MFT Idol Week 5 -- Embroidered Greeting

Update: PLEASE vote for me (20something) here! It's getting down to the wire, so EVERY vote is so important to me! You have until 10pm EST Wednesday, April 22 to cast your vote! (and be sure to stop back tomorrow for that tutorial!) ;)

Hello! So sorry that my blog updating has been very sporadic lately. Between traveling, trying to recover emotionally and physically from traveling (ugh, my aching back!), and the beautiful weather, I have been neglecting this space. But not to worry... I have lots of fun planned for you this week! :)

First up is this week's MFT Idol contest entry. Yes, I am *still* in the contest (I'm in it to win it!). ;) This week's challenge was to make a one-layer card (insert blood-curdling scream here).

Um...do you know me? Have you ever known me to make a one-layer card? Doubtful. I'm trying to think of one right now and am not coming up with anything. I like dimension and I like layers. And I REALLY like designer patterned paper. One-layer is counter-intuitive to me.

I figured I could pretty easily just stamp something on a card front, but that's not exactly idol-worthy, right? Idol contestants are supposed to amaze and inspire, right? Well, I gave myself a good half hour to try to think of something special to do, and here's what I came up with:



To make this card, I stamped the image in brown ink on thick rough-textured stock. I then chalked the image and embroidered around the edges with embossing floss that coordinated with my chalking. Then, I inked the edges of the stock to vintage it up a bit. I also inked up some lace to match the stock. The lace was originally white with a white satin ribbon weaved through it. I exchanged the satin ribbon for a more fun, better-matching ribbon and attached it to my card. Finally, I fashioned a hat pin out of a standard corsage pin (with it's head snipped off) and some jewelry-making beads I had lying around.

Here's a close-up of the embroidery:



Now, I know what you're thinking... "That must look like crud on the inside!" Right? Nope. If you're *very* careful, it looks almost as pretty on the inside as the outside (minus a few knotted ends). They say the proof is in the pudding...



Supplies:
Stamps: MFT's "Happy Mother's Day"
Papers: Paper Source's "Creme-Luxe"
Inks: Memento Brown, Colorbox's Copper and Taupe
Accessories: Embroidery Floss, Chalks, Lace, Blue Ribbon by Basic Grey, Corsage Pin, Beads

Now, I won't fool you and say that this was easy or quick to make. It's actually more time consuming and difficult than it probably looks (especially since I was trying to make the back look as perfect as possible). And, I'll warn you that it's hard on the wrists! I have been struggling with with an arthritis-like pain in my wrist (mostly because my back is so bad that I routinely put all my weight on that one wrist to lift me up from a lying position), and this definitely flared that up. But, if you would like to learn how to do this, despite all my disclaimers (and would like to get some helpful tips), I'll be posting a tutorial tomorrow, along with another card using the same technique.

In the meantime, will you please (pretty please with a cupcake on top?) consider voting for me? The vote opens tonight (Tuesday) at 10 pm EST and continues for 24 hours until tomorrow night (Wednesday) at 10 pm EST. As soon as the vote is open, I'll update this post with a direct link to voting polls. I could really use your support! If you don't already have an SCS account, the info to get one is here.

Have a great day! Hope the weather by you is as absolutely beautiful as it is in my neck of the woods! :)