged a bit around the edges.  Layered this large element to a dark green card front.  

For my second card, I trimmed the focal element from the card, added an embossed pink rectangle to the bottom and glued it to an orange card front.  I glued a strip of yellow cardstock where they joined an then added a layered punchie greeting.  The greeting is a digital by Bird's cards to which I added a font greeting, laser printed and watercoloured.  I glued it to a white scallop punchie and thinking that it needed a bit of something else - I pierced the scallops!  That was better.  I adhered it to my card using 3D foam tape.

For my third card, I reused this beautiful tulip element.  I tore the bottom section and left a gap when I glued the elements to a green card front.  I tied some white fiber in the gap.  I stamped and gold embossed the greeting (SU), punched it out (SU) and layered it onto a gold scalloped oval(SU)  which I adhered over the fiber using 3D foam tape.
Easter is coming up and it is nice to have a few cards ahead.

Therese

More scrappy background cards!

 A couple more embossed scrappy background cards!!
For the card on the left, I trimmed my background to 4"x 5.25", added a length of vintage turquoise seam binding and glued it to a turquoise card.  I watercoloured the greeting (Mud Maven Designs), layered it onto blue and then added it to my card using 3D foam tape.  I tied a short piece of seam binding to the one on the card with one knot to simulate a bow.
For the card on the right, I trimmed my background and added a strip of purple to the top and bottom before adding two lengths of scallop lace and a pink ribbon in between.  I glued this large element to the front of a bright green card.  I watercoloured the image (Melonheadz Designs), layered it onto green and distressed the edge before adhering it over the ribbon on my card using 3D foam tape.  I added a layered punchie greeting which I created using a laser printed punchie (Word Window -SU) over a label (Modern Label - SU).
Fun cards to make and these cute little images are a perfect pairing with them.

Therese

Little fabric collages

Inspired by some online fabric postcards I decided to create some fabric collages that I could cut up to create little shapes for sewing to fabric postcards.  I started with some waist band fusible pellon which I bought at a thrift store.  I trimmed four pieces about 10" x 1.25", laid them one at a time fusible facing up on my ironing board and started applying tiny fabric scraps and tack fusing them into place with the iron.  I just kept adding scraps in a variety of directions and colours until the whole piece was covered with fabric.  Then I really applied the iron over the whole surface to ensure that everything was fused properly.  Repeated the same procedure for the remaing three pieces.  Because I wanted the small pieces I trimmed out of these strips to really be collaged it required very small pieces of fabric - some were as small as 1/8" by 1".

 I am very happy with how that worked out and with the fusible on only the one side of the pellon it worked very well to tack the little pieces into place.  Once I had finished the fusing I thought I would add some interest by stitching all over them with thread.  I used what I had - ends of spools, etc that had colours that coordinating a bit.  I mostly stitched along the length but did a few very wavy lines to add interest.  I pressed them all nicely once the stitching was done.  Stitching has added some stability to the pieces and they cut apart quite nicely to create some very nice little fabric collages.  You can see all the ones I created with my four strips below.  They are approximately 1.25"x 1.25".  I will be using these for at least one or two fabric postcards and I will  have leftovers for other fabric projects - maybe an art quiltie or two!!                  Therese

Scrappy backgrounds for quilted looking cards

 I dug out my scraps the other day and made a whole bunch of backgrounds.  I used straight edged scraps and glued them down to a substrate of paper or cardstock one at a time next to each other until the whole surface had been filled.  I trimmed as I needed to the edges or to make the pieces fit.  I embossed them once they were dry.
Here are some of the cards I made with the backgrounds I created.
The greetings are digital images from Mud Maven Designs.  She has some very cool greetings on her site!!  Worth checking out!!
I trimmed my background to 4" x 5.25", added a two lengths of scallop lace with pink ribbon between them.  I watercoloured the greeting, layered onto dark pink and adhered it to my card over the ribbon.  I layered two silk flowers and adhered them to my card front using a yellow brad.  I love that the greeting has a little graphic!!

 For this card I thought the greeting was most appropriate!!!  I trimmed my background to 4" x 5.25", I glued several short pieces of ribbon to back of the image and then stitched it to the background.  I glued this large element to the front of a black card.  I watercoloured the flowers on the greeting - adds a nice touch to have the graphics included with the greeting.

