Specialty Card

The MFT Wednesday card sketch was in my mind all week and this is what came out of my hands.  Thank you MFT.

A friend asked if I could make a specialty card for a dear friend of hers who is having her 90th birthday.  Well….of course.  I had been eyeing up this stamp set from My Favorite Things and it went on 50% off sale and I knew it would be the perfect images for my friends request.   I could hardly wait to get it but since she was so kind as to give me an order for several more cards, I focused on getting them done as I waited for my MFT order.

A 90th birthday card for a very active lady had to be larger than the standard A2 card I usually make so I used 12x12 paper to create a 5 x 7 card.

My friend had a lot of input for this card so I can’t take all the credit.  She suggested background paper that had sewing things on it and buttons.   I don’t have any paper like that or buttons to match,  so I went ahead and made my own.  Using paper from Afternoon Amuse Glitz pack, I stamped the images all in olive green.  I laid the paper on the scor-buddy and made holes with the scor-bug.  Then using a metallic gel pen I “sewed’ the edges.  Using a large spellbinders die for the circle I left the die in place after cutting and used the inside of the die as a template to pierce holes around the circle.  Remove the die and “sew” again with the same gel pen. 

Next step, stamp the spool image onto chipboard and hand cut it.  Wrap it with embroidery thread.  I then stamped the dress form in olive green on thick cardstock and fussy cut it out.  I knew I would need a base across the bottom and I went digging for this gorgeous wire ribbon from Ribbon Carousel.  It has a bit of fine wire in it and wraps beautifully.  I cut the buttons out of Coredinations card stock and then cut chipboard backings for them. I took the one darker button and threaded twine through the holes and then made a great figure eight bow for it. 

The sentiment on the banner was requested by my friend and I thought the wavy banner gave movement to the card.  It looked a bit bare and I used the same technique as  the background paper for stitching it.  As I laid the pieces all out on the big doily it still looked bare and not tied together.  I made a needle, free hand and threaded it, wrapping it around the dress form and pushing the needle into the spool.  Ah that looks better.  then looking at the card, it seemed a bit weighted on the bottom and I added the two “Candies” in the top corner.  Hmm…still a bit bare looking.  The doily looks too stark white.  Using my favorite Judith stamp, the five dots, I dotted the white area with blue mettalic ink.  A small gem popped onto the top of the dress form and it’s all ready to put together.  You can’t tell from the picture but the dress form is popped up with dimensionals to give it some depth and make it the real focal point on the doily.

I love how this turned out.  I love being challenged to create different things.  I am so excited about how this turned out and I think my friend will find it is exactly what she was hoping for.  Thanks for looking.  All comments are like big hugs and much appreciated. 

I realized after I took the photo the stamp set was sitting right next to the card.  I left it for you to view rather than cropping it out. What a fun set.