Sew Nice to Stamp!

I've broken in another new stamp set - Sew Suite. This card was made for my Grandma, it's her birthday today and I'm visiting her tomorrow. I did want to make a bright, happy card and I think this fits the bill. It's a Kate original:

I've used quite a lot of things to create this card. It's one of the fussiest cards I've ever done.

Materials:

Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Yoyo Yellow (retired), Whisper White, Island Oasis DSP, watercolour paper.

Ink: Versamark, Stazon black, Pacific Point, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Sahara Sand marker.

Stamps: Sew Suite, Teeny Tiny Sentiments.

Other: Big Shot machine, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, heat tool, dimensionals, sponge, White Uniball gel pen, Ice Cream Parlor ribbon (American spelling), Ice Cream Parlor buttons, mini glue dots, aqua painter.

Non Stampin' Up: Clear embossing powder, non stick craft sheet.

Tips and Tricks:

1. For the sewing machine and cotton reels, I stamped them on the Versamark ink pad, then in Stazon Black, then onto the watercolour paper. I added clear embossing powder and heat embossed the images.

2. I used my Stampin spots to dab ink onto the craft sheet and used that ink for the water colouring.

3. The buttons are threaded with pieces of Whisper White cardstock and adhered with mini glue dots. The glue dots also keep the paper threads in place.

Stuff Ups:
1. The faux stitching around the outside. I practised on scrap cardstock first and it looked acceptable but when I started to do it on the card, it all got messed up. The cardstock was too light and my lighting was too bad to see what I was doing properly. I have learnt that it works best on darker cardstock (as it did in my practise session) and with smaller stitches. I need to learn how to 'corner' properly. I need to make the stitches consistently the same size and in a straight line. I feel I almost wrecked the card with the stitching I did at the end.
2. I used a Sahara Sand marker to trace around the sewing machine to cover up some leaked ink from my water colouring, but I wish I had just left it plain.
3. I forgot to position the buttons tag lower (I nearly forgot to use it completely!) which meant the sentiment didn't fit. As a result I had to cut it out from its nice modern label punched tag. I sponged around it and jammed it in the corner. I think it's ok but not what I had planned to do.
4. Maybe placing three buttons under the ribbon as well as on top would better balance out the card? I'm not sure. I don't want the buttons to dominate the whole card.
5. My cutting out could be better. At the very least, I could try a technique that I've seen on YouTube - after cutting out the images, run around the cut edge with the side of a black marker tip so you don't see the white core.
6. I think I can see a dimensional poking out from under a cotton reel.

I know I sound quite critical but I really am pleased with this card, apart from the faux stitching that is.