I love the look of simple cards... even when they take a lot more work than they appear to! Case in point... my next card. This is another one to show off some of the Cherry Arte paper but i decided to do it in a different way. I remember seeing this technique in a card magazine about a year ago. Instead of adhering your patterened paper to the front of the card... why not adhere it to the inside of the card! And use a simple cut on on the front to showcase the patterned paper inside. In some ways, this even showcases the patterned paper more than putting it on the outside as it draws focus to the particular part of of the patterned you have decided to showcase!
For my card, i simply took an x-acto knife and cut out a square. I could have used a punch, but my square punch wouldnt go in enough to leave me the lip i wanted for stitching. This also could easily be any other shape, a circle, oval, heart, possibilities are endless. Along the outside of my square i punched holes using a paper piercer. This would have been a LOT easier if i had my mat pack by stampin up.. but alas, it's been back ordered. I then used simple cross stitch thread (i have so many colors from my cross stitch phase during my first pregnancy that i almost always have the color i need. Bonus that if i dont, it's only about 30 cents to buy the color i need and then i have enough to last me for ages. For the stitch, i used a double running stitch (for a better reference of a running stitch and a double running stitch, see the end of this post).
Now i do think that the window card needs SOMETHING on the outside (the stitching is a wonderful effect, i like something just a smidgen more) which is why i used the button. It goes well with the stitching also - bonus! Primas or any flower would also look fantab.
The sentiment on the side of my card peeking thru my window is made of alpha rub on letters in white. Since i had such a dark colored patterned paper, i needed something to stand out on top of it. Stamps with white embossing powder would have worked great too, but i didnt want white. I colored over my white letters with chalk and then used a pencil eraser to get rid of any chalk that colored the white of my patterned paper.
And then Viola! My card! There are so many ways to alter this card! The window could be covered on the inside with a piece of transparency paper. Or maybe the only thing that would show thru the window would be a stamped image. Try out your favs and then you can come up with a new card style time and time again. It's great for a mojo buster!
Notes on the running stitch - you dont have to be a seamstress to sew on cards! I love sewing on cards and will use anything to get the look from my sewing machine itself, to a little mini hand stitcher machine, to run ons, stamps or in this case, hand stitching. Here is a link to wikipedia that even shows picture samples of the running stitch and double running stitch. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_stitch I could explain it myself... but i wouldnt be able to do a better job than wikipedia! So why try!
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