XOXO Smitten–Papertrey Blog Hop

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is having a great week. I have a card to share with everyone that kind of grew from my rosette making spree on Monday night. I made some in various colors and patterns and I didn’t have a definitive plan of what I was going to do with them.

I was in the mood to make something Tuesday night and after a little brainstorming, I came up with a plan with the help of Sara and the challenge at Papertrey Ink for this month’s blog hop. Nichole is challenging everyone to pick their favorite card from 2011 and improve upon it.

I made this card in December, and I liked it so much I decided to make it a second time in a more traditional color palette for Christmas. You can read all about it, here. It would been really easy for me to case the card and change a few things, instead, I decided to take elements from the card and make it as new as I could. Here is the result:

My card is made from Aqua Mist cardstock and is a standard A2. I am so in love with this color right now. I found some light grey cardstock in my file cabinet. I honestly didn’t know I had it and I’m so blind I couldn’t make it out from white. Anyway, I used the brown polka dot patterned paper and the grey to make a background mat. I stitched around it with some dark brown Coats & Clark thread.

Next, I cut 1/4” strips of the grey and 1/2” strips of the pink and adhered them to a 3” x 4.5” piece of cardstock. I toyed with the idea of embossing the pink, but in the end I decided against it. I used the largest die in the Spellbinders Label Four set to give the striped mat a decorative edge.

Now, here’s where the big changes from the original came into play. Even though I am certainly happy with the original card, I felt like there was a bit of a balance issue. So, I decided to make sure the eye honed in on one spot – the rosette. However, I wanted to bring in the felt. I happened to have a white diecut from the Spellbinders Classics Scalloped Hearts Nestabilities set on my table. Well, the white wasn’t working. I felt the card could use a bit more brown so I cut another scalloped heart and stitched them together (right down the center). I adhered the felt hearts to the card with some 3-in-1 adhesive from Beacon and then I adhered the rosette on top and offset it a bit.

I used some Aqua Mist Saddle Stitch ribbon to tie a simple knot, and I then adhered the entire piece to my card base with dimensional adhesive. Originally, I planned to only use the XOXO stamp. But I decided to see how the Smitten stamp would look layered on top and I really liked the result. I adhered it to the rosette with hot glue and a dimensional circle in the center. And, to give the card a touch of embellishment, I took some heart gems and adhered them to the felt hearts. I would have preferred buttons, but I didn’t have any that coordinated.

That’s about about it! I don’t think I left anything out, but if there are questions, feel free to email me or leave a comment. I thank you for coming by and I wish you a blessed day!