Very Berry :)

Sunday evening is a Hand-made Monday time, which is where I am linking up tonight :) I've got two craft pieces to present today. The first one is a festive bird on a holly bush from the mid-week post - see here - CLICK.

Another painted vase inspired by the nature itself. This time it's a berry motif. I find it so simple and so lovely - the sight of a branch with red winter berries in a glassy vase or intertwined into a wreath or simply berries growing on a bush, covered with ice :) The motif has been painted on the front only and it meant to look lightweight and delicate. "Not too much" - was my painting rule.

The silver twigs are meant to evoke the feeling of frost and coldness and the red berries suggest that somewhere under the snow and ice some life still exists :) For more pretty pictures of berries, please see my Pinterest board - CLICK. 

Now I'm off to hop around some blogs to see what other have been doing this week :) 

Vase with a festive bird and a holly bush

My next creation from the last week: a chunky glassy vase with a red festive bird and branches of holly bush scattered on the remaining 3 walls. A simple but charming motif. This one was pleasure to paint :) Winter birds and holly bush are one of my favourite motifs in crafts.

Butterfly Glass Cube. Hand Made Monday

Hi all. Hope you're all well and in a crafty mood :)

This week has been extremely busy for me due to the craft fair, which took place yesterday inWrexham. I dug out my painting pots again and had been painting fresh new glass like mad all week, from Monday to Friday after hours to have some fresh and festive stuff on my stall. The fair was all right, not a big wow though. Rather poorly advertised and on top of that (apparently) there were some other 2 fairs going on at the same time somewhere in the area. Some pics for you to have a peek:

And here is my new creation from this week - a small glassy cube with a pink/purple butterfly motif on it. It sold quite quickly on the craft fair yesterday :) I wonder what a future owner is going to do with it... :) keep flowers in it? sweets? seashells? Turn it into a tealight candleholder?

The butterfly motif has been painted 3 times but in different colour arrangements. The 4th side has been deliberately left blank for the personalised words Specially For You. 

Thanks everybody for all the comments you've left under my last posts. Pleasure to read them x x x. Welcome my new followers too!

I'm feeling stitchy tonight, after such a busy weekend full of craft selling, shopping, driving round and helping with some home repairs I feel like putting my feet up and relax for the rest of the day with my festive stitches. Shame Sunday is almost over!

Hand-made Monday tonight! Join in and see some other lovely crafty places! I'm curious what others have been up to this week!

Festive Houses

Hi all and welcome back here again :) Last week was pretty busy for me. Work, gym, home, crafts, work, gym, home, crafts... and so on :) I've been trying to do as much crafting after hours as I could as Christmas is coming soon and I still haven't done my regular Christmas cards! As always I've got a few projects going on at the same time, typical! :) Last Friday I spent hours at my sewing machine making these little festive houses :)

Some pics taken in the garden :)

They came out quite well, what do you think? I tried my best to get my machine stitching as straight and neat as possible :) My mum loved these and she ordered some for herself and my nan so it seems like I'll be making some more in the near future!!! For those who want to know more, this project comes from Cross Stitcher magazine, issue 244, Christmas 2011. The houses were a freebie kit, which provided materials for the first 3 of them, there was also a choice of 6 cross stitch patterns. I made one extra using my imagination :)

Needles to say, I've been also working on my big cross stitch project for the cushion:

There's been some visible progress since I showed it last time, yet plenty remains to be finished. Getting there!!! 

Apart from my big project I've been trying to keep up with my festive linen bunting :) (Doesn't look like bunting at the moment but hopefully it will soon! :P ) So far I've stitched L O V E  C H R I S T M A S

You prolly think the polka dots letters are cute but they are quite fiddly to stitch due to numerous fractional stitches and frequent changing of the thread colour :) Can't wait to see it finished and hanging on the mantlepiece!!!

Today I've made this simple, quick card:

...for a colleague who has recently had her baby, Jay. I didn't want anything excessively fussy or fanciful, rather a simple card, something that is above all...blue and white :) Hope she likes it.... I'm desperate to sit down, lay out my card making toys around and make some proper decent cards but as we are going through a temporary house fix at the moment, some of the bedroom stuff is piled up in our lounge and blocking my card making space for days. Argh!!!

Tonight I'm joining Hand-made Monday at Wendy's. Get clicking chucks to see some lovely crafty creations. I'll be catching up with your blogs tomorrow evening as I am off to my bed in a moment :) (big yaaaaawn!) Back to work tomorrow!

Work in progress.Big projects and Hand Made Monday.

Hello All. Nothing new finished this week. I just kept on stitching and stitching and stitching... till I got some eye strain, which ended up in a headache but never mind ;) Been working intensively on my big cushion cross stitch project and this is what it looks like now: Some new sampler elements can be recognized now.

