I Speak For the Trees | These Days Collection | Laura Alberts

Hey y’all! Laura here again with a hand-stitched wreath layout using the stunning new These Days collection! I have two photos of my youngest daughter exploring through a tree in our backyard as she often does, finding new and inventive ways to get into the branches. I love the pops of red in the These Days collection that allow me to incorporate these photos seamlessly. This layout features a chain-stitch border and a hand-cut circle in the center that I backed with the Family Ties patterned paper.

I added in clear sticker trees around my titles to accentuate the Dr. Seuss quote I used for my title. These tiny puffy alphas worked perfectly to follow the line of my stitching and add a pop of color at the top of the layout. After fussy cutting the entirety of the Home Grown 12×12 patterned paper, I created a wreath of florals around the side and bottom of my stitched border. Adding in a few butterflies creates the impression of movement and fills in the gaps around the photos.

To finish off this project, I added gold Nuvo dropos for the butterfly trails, splattered gold ink spray around the edges, and popped two of the wood buttons on the edges of my floral clusters. Beyond the florals, I kept the embellishing fairly simple with a tab above the left photo and a word phrase below the right photos, both from the ephemera pack.

I hope this hand-stitched layout inspires you to try a new technique on your next layout, whether that’s stitching, fussy cutting, or splattering! To see this layout come together, check out the process video below: