Friends are Special Treasures

The project that I have to share is a card that I made for one of my best friend's as a 'Thank You' for a nice & thoughful gift she sent.  She recently got married in the Turks & Caicos and as a special gift for each of the guests that were able to made the trip for her big day, she sent a nice framed picture of them with the happy couple along with a picture of the entire group.  When I received the package, I started thinking about a thank you card to make and was excited to make this one. 

I have seen several cards/projects that have used a sewing machine and always wanted to make one!  I have a sewing maching but had bought the We R Memory Keepers Piercing Tool with the different attachments thinking that the tool would be great to have & use.  This was the first time that I used the tool & am very happy with how the stitching looked when it was finished.  After using the tool for the first time, I didn't know if I was a huge fan & was starting to think that I may have bought a tool that I would not use again...as every since one of my finger tips were so sore from pushing the needle in & out.

While visiting a newly found scrapbooking/crafting store with my best friend last weekend though, I got some tips for using the tool from the owner & another customer shopping, so I am going give the tool another try on a project before pulling out the old trusty sewing machine & calling it quits. :)  If anyone has any helpful hints about the Piercing Tool, I would love to have some more.  Thanks for stopping by & taking a peek!!

Recipe for this project:
- Treasure Chest from Life is a Beach Cricut Cartridge cut at 2.5
- Stampendous Clear Stamps - Happy Messages - 'friends are special treasures'
- Stampendous Clear Stamps - Happy Messages - 'Thank You', inside the card
- Versafine Stamp Ink in Onyx Black
- We R Memory Keepers Piercing Mat & Piercing Tool
- Taupe DMC Cross Stitching thread
- Paper punch - standard & mini size, to create gold tokens from inside the treasure chest
- White Chalk
- Black Gelly Roll - details around treasure chest
- Distress Stickles - Clear Rock Candy, applied to the map paper to have a distressed look
- Stickles - Gold, applied on the gold in the treasure chest
- Scotch Advanced Tape Glider