Quite a progress since last Sunday, huh? :)

Saturday felt like Stitching Heaven to me, it's what I call when I'm happy stitching away :) Telly, cider with ice, some sweet goodies shared with my bf , sofa and a whole evening ahead, minutes and hours were passing by while I was working hard with my needle :) How good is that! I bet you all have a crafting heaven of your own, don't you?

This year I decided (mostly on the spur of the moment, as I tend to) for the first time to join 2 stitch-a-longs on some blogs. I fell for this project: Madame - 4 seasons

Those are the big projects and I mean BIG with capital "B". I'm gonna start with Winter Madame right after Christmas while winter lasts :) and hopefully go along with the seasons and keep up :) Wish me luck!I wanna all four Madames on my walls! :)

I've already made some preparations. Yesterday I went to a shop to get a fresh supply of embroidery floss. My Winter Madame will be stitched on a cream-coloured Zweigart quaker :) Now all printed and in waiting :)

Second stitch-a-long is all about Christmas. My chosen project is a cross stitch project  Val D'Abondance Blanc by Lili Soleil. The moment I saw those reindeer, heart, swirls and a chalet, all in Noel style, I knew I had to have this stitch this year.

My preparations for the oncoming project: Blanc DMC floss, red aida and a chart.

I've stitched quite a few projects with a red floss on white canvas, now I'm doing the reverse - it's going to be a white stitch on a red background. Still maintaining the Scandinavian style though :)   

So here I am now, rushing with my stitches, trying to spend all my free time either finishing something off or moving onto another item. On top of that I've also joined the local Christmas Craft Fair in a month's time, which means lots of crafting, crafting, crafting even at the end of the day, after work... Madness! 

Crikey! I really need to get a grip and get down to my crafts! Expect to see a lot here soon! 

Sunday evening is a perfect time to join the blog linking party at 1st Unique Gifts. Get clicking guys to see some lovely crafty places online.

Simply Tree-mendous :)

Half term break is drawing to an end now. For the last week I have managed to finish off and frame my cross stitched Scandinavian Tree.

The project has been stitched on a white Quaker canvas from Zweigart using only one colour of DMC thread (321). The pattern I used comes from Cross Stitcher magazine, issue 244, Christmas 2011.

Some details:

... and outdoors in the grass :) (sadly, no snow yet so the green will have to do this time)

In the meantime I've been also stitching some letters on linen. This is going to be a festive bunting with the words: LOVE CHRISTMAS on it.

So far I have stitched L O V E  C H R I S T M A S

Oh, Actually I finished the "H" yesterday :P I should have really updated the photo :) I really enjoy stitching this alphabet although sometimes it can be a bit of a fiddly job.

Also, a new big project has turned up on the horizon - a cushion with a cross stitched pattern on it. A Nordic one, of course ;) Not much to show at the moment but I am working on it in the evenings :)

It's Hand-made Monday time tonight. Join in to see what other creative people have been up to :)

Fa la la la la la la!

My stitching marathon continues. This week I managed to finish off my cross stitched NOEL decoration by sewing on some red berry-resembling seed beads :)

Pin It

and this is what it looks like when all the pieces are strung together on a cord:

The decoration will prolly end up as a part of mantlepiece decoration. So happy to see it finished. Ticked off on my list and now time to move on to another project. Some work has been done on this one this week, yet a lot to go :)

This is going to be a Scandinavian christmas tree with sampler features, monochromatic, made into a framed picture. Another thing to live on the mantlepiece :) (Gosh, I do need a huuuge mantlepiece this year!!) Hoping to see it finished soon!

In the meantime a new project has started :)

 A freebie from CrossStitcher magazine :) Fell in love instantly with those adorable cross stitched houses :) Had to have them!

Baking -wise, I had a quick play with ready-made puff pastry sometime during the week and made some lattice pastries with Bramley apple sauce and cinnamon and with spiced plum jam :) Perfect for the autumn evenings, aren't they?

They didn't stay very long though! I love spiced food far too much to let it go stale :P

Sorry, no lattices left now so I'm inviting you to a treat - some proper good British tea in a British mug from a British teapot and some British toffee apple cake :D How much I love all that fuss about tea drinking! :) Do you not? The Keep Calm and Carry On mug has been a spontaneous gift from my boyfriend. He knows too well I like the Best of British ;) even though I'm not the one ;)

Matrioshkas were a gift from him too! I love this folky charm!

Sunday night is a perfect time to join in the blog hopping. Hand-made Monday at Wendy's. Check this out guys and see what others have been up to.

Take care and thanks for the comments. x x x