Christmas Sweater Vest

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Christmas) + Festive Friday 44 (ribbon + metallics + inspiration theme - boss' day)

I'm not usually into shaped cards all that much, but when I saw the Sweater Vest dies from Sunny Studio online a couple of months ago, there was something about it that struck my fancy. I was really excited to see the dies shown in my local store weekly new items video, along with the Cable Knit embossing folder, so I made sure to have the owner put one aside for me (with two of their new adorable Christmas paper stacks). When I came back from the store, it's the first thing I pulled out to play with. With Christmas coming up, I wanted to make an "ugly sweater vest" version, but it will also work for other occasions and more generic masculine projects as well. I love the argyle dies, along with the stitching.

There are a couple of things I discovered while working on this project.

1) The patterned paper cracked when I ran it though the Big Shot using the Cable Knit embossing folder. The paper became really fragile and the white core shows, affecting the clarity of the Christmas lightbulb pattern a bit. I didn't want to waste good paper so I ran with it, but next time, I'll lightly spritz the paper with water so that it has more give and I'll also add a layer of printing paper with the patterned paper inside the folder to help prevent the crackling.

2) Be mindful of the way you place the bottom strip die on your patterned paper if the pattern has a direction. I didn't know when I ran it through but the top of the band is straight and the bottom has rounded corner to follow the shape of the sweater, so I was not able to simply turn the band around. The design is tone on tone, so I doubt most people would have noticed, but having the gifts and ornaments upside down was distracting me, so I did a second die-cut to rectify (I recycled the other band inside the card, where I didn't mind it as much).

You can get a shaped card that opens up two ways: die-cut two pieces separately, score the top of the second sweater about a 1/2" down and add adhesive only above the scored line, to get a fold. I used the second method: I prepared a regular-sized A2 card base folded at the top and I placed the die over it, making sure the fold was going OVER the top of the die so that it wouldn't cut the two layers apart. The trick to keeping your full shape is to then add a third layer (in this instance, my patterned paper vest) over the top of the card base and this way, the fold is hidden.

I alternated two patterns of losanges for the argyle pattern and used the stitched X on the green losanges. During my shopping, I had also picked up some neat red confetti from Pretty Pink Posh, which looked really nice placed in the middle of the losanges. For the collar, I layered three of the dies included in the kit and added the bow tie on top. I really love this tie die, as it includes scored lines to mimick the folds and it has the little center as a separate die, which adds nice dimension.

I picked an Anthracite Metallic envelope and decorated it with losanges to match and a dotted rectangle for the address block and as I was about to call it done, the Real Red curly ribbon from Stampin' Up! caught my eye on the side of my desk. I placed it on the vest between the bottom strip and the sweater and really liked the way it added color and texture, so I used my glue strip to glue it down. (I used to use that adhesive all the time for ribbon and such and then I forgot all about it when the 1/8" double-sided tape came out. I remembered I still had some when I took inventory of my adhesive last week. I'll definitely use up the glue lines I have left - which will then free up a space in my rotating caddy for other tools or glue.)

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Very Merry (Sunny Studio)
Accessories: Real Red 1/8" Curly Ribbon, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
A2 Anthracite Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Red Confetti (Pretty Pink Posh);
Cable Knit Embossing Folder, Sweater Vest Dies (Sunny Studio)

 

Comments

[Beth McCullough]

This is absolutely adorable! I love all the details on the vest! Thanks for joining us at Festive Friday!

[NMWatt]

Tee hee hee! I just love this "ugly" sweater! The holiday patterned paper is just wonderful, and I love how you added the cable knit embossing to kick it all up a notch. Thanks for playing along at Festive Friday!

[Anne Marie Hile]

Such a fun card, Cindy! Thanks for joining us at Festive Friday!

[Anne Marie Hile]

Congratulations! Your project was selected as a Festive Fave over at the Festive Friday Challenge. As a reminder, you can hop over to the challenge to grab your winners badge for your blog. Thanks so much for joining us and I hope you will play along again really soon!