Stitched Together Cardmaking Workshop Kit

I am a little late sharing this because the May–June catalog is no longer valid, however the Stitched Together Cardmaking Workshop Kit (G1206) is still available and there will be a Facebook Live/Virtual Crop on July 7. There are less than 500 of the Stitched Together Cardmaking Workshop Kits remaining so if you are interested it creating the cards, please order as soon as you can to avoid disappointment (that is less than 500 for all locations where there are CTMH Independent Consultants: USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Japan).

Stitched Together Cardmaking Workshop Kit

Close To My Heart will be having a Stitched Together - Cardmaking Virtual Crop on Tuesday July 7 at 4pm EDT. The virtual crop is a Facebook Event. Be sure to visit the event and mark yourself as "Going" so you will be eligible for the prize drawing. If you are not available to attend the Facebook Event Live, the video replay will be available on the Close To My Heart Facebook Page.

If you cannot watch online videos, for example if you have limited Internet access, here are a few tips from when I created the cards in the workshop.

Whenever I have a little trouble envisioning a design I have in my mind's eye or am having trouble with spacing, I "sketch" it out using the Shapes in Cricut Design Space™. I often do this even if I do not plan to make any cuts using my Cricut machine. This screenshot is for my Stitched Together project.

Stitched Together Design Space Project

In this case I flattened the pattern to create a Print then Cut project (but I only printed it). I was having trouble getting a link to share my Design Space project with you, so I created some PDFs for you to download (links below). Now that I created the PDFs, I was able to the that link. Go figure. I am sharing both just in case the Design Space link stops working or using PDFs is easier to use for you.

I was having trouble spacing the four patch triangles so they were pleasing to my eye. Part of my problem may have been I used the retired Stitched Quilt Shapes Thin Cuts (Z4258) to cut some of the triangles to try to "stretch" the kit. Or maybe I am too picky.

Stitched Quilt Shapes (Z4258) - retired

I wish the Stitched Quilt Shapes were brought back when Stitched Together was introduced. I think the two combined could have made some beautiful projects (I also wish I purchased more of the Stitched Together papers). I have to admit, sometimes I am very critical of my own work (hence the name of my blog), so how I placed the triangles might have been fine. Struggling with that, then setting it aside, gave me the time I needed to get the idea to use Design Space for help. The triangle patterns are not perfect, it turns out measuring cut triangles is a little difficult; just where did that tip end, at 3/8" or 7/16", but it did help me feel comfortable with my spacing.

triangles for Stitched Together Project 1

I printed the pattern from Cricut Design Space™ (download a PDF of the triangle pattern here) and while using a light box (or you could use a bright window), lined up the the triangles on the White Daisy square. My next challenge was adding the angled squares cut from the Mint Dot patterned paper and the Sweet Leaf cardstock, so I used Design Space for Project 1 (download a PDF of the Project 1 pattern here).

pattern for Stitched Together Project 1

I illustrate how I used the pattern, I took some photos while I was assembling the Project 1 card and I "hollowed" some of the papers so the pattern would show through better:

Stitched Together Project 1 assembly photo 1	Stitched Together Project 1 assembly photo 2
Stitched Together Project 1 assembly photo 3	Stitched Together Project 1 assembly photo 4

In the first photo the layer is, starting from the bottom: printed pattern, card front taped to pattern, Lemonade cardstock, Zip Strips, Silver Embellishing Thread, Sweet Leaf cardstock. In the second photo the Mint Dot paper was added. Photo 3 is another view to hopefully see the process better. Photo 4 has the triangle layer (1F) added and is just before 1G is added. It is hard to see in the photo, but the pattern does show though enough to help with placing 1G.

Other than substituting a sentiment and cutting some of the triangles from cardstock using the Stitched Quilt Shapes, I followed the instructions to create the cards.

Stitched Together Project 1

I also created a pattern for Project 2 (download a PDF of the Project 2 pattern here) because it was hard to center the Lemonade strip top to bottom and make sure it was not too far from the left edge.

pattern for Stitched Together Project 2

On Project 2 I experimented with using one of the background stamps, I do not remember if I used Timeless Textures (D1852), now retired, or Strokes of an Artiste (D1867), retiring on August 31, 2020, and Smoothie ink in first and second generation rather than coloring the stitched heart with the Watercolor Pencils. I also experiments with stamping the flower on Lemonade much more densely for one of the cards.

Stitched Together Design Space Project 2

I felt pretty comfortable with placement of the papers on Project 3 so I did not re-create the pattern in Design Space.

Stitched Together Design Space Project 3

I probably did not need to use Design Space to layout the pattern of Project 4 (download a PDF of the Project 4 pattern here), but since I had the program already open, I did it anyway.

pattern for Stitched Together Project 4

I think the only step I did differenly was to stamp one of the hearts (the the curl of the thread creates the heart) with Smoothie ink rather than color with Watercolor Pencil.

Stitched Together Design Space Project 4

While I was a little intimidated with the placement of some papers, especially on Project 1, I am very happy with my completed cards. Even though my Workshop Kit is complete (I finished it prior to learning there would be a Facebook Live), I will watch the Virtual Crop/Facebook Event on July 7 to their suggestions for lining up the papers.

In addition to the "Additional supplies needed" listed under the product description/kit contents:

• Lemonade Exclusive Inks℠ Stamp Pad (Z6517)
• Sapphire Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad (Z2848)
• Smoothie Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad (Z2896)
• Watercolor Pencils (Z3630)
• 3-D Foam Tape (Z1151)
• Glue Dots® Micro Dots (Z2089)
• Glue Dots® Ultra-thin Dots (1772)

I also used:

• Cutterpillar Glow Premium
• iCraft Removable Purple Tape

It is my wish that adding the pattern to Design Space using the Shapes helps you with future projects. Please leave a comment lettin me know if this was helpful to you or send me a note using the Contact Form to the right.

If you decide you would like to purchase the kit to create your own set of cards, be sure to order the Stitched Together Cardmaking Workshop Kit (G1206) as soon as possible.

I hope you enjoy the heat because it looks like we will be having a long stretch of it. Take it easy and drink plenty of water. Thanks for visiting today and take care!