red, white and ♥YOU♥!

that's what we want to see at shopping our stash this week. ok, technically it's red, white and blue for those of us celebrating independence day this fourth of july; if that doesn't happen to apply, you can use the colors of your own country's flag. you don't necessarily have to make anything patriotic, though. i made a totally non-specific get well card for my mother-in-law, who's just had a knee replacement, but is recovering nicely!

Not many official products in this one, actually. The denim is from an old pair of jeans i threw in the rag bag; lace is vintage; velvetty flowers came off a holiday centerpiece that had seen better days. the glossy white cardstock is by paper accents and the brads are my mind's eye, though.

before you ask, YES, that is real denim, from an old pair of jeans that i'd saved in my fabric bin. are you wondering how i got it to lay flat and smooth so i could cut it into a neat and un-fray-ed square on the card? as a matter of fact, it's pretty easy to make your own custom fabric paper; you don't even need wonder-under* or any other sewing supplies!

step one: 

trim fabric to approximately 8.5x11" (you'll see why in a minute)

step two:

run an 8.5x11" (told ya!) sheet of cardstock through a xyron machine loaded with a permanent adhesive cartridge

OR

apply a thin, even, coating of whatever fairly strong dry adhesive you like best (ATG, spray mount, etc) all over one side of a sheet of cardstock 

step three:

place the adhesive side of the cardstock face up on the table and carefully stick the denim on top, smoothing out any wrinkles as you go

step four:

cut a project-sized panel from the now securely "fused" denim/cardstock.

note: with lightweight fabric i was able to trim the fused sheet using my ordinary 12x12" guillotine-style trimmer. for the thick denim i had to mark out the size and shape i wanted, then cut carefully along the lines with a very sharp pair of scissors.

i've also used the same "fused fabric" method for diecutting, and it's pretty awesome! for best results i recommend lighter weight fabric and the thick, heavy, sizzix-style dies that work with a mechanical die cutting machine, like cuttlebug. you will *DEFINITELY* want to experiment on some scrap fabric, as you may need to play around with the cutting sandwich and possibly roll through more than once. 

in this case, i just used scissors to cut a neat 5.75" square panel, that i wrapped with lace and machine stitched to the front of my card. at the very end i attached the flower layers with some nice strong brads, et voila! 

and now, why not take a gander at the creations my fellow SOS dt members have cooked up for you, then start planning your own bid for red, white and blue domination! ♥

*i've used fusible web for papercrafting projects like this in the past and it works really well; i just didn't happen to have any on hand this time.