Stitching up a storm.

I have been a busy bee recently working on a few different crafty projects and stitching cards and such. I have had a bit more free time than usual which has given me time to get out my storage box full of supplies and start some new projects.

Actually, one of the things I made recently wasn't from my stash of supplies at all but it was a free kit that came with the last issue of Cross Stitcher magazine. I really liked the design and thought it would make a lovely Mothers Day card (don't worry, this won't spoil anything. The card has already been posted and opened!)

The colours on the design were so pretty, bright and cheery and I really enjoyed doing this design, although I have just spotted a little bit of backstitching I missed. Darn it! I also gave the "French knots" a miss as they take me forever and a day to master.

The finished piece of stitching looked great in the pink polka dot aperture card. I think I will make cards using aperture frames more often.

I have also been working on a design by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. The Woodland Sampler to be precise. I signed up a few months ago when it was on special offer for $10.00.

Each month a new design is released and emailed out to the subscribers by email in a PDF. The PDF not only contains the pattern but handy hints/tips and details of the floss colours you will need. The detail that goes into the PDFs means that this project would be perfect for beginners, but it is also a lot of fun for cross stitching pros.

I am a little bit behind, only being halfway through the February design at the moment, but it won't be long until I have finished and can move onto March. The January design, with the two deers and snowflakes, is so cute.

I used the floss colour chart as best as I could then substituted any colours I don't own by picking the closest match (to save buying lots of new thread). I am using cream evenweave fabric as I had a spare piece laying around waiting to be used.

Once I am up to date it will be quite nice to have a small project to do each month when the emails are sent out. Plus, you know that December will be here before we know it and I will have my completed design to look back on and frame for the wall. I'll definitely share the finished piece with you, if not a few of the months as we go along too.

Are you working on any crafty projects at the moment? Send me a link, I'd love to have a nosy!

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Simple cross stitched card (male friendly!)

It is Jonathan's brother in laws birthday today and, as we are big fans of making cards instead of buying them, I stitched and put together a card for him. I really don't like buying cards as there is usually such a poor selection and between Jonathan and I we have a huge stash of card making supplies. He is actually more into making cards than I am, believe it or not.

I had some blank cards and envelopes left over from Christmas so I covered the front in blue card using double sided tape, as I didn't think the brown card would go with my theme.

I picked a small design to cross stitch from a free booklet that came with Cross Stitcher magazine last month. As the recipient likes sailing/boats I picked a very simple two tone sailing boat design, but the booklet had a whole host of other designs to choose from which will definitely come in handy for future cards!

Once that was stitched up I frayed the edges of the aida, backed the piece onto blue felt and stuck the felt to the blue card (all using double sided tape, something I couldn't craft without!) and voila; a simple, easy and quick card which I hope will be well received!

Do you make cards? I do like to make slightly more extravagant cards sometimes but if I'm short on time I really like the idea of a small cross stitched design catered to the interests of the birthday boy/girl!

My friend made a similar card for me for my birthday (thanks for the inspiration Katy!) and I thought it was such a sweet idea.

Are you a fan of homemade cards?

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Decoupage bunting.

When I shared my latest craft project on Instagram I received some great comments and questions so I thought I would take a few more photos of my bunting in action.

Decoupage is so easy (that's why I like it!) which means it's a craft anyone can do, including kids. It's quick and messy and you get to peel glue off your fingers afterwards. Who doesn't love to do that?!

Decoupage is a way of decorating different surfaces using scraps of paper and glue. The special "Decopatch" papers can be quite expensive which is why I think places like Fired Arts in Sheffield are a great idea as you just need to pay a studio fee, pick your item with one sheet of paper included, then they have boxes of scraps in all colours and sizes that you can use for your project. You can also purchase additional individual sheets if you wish, instead of a whole pack.

I'm sure there would be something similar in your local area if you fancied giving it a go. Fired Arts offer a mixture of pottery painting, decoupage and mosaic making so there's a little bit of something for everyone/all skill levels.

You can cover pretty much anything you like when it comes to decoupage. Before Christmas I covered a pottery bird in red and green scraps of paper to make a festive tree decoration. I recently covered a paper mache 'V' letter in a fun blue/multicoloured hearts design. I also have several wooden chairs in our spare room which are crying out to be covered!

I find it quite therapeutic and much more satisfying than other types of crafting such as cross stitching which is a much slower process. It's also easy so you can have a brew and a good chin-wag while you're doing it.

You can buy shapes and letters from Hobbycraft (although I don't think the selection at my local branch is very good) as well as a multitude of online shops and Ebay. They're pretty cheap and range in size from teeny tiny to humongous.You can also cover pottery items such as decorations, trinket boxes, money boxes and photo frames to name a few.

Happy crafting! If you do give this a go don't blame me for your new found addiction ;)

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Handmade Christmas presents.

I made a couple of cross stitched pieces as Christmas presents this year and would have made more had I had the time. I love cross stitching but it can be very time consuming so this year I only managed to make two gifts.

One was a pattern from Cross Stitcher magazines with a row of pretty pastel houses with some felt leaves, the other was a pattern I bought from Etsy (here) declaring "keep calm and drink wine".

The house design took quite a while to make but I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I have got plenty of leftover fabric and thread so I am thinking about making another one to keep. This one went to my sister and her husband.

