shortcuts: home sweet home

i apologize...once again...for my lack of photography skills. this card looks *WAY* better in real life, you are just going to have to trust me on that, despite the entire lack of evidence before you.

i've used a shortcuts clear card blank to make my A2-sized card. i love the fact that the sheerness allows you to split your design between the exterior and the interior of a card! thus, i've put the sky on the inside and the house on the outside of this "new home" card for my sister and her family. when the card is closed it's an integrated design, that looks cool...but also, from a practical standpoint...having part of my inner panel covered with paper gives me a place to write my greeting!

(shortcuts clear card blank; patterned paper: american crafts, love elsie, prima; chipboard heart: heidi swapp; rub-on: my mind's eye; embroidery floss: dmc; pen: zig; ink: colorbox; adhesive: tombow monoadhesive runner)

the stitching around the inside panel is faux, but the outside has the real deal. i used a paper piercer to make regular holes along the sides of my little paper house and hand stitched with embroidery floss for a "homey" touch. since i didn't want to place a panel inside the card and obscure my lovely "floating" design, i knew the reverse side of my embroidery would be visible and thus i took a bit of extra care to ensure the very simple backstitch looks almost as neat inside as it does on the exterior. for a more complicated design, the holbein stitch is ideal, since there is no need to "turn corners" or cross over. at the end i worked my thread neatly through the stitches and secured it with a teeny drop of diamond glaze applied with a toothpick.