Hand Embroidered Page | Unfinished

Good morning friends! After the stress of the last few weeks, I needed something to keep my hands busy, and let my mind focus on anything else. I've been inspired by Page Evans' pages for a while now, and since becoming a member over at Big Picture Classes, and looking through her classes there, I was even more inspired by her embroidered pages. They're beautiful, and I wanted to try it. I had planned to share this yesterday, but instead I'm sharing it now!

When I decided I wanted to do this, of course I thought "I want to do it, but I want to do it in my own way, and on my own terms." I didn't have the time, or the resources to get additional embroidery thread, so once I chose the design I wanted to use, I made a plan using only the thread that I had in my stash (which wasn't much). I chose to use this file from Wilna Furstenberg and shared on Instagram what my plan was. Everyone was excited about my plan, (including Wilna and Paige (I might have had a huge fangirl moment)), and that was all I needed to know I could do this, no matter how long it took me.

I took progress shots to share with Jon, my sister, and Instagram. When I started but I definitely didn't realize just how long it would take me. The very first heart (top left) took me 30 minutes.

After work, I'd come home and work on it while we watched some TV. It really helped me to unwind after work, and it helped me to get it done sooner than if I'd only done it before work. I knew if I set it down to work on something else, I'd never finish it.

I did all of the hearts before starting on the leaves/swirls around the rest of the page. My original plan had been to make all the leaves/swirls green/aqua, but I ran out of it very quickly, so I added in some purple leaves/swirls and I love how the colours looked together.

The finished page is far too pretty to cover up. You'll see on the right side that I have a spot that isn't finished. I'm not sure what I'm doing there, but a few of the holes were too close together and it ripped in a few places, so I just stopped and left it. I might cover it with an embellishment, or a small photo, but currently this page doesn't have any more of a plan than just looking beautiful! I love how it turned out. I almost want to frame it, and never do something this detailed again! But of course my hard work paid off and it looks wonderful! Everyone loves it and I'm so pleased with myself. I'll definitely do this again, just with simpler designs.

Thanks for coming by to check out this layout. I love it so much!
Have a great day!
-Alexandria