Each window has white backstitching which is a nice detail when you look closely and I really enjoyed incorporating felt especially as the colours were so pretty.

The "keep calm" pattern was much quicker to stitch and I really enjoyed making it. This one went to my mum who likes... well, wine obviously!

Did you make any presents this year?

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My homemade Christmas cards.

First things first, I hope you all had a very merry Christmas indeed and you're all stuffed full of chocolate and turkey and all the rest of it.

I feel so lucky this year as I received so many wonderful presents and got the chance to spend a few days with family including my sister and my brother in law who live on the Isle of Man so I don't get to see them very often.

Unfortunately my Dad has spent Christmas in hospital due to a recent knee transplant operation but we have all been visiting him and took him some presents to open on Christmas Day. It turns out the Christmas lunch in the hospital wasn't so bad and he has been showered with food by visitors so at least he isn't going hungry. Fingers crossed he will be out in the next couple of days and can take it easy for the rest of Christmas into the New Year.

I'm back home now with Jonathan (well, I will be when he gets back from watching ice hockey!) and on the cards tonight there are festive leftovers for dinner, The Artist to watch and no doubt I'll be playing with my new Kindle Fire HD (thanks Mum & Dad!)

I made my own cards this year and they have had some great comments by family and friends (and people on Instagram) so I thought I would share a few photos with you. They weren't massively cheap to make as I needed a new supply of cards and envelopes, and I bought loads of ribbon and the snowflake stamp. But next year I'll be set as I've got all sorts of bits left over.

I cross stitched different images onto white aida in red and white cotton then backed them onto either red card or red felt. I also embroidered "Merry Christmas" onto white aida and used tiny gold seed beads for the dot above the i. I had a few scraps of felt in my stash already so it was nice to use that up and I've got plenty of red card left for next year.

I rearranged bits of ribbon, snowflakes and the cross stitched/embroidered pieces willy-nilly and off they flew to friends and family.

I didn't really have a plan when I started making them but I think they came together quite nicely in the end.

Do you make your own Christmas cards? I must admit I only made around 10 of these as I ran out of time so we sent out a few shop-bought ones to make sure we didn't miss anyone out but hopefully if I start a bit earlier next year I will get enough finished (August should do it I reckon!) ;)

Merry Christmas everyone x

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Fired Arts, Sheffield.

A couple of weeks ago I visited Fired Arts in Sheffield for the first time for an evening of wine, nibbles, decoupage, pottery painting and mosaic making. I knew about Fired Arts as my friend has been quite a few times so when her friend organised a girly night and I was invited along I decided to give it a go.

I was a little bit apprehensive about the pottery painting side of things as I am not blessed with much artistic talent or patience, but once we arrived I spotted the Decopatch stand and decided that would be much more suited to my limited skills. Plus they had such a huge choice of things to cover in pretty paper from 3D animals to Christmas ornaments and everything inbetween.

Our evening session (7pm until closing time at 10pm) cost £15 each and for that we could pick items either up to the value of £15, or higher and then pay the difference. All of the items ready to be painted or used for decoupage have the price written on so it's easy to pick items in your budget.

I wanted to do the deer head but at £25 it was a bit too extravagent for my first visit so I chose a wooden teapot and sailboat, as well as a small pottery bird. My friend chose an owl tealight holder and picked perfectly pretty colours to decorate it with.

With the decoupage I got to choose one new piece of paper from the stand as well as having 4 big baskets full of scraps to dip into.

I didn't produce the neatest decoupage that the world has ever seen but it was really fun and I definitely want to have another go. In fact I popped to Hobbycraft to stock up on supplies last week (as it's much closer to me than Fired Arts) but their selection was rubbish so I have been looking online to buy a few bits instead. Failing  that I will have to pop back to Fired Arts! Oh what a shame ;)

The bird I made has pride of place on our Christmas tree after I popped a bit of red and white twine through the hole. Now all I need to do is find a way to hang up the sailboat and teapot!

Have you ever done pottery painting or decoupage? Do you have a placed like Fired Arts near you?

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Operation finish what you started: robin tree decoration.

This is another project I started and forgot all about, being distracted by shiny new things. It was a free gift with Cross Stitcher magazine the issue before last and it's so adorable. 

I love the felt frame and wish I had made a template to make a few more. It was dead easy to make: stitch the pattern, back the aida onto white card/fabric, sew the ribbon onto the back piece and finally use fabric glue to secure everything in place. I left mine under a heavy book overnight just to make sure the glue had set.

If only I wasn't finishing it off at gone midnight I might have got the robin a bit more central! Ah well, who wants to be perfect... ;)

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Operation finish what you started: hot air balloon framed cross stitch (Emily Peacock design).

I am the WORST at starting something, leaving it half finished and getting distracted by something else shiny and new before ending up with a pile of half finished projects which then makes me anxious. So, I vowed not to start anything new until I finished my other projects and I've stuck to it (kind of).

First on my list was to frame and hang my balloon cross stitch which I finished quite a while ago but left to gather dust in a corner. It feels so nice to have this finally hanging up in our bedroom, as it took me so long to stitch it. I feel quite proud that I made this, with my own fair hands.

It was a pattern from Cross Stitcher magazine a good few months ago (issue 254). It has been the best issue of the magazine this year in my opinion. I think I wanted to make every single design in there, so if you're looking to pick up back issues I can really recommend this one.

What do you think? I hope you like it as much as I do!

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