faux stiching
 

I really like the stiched look, but I haven't figured out how it's done. I read about the white pen, but are the tiny holes really punched out or is it just a dot from a pen? If they are punched out, what is used to do it?

With the exception of the gel pen, the crafter's tool kit from SU! has everything you need for this technique -- paper piercing tool, template (for even spacing of the holes), and a self-healing pad to protect your work surface.

What I did was to purchase the mat pack from SU, which has a little foam mat and a template guide. I went to a craft store and bought the paper piercing tool (in case you don't want to get the whole SU crafters kit). It works great! For darker cardstock, all I used to connect the dots was a white Crayola pencil and it came out looking just like real stitching!