For this card, I trimmed my background to 4" x 5.25", added a brown gros grain ribbon cross the top portion and glued it to a blue card front.  I watercoloured the greeting, layered it onto a rectangle of green cardstock leaving extra on the right hand side which I punched with a scallop border punch (SU).  I added two lines with a glitter gel pen and then a little drop of blue glitter glue in each of the scallops to finish it off.
I really love the look of these backgrounds and they are super easy to make and use up scraps.  A great activity to do with the kids or with a group of friends when you are wanting to be creative together.               Therese

Fabric postcard with a geometric pattern and hand stitching

 I am part of a birthday swap on my fabric postcard group - Trading Fabric Post Cards.  I have seen cards where the shapes of the images in the fabric have been hand embroidered so I decided I would try that on this one.  The fabric has geometric patterns and elements and a wonderful colour combination of red, purple, sienna and turquoise with a bit of blue and black!!  You can see below a before shot of the fabric - the strip is printed and part of the fabric. I wanted it to be highlighted so I added an extra layer of batting just behind the strip and stitched it into place before stitching the same size piece of batting to the front of my postcard.

With the batting in place I started adding hand stitching - first around all the elements in the areas above and below the strip.  I took same colour embroidery floss and did running stitch around all of the elements doing all one colour at the time starting with the black, then the purple, turquoise, blue and finally the yellow.  I wanted to highlight the red area as well so I just added short tiny stitches randomly in all of those areas.  I like the texture that the hand stitching provides!!  Next, I added hand stitching to the squares in the strip.  In this area I added hand stitching in a different colour than the printing. For example on the black center elements I used red and purple to highlight them.  I used the those same colours on the outside borders and in the black corner elements as well.  Lastly, I added yellow to the corners of all the squares.  Wanting to bling it up a bit I added sequins in the center of the squares which I just stitched in place using large french knots.  As I was stitching I was thinking of a theme regarding having special days.  I was inspired to make one of the squares a gift by stitching a gold ribbon to the top to simulate a bow and to add the quote which reads" today - the present".  The squares reminded me that often every day looks very much like the one that came before with a few changes.  We get to choose to see it as "the present" that it is and certainly when we celebrate a birthday we get to make it special by adding to it activities, people and things that have meaning for us.   The quote is hand written on iron on fabric label tape, coloured with watercolour and ironed into place below the gift.  To make the bow, I simply folded gold ribbon to make a V and stitched it into place above the square that became the gift.  I added a white backer to which I had stitched some pellon and stitched my front and back together very close to the edge all the way around.  I braided three lengths of black fiber and used black thread in a zig zag stitch to finish off my post card.  I am pretty happy with it!!  Very different that some of the others I have created.  You can check them out here. This one is off to my partner to arrive before her March birthday.      Therese

Creating shamrocks with hearts for cards!

For these St. Patrick's Day cards I used heart punchies and die cuts to create shamrocks for my cards - an idea I found on line.  I cut two different sizes in different green decorative papers, layered them and stitched them together.  On the right hand one, I stitched them to the white layer at the same time.  With no St. Patrick's Day stamp I chose to create the layers I needed in Corel Draw using fonts and printed the quarter sheets with the greeting already on them.  For the first card I embossed the white layer with the Swiss Dots embossing folder on the top and manually embossed the bottom portion to avoid embossing the printed greeting.  I layered on my stitched shamrock, added the white fiber knotting it into place and then layered this whole element to the front of a green card.

For the second one, I added ribbon between the shamrock and the laser printed greeting then stitched the white layer to a green card front.  I did add green rhinestones to their centers which nicely covers up the convergence of the stem and the leaves.
For the next two cards I created shamrocks with hearts as well. For the left hand one I used smaller hearts to make a shamrock that would fit on a smaller rectangle which had a laser printed greeting.  I added a rhinestone in the center and sponged the edges of the rectangle with green ink to finish off my focal element.  I added a strip of white vintage seam binding to an embossed green rectangle of cardstock before I glued it to a white card front.  I added my focal element over the seam binding using 3D foam tape and then tied a short piece of seam binding to the piece on the card with one knot to simulate a bow!!  
For the next card, I embossed a white layer which had a laser printed greeting on it avoiding embossing the greeting.  I added a strip of gold fiber ribbon and then glued it to a green layer and then layered the whole element to a white card front.  I created my shamrock by gluing the hearts over each other and then glued them to a green square of cardstock.  I added this focal element to my card using double sided tape. 
Glad to have a bit of variety in my cards!!  

