just Lu: The Sister-Mother and an Easy Hand-Stitched Card

As I introduced yesterday, this week I'm paying homage to the amazing moms of all kinds who have shaped my "mama schema" (read the post to understand what in the world that means :) and sharing simple handmade cards to deliver to these women who have been so influential in my life. Don't miss today's simple card tutorial at the end of the post: a hand-stitched baker's twine card.

The Sister-Mother

Sister-mothers are the amazing women who are able to act both as mothers -- walking the path before me and teaching me the ropes of womanhood and motherhood -- and as sisters, empathizing and laughing with me when those very same ropes tangled me up and saw me landing flat on my face.

I have the wonderful privilege of having a wonderful community of sister-mothers, both those who are actually genetic sisters and those who have adopted me into their sisterhood.

These women have taught me what true friendship is,

what true bravery and faith looks like (and that it has a great sense of humor as well!)

what patience and pressing forward mean,

and what it truly means to enjoy life, regardless of circumstances.

I hope you each are blessed with wonderful sister-mothers in your life, although mine will always be the best -- not just everyone can be The Sisterhood of the Traveling Sweaty Pants, you know!

And now, the card for today:

Easy Hand-Stitched Baker's Twine Card

A very simple and easy hand-stitched baker's twine card -- start to finish in 15 minutes!

Gather your supplies:

plain note card (mine is just a half sheet of white cardstock, folded in half to form a card)
paper and pencil
baker's twine
needle with an eye large enough to fit the baker's twine

Start by deciding what simple shape you want to stitch. I chose a heart. You can draw it right on the front of the card or, if you are a nervous drawer like I am, use the good old graphite-transfer... Draw the shape on a separate piece of paper, and then flip the paper over and fill in the whole area with pencil. Flip the paper back over (so your drawing is now facing you) and place it on top of the card and then, trace firmly over the shape to transfer a very thin outline to the front of the card.

Then you'll use a sharp needle to poke "pilot holes" for your stitching. Be sure that your card is OPEN and placed on a firm surface that the needle can poke into -- I used my rug, but I usually use a magazine. Poke an EVEN number of holes around the outline of the shape, spaced equally.

Then thread your needle with an arm's length of baker's twine -- you may need more if you are dong a larger shape with more stitches. The only needle I could find that would accommodate my baker's twine was a darning needle, so I used the smaller, sharper needle on the right to poke the holes and then the darning needle for the stitching.

Carefully and gently push the needle through the first hole at the top of the heart, leaving a 4-5 inch tail so that you can tie the bow when you are finished.

Place your hand on the back side of where you are stitching to help add strength to the card so that your stitching won't bend or wrinkle the card.

Gently push the needle back up through the next hole, and then down through the next, making a dashed-style stitched line, until you have completed the circle. If you counted correctly (or just guessed well :), your last stitch will come up close to your first stitch.