Sew Suite Birthday & MOJO176 Sketch

  Today is my mom's birthday (the second among many February family birthdays---you might get sick of seeing birthday cards this month!!) so I made this card for her last week using the Mojo Monday Sketch 176.  It seemed like a fun sketch to try out and the ones they post over at Mojo are always great to stretch your creativeness.  My mom is a great quilter and seamstress so of course I had to use the Sew Suite set from the Occasions Mini catalog.   Being at her sewing machine is her number 1 favorite place to be in the cold winter months (working in her garden is her warm weather favorite).  She's always working on some project or another.   I used my trusty Color Coach to get the combo for this card.  My mom really likes blues so that was my starting place.

I paired Baja Breeze, Early Espresso and Pirouette Pink together on the advice of the Color Coach.  The base is Early Espresso, then a layer of Very Vanilla and then the Baja Breeze.  The Baja Breeze was put through the Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dot embossing folder for some texture.

  I used my paper snips to free hand the curve for the sketch.  I accented the curve with some ruffled seam binding (for the tutorial click here) which I adhered with SNAIL.  Then I added some pearls.  I used about 1 1/2 of the long strands and just snipped off the extra to be used another time.

  I stamped "Happy Birthday" from Bring on the Cake set in Early Espresso.  It seemed like a perfect font to go with the feel of the card---and it fit perfectly in the space!  I wanted to bring some Pink Pirouette down to the bottom of the card so I punched out a small heart using the Heart to Heart punch.  I adhered the heart to the back of a Bitty Button with some Crystal Effects.  Then using my paper piercer I poked some holes to run my linen thread through and tied a knot.  The whole shebang is stuck on with a glue dot.

  For the cute little sewing machine I first stamped it in Early Espresso and then colored parts in using my Pink Pirouette and Baja Breeze markers.  I added a little pearl to the knob in the front (I have no idea what that knob is called and I'd have to dig out my sewing machine manual and I'm too lazy to do that!).  I punched the image out with the Decorative Label punch and then matted it with Early Espresso. 

   The top of the Baja Breeze panel was looking a little bare and unbalanced so I added some Early Espresso brads.  I think I could have added something else but I'm still not sure what would have worked...maybe some Antique Brads??  I didn't have any of those at the time but that would certainly add more weight to the top as they are a much larger size than the regular brads.  Oh well...you always need something you don't own!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?


Stamps: Sew Suite, Bring on the Cake

Ink: Early Espresso, Baja Breeze & Pink Pirouette (markers)


Paper: Early Espresso, Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla, Pink Pirouette


Accessories: Very Vanilla seam binding, adhesive pearls, Decorative Label punch, Heart to Heart punch, bitty buttons, linen thread, brads