Therese

Changed up images in card kits to make St. Patrick's Day cards!

More St. Patrick Day cards!!  These both feature digital images I found on line!!  I do not have any stamps so the digital images worked fine.  They came from colouring page sites.  I started with kits from this January card class.   I substituted the images for the hearts!  I glued the laser printed decorative paper (Digital Graphics Cafe) to my embossed card fronts, added faux washi tape to the one on the right and then layered on my layered watercoloured images.  I added a little laser printed greeting to the bottom of the image on the right hand card along with a little rhinestone in the center of the shamrock.  These worked out great and making cards from kits always speeds the process!!

Therese

Vintage fabric postcard crazy quilted in pinks and greens

 I signed up for a Vintage Postcard swap on one of my groups - TFPC.  I decided to make it using crazy quilting fabric piecing and embellish it with hand stitching.
I started with a little cross stitch which I started months ago and finally finished.  There was some unraveling involved which may have contributed to the delay.  I machine stitched my little cross stitch to a piece of muslin and then started adding pieces of fancy fabric in pinks and greens - my favorite colour combination.

 These little scraps of fancy fabrics were a RAK in a swap I participated in on my Crazy Quilting group.  Judith asked all of us what our favorite colours were and a little package arrived along with our swap.  As you can see, they are very nice fabrics and it did not take very much of each to create this postcard so there are will be a few more from those scraps.  I have done the piecing technique before where you add strips all around a central element for crazy quilting but I obviously should have reviewed the instructions before I started.  I eventually had to top stitch some of the pieces in place so some review will have to happen before I do it next time.  Fortunately, crazy quilting is very forgiving and

there are few rules to be followed.  You can see above what my postcard looked like before I started stitching it.  It is always fun to add stitching and embellishments!!  I have a stitching book with directions for lots of stitches but the most fun is combining them to make nice borders to embellish the seams.  I started by adding the lace and also created a stitched butterfly and a sequin flower with a stem.  The flower border was fun too which was the element with the most colour.  I am pretty happy with all the stitching - it took a whole day!!  Once the stitching was finished I cut it down to size but because of how I finished my hand stitching I was not wanting to cut my threads so my post card is a bit larger than the traditional 4" x 6" that we normally create on the group.  Hopefully, that won't be too much of an issue for my swap partner.  I created a white layer for the back and added a piece of pellon to it before I stitched the front and back together with straight stitch all the way around the edge.  I am expanding my options for finishing the edges.  This is the first time I have ever used ziz zag on the edge.  I wanted to embellish that a little bit so I crocheted a single chain from pink yard and couched that into the stitching.  I originally used green thread over the pink yard - that was not good!!  So I unraveled that and used pink thread instead and that was much better.  I really like how the edge worked out!!  I will be doing that again!!  So my postcard is ready to go and will be mailed off to my swap partner in the next few days.  Therese

Reusing beautiful images from cards for making new cards

 I have received a stack of used cards and am reusing the images to make new cards!!!  It is a win-win!! I have chosen the smallest cards to reuse as the images are to the right scale for A2 cards.  

For the first one, I chose these beautiful poppies, trimmed the image and layered it onto green and then layered this element to the front of a pink card.  My favorite colour combination!!  I trimmed the gold greeting from the original card, layered it onto pink and then onto my card front on a bit of a diagonal.  Excellent!!

For my second card, I trimmed down the image, tied a length of white fiber on the top between the greeting and the image and then glued this element to a green card front.  Done!!

For my third card, I trimmed the owl from the card and reused the borders from the card on the top and the bottom of the image.  I glued these to a brown card front and added a laser printed greeting below the image. 

For my fourth card, I trimmed the all over floral card front to 4" x 5.25" and added a length of vintage green seam binding before gluing it to the front of a green card.  I layered a laser printed and watercoloured circle greeting (Bird's Cards) to a colour washed scallop circle punchie (SU) which was pierced in all the scallops and adhered it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  I tied on a short length of seam binding to the one on the card with one knot to simulate a bow.  

So a few more cards to add to the stash!!

