Machine Embroidery
Handmade Cards & Tags

Santa-suit Card

MATERIALS

• Two red 5" x 7" single-fold cards
• Colored cardstock: green, white
• 6 3/4" x 9 3/4" rectangle of heavy decorative paper to match or coordinate with cards
• Five 4 1/2" squares of decorative paper for the Santa suits (at least one being solid red)
• Embroidery motif. Visit www.embroidables.com for the free Santa Suit download shown in our example.
• Red pen
• Embroidery threads: red, black
• Craft glue or adhesive
• Scrap of white yarn or fleece for the fur trim
• Paint brush or cotton swab

Set up your machine to embroider the appliqué Santa-suit motif. Hoop adhesive stabilizer, and expose the adhesive. Attach a 41/2" x 51/2" piece of white cardstock to the stabilizer, and center a 41/2" square of decorative paper (face up) on top. Stitch the embroidery design.

Dip a small paintbrush or cotton swab in water, and moisten the decorative paper just outside the stitching. Gently pull the decorative paper apart along the stitches, removing the decorative paper outside the design. Work as quickly as possible so the water doesn't soak into the background paper.

Moisten the area inside the hanger stitches and remove the decorative paper there as well.

Repeat the steps above to make four patterned suits and one solid-red suit. Trim the cardstock with the red suit to a 3 3/4" x 5 1/4" rectangle. Trim remaining embroideries to 3 3/4" x 4". To mat the embroideries, glue each white rectangle to a piece of dark green cardstock. Trim the green cardstock 1/8" larger all around than the white paper.

Glue the matted, red-suit rectangle to another piece of white cardstock.

Using decorative-edge scissors, trim the white mat a scant 1/4" beyond the green mat. Glue scraps of white fleece or fuzzy yarn to the red suit's cuffs and lower band. With the red pen, add "Ah, Tradition" under the suit (see photo above).

Open the two red cards, and place them face down side by side so the outside of the cards face up. Fold the 6 3/4" x 9 3/4" rectangle of decorative paper in half crosswise. Centering the fold between the two cards, glue one half of the paper to each card, creating a hinge (5).

Turn the joined cards face up, and glue one of the matted appliqués to each inside card surface with the red suit on the last panel (see photo above). Glue the remaining embroidery to the card front.