This past week, my other creative daughter was visiting, and somehow, we ended up at our local Micheal’s craft store not too long after her arrival. Imagine that! She knew she would be needing some thank you cards for her daughter’s upcoming birthday and wanted to make something creative and a little different. If she could save some money over buying ready made cards, that would be a bonus. She found a Sew Easy Starter Kit with the tools needed to make embroidery stitched designs on cards. Since she recently embroidered a pillow case for her daughter, embroidered cards sounded like a fun project to try. She also purchased a pack of blank cards with envelopes. Numerous other attachments can also be purchased to go with the kit to make these beautiful stich designs.

Melinda and I did not want to be left out of the fun, so we had a great time helping her make cards using her new tools. Yesterday she flew back home- with her tools! And we forgot to take a picture of the tools and the cards we made together! (We really are trying to get better at remembering to take pictures of everything we do, just in case we want to use them in a post. But sometimes we get caught up in the fun of creating and forget!)

We did not have the funds available to buy another set of tools, so we decided to see what we could come up with on our own. We already have lots of embroidery floss, needles, and heavy card stock paper on hand.

Since we did not have the foam matt to place under our cards as we punched holes, we improvised with a piece of folded up fabric. A folded up towel would have worked just as well. We drew our own simple designs on plain paper, placed it over the card, and punched holes with a pin. Then threaded a needle with embroidery floss and stitched. The back side of the stitching was covered with a piece of scrapbook paper.

Melinda added a white piece of paper with handwritten words to the front of the card.

We experimented with adding pieces cut out of scrapbook paper to some other cards we embroidered.

On this card, I used skinny ribbon instead of embroidery floss to make the flowers. It gives the embroidered card an elegant effect.

Maybe you have never gotten into card making because you did not have all the stamps, ink, papers and so on, but you like to embroider. Try your hand at embroidering cards instead of fabric! It is rather fun!

If you don’t want to draw your own designs, try some of these free patterns. If you are feeling extra bold after giving those designs a try, this site has beautiful intricate designs free for you to use, as well.

Save money on store bought cards by making your own!