Oldies from the past: The Cross Stitch Kit That Got me Hooked

Well, this was my first cross stitch kit (a freebie in a CrossStitcher issue) which got me hooked. A Japanese Kokeshi Doll I noticed in a shop window as I was passing by one boring and rainy afternoon. It was perfect and I knew Mom-mom (my bf's Nan) would love it. Cute and full of vibrant colours.  It immediately caught my attention. Then I thought: Hey! Why not? Let's give it a go and see how I'll be doing with my stitching... So I tried and... got addicted. I made it into a card for Mother's Day. With this little cute cross stitch kit my new hobby had arisen - cross stitching. Funnily enough, I had never been interested in cross stitch as such. I even thought it must be very boring and painstaking to sit and stitch on and on for hours while your threads are getting all tangled up and a knot follows a knot. I thought I would not have enough patience to do this and guess what! Now, I find it relaxing, to snuggle up in a blanket on the sofa with a needle in one hand and a project in the other. Sometimes I dream of nothing more than that! See? This is all about the change in attitude :) And this is how it all began :)

2 cards

My latest two cards :)

The first one has been made for a male friend from Poland for his birthday. I chose chocolatey browns and creams for that occasion. I've been very much into these colours recently :) The circular badge stamp I used comes from the online Lemonade shop. These badge stamps are soooo in these days!

The second card has been made as a 60th birthday card for my boss at work. I thought something soft, pastel and feminine instead of solemn dark rich colours would come out better. Light and fresh, it meant to be.

I put a marbled pink insert inside with a printed and scalloped die-cut message too.

And now the best piece of news: thanks to my colleague, L. I'll be taking part in a summer fair in June in Wrexham, North Wales where all sorts of crafters will be selling their stuff. So excited and can't wait the day! Now with the weekly half term break coming it's high time to catch up with painting some more fresh pieces of glass, card making and sewing. I'm planning to have hand-painted glass the most, some cheeky bean bag chickens and possibly some cards and gift tags :) depending how much I can do before the final date - 18th June.

Oh, and last but not least, MotherGosling, welcome, my new follower :)

Why crafters never get bored...

Ever wondered why some crafty people are always up to something? Well,... this is why the crafters never get bored...

These pretty little things are my latest sewing shoppings. Now, tell me, how can you ever get bored having these?! :D

I'm also a lucky owner of these wonderful Lili of the Valley circular stamps with all sorts of sentiments :) I've managed to collect the whole series of the sentiments over a period of time. They are fabulous to use on all sorts of occassions. Their size matches the size of the 3rd small circle of Spellbinders dies.

Lili of the Valley also does journalling stamps, like these:

I absolutely adore these journalling shapes and the button-shaped stamps!

Oldies from the past: My First vases

One of my first vases I painted in the past. First one was an experiment with a self-adhesive lead tape and acetate mosaic-like tiles. Second one is a try at using peel off stickers and filling them in with the glass paints and the 3rd one is an attempt at free hand outlining.

Oldies from the past: Window art (2) Angels

Angels. They have always been one of my favourite themes to paint on the glass. Most of them (if not all) have been sent home as my mum loves collecting them so these angelic transparencies ended up being framed and put up on a wall. When painting them, I tried both light, sort of heaven-like colours (white, pale blue, pastel pink, gold, silver) as well as some bold hues to make them look more... humane and folky :) Think they looks nice both ways, don't they?

And this one below, a kneeling and praying angel, has always been my favourite:

I even bought a whole pattern book for that one! :) Well worth it, I think. The image defends itself.

Oldies from the past: 2 Green Tealight Candleholders

I painted these quite a long time ago when I felt inspired by the transparent green glass I saw on the internet. I used silver relief paste on them and interspersed the shades of green with a few raspberry-coloured stripes of vitrail paint. I glued some sequins to give them some sparkle. Sadly, these are the only photos of these candleholders and they are pretty dark. With a tealight inside, they give a nice glow and shades around. These candleholders sold quite quickly at a local craft fair.

