Getting Shirty!

Father's Day is just around the corner here in the UK, so I wanted to share a few simple, and I hope, effective ideas using some of my favourite Sizzix dies. People have been making cards with men's shirts as the main motif for years, I wanted to add a bit of die cutting pizazz and hopefully, a touch of ingenuity.

The card I made today uses just black and white card and the dies I am using are both Tim Holtz decorative strips namely the Mini Paper Rosettes and Bow-Tied , click on the names to follow the link.

I started by cutting a rectangle of white card measuring 15 x 10 cm before making two score marks to create the shirt's collar, the template below will give you the measurements.

Once I had made the cuts to create the collars I folded both ends in towards each other until they touched at the top before securing them with my glue gun. Next, I cut two complete rosette strips from the same white card.

I concertina folded each strip and attached a strip of double sided tape down the centre of the shirt before applying each folded strip to create a ruffle effect.

I cut a strip of white card about 15mm wide and used my pattern makers wheel to run down each side which will give the impression of stitching. Next, I attached the strip down the centre of the shirt over the ruffles secured with a glue gun. Finally, I die-cut the medium bow, one of 3 on the die. The small die-cut rectangle you see in the picture wraps around the assembled bow to form the knot.

Once the bow tie is assembled its time to attach it to the collar before adding a row of adhesive white pearls down the centre of the shirt. Finally, I attached the finished shirt to a black base card measuring 11 x 14.5cm. I'm in a fairly unique position as a paper crafter when I say that I would be happy to wake up to this card on the morning of June 15th.

Next week, a couple more variations on this theme, Take it easy till then!!