Wednesday, 1 April 2015

Previous Finishes

Hello Everyone, I don't have a card for you today but I am about to start stitching a birthday card for my husband's cousin's grandson who is 2 later this month.  I hope to have this done by the end of the week as it needs to go to Australia.  In the meantime I thought I would share some of my larger cross stitch pictures.


This is the work that inspired me to start sewing.  My Granny embroidered this peacock when she was young and I always loved it.  She taught me to sew starting with chain stitch when I was little.  When she died in 2004 I had to have it, I had it reframed and it hangs in my bedroom now.


 This is the first large cross stitch picture that I did, it is a Mirabilia chart called Christmas Elegance.  It is supposed to be done on dark blue evenweave so the beads for the stars stand out but I did it on Aida as I was too scared of evenweave at the time!


 My next big picture was The Three Birdwatchers which is a Dimensions kit.  We have a tabby cat so it seemed appropriate.  Around the same time that I did this one I also did another Dimensions Gold Collection kit of a Japanese lady, this hangs at my parents house as my Dad really liked it.  Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it completed, I'll have to take one next time I go round!


 This is another Dimensions Gold Collection kit of hummingbirds.


Another Dimensions kit of a peacock, this one took ages to finish but I eventually got it done whilst on maternity leave just in time to start on a sampler for the baby. 


Here is the sampler I made for our son, a bit blurry I'm afraid! 


I have also done a Gold Collection kit of a Christmas village scene.  I don't have a picture as it's in the loft, it only comes out in December!  I am running out of wall space which is one of the reasons I am making smaller things like cards or Christmassy things that don't need to be on the wall all year round.  Having said that I have a kit in my stash that I bought recently called bamboo fan which I will have to find space for when it's done.


I can't start that until I've finished my reindeer, yet another Gold Collection kit (there's a bit of a theme here!)  I've made good progress with it over the last month, still not done any of the metallic thread but I have bought some thread heaven as suggested by Justine in a comment on my last WIP post so hopefully that will make it a bit easier - thanks for the tip!


I've been looking at and following a lot of stitching blogs lately and love all the HAED pictures that so many of you are doing.  I think completing one of them is going on my bucket list, if only I could choose from so many beautiful pictures!

Wednesday, 25 March 2015

Easter Chick

Hello again everyone!

Today I thought I would have a go at using a sketch to make a card.  I found a blog called I Need A Sketch that has lots so I chose this one.



I stitched a Hobbycraft mini kit for the image, used some bright yellow card from my stash for the background and papers from my Create and Craft paper book.  I coloured in a peel off sentiment with a pro marker and stuck it to an egg shaped die cut.  A couple of yellow ribbons and some flowers with pearls finish the card.






I quite liked using the sketch as it meant I didn't spend hours rearranging everything until I found a layout I liked so I will probably try this approach again.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:


 I am going to spend a bit of time working on my reindeer this week as I haven't looked at it for over a week.  Thanks for visiting my blog, please leave me a comment to let me know what you think.

Friday, 20 March 2015

Fizzy Moon Decoupage

Hello everyone!

I've had a busy week so I've only had time to make a quick card.  A friend gave me a Fizzy Moon decoupage kit for my birthday so I've used one of the images from that.


I layered him up with some plain red card, a paper from Dovecraft Back to Basics Traditional pack and a dotty layer that was in my stash left over from another decoupage kit.  I added some ribbon and a couple of gems.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:


On a separate note my Mother's Day cards were well received by my Mum and Mother-in-Law last week and I was spoiled by my Husband and my Son with breakfast in bed and a lovely lunch.

Thanks for stopping by, please come again soon!

Thursday, 12 March 2015

Merry Christmouse

Hello everyone, I have gone back to Christmas this week.  I have stitched a little festive mouse - isn't he cute!  He came from the cover of a magazine but I can't remember which one!  I have 2 more to do at a later date. 


 I started with some green mirror card and used paper from First Edition Stocking Fillers pack.  I used a couple of different types of ribbon across the bottom.  The sentiment was one I had left over from a decoupage kit, I added a small pearl to it.



I would like to enter my mouse into the following challenges:
 

Thanks for visiting, please come again soon!

Friday, 6 March 2015

More Mother's Day

 Hello again!

This is my second Mother's day card.  I decided in the end that the yellow card I had was too bright and didn't look right and I didn't have many yellow background papers either so I went with green.


This is another pattern from Ultimate Cross Stitch Cards magazine stitched using threads from my stash.  I've used plain green card for the base layer and polka dot paper from First Edition's Stocking Filler pack.

  

I would like to enter this card into the follwing challenges:


My only problem now is who gets which card, there is one for my Mum and one for my Mother-in-Law.  I had originally planned the yellow roses for my Mum as she likes them but I think I prefer the blue card now they're both made up!  Have a look here and let me know what you think!

Thursday, 5 March 2015

Mother's Day


Hello again everyone. I have another card to show you today. This is the first of 2 Mother's Day cards that I am making.  I have stitched a pattern from Ultimate Cross Stitch Cards magazine and used some plain blue card for my base layer.  I used a piece of patterned paper from Docraft Papermania capsule collection.



I was going to add more layers from the same paper pack and some embellishments but I really liked how it looked with just the one layer so I have stopped here.



I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:



My next Mother's Day card is from the same pattern collection but using yellow roses.  I am having trouble choosing which colours to use as my base layer and choosing which paper to put with it - green or yellow?  I'll blog it when I've made up my mind!



Sunday, 1 March 2015

Winter Reindeer - WIP

Hello again everyone.  I haven't made any cards today, I have been going through my papers to find what will go with the pictures I have stitched for Mother's Day.  I hope to have these ready to share with you at the end of next week.

In the meantime I thought I would show you my Work In Progress.


It's a Gold Collection kit called Winter Reindeer which I bought at the NEC in November 2013.  I started it last summer but put it down for quite some time while I made Christmas cards. My aim is to get it finished for this Christmas and make it into a cushion as it is a nice square shape.  I haven't done any back stitch on it yet or any stitches using the gold metallic thread.  I find the metallic thread quite difficult to stitch with so I'm putting it off!  This is what it will look like when it's done.


Thanks for visiting my blog, please leave me a comment to let me know what you think and come again soon.