Hello, Little Miracle.

Someone I know has just had a baby, so  congratulatory card for the family :).

I did a variation of the 'Starburst' theme I've used before on congratulatory cards, but I thought it would be nice to do stitching instead for a change - and for once, I remembered to take photos of the process!!

There are products available on the market to make card-stitching easier - a sewing machine would be one, and I've heard of something called 'Sew Easy' that the talented Kristina Werner has used in some of her videos. It's a tiny pizza-cutter like thingy that punctures cardstock with specific patterns to make it easier for stitching. However, I don't have either of those, so here's a more time-consuming but equally effective method to puncture card for stitching.

Here's what you'll need: 

- cross-stitch thread

- cross-stitch needle (this has a bigger eye so it's easy to thread with the thicker cross-stitch thread, and it is also blunt-tipped - which means your fingers will suffer less.)

- a compass (not a directional compass, but a mathematical compass - which most of us would have, presumably, from our school days. You need one that has a sharp point.)

- a ruler, and a pencil.

Step 1: Choose a point on your card front and mark with a small 'x' or dot. I prefer this to be off-center, but it really depends on what sort of arrangement you're going for. This point is where your starburst will radiate from. Then taking your ruler and pencil, draw lines radiating outwards - you can make the rays as thin or as wide as you like. Because I was just going to stitch them in without filling in the 'rays', I didn't bother checking if there were an even number of 'rays' and spaces in between ( I will post another tutorial soon about how to create starburst rays like those in my previous card here).  

Step 2: Now, taking the sharp end of your compass, start poking holes along the lines you've drawn. Try to space them evenly, although there's no need to be too perfect about it if you're stitching the entire line fully. I find it best to perforate the card once on a harder surface (like my cutting mat - do it on a protected surface or your table will be riddled with holes!!!) and after that, lifting the card up and carefully widening the hole by wiggling the sharp tip a little. You could not bother with the second step, actually, because when you start stitching the cross-stitch needle would widen the hole anyway. 

Step 3: Once that's done, start stitching! I'm no expert on sewing, so I just improvised with some sort of backstitch so that the whole line was stitched through. You can see in the photo I didn't bother stitching the centre of the starburst because I knew that it was going to be covered anyway. 

So there you have it, that's how I do stitching on cards. You can finish of the stitching at the back with a knot, and then cover the messy back with a piece of card cut to size and attached using foam adhesive so that the awkward bumps of all the knots and stitches don't warp the card when it's laid flat. 

On the rest of the card:

I had a 'new baby' sticker set lying around so I picked one of the round stickers to be part of the sentiment. The turquoise/white stripes pattern was added by using some washi tape on a piece of white card. (Might be obsessed with washi tape now) 

Also got out my tiny star sequins to spruce up the card. Haven't actually used them in awhile!! 

News of births make me warm and fuzzy inside.  Can't wait to go visit the new baby!!!