Vintage Thanksgiving Card

Hello Ribbon Lovers!

I don't know what is happening in your part of the world, but here in North Carolina, Mother Nature is tinting our leaves with gorgeous shades of red, rust and gold.  To play upon this color palette, I pulled out my Ivory, Rust and Gold Plaid Ribbon and made a Vintage Thanksgiving card to share with you here today.

 This ribbon was the perfect match for the vintage images in Polly's Paper Fall Harvest Creativity Kit.  It really pulls out the red tones in the focal and patterned papers.  The tiny touch of gold thread in this beautiful ribbon adds wonderful shine, too.

I will let you in on one of my favorite "cheater" techniques here.  See the pierced paper layer beneath the focal?  You can do this in a matter of seconds by running it through your sewing machine without using thread!  The piercing is perfectly spaced and consistent and it takes a fraction of the time if done by hand with a piercing tool.  

This double layer bow is so easy to tie when you have a Zutter Bow-it-All Tool.  There are three loops on the bottom layer and two on top.  And, this ribbon ties like a dream.  Can you see the belly band I made with Antique Gold Faux Burlap Wired Ribbon?  The texture adds a real rustic feel to the card.

I wanted to give you a close up look at the metal leaf embellishment and explain to you how I put this great embellishment together.  I started with a rusted maple leaf and used pliers to bend the tips and round it out a little in the middle so it wasn't completely flat.  Next, I tapped the surface with Viva Decor 3-D Stamp paints. (Copper, Gold and Carmine Red). I love the way these colors blended and the soft shimmer they add to the card.

 Next, I took 2 lengths of gold metallic thread and one length of red burlap string and tied a single loop bow with my Bow-it-All tool.  I used ordinary sewing thread to tie the two acorn charms onto the center of the bow, but instead of cutting the thread short, I left it long, dampened it lightly with a mixture of water and liquid glue, then wrapped it around the barrel of a paint brush.  If you are patient (I am not) you can leave this to dry.  If you are less patient (like me) you can hit it lightly with a heat tool.  Then slip it off the barrel of the paint brush and you'll have that lovely viney squiqqly bit of thread to add even more texture and visual interest to your project.  I used hot glue to secure the acorns and bow to the maple leaf, and used foam adhesive to secure the maple leaf to the card.

I'm so excited to be working with fall colors, images and ribbons!  Bonnie has a wonderful selection of Fun for Fall ribbons in the shop, so you might want take a look and see what you can cook up for the upcoming fall holidays.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheerio,

kathy