{TCPTUES174} Fly With Me

Hey all! I have quite a long-winded post for you today. This weekend I had some time to stamp and managed to sneak in my card, just under the wire, for TCP Tuesday. Susan was our hostess with the mostess and she challenged us to use any stamps with WINGS....yep, that's right, the Cat Pack has been wingin' it all week!
I decided my wings would be on a plane and I used the sweet Take Off from our last release, as well as the most rockin'est die on the market Cloud Border Cutup (currently out of stock, because it's just that cool).

So, whatcha think? I was going for a vintage feel...tons of torn and crumpled paper, some 'imperfect' stitching and did you see that I cut both the cloud strip and my circle panel from tissue? That's actually old dress pattern paper from my Grandma's stash! Neat, huh?

The plane is paper pieced and the wing was only adhered at the top, and the tip is rolled up a bit for added dimension. My image was stamped on Crumb Cake (SU's new name for Kraft- why fix something that ain't broke??) and coloured with copics....the sentiment is stamped on a little Maya Road kraft tag and I set both the large, paper covered tag and the small kraft tag with a copper eyelet and looped through some red and natural hemp twine (both SU...red is retired, I think). The DP is Teresa Collins 'World Traveller' and is perfect for these kinds of themes and has lots of other non-travelling patterns with gorgeous, rich colours in the pack...LOVE it!

Here is a close-up of those delicate clouds, with some black stitching running right through it! If you check in on my blog regularly, you may have noticed that I like to sew with dark thread alot of the time...I am no schooled designer, so there is no real design-based explanation for anything I do...I just do what looks and feels right, and sometimes I think that dark thread helps to 'ground' things, draws your eye's attention, defines specific parts...I don't know!!!! But give it a try sometime!! You might just like it! Obviously you have to consider the theme/mood of the card...maybe not the best for a welcome baby card, although with the right paper, image, and recipient, I wouldn't rule that out either!

SEWING INFO

Another sewing tip, and I'm not even sure where I picked this one up...somewhere in blogland. I use Coates and Clark button thread. It is thick enough for paper (my regular fabric thread is so thin that I find the needle holes more noticeable than the stitching, not good). I buy mine at good ol' Walmart. It's cheap to. I also use a jean needle. It's also a bit thicker and makes it easier to go through multiple layers of paper. That is what my sewing machine repairman (remember to NOT put any kind of adhesive where you are planning to sew...or you will have your own replairman) told me to use. He is a master of all things sewing, and I listen to him like the Gospel....One last lesson. I always tape my loose strings to the backside of my card. Then they are secure and won't unravel on you. Well, except this card, where the feeling was 'tattered'. To do this, after you are done your row of stitching, cut the threads, leaving some slack (one thread will be poking out the front and the other out the back). You want them both at the back. GENTLY pull on the back thread. You will see a loop come out the back. Now hook that loop with your tweezers, piercer, whatev and gently pull on the loop. Voila! Both threads will now be at the back! Now secure them with a bit of score tape!

And the inside....I let the dp be the sentiment...lots of room for a personal message.



Come back tomorrow for another TCP challenge!