A Gem of a Challenge - sketch

This week at A Gem of a Challenge, Christine has created a fab sketch to use but she'd also like to see some stitching and a sentiment.  Oh dear... I'm not very good with my sewing machine, and I'm never very happy with my faux stitching either.  My card is a bit of a disaster!

I did try to use my sewing machine but I ruined every piece I stitched - I'm going to practice stitching on a load of scrap pieces this afternoon because I love the look of stitched cards, it's something I really wish I could do.  So I resorted to faux stitching which always looks very messy when I do it -which is why I went for the distressed look, I was hoping it would blend in better!

I made some inky background pieces using 'scattered straw', 'ripe persimmon' and 'fired brick' distress inks, then stamped images from the Funky Flowers set (possibly my most used stamp set ever) to create the 'papers' and for the main image.  The only other stamp I used is a little Stampin' Up dot stamp.  All images were stamped in 'fired brick' distress ink.  I added some dark brown gingham ribbon from my stash and a card candy centre on the flower.

I'm a bit embarrassed even showing this card - not happy with it at all!  But I'll be back later with my DT card for Sweet Stampin' and that one makes me much happier :o)  Thanks to everyone who gave me advice about my cricut... still mulling things over but I think I probably will end up selling it.