Tutorial

Hey everyone, Sasha here!

I thought I would show you how I stitched the hearts on this layout below from my Paper Moon gallery.
Here we go...
I'm making a card this time, but basically, you do the same thing on a layout if that is what you want to create. I already cut the green cardstock for the card base (5.5 in x 4.25 in) and the white cardstock slightly smaller than that. Didn't measure that one, I eyeballed it. Then I have a piece of scrap cardstock, my sewing box, pencil, paper piercer, a ruler and my hearts punch.

I punched several hearts and arranged them on the white cardstock, moving them around until I get the look I want. Then I traced around each heart with a pencil and drew a straight lines from them to make it look as if they're being hung from above.

Then I work on piercing the white cardstock, using the pencil marks as my guidelines.
Tip : Pierce your holes closer together at curves but not too close that you will tear the paper once your needle goes in. This is important if you're going for smooth curvy line look instead of jagged, sharp corners. If you're afraid of messing up, you can have a go on a piece of scrap cardstock to see how close you can get the holes together without tearing them during the stitching process.

Now it's fun time. At least for me, I find the process of stitching is oh so soothing to my soul. :) I used two ply of DMC #317 (dark grey, charcoal~ish). This, to me, is the best embroidery thread out there. You will need to separate the thread. A skein has 6 ply, just ruffle the end a little bit so you can pick one ply at a time, hold it just like the photo above, then take a deep breath and pull it slowly. You should have one ply easily separated. Repeat. Now you have two ply - thread your needle. I use #26, the same size I use for cross stitching on 36ct linen.

You can see that there is no knots. I just keep a hold on maybe an inch of thread at the back of the cardstock while I make the first few stitches. Once it's secured, I let go and continue stitching.

This is how the back looks like when I'm done. I just pull the loose thread ends to make sure the stitches in front are taut and nice, then I run my glue tape over them to secure them in place. If the back is gonna be exposed, I usually paste some strips of paper to cover the glue tape and prevent my layout/card from sticking onto the page protector/something. This time, because I was gonna mount it on the green card base, I don't worry so much.
Supplies Used: AC White cardstock, Green cardstock; Paper Piercer; SC Exclusive PP; Rub On - Pink Ledger Tweet; Red and white twine.

And here's the completed card. I punched some hearts from SC exclusive patterned paper, added a cute little pink ledger tweet rub on and tied a red twine. The hearts were punched using the same exact punch so they fit snuggly inside the stitched outline. I love that!

I hope I've inspired you to try stitching on your layouts/cards.