Fussy Cut & Stitched Flowers Layout

I created a new layout for the Stamp & Scrapbook Expo blog!

SMILE IN WROCLAW by Paige Evans

DESCRIPTION: One of my favorite papers in Oh My Heart is Paper 06 which is full of colorful flowers. I knew I wanted to fussy cut them and use them on a layout!

JOURNALING SAYS: Finding the gnomes all around the city was too much fun - let's go back!

HOW TO: I started by doing the fussy cutting. I cut out about 80% of the flowers, small, medium, and large. The blue leafy pieces I cut out and then lightly adhered onto a sheet of transparency so that I could easily move them around and figure out where I wanted them without having to move every single piece every single time. I wasn't originally thinking about stitching, but as I was cutting out the flowers I noticed the printed details on them such as lines and dots and thought, "Hey! Those could be stitched!" Goodness knows I couldn't pass up a stitching opportunity! So I spent some time piercing holes hand stitching through almost all of the flowers. I even jumped on YouTube and figured out how to make French Knots - so much easier than I thought they would be to create! Some of the flowers and leaves didn't have any printed designs on them so I just made up my own. Most of the time I used the same color of thread that was printed on the flowers and leaves to do the stitching, but sometimes I wanted to add in more colors. Once all of the details were stitched I picked a background cardstock and then figured out the placement - I decided to create a faux bouquet if you will and then adhered everything in place. Next I hand cut some stems from green patterned papers and cardstock. I hand cut a bow from patterned paper to tie the "bouquet" together. And of course, what's a layout without a photo, title, and journaling?! Those were the finishing touches! Oh and I added some subtle stamping. Everything you see is from my Oh My Heart collection :)

SUPPLIES: Patterned paper, stickers (mini alphabet, puffy, transparency), Thickers, stamps, heart charm: Oh My Heart by Paige Evans / Pink Paislee; Cardstock, pen, adhesive: American Crafts; Ink: Studio Calico; Thread: DMC

PROCESS VIDEO: Watch this start-to-finish process video to see how this page came to life:

What-do-ya-think? Would you enjoy fussy cutting and hand stitching flowers?! Give it a try! :)