Using a circle template

  Club creating keepsakes has proven to be a great source of tips and information. I learned about one of my best and cheapest tools from a club ck peep. I always liked hand stitching, but had never tried it. I thought it would be to hard or take up too much time. When I learned about using plastic canvas as a template, all of that changed. As you can see from this photo of a recent layout, nice even circle are a breeze!

I used the template to align the brads as well as to stitch the circles. This Layout was completed for sketches for you.The paper is Creative imaginations. The green brads are Basic grey. The star brads are Making Memories Just chillin' line.

  I have 2 templates. One is a rectangle and one is a circle. I purchased them for under a dollar in the plastic canvas and sewing section of my local craft store. I can use them not only for stitching, but also for brads or anything else I want to put on my page in a nice even manner. You simply lay the canvas template down, and use a pencil to mark where your brad(or in this case, punched circle) will go.

As you can see, it is easy to keep a nice even line. Because you can see through the canvas,You can easily change the size of the circle you want...simple select a circle and then follow the squares around that circle as you mark with your pencil.

Paper used is Cosmo cricket Boyfriend collection. this is a Let's Scrap Sketch and part of the club ck one hour challenge: use hole  punched circles.

For stitching, I usually mark every other hole. I then go back with a paper piercer to pre-make the holes before I stitch.

It really makes stitching so easy!

  For flourishes or designs, I recommend the Bazzill In Stitches templates.They make adding a little stitched flair to your pages so easy.

The paper is fussy cut Basic Grey. I also hand cut the stars from the porcelain collection. I used Heide Swapp mirror hearts.

 I will say, I don't find the need to use the ones for words or letters. I simply hand draw, use a die cut letter or use a stencil as a guide for my letters...then I use the paper piercer to poke the holes and stitch.

If you do hand stitch on a page, practical scrappers is having a stitch challenge this week!
***Updated: the Jeep LO was featured as a Practical Scrappers top 3!