Foxes: cross stitched and stamped

As I promised in one of my earlier posts, I've stitched a little cute fox to match the cross stitched raccoon I stitched earlier this month. Again, it was a freebie kit from an old issue of Cross Stitcher and since I'm currently under the charm of forest critters, here it it! 

It was pleasure to stitch and I particularly enjoyed the contrast between the orange white and blue. So that my ginger cross stitched fella is not lonely yesterday I sat down to make some cards with stamped foxes :) I used a HeroArts stamp from this post.

And the whole fox gang together :)

Really enjoyed myself creating those. Especially I enjoyed using the wood grain patterned papers and adding the toadstools. More foxes on their way :)

Thanks for popping by and leaving your kind comments x x

edit: Would love to share these foxes at Hand-made Monday blog hop :) Do join in! 

The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady (1)

Summertime is this time of year when we all appreciate surrounding us Mother nature more than usual - trips to parks, forests, meadows, walking in valleys, we all have done it... I missed some summery floral themes in my crafting so when a magazine subscription came through with this poppy cross stitch kit I wished to stitch it straight away. This is a freebie stitch kit from the World of Cross Stitching (issue: 206, 2013). The redness of the poppy is so striking and tempting that I couldn't resist making this eclectic floral card. 

There were a few shades of red to use for this poppy. It took me about 3 or 4 stitching sessions to complete it. How I managed to avoid a mistake with this frequent colour changes, I don't know but as I was backstitching all shades agreed perfectly well with the chart. Proud of myself! :) So, dear reader, if you cross stitch yourself, you will know what I mean ;)

I'm really pleased with this stitch and the mounting. The redness of the flower contrasts nicely with the pastel aqua background sprinkled with butterflies. Very eclectic, romantic and feminine at the same time :)

This little cross stitch kit belongs to a product line called The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady - inspired by a book of Edith Holden with the same title. I had a good look in my craft boxes and it turned out that over time I've collected quite a few of such kits. I just put them away hoping I'll stitch them in the future. Perhaps now it's time to bring them out :) They all remind me of old botanical books and herbaria.

I even found a set of card making papers and tags with this theme :) (My goodness! How much stuff I've got squirrelled away!)

Sounds like I'll be making some botanical stuff in the near future! 

In the meantime I'm working on a tropical bookmark from Cross Stitcher. This one is quick and easy to stitch. 

Linking to Hand-made Monday tonight! Do join in! Thank you for your visits and kind comments. xXx

Turquoise and Brown once more

Time for another batch of cards with brown and turquoise features :) I already blogged about some of them before HERE -  have a peek if you interested. Again - it's all has been made using some scraps of paper, kraft cardstock and stamps :) My favourite card making motifs: hearts and cross stitch pattern.

This card has something new I wanted to try out - hand sewing on card. The cross stitch on the central card topper has been heat-embossed in seafoam white and the squares have been embellished with cross stitches by hand. I'm quite pleased with the effect. "Dla Ciebie"  = For you :)

This card has been literally made from remaining scraps of paper. I had a few coloured offcuts and why not go for a stripey composition? 

I think the vellum fishtail and the pearls are my favourite details here. 

Another card with a heart card topper. Used one of my cross stitch stamps on it.

And the last card, not with turquoise this time but with pink / purple shades. 

And all cards together:

A crafty fellow Emma from Emma made blog awarded me a blog Liebster Award.

What a lovely surprise! Thank you Emma.

Knitters have balls...

...and so do I :) Remember that cross stitched card with a teddy and a pink blanket I stitched for a little baby daughter of my colleague? I blogged about it HERE. Well, I decided to knit some julekuler in a baby version to complete the hand-made gift :) Last year I spent long months knitting all those 55 Scandinavian balls by Arne & Carlos. Then I had a knitting break until now (except knitting the Easter eggs). I missed my knitted balls on double pointed needles. I thought knitting a girly pink-n-white version could be as much exciting as knitting in red-n-white. I chose motifs that could easily go as kiddy ones too - a butterfly, a heart and a rocking horse. 

I thoroughly enjoyed myself knitting these. The gift was well received and I was pleased to be able to make one :) Would love to knit some more, perhaps in blue, yellow and beige/coffee shades :)

Thank you for your visits and the lovely comments you leave behind x x x

I have a thing...

Now with so many holidays days to go and plenty of free time, I shall be treating you to my frequent blog posts. Be prepared :) 

Have I ever mentioned my new crafty fascination? Foxes... cute ginger foxes :) Today my awaited wooden Hero Arts stamp with a fox came through with the post to join up my other ordered polymer stamp. That naturally made me very happy as I'm looking forward to card making with these foxy stamps :) I even dug out a cross stitch kit with this supa cute forest critter. To be stiched very soon!

Two different stamps, two different images, one animal cuteness...