Oldies from the past: Tudor-style tealight candleholders

I love a homely atmosphere. I love the mood. I love ambience. Therefore I love glass painting tealight candleholders, which bring such lovely coloured shadows into  your home :) Here are one of my favourite (and one of the first) tealight candleholders hand-painted by me and inspired by the Tudor-style leaded windows. They live on the mantelpiece today.

Joanita, welcome to my blog :) my 2nd follower :)

Birthday Cross Stitched Card for a Friend

I have finished my newest cross stitched card! It's a birthday card with a friend motif for my best friend E., who lives in Pl. Took a while to stitch this one but I enjoyed switching from colour to colour. There's lots of backstitch in this one too! This design comes from a lovely book (a must-have for all cross stitchers who like stitching motifs for cards by the way) by Joan Elliott Cross stitch greeting cards. 70 stunning designs for every occasion.

 

and some details of the cross stitch:

Teapots are my favourite tea accessories so no wonder I loved stitching this one! :P Not to mention litres of tea drunk during the process of stitching this card :)

The Red vase with back dots (French knots) is my another favourite bit in this stitch :) The intense red makes it clearly stand out in the design.

I kept the embellishment of this card to a minimum as the stitch itself  makes a statement and is in the centre of focus. I mounted the stitch on a highly textured paper (Indian hand-made paper) and I put some little crocheted flowers in the opposite corners :)

and here is my progress with the bookmark for my mum :)
you can recognize the flower outlines, can't you?

I think I'm still feeling a bit royal :) so my collection of blue-white-and-red stash is noticeably growing :)
I've been prepraring stuff for some patriotic projects :)

Recently I bought this:

... some wide gingham  and red dotted ribbons as well as some buttons. I've been thinking of stitching a hanging decoration in home sweet home style :) using these ribbons :) Anyway, we shall see. See you soon and thanks for your comments :)

Easter aftertaste

Now that Easter is gone, I am back to my old routine. Work-home-crafts-work-home-crafts way of living :) After such a long and fabulous break, what's left now is a pile of Easter cards from my friends and lovely weather outside, which somehow miraculously continues to be sunny :)

I took part in a blog Easter card swap and here's what I received from PL

even more Easter cards from my crafty friends:

And some Easter goodies from BoArt :)

with a lovely Easter card attached :)

Orin's 7 tatted eggs were hung on branches of my Easter Tree :) this year

And of course, as always, I have started lots of lovely projects but haven't managed to finish them off in time for Easter. These are the 2 cross stitch designs:

a 3D Easter bunny: 

and 1st of the 4 Easter card stitches. This one has been almost completed. Just need to add the backstitch, wash it, iron it and mount it on a card. I was stitching this one while watching the royal wedding on telly :)

Now, I've been stitching this design for a few days now. It's going to be a stitch mounted on a card for my best friend, Ela, from Poland. Hope she will like it.

Right after finishing the Friend Card, I'm moving on to a bookmark for Mother's Day in Pl (26th May) and it's going to look like that:

It's going to be already a second cross stitched bookmark for my mum, who by the way is a real bookworm, as the 1st one with the purple heathers I stitched for her last year turned out to be too nice to use and ended up as a treasure in her keepsakes box!! I hope this time she will use the 2nd one! 

I've been feeling a little bit royal and inspired by all that wedding event taking place in Britain and I feel like stitching or sewing something with my favourite British motif - the union jack, so I've made some preparations for that :D 

I already know what it's going to be but hush! Not gonna tell you though. It's a secret! :P

Sewing

I've been sewing. A new cheeky chicken bunch. People want them! I want them! Time to show off some funky fabrics and spring-coloured craft stash! :)

Gilbert (the one in the picture) has been the only chicken that stayed with me over Easter. The rest have been given away. He's been into modelling a lot recently :)

New chickens coming soon!