Faux Stitching with the Paper Piercing Tool

The paper piercing tool is so versatile, it’s not just for poking holes for brads!

I love the look of stitching on my paper projects, but it’s not always practical to drag out the sewing machine, and hand-stitching can take forever. With a couple of tools from Close to My Heart, including the paper piercing tool shown above, I can create faux stitching in half the time!

In order to create this look, you’ll need to use Close to My Heart’s exclusive colors cardstock, or any other cardstock with a white core.

Check your cardstock for a white core by tearing a bit at the corner. As you can see below, the color is on the surface of the cardstock, but the center is white.

I’m going to create a square of faux stitching, so first I like to mark my cardstock, so my corners will meet nicely. Use a straight edge and a pencil to lightly mark your lines.

Dry emboss the lines with an embossing stylus and the groove of your paper trimmer.

Tresa Tip: Tracing over the cardstock several times lightly, rather than one heavy pass, keeps the cardstock from tearing through.

You can also use a scoring board for this step.

Flip the cardstock over so that the embossing is “mountain,” not “valley.”

Use a sanding block, or a piece of sandpaper to expose the white core of the cardstock. Keep your sandpaper flat to sand only the raised areas on the cardstock, so it won’t scratch the rest of piece.

Place the paper piercing foam mat under your cardstock. To create perfectly spaced stitch marks, use Close to My Heart’s ruler. Line up the desired stitching holes over your white scored line.

Hold your paper piercing tool vertically, poke through the stitching holes. You want to pierce deep into the foam mat in order to make larger sized stitching holes.

Continue until done!