Halloween Cross Stitch Wall Hangings

Last week I noticed Heidi Kenney of My Paper Crane had listed a new cross stitch pattern in her Etsy shop.  It's an adorable, vintage inspired Halloween design!

 

I already had another Halloween project planned, but I put that one to the side after I bought this pattern.  I wanted to do something a little bit different, and focus on making new decorations for the house.  So I decided to cross stitch a couple of the designs on plastic canvas with acrylic yarn.  I l-o-v-e how they turned out!

 

I used 7 count plastic canvas, acrylic yarn, a blunt tapestry needle, and the Halloween Frenzy pattern for this project.  I'm happy to post a tutorial or more detailed how-to instructions, if there are enough requests.

This is a really great weekend project. I was able to finish one pumpkin in an evening while watching Mad Men on Netflix Instant.  I am so happy they added that and Breaking Bad to the Instant options! We haven't had cable for a couple of years, so I've been spoiling myself in the evenings.  Speaking of spoiling, I just started Season 3, so no spoilers in the comments please!

Has anyone else started on Fall or Halloween decorating? 

Unicorn Girl & The Floss Box

Today I'd like to tell you about one of my favorite websites for embroidery and cross stitch designs, The Floss Box! Emily is the cute creator behind The Floss Box, and I never get tired of looking at all the designs and saying, "AWW!!"

She's been around for a while, and I remember hearing about her a couple of years ago from my pal Rachel of Average Jane Crafter. If you keep up to date with Rachel, then you're aware that she's not only a craft geek, but a space geek. I think Rachel mentioned "The Planets" embroidery patterns, and I remember thinking how cute and clever the entire series of Science embroidery patterns were.

I'm sure a lot of you have been loving and stitching tons of patterns from The Floss Box for a while now. But just in case you've never heard of her, I think you'll like what you see.

She has lots of embroidery and cross stitch designs, and last week this cross stitch design caught my eye on Pinterest.

Spring Unicorn Girl cross stitch by The Floss Box.

I quickly bought it after seeing it. But last week, she released the embroidery pattern! Yee-haw! I jumped on that project immediately.  Darcy is pretty much obsessed with unicorns right now, and she was pretty excited. 

The one below is the embroidered version stitched by me.

Darcy insisted on lots of pink and purple for the girl and the unicorn. I love the way it turned out & so does my little Unicorn Girl.

Come back tomorrow for another vintage pattern share, won't you?

xoxo,
Amy

Bird Helping Bird

Last month I went to a "craft social" at a local business and spent some time visiting with my pal Jemellia.

I adore this lady. She is funny, refreshing, and crazy talented. She told me she would be attending Funky Finds Spring Fling, which has already taken place, and asked if I would make a credit card sign for her. The obvious answer was yes, so we decided to do a little trade, because I wanted one of her adorable toddler skirts for Darcy. I was *this* close to being selfish and trading for a gorgeous apron.

After brainstorming via text messaging, we decided a cross stitched pillow would be perfect for craft shows.

I should mention that Jemellia and our other friend Robin often team up at craft shows, operating under 2 Birds in a Pod. When they do this, you are hit with 2 times the amount of pretty, so you'd better have your pocketbook ready.

Jemellia & I met for dinner, to do our little trade, and of course I wasn't finished. At the last minute, I decided to add a little bit more to the design, had to go to my tattoo appointment, and ended up finishing the last bit of stitching at the dinner table.

She took the finished piece home and transformed it in to a pillow.









She even created a pocket on the backside of the pillow to hold their business cards. Brilliant!



She loved her item, and I loved mine. Darcy gave her skirt a big hug when she saw it, and she said she felt like a princess.



(Digital frame is from the fabric covered button kit by Kitschy Digitals.)

After this trade, and over the weekend, I decided crafting for profit just isn't for me. I am much happier making things as gifts, for my home, or for trades. Don't get me wrong, I admire those who can find the drive to craft for profit, and maintain an online shop and do craft shows throughout the year. But right now, that's just not for me.

