Designing a Set of Cards Using One Embellishment | featuring Simon Says Stamp & Maggie Holmes

How many of you have a Tuesday Morning nearby or a similar discount store carrying craft supplies? When I first learned of the company, I soon realized it was down the street from my home in the same shopping center as Joann's Fabrics. Who knew?

Anyway, sometimes if I get off work early, since I'm already out and about, I will stop by Tuesday Morning to see what they've got. I used to go there religiously until I realized I was buying a lot of supplies (mostly embellishments) that I was just hoarding and not using because they were "a good deal." Once I found my niche with card making, I purged most of my embellishment supplies and now only buy them as needed (or if they're just really cute/pretty)!

During this visit, I did find a few things and one being a set of green, pink, and peach colored tassels from Maggie Holmes. I wanted to challenge myself to create a set of cards based off this one embellishment.

It took me some time to finally figured out how I would include the embellishment on my cards since it's not something I traditionally use unless it's a graduation card. I finally referred to my card sketches binder and flipped through to find a good layout that would lend itself well to having the tassel embellishment.

Once I had my design in mind, I pulled some cardstock and patterned papers from my stash that matched the set of colors for the tassels. I decided to stick with Juniper and Pixie CS from CTMH. The paper pad I pulled was a 12"x12" paper pad I bought from Michaels - one of those Hot Buys pads that I bought a few years ago and had only used once. It just so happened that the colors matched well with the cardstock colors I pulled - I think this was more coincidence than anything, but then again... I have enough supplies that I should find what I need in my collection. Other than the tassels, I used supplies I already had on hand to create these cards, which was the challenge I was going for.

I first cut down pink and green papers to 5.5"x4.25" to create mattes for my cards. I then pulled two sheets of patterned papers from the paper pad and cut them down into quarters so I would have 8 6"x6" sheets of paper. I then went into production mode cutting down all the pieces for my cards all together (i.e. all the mattes, patterned papers, then banners, etc.). I also then put the cards together in production-mode by adhered each piece to all the cards before moving onto the next piece.

To create some variety, I switched up the combination of colors to each patterned paper, so I had pink and green CS papers, pink and green tassels, pink and green sequins, pink and green ink, etc. I used some Stampin' Up Gold Metallic Thread to attach the tassel to each card and to bring out the gold from the tassel. I also pulled a newer Simon Says Stamp stamp set called "Handlettered Encouragement" that I hadn't used yet, and decided to create these cards as "just because"/"thinking of you" cards using the "sending smiles" sentiment. I can't tell you how many times I've had a bad day and thought to myself that a handmade card from someone would just make my day, so I like to have these on hand to send out to others who may be going through a rough patch.

I finished off the cards with some Fresh Mint and Pink Blush PPP sequins and some clear wink of stella on the sentiments. Now I have a nice summer-themed set of cards to send to those in need :) 4 different styles and two of each. I also have a nice amount of tassels leftover to keep to create more cards another time!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy crafting :)