Its Friendship Day!!!

Today is Friendship Day and I wanted to make something to mark the occasion.  Back in school and college, Friendship Day was all about making Friendship Bands for our BFFs but now as an adult, I can't help feeling a little silly to give my adult friends these sentimental strips of floss. In an effort to modernise the tradition, I decided to make cards for my friends with a twist! The twist? Incorporating friendship bands somewhere in the card. And here's what I made.

For my first card, I wanted to make something distressed and textured. I created a friendship band strip using the new coloured jute at Itsy Bitsy. There was a lovely deep pink shade that worked wonderfully for my textured theme. I found some alphabet beads in the bead bar at Itsy Bitsy and chose the letters B-E-S-T-I-E-S for my band. I threaded each bead, added a knot and threaded the next. I repeated this until all the beads were threaded.  

Next I got to work on the card. I used 3 layers of white card stock each one smaller than the one below. Using the sweetheart distressing tool, I roughed up the edges of the top two layers to create this awesome textured, distressed look. Then I embossed the top layer with the Itsy Bitsy Swirls embossing folder, love that design! So versatile! 

My next step was to use the new Couture Creations Intricutz dies for some flourishes on the card. These have just been launched at Itsy Bitsy and did you know that these are available in a myriad of designs, they are so incredibly economical and they produce such fabulous results. The die I used costs just Rs. 599! After gluing down the flourishes, I took my beaded friendship band strip and fashioned it to look like another flourish. Voila! My card was done! Don't you love how the friendship band actually became like an embellishment on the card! I am so pleased!

For my next card, I decided to make the Friendship Band the central feature of the card. I have to say I was thinking of Tejal, Khushboo and Saumya when I was making the band because they truly are self named Gossip Gurlz of Blogland and their amazing friendship, borne totally out of their mutual love for all things crafty is an inspiration to us all!

 Once again I used the alphabet beads at Itsy Bitsy, only this time I chose purple. I alternated a bead and a button to spell out the words 'Gossip Gurlz' using some green floss from We R Memory Keepers as the thread. I joined the 2 rows at each end and knotted the rest of the thread to form a thick twine. I placed this on the inside of the card over some green pattern paper. 

Then for the front facade, I alternated a scallop oval with a regular oval to create this frame in the centre through which you can see the friendship band. Using another Couture Creations Intricutz die, I created the vine effect around the frame and a nice pretty bow using satin ribbon finished off my card!

Hope you like my friendship bandy cards. As I was making these projects, I found myself reflecting on this whole Friendship Day thing. When we're young our girlfriends are our buddies, playmates and confidants. As we get older, I think they are integral to our sanity and peace of mind. What is your view? Leave a comment and let me know! Till then Happy Friendship Day to all our Crafty Buddies! 

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