Perhaps when the girls are older and in school I might change my mind, but for now crafting for bliss is what I love.

xoxo
Amy

Easy Makeover

Happy Monday and happy spring! I am so happy it's officially spring, and from the look of our forecast this week, it will feel like it outside. Saturday was the first day of spring this year, but we actually had another snowstorm here in Oklahoma. We ended up with about 4 inches on Saturday, but thanks to the sunshine and warmer temperatures today, it's pretty much all melted.

In celebration of Spring, I have a few project ideas to share with you this week. Sunshine + coffee = creative fuel.

Today's project is so quick and easy but it adds such a pretty touch to a completed embroidered wall hanging.

You might remember, I shared this photo a couple of posts back, when I was "dreaming of spring."



(By the way, thank you Denise of Craft Gossip for sharing this with your readers. You're always so kind!)

I think the little blue bird is just lovely the way it is, but I got an idea over the weekend to incorporate one of the Woodgrain picture frames from Kitschy Digitals.

After a little resizing, and playing with the colors in photoshop, I printed my picture frame out on to cardstock, cut it out and glued it on top of the embroidery hoop.

What do you think?



I just love the charm it adds to the finished piece.

Here's another completed project:



If you're interested in trying this for your embroidery projects too, you can find the "Woodgrain Frames" digital kit here.

xoxo
Amy

Thumbelina

Just a quick little post to share a picture of my newest tattoo! I told Dave I wanted a tattoo of Harper in a thimble, since she's our tiny Thumbelina baby.

Once again, he's exceeded my expectations and amazed me.



I love how the two tattoos play off of each other:



Eventually, I'd like to get the watercolor portrait of Darcy that Dave painted as a tattoo.



Chicago friends: Dave will be guest spotting at Deluxe Tattoos at the end of April. I hope you can make plans to visit him! I'll be sure to post the exact dates once I know for sure when he will be there. But if you think you might be interested, I recommend contacting him soon, as he tends to book quickly.

Now for a little stitching! I made this for Dave after the triceratops tattoo as a thank you / tip.



Some of you may be thinking, "Wha?" This is a play on the popular phrase, "All your base are belong to us." If this still doesn't make sense, click here for a more detailed explanation.

This sign is a huge hit and I've been convinced to make more of these. So if your tattooist is a hipster geek, I'll have more of these in my Etsy shop soon.

xoxo
Amy

Dreaming of Spring

Today it's beautiful and full of sunshine. A sure sign that Spring is just weeks away.





I love you, Winter, but I'm ready for longer days, shorter nights, lots of sunshine, getting my hands dirty, having a house full of open windows, leaves on trees, homegrown food, birdsongs, and picnics. These are just a few of the things I love about the upcoming change in seasons.

Who else is ready for Spring?

xoxo
Amy

Stitchosaurus

I don't know if I've mentioned this on my blog before, but my 2 year old daughter Darcy is obsessed with dinosaurs. She goes crazy anytime she sees anything about dinosaurs. She has approximately 30 different dino action figures and can correctly identify at least 10 different species. I never imagined my little girl would love dinosaurs this much. She makes our hearts swell with pride.

A few weeks ago I was browsing Etsy, and stumbled upon my new favorite cross stitch designer, andwabisabi. She had a Brontosaurus among her collection, so I bought it for Darcy.



I started this piece last night around 8pm and worked on it for about an hour, then finished it around 10am this morning. So it went pretty quick.

I also bought some cute dinosaur fabric from another Etsy seller, and I'm planning on using that as the main fabric in a quilt for Darcy.


She really goes bonkers for this fabric. When I pulled it out today for the cross stitch photo shoot, she squealed and said, "My dino covers! I just wub it so much!" Then she ran over and started counting all the dinos.

We're going to be moving to a bigger house (same city) next month, and I'm focusing on these colors and other dino goodies for her room.

What things are the kids in your life currently in love with?

xoxo
Amy