Blame it on Stefani (aka: I Tried Something New)

That's right - it is all Stefani's fault. If she was not so fabulously talented, I would not have been driven to try this myself. Things like this card ... and this one ... and OMG - THIS one ... See why I want to be like her when I grow up? Well, maybe not, but I thought it would be cool to incorporate a finger-full of that technique into what I already do.

I learned to embroider as a young'un, then graduated to cross-stitch, and eventually moved on to counted cross-stitch. Then I got old and had trouble seeing the patterns in the tiny little squares, so I packed away my every-color-floss (organized by DMC color number) and put it all behind me.

Well, I'm baaaaack! Lookie what I made today:

I made the template for punching the holes all by myself! No, they are probably not even, but this is my first try, and it's close enough for me, for now. I poked the holes through the template with my paper piercer onto the top-note die-cut piece...pretty simple.

Here is a close-up of the corner pattern...

... and here is a close-up of the center piece. I did not measure at ALL on this one! I just used a pencil to mark where I wanted the stitch to land in each scallop, then I went back and marked a spot for the in-between stitch, then punched all the holes. At the last second I decided to introduce another color, so I picked an apricot-y one and stitched it before I did the Ecru stitching.

Boring? Maybe. No sentiment? Where would I put it? I am pretty happy with it as a first attempt. I am not too crazy about that center thing ... maybe I should just stitch the corners and stamp the rest. Next time.

On the home front, I did my first pass at my taxes, and once again I get money back from the State which will go towards what I have to pay on Federal. Drat. I hate when this happens, but at least I do not have to pay out for both.

I think I'll go rustle up something for dinner, now, then maybe stamp some more and hopefully figure out card #4 for next weekend. I thought about doing a stitching one, but The Ladies might revolt. Maybe I'll go play with marbles ... those have a pretty high entertainment factor. ;-)

Thanks for stopping by!

ETA: Don't forget about my ribbon g-i-v-e-a-w-a-y I posted earlier today!