Friend or Faux?

The look of stitched cards is hot, hot, hot.  However, for those of us who are rather cold, cold, cold in the sewing department, faux stitching is a lusciously easy way to pull off a very similar hand sewn look. 

Grab a Uni-Ball Signo White Gel Pen and a paper piercer and you have an instant "sewing machine."  The red layer of this card is pierced using the Stampin' Up! Crafter's Tool Kit template (Note: I use the nifty tools in this kit practically every day).  Easy schpeezy.  Then simply take your gel pen and connect the dots.  You managed this as a kid . . . you can do it again.  Feeling pretty confident?

This card began life as a piece of River Rock textured card stock.  It received a lovely layer of Bohemia designer paper from My Mind's Eye (in keeping with the SCS Inspiration Challenge to be inspired by Amy Butler Fabrics–link is at the end of this post).  I next adhered a horizontal strip of River Rock (textured, of course, . . . this stuff is gorgeous). 

My True Friend flower was dabbed in River Rock and stamped on White Card stock and then stamped again in Ruby Red (using my marker).  I cut out the red flower, popped in a blue rhinestone brad (Ice Collection) and gave it some 3-D jazz with a few dimensionals applied atop the original River Rock flower.  The flower was then layered on River Rock card stock and my artfully "stitched" Ruby Red mat.  I then used the Ruby Red marker again, the Round Tab Punch and another smaller blue rhinestone brad (same Ice collection comes in different sizes, how perfect) to give it the final splickety splick before plopping it on top of the rest of the card.

Hugs and Pretties . . . Mary

Stamp Sets:  True Friend (110378), Party Punch (retired, but anything punched with the Round Tab looks fab)
Paper:  River Rock Textured (24 sheets, 6 colors, 108694), Ruby Red (102030), Whisper White (100730), My Mind's Eye Bohemia
Ink:  Ruby Red Marker (100075), River Rock (109010)
Cool Tools:  Paper Piercer (Crafter's Tool Kit, 104310), Round Tab Punch (108340)
Perfect Touches:  Signo White Gel Pen (105021), Rhinestone Brads (Ice, 109111), Stampin' Dimensionals (104430)

Inspiration:  Splitcoast Stampers Inspiration Challenge IC110