Showing posts with label trades. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trades. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

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

Friday, May 30, 2008

ATC Update - or Spoiler Alert for sh.nava

First off, I don't know if sh.nava reads my blog, but I did send her a personal message letting her know that pictures of her ATC were posted here, and if she would prefer a surprise she should skip reading this post. ♥

Last month I was browsing for birthday gifts I'd like to have, and sending my husband the links so he'd know that whatever he picked out would be a winner. Well, I stumbled upon a Japanese embroidery book that I didn't have yet, and I spied storybook characters inside. Be still my stitchy heart!

Of course he did the right thing, and gifted me the book. Thanks again, honey!

With the subject of this ATC swap being fairy tales, and me having a soft spot in my heart for THE WIZARD OF OZ, I now had the perfect pattern source.

This book wastes no time getting to the cuteness. Here's the first page:

There they are, the Wiz Kids. (Oh, don't think I'm not still swooning over Peter Pan and the gang!)

These patterns are small enough to accommodate the ATC, but they couldn't be spaced out so much. After a little tweaking, I got the placement just right.

Since the designs are so small, I only used 3 strands of floss, and primarily used the back stitch everywhere except for the occasional French knot or daisy stitch. In the book's photo, it looks like the designs were stitched using only 1 strand of floss. Wow.

I'm headed to the post office tomorrow to ship this off to Israel! My ATC will be coming from Australia and I'll be sure to share it with you when it arrives.

Which fairy tales do you love?