As I have previously mentioned, because I wanted to make some cards for my Mom that she would feel were special, I had been looking for several years to find a way to incorporate hand-stitching onto some cards for her. My Mom has always been a very talented crafter, from sewing to amazing knitting, needlepoint, quilting, crocheting, painting folk art on wood, and for a number of years, she has been a master cross-stitcher, and has been working in a cross-stitch shop for about 20 years. I had found some stamps and dies along the way, but once I watched a video by Jennifer McGuire introducing a hand-stitching die by Paper Smooches, I was very excited and hopeful that I had found a way to actually hand-stitch on cardstock. Now, I had to learn to stitch on paper!!! Fortunately, that YouTube by Jennifer Mcguire was also a basic introduction to hand-stitching on paper, plus I had watched my mother doing needlepoint when I was younger, then lots of cross-stitch which continues to this day. Plus, this required lots of exploration on my own. I had purchased a small package of embroidery floss, hoping to use on cardstock, then I tried others based on Jennifer McGuire's recommendations plus some trial and error on my own.
All of the patterns that I have uploaded and color combinations have been my own. I have made 2 hand-stitched pieces that I made into cards that I copied the patterns, if I upload those, I will acknowledge my source.
This was a fairly early piece of hand-stitching, and I tried incorporating in some sparkly sequins into the all-pink basic design. I liked how the sequins worked into the piece, but as it turned out, I only used sequins in a very few of the set of approximately 50 hand-stitched cards that I ended up creating, 44 of those became a very large set which I gave to my Mom in a large gift box in January, 2019, which represented about 18 months of work to complete. The set consists of A2 as well as A7 cards, on the A7 cards, I used another Hand-stitching die, this was the Pegboard die by Altenew. But this is an A2 card, and I used the Paper Smooches Hand-stitching die. This die does not have an outer cutting edge, which allows for more variation in design, but sometimes one simply wants a straight border at the edge of the die-cut. The Altenew Pegboard has an outer cutting edge. MFT has a hand-stitched die for an A2 card, but I have not tried it. I have used and love MFT's Hand-stitching or cross-stitch tag die, and created a few cards using it, and I look forward to using it more, as I hope to play with MFT's cross-stitch rectangle die which I do not own as yet. I have played briefly with MFT's bookmark cross-stitch die and look forward to playing a lot more with both. I have the Altenew Cross-stitch die which compared to their Pegboard die is much more intricate, with much smaller holes much closer together, and the yarn/floss I use will depend on the needs and limitations of the die-cut holes on these die-cuts.
I have used this basic stitch a great deal on my hand-stitched pieces in a number of forms, and it's one that I had never seen used before I stitched it, and it has become a favorite used in many combinations. For example, on the previous hand-stitched card that I uploaded just before this one, Cheery Tagged Hand-stitched Hello, I used that same stitched pattern on much of that tag.
For some of this large set of hand-stitched cards, they were created with tools of handcrafting , like scissors, needle and thread, knitting needles and yarn, etc that I thought that my Mom would hopefully enjoy giving to her crafty friends. Buy with others, like this thanks card, I kept the Hand-stitching more of the focus, or I used other die-cuts, so that these cards could be sent to any of her many friends and family members. I also made a conscious decision to use all of the hand-stitched pieces that I stitched, because my stitching as well as my use of patterns that mainly I created myself (there are 2 in this set where I chose to copy the pattern I saw, and I will acknowledge those and the creator of those patterns when I upload those 2 cards) as well, I started to use more color combinations with the simple patterns that I created, and I really enjoyed putting those patterns together. I hope in time to learn more stitches that I can use to create some more patterns. That is so fun for me!!!
My original plan was to make perhaps 10 or 12 hand-stitched cards for my Mom, and to give them to her as a small gift on her 80th birthday. I had stitched probably that number of pieces using the Paper Smooches hand-stitching die, but I was only able to complete one simple birthday card before I had to fly from Ontario, Canada to New Brunswick, Canada (NB borders Maine, on the east coast of Canada), and when I returned home in Ontario, I continued to stitch on cardstock, but I had also purchased the larger Altenew Pegboard hand-stitching die, and I used both to create many hand-stitched pieces. By the time I was getting ready to leave to go to NB for Christmas the following year, I ended up making approximately 50 hand-stitched cards, and I gave approximately 44 to my Mom. I gave one the previous year to Mom for her 8th, gave a very dear friend who is the Mom of a close friend one for her 80th, another for my sister's birthday (those 3 have been uploaded before I started doing this large set of these hand-stitched cards but are part of the 50, and I will need to number them somehow), etc. Jennifer McGuire had mentioned in her Hand-stitching videos that she found this stitching on paper to be very relaxing, and I too found it very relaxing, and likely this is why I created so many, but as well, I really wanted to make the nicest cards that I could for my Mom, cards that I hoped that my Mom would think were special, and that she would know that I had made a very concerted effort to make her a unique card set that she would enjoy giving to her crafting friends as well as to her other friends and family members. This was a set of assorted cards for many occasions, including birthday (I made a large number of birthday cards), thank you, praying for you, congratulations, and a baby card (this is probably my favorite, and I need to make more of these), and probably others. I did not make sympathy cards per se, although some praying for you cards could be used. I have also offered to make more of these if and when my Mom would like more, and I will gladly purchase other sentiment dies to accomplish creating others... At the moment, I am creating some hand-stitched cards to send out to my friends and family...
Because I was not going to be sending out these hand-stitched cards, I chose to leave the inside of each blank, so as not to limit who my Mom would give a card and nor would I limit the occasion...
Thank you so much for taking a look at my hand-stitched card. Please know that when you take the time and the trouble to leave a comment for me, that you truly make my day. I appreciate your input and your thoughts as well as your advice so very much.
Date: Monday, July 13, 2020 GMT Views: 388
Favorited:1
Paper: Anna Griffin silver mirror foil cardstock, Gina K Designs Passionate Pink cardstock and envelope, 110-pound white cardstock, Scrapbooking Made Simple Simply Defined Distinctions A2 heavyweight bright white card bas
Registered: April 6, 2009 Location: Weyers Cave, Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley Posts: 26850
Tue, Jul 14, 2020 @ 7:48 PM
I can imagine your mom loved this card, Joanne! You do such beautiful work with a needle and some thread! Adding those sequins must have been a bit of a chore, but you tackled it and make it look so easy. Since there isn't room for a written sentiment, you chose the perfect solution by placing this die-cut one right where it wouldn't interfere with the beauty of this card by hiding your work~
------------------------------ ~Roberta
�Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.�
― Lou Holtz
Registered: July 9, 2008 Location: Stars Fell on Alabama Posts: 68184
Tue, Jul 14, 2020 @ 8:03 PM
These cards are beautiful and such a work of love for your mom. I know she loves each one. Oh, those added sequins are so pretty.
------------------------------ My Blog---My Gallery---My PinterestI'm a Punchkateer! (Prez) FOREVERDirty Dozen Alumni2014 CAS Spring DT--- Inspiration Challenge Co- Hostess 12/02/17-12/28/19 Watercolor Wednesday Design Team Hebrews 13:2Brenda