Therese

Fabric postcard featuring candles and paper beads

A fabric postcard for the birthday swap on my Trading Fabric Post Cards group.  I love how this one turned out!!  I started with some fabric that I coloured with wax crayons.  After ironing it very thoroughly I was able to get most of the wax out yet it left pretty much all the colour. You can check out the fabric I painted here.  I cut a piece that was 6" wide and then went looking for a fabric that coordinated. I found this striped fabric scrap that was perfect!!  I trimmed the striped fabric to 6" as well and stitched them together.  I did find that my sewing machine had a bit of trouble with the waxed fabric - it was having difficulty feeding it through so it might have been better had I used the waxed fabric on the top instead of the bottom.  Something to watch for next time!  I decided that the stripes looked like candles and that would be most appropriate for a birthday post card.  I added a small piece of batting to the back and stitched all the stripes individually to give "the candles" definition.  I added Heat and Bond to the back of a small piece of yellow fabric and hand cut 11 little candle flames - one for each candle.  I wondered whether there would be any problem getting the heat and bond to adhere to the waxed fabric but there was no problem.  I ironed them all into place and used a fine tip permanent marker to add a wick to each one.  To give them a bit of dimension I used an orange watercolour pencil to add a bit of colour and then used a small wet brush to soften the colour and spread it out a bit.  I stitched the silver ribbon over the bottom section and applied my hand lettered & watercoloured quote over it.  I created it from iron fabric label tape so it simply needed to be ironed into place.  I added two sequins on either end keeping them in place with large french knots.  I thought it still needed a bit of something so I used light yellow floss and running stitches to create light rays around my flames  It added texture and did pretty much what I had hoped it would.  On hind sight, I wish I had added some sewing machine stitching to the bodies of the candles as they are quite plain.  They could have used some texture as well but with the ribbon & quote in place it was not convenient to make that happen.  With the hand stitching done I created a backer from white fabric and creatively stitched some batting to it using my sewing machine.  I put my back and front together and stitched all the way around close to the edge. Once I decided on my edge treatment I realized that it would have been more appropriate to have used coloured thread to stitch all the way around so I used a marker and ruler to carefully apply colour to the white thread to tone it down a bit.  Worked quite well!!   I decided to use the paper beads that I created a while back in my edge treatment.   I cut them in half, covered them in coordinating decorative paper and then included them along with some pink E beads when I blanket stitched all the way around.  It was nice to be able to use a larger needle with fine crochet thread on this piece as it easily managed the holes in the Ebeads and the paper beads.
As I was creating I reflected on my quote - "shine your light".  We are only ones who can shine our light - no one else can do it for us!!  We have the ability to choose to shine bright or not.  We can only be perfectly ourselves because we have a unique set of talents and abilities which cannot really be compared to those of others.  I hope my swap partner will see that we are more the same than not but being different makes us unique and that is worth celebrating especially on our birthdays.
Therese

St.Patrick Day cards!

I have started on St. Patrick's Day cards!!
For the first one, I created a digital image using Corel Draw which combined three hearts to created a shamrock, added a stem and then surrounded it with a greeting - "Wishing you the luck of the Irish this St. Patrick's Day".  I  printed off several in different sizes.  This one was printed so it could be punched out with a 1 3/4" circle punch.  I layered it onto green (Nestibilities) and then added a white scalloped circle below that.  I pierced all the scallops with a push pin and sponged the edges just a bit to tone them down.  I created a background by gluing strips of green decorative paper to a light cardstock substrate then stamped a "zigzag stitching" over all of the joints.  I added green ribbon and then mounted this element to green card front.  I added my layered focal element over the ribbon using 3D foam tape. It still needed "a bit of something" so I added green rhinestones to the right of the element and that was good!  Like this one!!
The next card was created using a laser printed digital image I found on line.  I trimmed out the image, sponged the edges with green ink and added gold glitter glue to all of the dots in the green area on the outside of the shamrocks.  Once that was dry, I added a black gros grain ribbon across the bottom section adhering the ends to the back then adhered the whole element to a black card.  I chose a little serendipity heart to glue over the ribbon to add a bit of interest and dimension to my card!!  It5 might have been better to be a shamrock but I did not have one!!  The gold in the heart echoes the gold in the glitter glue!!  Quick and easy!!

Therese

Covering paper beads with paper

I am working on a project and finally am going to be using these white paper beads I made a while back.  I made them white so they could be customized for a particular project.  For this project I am wrapping them in decorative paper.  I found the papers I needed in my Serendipity supply box.  I decided to cut the beads in half, cover them with paper and then stitch them to my project incorporating beads in between them.  It took a while to customize them with the paper I had chosen and will certainly find that a draw back when deciding to use the rest of them.  The other option is to colour them when I make them but that may mean that they will never get used because they are not the right colour OR that I do not have enough to complete the project.  So I am not sure which I the best way ahead but I will see how it goes and decide after I have used them.          Therese

Reusing old cards to make new ones!!

