It’s that time of year where we let the special people in our lives know how much they are loved. Whether or not you celebrate Valentine’s Day, I have a project that you can do any time of the year. I love stitching on card stock. There is something so satisfying about it. You can make some really unique embroidered cards to put a smile on somebody’s face.

You will need some card stock, envelope, decorative paper, embroidery floss and needle to make this card.

If you haven’t tried stitching on card stock yet, I’ll give you some tips and tricks with this project. First thing you’ll need is some card stock. You can use a standard sheet and cut it down to a card size, but you can also use the blank cards you can get from the craft store. If you want to reuse something you have, you can also cut up a cereal box or something like that to the size you want. For this card, you’ll also want an envelope, embroidery floss, a needle and pencil. Decorative paper can also be used, but it’s not required.

Now it’s time to get started. Decide what you want your image to be. You can draw a simple picture or write some text (or both). I use a standard pencil to lightly draw onto the card stock so I know where to stitch. If you do it lightly enough, you can easily erase if you aren’t happy with anything. You can also print out something onto a sheet of card stock if you aren’t feeling confident with your drawing abilities. Trim your card down to size after printing.

Here’s the light sketch of what I’m going to stitch.

Once you’ve decided what you want to put on your cad, you’ll need to think about which embroidery stitches you want to use. One of my favorite stitches to use for cards is Holbein Stitch since it looks so nice on the back side. You can choose most stitches, but I would avoid any stitches that require holes to be really close together. For example, if you try to do Satin Stitch, you need to be super careful or you’re going to punch out the card stock in the area you’re trying to fill because your holes are almost touching.

I like to mark where I will need a hole in order to do my stitches. Once I’m happy with how everything is laid out, I punch my holes. You will use your needle to punch little holes from the front side of your work. It’s up to you if you punch them all up front or if you punch them as you go. Either way will work. I highly recommend using a thimble or something to protect your fingers on the underside of the card. Since you can’t see where the needle is going to go through, your fingers can accidentally end up in a bad place. I have stabbed a needle under my finger nail while doing this, so don’t be like me…protect your hands!!! It doesn’t take much effort to get the needle to go through the card stock. Both sharp and rounded needles will work. If the card stock is wanting to buckle or crease while you’re pushing the needle through, try rotating your sheet 90 degrees. For some reason (somebody who’s an expert on paper might know), it will work better.

Here’s the exciting part…stitching. There is a lot of prep work in order to get ready, so you’ll be happy to know that the stitching part goes much more quickly. I used 6 strands of floss with two colors (4 strands dark and 2 strands light pink). It gives a slightly variegated look, but it looks more consistent across the whole project. This card was stitched with Holbein Stitch. I try to make sure that I have enough floss on my needle to do the entire project without having to start/stop since I’m using the same color throughout. Luckily, I guessed correctly. It’s not a big deal if you run out, but it can add a little more bulk if you have multiple areas with knots.

Here’s the first pass of Holbein Stitch which is the same as Running Stitch.

Since I used a script font for my word, it’s written as a continuous line. On the reverse pass through, I wanted to make sure that the right stitch was sitting on top so it made sense with how the word was written. If you think about writing the word, wherever you cross a previous line should sit on top. With this stitch, it’s not a guarantee that it will line up accurately. The first pass worked correctly at the top loop of the “L”, but it was backwards at the bottom of the “O”. An easy fix is to weave under the existing stitch (see image below), so it looks right even though the stitches were made in a different order.

I passed the needle under the existing stitch, so it would look how it should look if it was written.

Once you’ve finished stitching, you can decide if you want to do anything with the back of your work. If you’re giving your card to somebody who appreciates stitching, they might like to see what the back of your work looks like. You can see that Holbein Stitch has a nice clean look on the back. Although, the word will be backwards. If you drew an image, it’s not that big of a deal that it’s mirrored on the back.

Depending on the stitches you use, the back of your card might not be as neat looking. Don’t worry. You can still have a beautiful card. I like to put a small piece of decorative paper over my stitched area. The paper should be thicker. You can use another piece of card stock or a piece of handmade paper (even if it’s store bought). Scrapbooking paper will show the lumpiness of your stitches. You can still use it though if you use a piece of card stock underneath it.

Here’s a piece of decorative paper added over the back of my work. Since the paper is thicker and has lots of dimension, you can’t see the stitches underneath at all.

This project here was fairly simple, but it shows you how easy it is to stitch on card stock. If you want to add a little more flair, there are so many options. You can add beads, sequins or metallic floss for more bling. Before you stitch, you can add some watercolor, colored pencil or a printed image to have more color. There are so many options here. You can really have some fun with it. Now let’s go make some cards for our loved ones.

Time to send this card to someone special.

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A Love Note