Tues Tutorial~ Grand Daughter's 2023 Homemade Bday Card

My youngest Grand Daughter is a Civil Engineer. She just had a birthday. You know by now, I make cards from my fabric scraps. My family seems to look forward to my cards. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tuesday Tutorial

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First I find a clip art I'm allowed to use. This one came from Clip Art Max. I quickly found there are not many images for a woman civil engineer.

Second I opened my Open Office Word Processor and gave the page .25 inch borders and 2 columns. Making the 2 columns helps me find the quarter sections of the page. Then I pasted the clip art and resized to fit a quarter of the page, which will be the ultimate card size. I copied and pasted a second copy of the clip art on the same page. Then printed in black/white.

Third After I knew what I'd put on the card, I created the background on a backing as you see above. This was a fabric softener sheet cut the size of the card. I sometimes use a scrap of embroidery stabilizer cut the size of the card. 

Fourth I traced the clip art onto the paper side of a piece of freezer paper.  After sections of the drawing were cut out of the freezer paper as you see in the upper right corner of the picture,  the wax side of the papers were ironed onto scrap fabrics with the Clover Mini Iron. These small pieces were used as patterns to cut out the pieces of fabric.

Fifth I laid the other clip art that was printed under a piece of freezer paper that had paper side down and wax side up. The clip art drawing on the underside was simply there to guide where to place the pieces. 

The fabric pieces that had been cut out were dabbed with just enough stick glue in the center of the fabric piece to hold in place. If possible no glue was place of the edges of the fabric where I would stitch. 

The mini iron was pressed on the area of the dab of glue to firm into place.

Notice I decided to bend up the brim of the hat and not glue or stitch it down.

Sixth the paper piece with the fabric pieces glued onto it were laid on the background that had already been created (pic 1). With an Open Toe Applique foot so I could see how to get around the small pieces yet hold down the fabric, I stitched around all the edges with a 2.0 length stitch because paper needed to be torn away later. I just can't manage a free motion/mending foot yet in such tiny areas. Before I started, I somewhat lay out in my mind how I will "travel" over the entire drawing.

Notice the face is stitched over the brown hair and outer edge of brown hair not stitched. So which pieces go on top, factors into the layout as well.

Seventh after the larger pieces were stitched down, the facial features were added. This is the first time I've made a card that included pieces that were strictly glued. I used that method because the pieces were simply far to small to try to stitch down.  Glue stick was used, followed by a tap with the mini iron to hold in place.

 Eighth the paper was torn away from the stitched paper. This was a bit tedious as to not tear away stitches even with a 2.0 stitch.

Ninth the finished pieced was stitched around all four edges of the front of the card. Signed and dated back of card.

I am told by my favorite U.S. Mail Carrier that as long as I keep my pieces flat the card can go through their post mark machine and it only costs 1 stamp to send. However, if something like buttons, bows, foam stickers and other 3D elements are added then the card would need to be hand post marked, and extra postage is involved. 

I do make my own envelopes to fit these cards 1 of 2 ways.  Either way, I just use a glue stick to put them together.

• One involves the template I downloaded from HERE at Therapeutic Crafting. When I'm in a hurry and just need 1, this is my go to. I keep the copy I printed about 10 years ago in a folder on my sewing desk. I trace over the copy, and cut the lines with rotary cutter and ruler and notch with scissors. I sometimes cut a layer of 3 sheets, so I'll have 2 more filed away and ready for later.
  

• The other is using my "We R Memory Keepers" envelope maker which I found on deep discount at Tuesday Morning and decided to purchase because it would pay for itself. When I mass produce cards, like for Christmas, I go this route.
  

Remember envelopes don't have to be made from white sheets of paper.

 

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