And when I saw at Tesco magazine shelf this one ... I melted away under this foxy knitted coziness!

This is a great issue of Let's Get Crafting: Knitting and Crochet - not only it's full of summer projects bursting with energizing colours but it also contains a lovely set of yarns and a set of cosy bamboo needles. I will obviously be trying to knit this fox cushion in the future (need to familiarize myself with the intarsia technique first) but there are also other fabulous coasters and mug cozies in this issue I'd love to be able to knit / crochet. If you wish to make similar projects, well, get your hands on this issue quickly - it's so nice that it will surely be flying off the shop shelves. 

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And a quick update on my current cross stitch project. The poppy flower is growing and finally getting some shades and shape. It's only a stitched motif for a card but it's incredible how much time it takes to complete. It must be that shading of red that makes me switch between the colours shades non stop. Been working on it for two days intensively and yet there's plenty of backstitch to do.

The striking redness of a poppy is very rewarding though :) It should be ready very soon!

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Update on the royal events: Yes, the royal baby is with us now. Born yesterday afternoon at 16.24 London time. Above all, congratulations to mummy and daddy - Kate and Wills and also to the whole Royal clan on their baby boy :) He will probably be a future king of Britain and hopefully I will live long enough to see it :) The whole British nation has gone baby crazy and is awaiting now for the royal couple to emerge from the hospital and for the baby's name to be officially revealed. I'm on my viewer seat, my telly is on... :)

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Trixi & Mii Stitch - welcome my new followers 

Crafting Bliss

Just a quick blog update on what I've been up to on my first day of holidays :)

Crafting Bliss - with a cup of vanilla earl grey tea and oaty biccies at my side and a cross stitch project on my lap - I've been watching the British tv and flicking through the channels for the Royal Baby news. S/He should be with us today! Hope it all goes ok for Kate and Wills. 

Also, I'm loving my postman today - he has brought me a new exciting issue of Cross Stitcher magazine and with it came this gorgeous tropical bookmark with parrots - love it! Can't wait to stitch it! <3

Sweet Raccoon Cross Stitch

Hi everyone.

I'm soooo pleased to share this with you: we (British schools) have just broken up for summer holidays! 6 Weeks of summer bliss - how good is that! Goodbye school noise and bustle, welcome summer, long lie-ins and crafting :) We are planning to go to the Welsh seaside for a few days after 15th Aug so till then I shall be crafting, crafting and crafting while waiting for my other half to have his days off. 

In the meantime I haven't been wasting my free time :) I've recently stitched this sweet racoon. 

It was a freebie cross stitch from Cross Stitcher. I'm planning to make some cards with Forest Friends very soon and I thought this raccoon would be a nice intro to the forest theme. 

I missed stitching some summery flowers so I'm currently working on a cross stitched poppy card - published in the current issue of The World of Cross Stitching 

Linking up Hand-made Monday tonight for some blog hopping fun. 

Happy Weekend! x X x

(Early) Christmas Cards 2013 (2)

Some more of my Christmas cards I made this year :) A continuation of those Christmas cards.  Kinda fun to make wintery cards on hot days of June and July :)

And all 7 together :)

On my summer holidays in 5 working days - woohoo! Can't wait! There will be so much time to craft and create! Counting down already!

Brown sugar or caramel?

Brown sugar or caramel? Which one do you choose? I like both and these "sweet" colours were my inspiration for the set of 8 hand-made cards I have created this week. I'm very pleased with how they turned out. Today I'm showing you the first four. Basically I limited myself to this range of colours: A) turquoise + brown/caramel + white or B) brown/caramel + white + pink to see what comes out of it. I worked on kraft cardstock blanks (Love it! - my favourite cardstock), did quite a lot of stamping and heat-embossing. It was great fun composing those cards.

Do you perhaps recognize this central card topper in a form of classic medallion? This is exactly the same motif I used for my medallion cards earlier on (if you're interested I blogged about them HERE and HERE).

Raspberries in chocolate anyone? This time my central card topper is a big flower in a cross-stitchy style. The backing squares have been distressed for a more "rugged" look :)

And back to turquoise again :) This card has been made literally from scraps of paper. Would you really say that? I have finally had a chance to dig out my vellum paper sheets that have been squirrelled away somewhere in my craft boxes. Together with the fishtail dies (my another new fascination), I discovered what a great addition to your cards a vellum paper can be. Added a couple of Hydrangea flowers for some elegance. Not a big fan of excessive bushy floral compositions so I went for a rather modest option. I like flowers just for... accentuation

And raspberry and chocolate once more :) This time it's the same medallion but on a lacey bedding :) Textured cardstock gives us a different heat-embossing effect.

Would love to share those card with the other crafty people so I'm linking up to Hand-made Monday blog hop tonight!

Hope you have had a great sunny weekend! Thank you for your comments x x