I painted the square stitch blank with acrylic paint first, then used my Silhouette to design and cut an acrylic shape of Arizona. Every time I use my Silhouette to cut vinyl (it's only been a few times so far), I'm like, Oooooh, why haven't I used this more?!
After applying the vinyl shape, I stitched a simple border with Rose Gold Metallic Divine Twine (it was closest color to copper, and Arizona is the Copper State, after all).
See this project, including process photos, on the Whisker Graphics blog here: Love = String Art