A few more cards I have created using images from old greeting cards that have been donated for refurbishing.  For the first card, I trimmed out the cottage image and added a green scallop border on the right after I had punched each scallop with a 1/16" hole punch.  It was created using some wax resist/watercolour background paper from my stash.  I layered a rectangle of gold gift wrap to a brown card front and then added my embellished image.  I added a green ribbon across the bottom gluing the ends to the inside of the card.  I cut a very slim opening on the spine using my slot punch to slip the ribbon into.  I layered a laser printed greeting over a brown die cut label and adhered to the front of my card using 3D foam tape.  

For my second card, I trimmed the hummingbird image from an old card, layered it onto gold gift wrap, then onto an orange rectangle and finally onto a dark brown card.  I stamped a greeting onto the image using green ink and my card was done!!

For my third card, I trimmed out the image, added a folded ribbon on the top right and layered on half of a silver label (SU).  I layered a laser printed greeting onto a blue label and adhered it over the silver label.  It is very different for me to put the greeting in that location but that was the space that was available.  I find that using images from old card has be stretching myself creatively!!  

A few more cards to add to my stash!!

Therese

Christmas cards for Red & Heart challenge

I have made six of these Christmas cards for February's  Red & Heart Christmas card challenge on my sister, Sylvia's blog.  They were inspired by a card I found on Splitcoast Stampers. That is where I most often get my inspiration.  I created my card in a landscape format instead of portrait and used a stamped greeting instead of a folded label one but most of the other elements are the same.  

I started by digging the heart punchies (SU) from my little stash bin.  They were not all the same colour so I coordinated my card to the heart colour.  I decided some of my backgrounds would be ivory and others would be white, I cut my quarter sheets and embossed them with a fancy oval embossing folder (SX) then stamped my greeting (SU) using green ink.  I did manipulate the stamp (SU) a bit so it would be curved when I stamped it and that worked great.  I trimmed my backgrounds to leave a small margin all the way around and glued them to my card fronts.  Next, I punched my birds from white and ivory cardstock scraps then I punched the branches from scraps of green cardstock. I decided to have some birds facing one way and others facing the other.  I wish I had assembled one to start because I would have realized that having the branch pointing to the greeting was a great design feature but deciding to change the directions the birds faced negated that on some of my cards.  I will know better next time! I added the eye to the bird using a fine tip permanent marker and I very lightly outlined the beak using a pencil.  I sponged their edges and used small pieces of glue dot to adhere the branches to their beaks.  I added pearl paint to the wings to give them some texture and add a bit of bling to the cards.  Next, I layered my elements onto my cards starting with the hearts, then the bird and finally the pearly wings went on with 3D foam tape.  

I am very happy to have my February Christmas cards already made and hope to keep up with them all year so come November I will have them all ready to send out.  

Therese

Valentine's card for a special guy

I have been on a Valentine's card kick lately and I thought I should make DH before moving on to other things!  He loves music so I like to include that theme on his card.
You may recognize this background from my Christmas thank you cards.  I saved this one aside especially for this card!!  I sponged the edges and layered it onto an ivory quarter sheet which I had trimmed to leave a small border when I put it on an A2 card.  I forgot how slowly this paper absorbs ink so you can see that I mucked up the top right hand corner a bit.  Oh well!  I punched a heart hole in this background, penciled in a line, added the reused red and gold ribbon gluing the ends to the back and then stitched the line to make the heart look like it was hanging.  Next, I added a short piece of ribbon and tied it with one knot to the one on the card.  There was writing (ferraro rocher) on the back side so I was careful to not make it show.  I die cut a little heart (CB) out of duplex cardstock, embossed it with a swirl embossing folder (TH-SX) and then sanded it until some of the white showed through the red.  It did not coordinate with the ivory all that well so I sponged the white with a little yellow ink just enough to tone it done and have it coordinate better.  I positioned my background on my card and glued my little heart into place and then stitched it there.  I lifted the two sides so they would be dimensional.  I glued my background in place on my red card front.  I wanted a subdued greeting so I colour washed a white laser printed oval greeting punchie with yellow to help it coordinate with the card and then sponged the edges with red.  I adhered it to the front of the card using 3D foam tape.  Very happy with how it turned out!!  Therese