Hello! With the change in seasons, sometimes we are ready to change things up in our crafting as well. Most of us reach for cardstock when we start making a card, but if you’re looking for something different to try, why not also reach for some fabric?

While shopping for fabrics for a workshop I was hosting, I got excited imagining how I could use all the different fabrics on a card. The morning after my workshop, I took all the left-over material swatches to my craft table and got to work on some really fun cards.

Let’s take a closer look … Five Types of Fabric You Can Use for your Card (or Scrapbook) Projects.

1) Small Pattern – Often times, the small patterns are just the right scale for card making. You can find many good possibilities in the quilter’s section of a fabrics store.

This pattern was perfect to wrap around a coffee to-go cup. I cut around the die cut with plenty of margin, put adhesive on both sides of the die cut, and wrapped the fabric around it. To be safe I also taped down the ends with scotch tape to keep everything secure on the back.

I think the fabric makes the item look a bit more real. And look at all that wonderful texture!

2) Ruffles – While this may seem like an odd choice at first, it’s really quite perfect for cards. The ruffles create the same sort of height and dimension we create with foam tape, but without all the thickness. This makes mailing (and storage) so much easier. And how awesome that all the ruffles are already lined up in a nice row … can you imagine how long it would take to sew that on your own? For pennies you can just buy it already made!

After wrapping the card front with the ruffled fabric, I added a flower embossed in gold and lightly colored with a matching copic marker, a spray of leaves, and a gold-embossed sentiment.

I wish you could see how much movement there is when you open up the card. The ruffles are so light that they just freely bounce around and add so much to the card.

3) Flowers – Similar to the ruffles, did you know they make fabric with 3D flowers sewn on top? I had no idea! It’s almost not fair, getting something so awesome for a few dollars. Although the per yard price was more expensive ($15.99 at 30% off) I only needed 14″ so it came out to $4.35. While I didn’t count them, I’m sure I have hundreds of flowers that I can use on future projects (including a recipe scrapbook for my cousin’s wedding).

No sewing required, you just cut around each flower.

This card was as simple as adhering three of the flowers to the card base, adding some sequins to the middle of the flowers, and picking out my sentiment. What an easy card to mass-produce!

The best part is that the flower fabric is so thin that it folds down nicely when you need to mail or store it,

and then pops back up when you take it out.

4) Netting – I like to think of netting like vellum; it’s great for toning down a bossy pattern, or in this case, a coloring attempt gone awry. After stamping the stripes I just grabbed a few colors without trying them out first, and ended up with a loud background that was difficult to put anything on.

Layering the netting on top instantly calms the pattern down, adds a ton of texture, and allows me to rescue this card front from my scraps pile. Bonus that this netting comes with GOLD DOTS. So fun! Extra bonus that the opposite side of the gold dots is silver dots! Does it get any better?!

5) Sequins – I saved my favorite for last, a fabric that has a million tiny gold sequins stitched to it!

You really can’t go wrong with this one. Just wrap it around a small panel, adhere the ends in the back, and stick anything on top to make it look glamorous or festive. Sequins on steroids!

This bounces the light all over the place, and when it’s sitting on a kitchen window sill with the sun hitting it, it’s just magic. I went with a gold-embossed sentiment on black, and a little drummer bear who’s kicking off some big celebration.

All of these fabrics were purchased at Hobby Lobby, but I’m sure you can find something similar in your local fabric store. If you can’t find ruffles, you can always add individual rows of trim. If you can’t find flowers, look for any design that’s sewn onto the fabric. If you can find sequins, look for flat, metallic fabrics. And if you still can’t find any of these types of fabrics, I’m sure you’ll discover something totally different that you can incorporate into your cards.

I also want to mention that although fabric is typically sold by the yard, or fraction of a yard, you can request to have the fabric cut in inches, reducing your cost significantly. Buying 7″ (which would be more than enough for most cards, and allows some extra room for cuts that aren’t straight) of a $6.99/yard fabric that is on sale for 30% off is a few pennies LESS than a dollar!

I sure hope you’re ready to shop in your stash of fabric for new card-making supplies! Or perhaps go to the fabric store and pick out some new swatches specifically for card-making. If you end up using fabric on your cards I would love to see it!

Thanks so much for stopping by. I was so honored to be able to join you all today!

-Kelly

Be sure to visit Kelly on her blog at http://notablenest.blogspot.ca/or on Instagram at @notablenest!

 

Card One Supplies: Stamps: CAS-ual Fridays: Coffee Talk. Essentials by Ellen; Mondo Hydrangea. Dies: CAS-ual Fridays: To-Go Cup Fri-Dies.

Essentials by Ellen: Mondo Hydrangea.Top Dog Dies; Arrow. Paper: Lawn

Fawn: Gotta Have Gingham 6×6 pad. Neenah Solar White 80lb. Paper Trimmer/score board: Fiskars Inks: Tsukineko Versamark Watermark Ink, Catherine Pooler: Black Jack.Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe; Gilded.

Stamp Positioner: My Sweet Petunia Mini MISTI. Adhesive: Scotch ATG tape and gun Fabric: Hobby Lobby. Card Two Supplies: Stamps: Winnie & Walter; In Bloom Anna’s Flora, Sentimental Birthday. Dies: Winnie & Walter; In Bloom Anna’s Flora. Catherine Pooler; Perfect Vines Dies.

Paper: Neenah Solar White 80lb. Paper Trimmer/score board: Fiskars

Inks: Tsukineko Versamark Watermark Ink, Catherine Pooler: Black Jack.Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe; Gilded. Stamp Positioner: My Sweet Petunia Mini MISTI. Adhesive: Scotch ATG tape and gun Fabric:

Hobby Lobby. Card Three Supplies: Stamps: Winnie & Walter; The Big, The Bold and Happy Dies: Essentials By Ellen; Brushstroke Hello by Julie Ebersole. Catherine Pooler; Perfect Vines Dies. Paper: Neenah Solar White 80lb. Paper Trimmer/score board: Fiskars Inks: Tsukineko Versamark Watermark Ink, Catherine Pooler: Black Jack.Embossing

Powder: Brutus Monroe; Gilded. Stamp Positioner: My Sweet Petunia Mini MISTI. Adhesive: Scotch ATG tape and gun Fabric: Hobby Lobby.

Card Four Supplies: Stamps: CAS-ual Fridays; Holly Jolly Borders.

Winnie & Walter; Sentimental Birthday, Framed, Wish Big. Dies: Winnie & Walter; In a Word Party Cutaway, Framed Cutaway. Paper: Neenah Solar White 80lb. Markers: Copics. Paper Trimmer/score board: Fiskars Inks:

Tsukineko Versamark Watermark Ink, Catherine Pooler: Black Jack.Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe; Gilded. Stamp Positioner: My Sweet Petunia Mini MISTI. Adhesive: Scotch ATG tape and gun Fabric:

Hobby Lobby.

Card Five Supplies: Stamps: Winnie & Walter; Party On with Evelin T Designs, Wish Big with Evelin T Designs. Dies: Winnie & Walter; Party On with Evelin T Designs. Paper: Neenah Solar White 80lb. Markers: Zig Clean-Color. Paper Trimmer/score board: Fiskars Inks: Tsukineko Versamark Watermark. Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe; Gilded. Stamp

Positioner: My Sweet Petunia Mini MISTI. Adhesive: Scotch ATG tape and gun Fabric: Hobby Lobby.