'Quilted' card

One of the things I love about Stampin' Up!^®'s Designer Series Paper (DSP) is that each pack contains twelve different prints that all coordinate. That makes it really easy and fun to create cards that use more than one patterned paper. And because the paper is double-sided, if I don't like a certain print, I can always use the print on the back. (Of course, there are those times when I love the patterns on both sides ...). Last weekend I used an older pack of DSP to make this quilt card:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Paper: Spring Showers DSP, textured Bashful Blue card stock, Very Vanilla card stock (or any color to use behind the patterned squares)
Accessories: Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Signo white gel pen, 1" square punch, Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon, basic pearls

I chose seven of the prints in the pack of DSP and punched three 1" squares from each print. I applied several strips of adhesive along the edges and the middle of a 4" x 5" piece of Very Vanilla card stock and just started adhering the squares next to each other. (I used twenty of the twenty-one punched squares.) There are a few places where I didn't get the squares lined up exactly right, which was frustrating, but at least they're not too noticeable over the Very Vanilla card stock.

To create more of a quilt look on this card, I used a white gel pen to make faux stitches diagonally through the squares. Then I embossed the whole piece with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder. I tied a piece of Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon around the "quilt" and adhered it to a card base of textured Bashful Blue card stock. Because I wanted an even border, I trimmed the card base slightly to 4-1/4" x 5-1/4" instead of the standard A2 size (4-1/4" x 5-1/2"). For a last little detail I applied a pearl to the four corners of the "quilt" and to each space where four of the squares met.

I think a design like this would be great for a set of matching cards to give as a gift. I'll have to get to work on that!