SOS261: you are matchless!

are you wondering what this week's challenge at shopping our stash can possibly be? "you are matchless"? because i confess i was curious when i first saw the title on our design team blog. and then a tiny bit nervous when i discovered the brief was to create our own matchbook or matchbox, because i had never done either. it took me a few experimental folds on scrap paper to figure out the engineering, but once i got going, it was really fun! here's what i made, and then i'll explain a bit more:

beachy scene painted using color burst pigment powders mixed with water on strathmore watercolor paper; palm trees stickers: jolee's; hibiscus: sandylion; surfboard cut from a piece of creative imaginations patterned paper; aqua fabric thickers: american crafts; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape, sewing machine and staples

i realized pretty quickly that the outer structure of the matchbook needed to be fairly sturdy. i think good quality cardstock-weight paper would do it, but since i had a few painted watercolor papers, i thought one of those might be a good alternate choice-- and i stand by the decision. i was especially happy when i found a large piece that i'd started painting with color burst in a sort of beachy color scheme, but then abandoned for some reason. the positioning of the colors was just right for the matchbook folds and big enough that i could make a finished (folded) card that measures about 4.5x6". when i realized i needed to trim down the "sand" section, it occurred to me i didn't have to snip it straight across, as long as i left the middle bit wide enough to still hold the matchbook closed.

i thought about painting some customized embellies, too, but i was kind of worried i'd mess the thing up in the engineering stage, so i decided to go with my sturdiest store-bought palm tree stickers, and some fabric-covered chipboard alphas for the sentiment. as you know, i like to sew over my chipboard letters for extra security, but i used a sort of wavy pattern to add a little interest.

ordinarily i leave the inside of my cards plain, but this piece of watercolor paper had some doodles and markings on the back, so before i began, i xyroned an islandy bit of map paper to the reverse. meanwhile the palm trees and flowers on the left... and surfboard on the right... hide the two staples which hold the flap in place that acts as "latch" to keep the matchbook cover closed.

need some more "matchless" inspiration to spark your interest? the SOS gals have plenty of that... head on over and check it out! ♥