Hello! It's Jennifer Larson sharing my first craft love: Embroidery.
I started cross-stitching when I was in third grade; I started scrapbooking when I was 30. I'm not sure when I meshed the two hobbies, but stitching on layouts is now common for me. Why do I love it? Stitching is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to add detail to a page, and not just any detail, but the kind of detail that makes people stare slack jawed at the page. Seriously.
Here's what I'm planning on sharing for this week:
Day 1:( today) Basic Tools
Day 2: Basic Stitches
Day 3: Templates
Day 4: Adding Details
Day 5: Free Hand Stitching
It's day 1, so here are the basic tools I use:
- foam mat. I bought mine at Michaels for cheap--two dollars?--in the kids craft section. *cheap alternative: back of a mouse pad, if you still have one.
- paper piercer. I've gone through a few of these. Wine cork for safety. *cheap alternative to paper piercer: Push pin.
- ruler. I like the Tim Holtz one because it has holes in it. Any ruler will do, though.
- needles. I choose stainless steel ones so they don't rust, plus one that are not too thick but have a big eye. I'm getting older...
- a sharp scissors. Just for ribbon and thread, not paper.
- embroidery floss. I'm a snob and use DMC, which you can get at most craft stores (Joann's, Michaels, specialty embroidery shops). There are 6 threads in DMC; I use three when stitching on paper.
A note about DMC: There are a TON of colors. I own all of them due to cross-stitching, but I find it burdensome to search through them for my pages. I keep certain colors in my scrap supplies:
neutrals. I use white, ecru, black (210),light brown (3863), dark brown (3031), and orange brown (301). The numbers correspond with the DMC number codes, if you are interested in seeking these colors in particular.
rainbow colors. I bought a muted version ( top row: 304, 721, 743, 701, 825, 340) and a bright version (bottom row: 321, 971, 444, 910, 824, 858).
As I scrapped and stitched, I went out and got colors that seemed to fit the color trends for scrapbooking papers: natural greens (more muted), teals, muted orange, and variegated threads.
These were my basic tools; tomorrow I will share with you the basic stitches I use and some layouts I used them on!
