Sewing Machine Skills!

Thank You card for JT 

Recently I have been noticing a lot more cards and handmade stationery made using sewing machines - like the main pic in my previous post. I really like these items and have wanted to give it a go, but I love my sewing machine, it was a rather large investment and I have been unsure about using it for paper crafts.  So I bought myself a sew easy tool - quite frankly a lot of effort for not a lot of gain! eBay for that bad boy!!

Then I discovered MoonMum - her blog is AMAZING and totally inspirational and she's been using a Berina (which is not a cheap machine) to make her items. MoonMum is actually a lady called Belinda and she uses her awesome sewing machine skills to make fantastic items that she sells.

I've been thinking that if I can master using my sewing machine for making cards, I'll be able to make some really special things for my friends and family as gifts (ooh and imagine the Thank You sets I could make). I think that as I have a day job it's too much of a time investment to make these items for sale, which is a bit of a shame, but I guess one day Hubby and I will be living by the seaside working part-time and I'll be free to invest more time in Ham'n'Mule.

Anyway, I took the plunge and used my machine to make JT's card - today's picture (note the butterfly punch in the background, JT and I love love love that punch), here are a few more photos.

close-up of the top of the card - I love how the butterlies stick out and add depth to the card

close-up view of the bottom of the card

I used the beloved Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, free contrasting papers for the butterflies, white scrap paper, blue gingham paper from Michael's. The sentiment is just a silver peel off - I might try stamping a sentiment next time.

I am really pleased at how well it came out, how easy it was to do and it has made me feel really inspired. I have started sewing together some bunting cards and have some other ideas that I want to try, hopefully I can finish and post those over the weekend.

On another happy note, my Owl builder and Bird builder punches by Stampin' Up arrived yesterday and I had a quick play with the Owl one tonight. It's really cool and I am looking forward to making some cards using them.

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