Freshly Made with the Close to My Heart Stitch Guide

Have you ever said you would NEVER do something...but then really want to???  Yeah, that happened to me when I saw the Close to My Heart Stitch Guide in the new Spring and Summer 2014 Idea Book.  I said I would never use it.  I don't sew.  I don't WANT to sew.  I CAN'T sew!  And so on.....until I paged through the book and saw THIS...

I HAD to make it!  There are not enough words in my vocabulary to describe how much I adore this page, SO I HAD to get that stitch guide, lol!  I haven't created the page yet, but I did use the guide to make this card with sketch 123 from Freshly Made Sketches...

It was so easy to use the Stitch Guide that I simply had to tell you about it!  Here is a picture of what it looks like.  See all the half-shapes?  They only added half of the shape so that they could fit as many things on it as they could.  You just flip the guide over and line up those center holes to poke the other half!  It worked brilliantly!

 

Now, if you want to use the Stitch Guide, I HIGHLY suggest the Piercing Tool as well, and let me tell you why.  I have heard from other consultants that other brand piercers do not fit the holes in the guide very well, and I don't want you to get this amazing tool home only to find that you cannot use it!  I used this piercing tool pictured below that we sell at Close to My Heart, and it fit perfectly.

So, here is the way it looks on the back of the paper after you poke all the holes for one side of the shape, and then flip it over to pierce the other half of the shape.  It is really easy to line up everything with the grid on the stitch guide.

I cut a length of embroidery floss, and taped the end to my Kraft Cardstock.  I'm linking up with the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, Get Krafty for this one, too! 

Then I sewed all the hearts by hand.  It took some time, but the result is so cute and dimensional for a technique that is really easy to do!  

You will notice quickly that the back side is not so perrrty.  ;)  No problem!  I just cut a 4.25 x 5.5 inch piece of Kraft CS to attach right over the mess!  Presto-change-O!

This sentiment is a combination of two stamps from the Lollydoodle Cardmaking Kit.

My FAVORITE part of this whole card is the little bow embellishment I put together with the Slate Striped Twist Ties.  I used a retired Tulip brad to hold it together, and added a little Pink Glitter Gem.

That's it!  Hope you have a fantastic weekend, and see you back here on Monday to see my new bling!!!  :)