How To Get More From Our Stitched Die

This card gives Spellbinders January Stitched Die Of the Month set a whole new life. We use what I call the “cover die” or “frame” to create the background. And, another of my fav die sets, Open Road for the focal point.

Die-cutting

Let’s get started. We’ll begin by using the “cover die” or “frame” to die cut from light blue cardstock. And then, we’ll also die-cut it from medium green cardstock. Now, we’re going to put the blue one on top of the green one and tape them together with light tack tape. HINT: Make sure that you get the two frames aligned perfectly.

Now, we’ll use one of the dies from the Color Block Scenic Scape Die Set to create a hill in our background. And, we’ll do so by cutting it through the blue and green cardstock. As a result, we end up with the sky and the grass perfectly cut to create our background.

While we’re at it, let’s go ahead and die-cut the car pieces. For the card in the photo I use scraps, but if you don’t have the right colors here are some good choices from Spellbinders:

• Red Car Body – Phone Booth
• Blue Balloon – Island Blue
• Green Balloon – Fern
• Yellow Balloon – Chamomile
• Black Wheels – Black
• Mirror Bumpers, grill, & hub caps/wire rims- Silver

Get More Car Card Blending

Next, we’ll do our stitching, but before we do, we’re going to do a little bit of blending. Using a small blending brush and yellow ink, we’ll lightly blend over the die cut where we are going to create our sun (see photo). And then, we’ll lightly blend the olive green over the stitching areas in both bottom corners. Finally, we’ll add a little more dimension in the foreground by blending in a different green with a little heavier hand.

Get More Card Stitching

Okay, now we can go ahead and do our stitching. I use DMC 743 for the sun, 319 in the corners, and 320 in the center front. However, if you do not have these individual colors, you could also use colors from the DMC Warm Tones Bundle, and the Cool Tones Bundle.

We’ll begin with the sun first. To stitch, we’ll cut a piece of our yellow embroidery floss twenty to thirty inches long. And then, we’ll split the threads into two pieces that each have three plies in them. We’ll begin with the sun first. Thread one of the pieces onto a needle and poke it into the single center hole (at the bottom of where the sun will be). And, you’ll want to do so coming up from the back side of the blue cardstock.

Pull the thread all the way through the hole except for about a half inch. Lay the cardstock on its front and add a little bit of liquid glue next to where the thread is and stick it down. Hint: you may have to hold your finger on the thread until it attaches to the cardstock.

Now, we’ll poke the needle down through the top hole on the left and pull the thread all the way through. And then poke the thread back up through the first hole. Repeat until the thread is stitched through each of the holes in our sun. Attach the end piece of the thread on the back side with liquid glue.

We’ll use the same technique for the hills in the green, however, we’ll only sew three stitches in the bottom right-hand corner. We do this to mimic the hill above it.

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Background Assembly

Now we can begin to assemble our card. We’ll begin with the background. We’ll use liquid glue on the back of the sky background piece, making sure to keep the glue away from all the little holes. And, we’ll attach it to the fold side of a white A2 ( 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″) card base. Then, also using liquid glue, we’ll butt the grass right up next to the sky making sure that there is no gap between them and that the sides, lines, and holes are all lined up.

Get More Car Assembly

We’ll put something heavy on that while we work on the car. We’ll use liquid glue to attach the black wheels to the card base. And then we’ll add the mirror rims right over the top. And, we can also add on the bumpers and the rearview mirror. When all pieces but the storage grill are attached we can add a little glue to the back of the car and stick it to the background.

Next, we’ll attach the strings to the balloons. I just use one ply of embroidery floss. And, I tie it around the bottom of the balloon and then add a little bit of glue to make sure it stays.

After we have the strings attached to all three balloons we can twist their strings together and wrap them around the car’s storage grill and then tie a know in it. Once that’s done we can add a little more glue and fasten the grill to the car. And then, we’ll pull the balloons and then tack each one onto the background, making sure to arrange them to look as though they are blowing in the wind.

All that is left is to do the sentiment. We’ll use a hot foil machine and dark silver foil for the sentiment and cut it out with the coordinating die. And then, we’ll pop it up with foam tape.

Supplies

• Cardstock: Card base – Neenah Classic Crest 110lb Solar White; Card panel – Spellbinders Waterfall, Rainforest, Black, Phone Booth, Island Blue, Fern, Chamomile, Silver
• Die: Spellbinders Nested Stitched Burst; Color Block Scenic Scape, Open Road
• Ink: Distress Oxide Mustard Seed, Rustic Wilderness, Forest Moss
• Embroidery Floss: I use DMC 319, 320, & 743 but you could also use colors from the DMC Warm Tones Bundle, and the Cool Tones Bundle
• Needles: DMC Tapestry Size 22
• Adhesives: Tape – Spellbinders Best Ever Craft Tape, Liquid – Bearly Art Glue;
• Die-cutting Machine: Spellbinders Platinum 6