Coffee Loving Papercrafters

Hello, Coffee & Tea lovers!! It’s time for a new episode of Brew & Craft Your Stash!! Challenge #2 in the 75 Creative Card Challenges Magazine by Paper Crafts,2013!!  So grab your cup and get ready for some great crafty ideas!!

Challenge #2 – Make a Creative Handmade Flower. The magazine has four different cards featuring handmade flowers! There is a couple flowers made from layers of die cut burlap. And a flower made from die cut shapes from pattern paper. A designer even quilled multiple flowers. Last, one I really like, three circle flowers, made up of three nesting circle layers. It’s really graphic and cool looking!!

I’ve covered handmade flowers before and there are a ton of different ways to make them, so at first, I was stumped at what could I do that was unique?!?! It finally came to me!! Cross Stitch! I recently used a gift card to get some crafty supplies and one was the Cross Stitch Canvas Die from Altenew! I’ll let you in on a little secret… I LOVE cross stitching!!! In fact, I’ve been doing it longer than card making at least 20+ years!! So I love the trend of cross stitch stamps and dies, but being in college full time my only crafty spending comes from gift cards I get or win!!

Of course, I brought a few patterns (okay, really not quite a few, but well nowhere near what is in storage with all my stuff!) and my thread with me to college and I found a pretty Indian styled flower that was the perfect size to fit on the Canvas Die!! I spent a few nights stitching it (I almost always cross stitch while watching tv or a movie!). To make sure the cardstock stood up to the stitching I used Crafter’s Companion Construction Cardstock, its super thick and held up really well to my stitching. The Canvas Die is a bit smaller than the typical 14 ct fabric, so stitching was a little hard since paper isn’t as flexible as fabric. I also had to finish piercing the holes on the front so I could find them with my needle from the back. I used two threads and the more threads in a hole the harder it was to pull through, but it was still doable!!

After I finished cross stitching, I found that the stitching made the paper warp in and around the design. It kind of created a slight dome of the design, and since I wanted to add this to the card base, I knew it could be a challenge getting it no buckle. So I pulled out some fun foam and die cut it with a circle that fit inside the dome of the design and I adhered it to the back of the design. This helped fill in that space and give it support.

While that was all drying I pulled out Essentials by Ellen – Oh Frappe stamp set and stamped the coffee cups and mug on watercolor cardstock. I used my Spectrum Noir Aqua Markers to color them in similar colors to my stitching, I used Scarlet, Bud Green, Moss, Topaz, Red Violet, Aquamarine, Desert Slate and Sepia. Then I fussy cut them all out.

I arranged them on the card in front of the stitching, and I was able to fit the But First, Coffee below them. I stamped the sentiment directly on the Canvas panel in black ink and then just adhered the cups. I kept everything simple since the star of the show is the stitching!!

I hope this gives you some ideas on making your own handmade flowers!! You don’t have to be an expert in cross stitching to use it on a card!! There is plenty of info in a Google search for beginners and lots of free, simpler patterns!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Dana

Supplies

Stamps: Essentials by Ellen – Oh, Frappe

Dies: Altenew – Cross Stitch Canvas

Spectrum Noir Aqua Markers

Crafter’s Companion Construction Cardstock

DMC Threads