Sweet Blessings

Whew!  I just love this Sweet Christmas pattern paper that I purchased!  It's so beautiful and romantic!  But, I wanted to see more potential for this pattern paper.  So, I set out to create a non Christmas card with this Christmas paper.  And I am super happy with my results!

The talented ladies over @ Retro Sketches have a wonderfully creative challenge this week.  Use any sketch from their archives!  and so I did!

I used a sketch from a few years back.  But just look at it!  Very sweet, and I love the curves and bow!  And yeah, I used my Sweet Christmas pattern paper from Tilda.

Recipe:  I used crumb cake card stock from Stampin' Up! as the card base.  They make this wonderful heavy weight card stock.  I cut a piece of the grey background busy pattern paper.  (This is two sided pattern paper.)  I matted it onto a piece of whisper white card stock, and did a simply border stitch.  I think if the sewn lines aren't straight it adds some character.  (Ok, I really can't sew a straight line. {frown})  

The other side of the ballerinas, and polar bears, is that sweet tiny floral pattern.  So, I used my Top Note die, and cut a strip of the tiny floral pattern paper.  

I took a strip of pink pirouette seam binding and a piece of white crochet trim and machine stitched them to the front of the card.  I did another simple stitch line for the top of the seam binding.  I thought it looked more tailored.

I cut the tag from one of the sheets of pattern paper.  Yeah, a whole sheet of different sizes of tags.  I inked my sentiment in Basic Gray classic ink and stamped on the tag.  I used Signature Greetings stamp set from Paper Trey Ink.  I just love the mix of fonts.  I really love that one word looks like hand writing.  (I know, I'm such a dork. {smile})

I tied a simple bow with more of the pink pirouette seam binding, and added a half pearl brad by Recollections, to the center of the bow and attached the bow to the tag.  I used a strip of foam tape to fill in the gap between the top of the seam binding/crochet trim and the card front.  So that the tag is flat and not caddy whom-pass.  (I hope that makes sense.)

For the final touch I added a trio of half faux pearls along the upper left corner.

Now, this Christmas paper doesn't look so holiday-ish.  That translates to more uses, and doesn't paint me in a corner, so to speak.  

I am happy you stopped by!  But, now I need to get back into my craft room and get some post cards made for my upcoming holiday arts and craft fairs.  I want to keep the postage on these 'post cards' to the minimum, and not have to put the cards in plastic sleeves.  So, we'll see how that goes.  Keep your fingers crossed!  And yeah, I'll post those, too!