A couple of days ago I posted a sympathy card which I made after I realized that I hadn't made a sympathy card since last April. I then got to wondering what else I hadn't made and consequently, which section of my scary-big stamp collection was being ignored. The next longest was a baby card. I have no need of baby cards, but my church always does, so it's a good excuse to pull out cute images and soft papers.
The first thing that caught my eye was an elephant, but I wanted to do it like a stuffed animal. So I decided to paper piece it with some fun papers.
It's been awhile since I paper pieced anything. I've always loved the look of bringing patterns into an image, but my scissor skills are really limited. I always try to remember the advice to move the paper and not the scissor but I still can't cut cleanly along a line. So I gathered a few tools to help cover my mistakes!
Good, fine-tip scissors are critical. I also always keep a black marker nearby. Then if I don't quite cut up to the black stamped line and I have a little patterned paper hanging off the edge - I just run a black marker along the edge. I would run a marker along the edges of the pink inner ear and along the outside of the ear to make the edges cleaner.
The other thing that I do because of my lack of scissor skills is stamp the image on the base cardstock even if I'm going to completely cover it with paper. That way, if I happen to cut in a little too far on the patterned paper and completely lose some of my black line, you can still see the black line from the bottom stamped image.
To add a little interest to my elephant, I cut his head off!! I wanted to pop it and give him some dimension. I also used a builder sentiment set called Little Bits of Baby. It's fun because I can pick the words that I want, use different colors, and even overlap the words.
This was fun! I used colors and images that I don't normally have a need to use. And I reminded myself of a fun technique that I hadn't done in awhile because I always seem to reach for my Copics!
SUPPLY LIST
Polka dots and plaid makes a perfect combo :) adorable elephant :)
ReplyDeleteYour polka-dot paper-pieced ellie is beyond adorable! New parents will love this card, as do I! Sweet!
ReplyDelete~c
Squeal!! A polka dot elephant...too cute Kim!
ReplyDeleteThis is super cute, Kim and thanks for the black marker tip!!! I can't wait to try it out!!!
ReplyDeleteAwww, too Darned Cute Kim! Love the Sweet polka dot elephant! Super paper piecing too! 8-)
ReplyDeleteHugs
Shannons