Felt Background

Today I used a background die on a unique material: FELT!

I have a love/hate relationship with felt. I love how it looks and feels and I think it elevates a card to another level. I hate felt at times b/c it can take a lot of effort and be frustrating lol.. it can pull and lose its shape, or start to fray and look sloppy.

I used a shim when cutting the felt, so the pieces would have come out pretty cleanly if I wanted them to... I kept them in there though so the spacing was perfect. I then applied some glue on the back of the small pieces and put my card down on top. 

My first problem was that the felt was cut through for the most part, but it was actually hard to tell where some of the cuts were.. even holding it under a light. I placed the glue on the little pieces, but some ended up on the cut lines, or even on the negative piece that I had hoped to preserve.. I was in it to win it by now though, so I carried on and put the card on top.. I waited about 10 seconds so the little pieces didn't immediately fall off, but didn't want to wait too long or the background would dry on the spots I messed up on. I carefully pulled off the surrounding piece of felt (that was all one big piece). That piece though, which I had wanted to use for another card, was in shambles by the end of the process. It was just too stretched out to use. The other problem was that it took a few minutes to carefully make my way one by one through all the pieces and by then, my accidental glue spots were drying.. All in all, it wasn't too bad really and I was able to work it out by using a pair of scissors to cut some of the frays. I told myself to not obsess over it and after coming back from the gym, I actually thought it looked pretty good. 

The nice thing is you can use sequins or your sentiment to cover up any accidents. I actually thought about not using a sentiment so it didn't cover up all the hard work, but I think Vellum was a good choice and I love using it. I used a few embossing powders: WOW and 2 of Ranger's Tinsel series. I carefully did a little ombre work on the LOVE stamp (mostly b/c I'm cheap and I didn't want to contaminate/waste any powder lol. Then I took a few seconds to bask in the beauty of the finished card lol.

I actually use felt a good amount on my cards, but this is the first time I used a background die with it. I think that larger pieces are easier to manage. I also tried to use a sticky sheet on the back, but even with a shim, it wouldn't cut properly. Maybe it was the adhesive I used, so I might give it another shot. 

 Let me know if you give felt a try and thanks for visiting!

I used Simon Says Stamps' Stained Glass stamp/die set and the Scalloped Cover Plate from Neat and Tangled.

Challenges:
The Male Room Challenge
Mod Squad Challenge
My Time to Craft Challenge
Crafts Dreamy