Whenever I get a chance to use 2d artwork, or some other medium in a project I get pretty pumped. Not only does it change-up the usual on my end, it can make the project stand out and have a bigger impact as well.
A co-worker of mine (Mary Baugh, check her out on instagram @mbbaugh) has a few framed cross-stictched pieces hanging on her office wall and I was really impressed with the look. There is something about the texture and home-made quality of the type specifically that was very interesting. I liked how simplified everything gets and thought it would be a fun medium for a card of some sort.
DMDS (Daniel Mobile Dentistry Services) serves the elderly at retirement communities and nursing homes with much needed dental care. I had no idea how stressful appointments can be for some of the elderly. I just assumed most nursing homes had dentists or someone checking their teeth there. I didn't know many elderly don't get the proper dental care they need. Frankly, until I talked to Dr. Daniel, I didn't think elderly dental care was super important, and had no idea how serious a dental problem can be for an elderly person. Anyway, DMDS does some important, great work for the elderly and I thought an ugly sweater dental card would be a cool handout to their patients.
"Here's to a white Christmas" has a double meaning and would be a fun payoff for the inside. There it was, I liked the idea, but that typically doesn't mean much :). I mocked up the idea and got everyone on board for the project and off to the cross-stitching races Mary went. I created the layout in vector form for the front of the card and we tweaked a bit for simplicity. Mary got the pattern and once finished with the stitched piece, I was able to scan in the layout to the computer. I made a few small tweaks to the final scan in photoshop and after trips back and forth with the printer, the final product is below. I did frame up the actual cross-stitched piece as well and was excited to deliver that to the dental office with cards and envelopes ready to mail.
