Felt-based cards (Rock-a-Bye Baby tutorial)

New idea, Old projects....

I've been debating whether or not to post some older projects/tutorials since the big bad insecurity beast is nibbling away at my creativity big time, but I'm trying to remind myself: "better brave and posting than missing entirely" so here are some oldies...

New?

A new supply idea. (Well, new for me anyhow) You might find it hard to tell from the photo, but this is a card with a card-base of stiff felt instead of cardstock. I bought the stiff felt sheet at Michael's and thought it would make a good card base. [The stuff I bought was black, but it comes in white and other colours as well if you want a softer look.'

I was surprised at how sturdy a card-base the stiff felt made & it even folded nicely. I just cut it on a paper cutter, & stuck paper inside to give somewhere to write on. (There's soft white felt adhered to the card-front also).

And here's a softer version, using all the

same Clear and Simple Stamps:

The buttons, ribbon, and label shape are
from Clear & Simple Stamps as well...

Old?

So, here's the scoop on these old projects: Back when my 24-hours-a-day-7-days-a-week-crafty-world started to fall apart, I was putting together these cards and this little tutorial for Caardvarks (with the sponsor Clear & Simple Stamps), but... I had to stop blogging due to major health breakdown (and crafty-system-crash).

Now that I'm back a little bit, I wanted to finally post these cards to say a belated thank you to the Caardvark crew (who I dearly miss) for being beyond amazing.... and to Clear & Simple Stamps as well for havin' such inspirational stamps, templates, and stuff.

So here's how the black felt card was made.

...make a felt card:

• Rock-a-Bye stamp from Clear & Simple Stamps
• Black Brilliance ink & clear embossing powder on white paper
• Green with Envy ink, buttons & ribbon from Clear & Simple Stamps
• Main Card: stiff black felt
• White mat: soft white felt
• Patterned Papers by BasicGrey Origins 6x6
• Star background stamp (also from Rock-a-Bye set)
• Green paper behind horse is My Mind's Eye Abbey Road-Nice Ride.
• Misc. metal sewing snaps; Green, white, & black thread
• Little label from same stamp set

Step 1) Make The Rocking Horse:

1A) Emboss Rock-a-Bye horse in black on white cardstock.
1B) Colour with Copic markers & a Sakura Souffle pen (white dots on black for the seat.)
1C) Add dots on nails with a silver metallic marker.



Step 2) Cut the rocking horse out: I find that cutting into the image (like I did here by cutting between the rockers is the easiest way to get a detailed cut) then you can just...



Step 3) Reinforce the cuts with itty bits of paper glued on the back



Step 4) Adhere bits of embroidery thread for his mane & trim it.



Step 5) Make a Frame:

5A) Paint a scalloped chipboard frame with white paint & press a wooden batik block in the wet paint for texture. (Or simply emboss it to get texture, instead).
5B)Colour over the paint with a silver metallic marker.
5C) Adhere My Mind's Eye 'Abbey Road-Nice Ride' paper to the back of the frame.



Step 6) Adhere the Rock-a-Bye horse to the front of the frame.



Step 7) Make a Felt card & mat:

7A) Cut black mat (3 1/4" square) from stiff black felt & cut the card from that as well.
7B) Adhere soft white felt (3" square) to white cardstock & stitch it onto the black felt mat.



Step 8) Add details to the patterned paper:

8A) Add a line of dots around the edge of the patterned paper (this black graph paper is from BasicGrey Origins 6x6 pack) & a shade around it with Copic marker.



8B) Stamp stars from Rock-a-Bye on more paper (this green patterned paper is BasicGrey Origins too. The stars were stamped in Brilliance ink & embossed with clear embossing powder.
8C) Colour edge of the cardstock with black marker, to create a faux mat
8D) Pierce holes beside the black marker edging & stitch in white thread.



Step 9) Make a label:

9A) Stamp Rock-a-Bye sentiment onto CSS tag in Green with Envy ink.



9B) Pierce & stitch around it in black thread. Fill in every other stitch with black permanent marker to save time.
9C) Colour edge with green Copic marker.



9D) Pierce holes on either side to add 2 snaps



9E) Put snaps in 2 the holes: back-snap on the back of the label & front-snap on the front. No glue or anything. ;o)

(Insert embellishment rant here: Snaps on baby cards are my fave--they are ultra affordable and they're a little funky or modern since they're metal, but they remind me of onesie jumpers, so they just seem to be an embellishment that really fits the baby theme).



9E) Add a tiny embroidery thread bow.



Step 10) Assemble the card (adhere papers etc. to the felt with a strong glue)
and there you have it...

... a black stiff-felt card:

(blogger photos for those who like to click for close-ups)

And here's the softer version:

Thanks for having a look.
Hope you're feeling great!