Bittersweet Heart

I don't celebrate Valentine's Day but I can still tell people I know that I love them! And I have been dying to use my new Basic Grey Bittersweet paper pack. I used a sketch by Our Creative Corner-OCC; they don't number their challenges but this one was from quite a while back.

I tried to lace punch chocolate CS; that sooo does not work. It jammed up my punch and I had to use forceps to remove the paper bits. I really do not want to have to always use patterned paper. Maybe I need some cheap quality CS!! Or I could try splitting my CS sheets... anyone tried that?? The dark brown strip along the top of the patterned paper is the excess produced by the punch! The thread though the button holes is 4 strands of very fine pearl cotton (used for crocheting and tatting) that I untwisted down to it's individual strands. Yes, I do have good eyesight! I used the tip of a needle to separate the strands.

Here is a tutorial on how to make the mat around the Labels 1 die cut shape.

Cut two shapes from the mat colour in the same size as the image you are matting. Cut them in half and trim off the points nearest the cut edge. The pieces will align as shown in the second photo. However, I prefer to adhere one at a time as shown in the following photos.
 

Continue to adhere the remaining sides. The adhesive you can see is in preparation for the next panel. You can choose to adhere opposing sides first, then the other sides. I chose to do one, turn the label 90 degrees, do the next and so on. It makes the pieces twist slightly creating a bit of height at the corners. Like it is up on foam dots but not quite so much height. You can mat it as wide or as narrow as you like. I use the line created by embossing to keep them all the same. Even if you don't emboss, you almost always can still see the line faintly. Keep in mind, the wider you go, the more distorted the corners will appear.  Hope this helps you make your own Label 1 mats.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Heart-Krystal Clear Stamps
Paper: Basic Grey Bittersweet pack, pink pirouette, chocolate chip CS
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Nestabilities, Copic E47(to thicken the heart image outline), Basic Grey buttons, Scrapbook Sally flower, pink pearl cotton, foam dots and sticky strip-Jody Morrow, ribbon-Offray, MS lace punch