International Art and Soul Challenge 113

 I'm hosting this fortnight's challenge at International Art and Soul, and I've chosen the theme, 'Use Thread or Beads'. One obvious option is something stitched, but if you don't want to do that, there are lots of ways of using thread and beads that involve other techniques - including beads as flower centres or eyes or just for decoration. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

I kept things fairly simple, stitching a couple of designs from Stitching Cards. I like a lot of their designs and given my love of all things Mackintosh, it's not surprising I chose this one.

I used two different types of thread here: the flower heads use a general machine embroidery thread in a crimson shade, and for the rest I used something new to me - a Sulky no. 12 which is varigated in shades ranging from pink and blue through to lilac and grey. To complete the card, I used a Sue Wilson Mini Striplet die to cut out of the white card and placed a silver panel behind. The, I matted with red, and that was that.

This is another Stitching Cards design, but this time I've gone full rainbow! The petals and leaves use machine embroidery thread, but the pots and frames use another Sulky varigated thread - this time in a rainbow range. I used the same striplet die, but this time just mounted the top layer on to some green mirror card directly.

And, for something completely different, I made a Valentine card. (I know, that was months ago, but I tend to make my cards well in advance and then schedule my posts, and I'm typing this on 14th February.)

This card uses a different source - a book called Fold and Stitch by Christa Bushousen. It's an odd mixture of pricking, stitching and tea bag folding, but there are several heart designs. I adapted this from a three-heart design in the book. I'm kind of traditional in my Valentine cards - they've got to be anonymous, although I daresay my husband isn't fooled by the cards that turn up each year. This uses just the Sulky thread I used in the rose card above. To complete, I cut 'be mine' using a set of Tonic dies. The top layer of each uses some card I shaded using a gelli plate and distress ink. I wasn't happy with theoverall result, but I think it worked well for this. I'm just disappointed the set doesn't include punctuation as this really needs a question mark!

I'm looking forward to seeing your thread and bead creations.