Cross Stitched Birthday Tags

Hi all. Hope you're enjoying summertime. We are lucky this year with quite a lot of sunshine in the UK (so far!) I've got plenty time for myself these days :) So alongside with preparing for the driving exam (the less appealing bit!) I'm trying to do some blogging, photographing and of course crafting. I've got 3 projects on the go so I alternate them - a crochet one, a knitting one and a cross stitching one. Just a thought popped into my head: Is this way to keep a multi-crafter happy? What do you think?

 Sothis is what I have stitched recently: a set of birthday tags. They were a freebie to the Cross Stitcher issue 281. 

It's nothing much but I just fancied a small quick project in between the larger ones like Riverdrift House samplers for example :) It was good fun to stitch every of them.

I'm pleased how they turned out. My favourite is the blue tit, strawberry and cherries. All perfect for summer birthdays.  

Today I'm going to join the Hand-made Monday blog hop, no. 179. Get clicking guys!

New book: Arne & Carlos "Knit-and-Crochet Garden"

Good news for the fans of the Scandinavian knitting duet: Arne and Carlos - the English edition of their knit and crochet book has been available on sale now :) I'm a big fan of A & C myself. My own copy arrived from Amazon about a month ago :) I'm lovin' this book! It's so full of spring/summery ideas and vibrant with colours. Perfect book to work on after Christmas as the spring is approaching :) A few photos for you to have a peek inside the book:

Definitely the star projects in this book are the crocheted blankets:
I'm in love with this one:

Classic granny squares:

According to A & C they are a perfect way to use up your stashed scraps of yarn

There are plenty of crochet projects for your home and garden:

And there's also something for the cross stitch lovers:
pansy cushion covers, xxl cross stitch :)

Most of all I love these knitted sachets - they are gorgeous! I think after Christmas I'll have a go at them. 

There are a few new knitted characters in this book too:

And of course Arne an Carlso are showing oof their gorgeous scrapbook:

Happy Days:

And finally the famous photo from the book that went all over the internet:

In the meantime A & C are busy publishing their next book! It's not known yet when exactly the English edition will come out but for sure it's going to be in 2014. The new book will be all about a regional Nordic knitting (from Setesdal) and it will feature projects like socks, mittens, jumpers and some toys :) As always I'm awaiting this book very impatiently. 

3 Retro Flowers Cross Stitch Cards

Summer is just perfect for stitching floral projects. You can take your embroidery outside, sit in your garden and simply get stitiching with a cold drink next to you. This is exactly what I'm going to do when I'm on my holidays. Speaking of the florals, yesterday I finally finished off my cross stitched retro flowers, ironed them, trimmed them and mounted on the card blanks. It's a freebie from a Cross Stitcher magazine (issue: 267, July 2013). I knew from the very beginning I'd be stitching them! They are just too cute!

The floral designs are gorgeous - my style! and I just love the stripey backgrounds too!

Don't they look nice when 3 together?

Apparently you spend about 3 hrs on stitching each. Think I spent much longer but it was worth it.
Really enjoyed stitching this cross stitch kit. Great choice Cross Stitcher! Thank you! x x

New Baby Cross Stitched Card. A very "stitchy" weekend.

This weekend has been all about cross stitching. Woohoo! Finally, I have finished my cross stitched teddy  and mounted it on a card. I was backstitching it all afternoon yesterday and today I've washed it, ironed it and mounted on the card and embellished the whole thing :) Quite elaborate piece of work considering how many hours have gone into stitching the teddy itself plus how much time I spent today pondering on the card layout and choosing the right stamps! :) Pink gingham paper was a must! - I just love gingham patterns. Cross stitched cards are the most time-consuming types of cards but they are so unique and special in this way. Not bad ;) Pleased with the results.

The card will go to my colleague, who recently has had a baby - gorgeous ginger-haired Millie May. Hope she likes it. 

The cross stitch design comes from Cute Cross Stitch magazine, a newbie on the press market, issue no.1, Spring 2013. The stamps I used to make a tag: Nordic Baby from The Waltzing Mouse Stamps and the punched lacy heart border was made using Martha Stewart punch Heart Border. 

Still on the cross stitch frontline, yesterday a new issue of subscribed Cross Stitcher arrived through the post and since I just loved their added freebie, I started stitching it immediately :) These 3 supa cute retro / folksy flowers are sooooo my style! They will make a set of 3 cross stitched notelets. 

I'm really enjoying stitching them right now!

Speaking of the cute flowers, I have been sooo over the moon when I managed to get hold of these 2 gorgeous sets of stamps:

In a way they are very special for me. These are the stamps by Basic Grey from 2009 - series: Ambrosia Bitsy Bohemia stamps. Very difficult to buy now as they are the retired products. I spotted them being reserved and then bought by someone else in a 2nd hand craft market group on facebook (doh!) and since I'm always on the lookout for the craft products with a unique folky feel, I knew I had to find a set like this for myself too. I scoured the whole internet looking for them and finally some persistent search on ebay made my dream come true :)))) there was one seller in Germany who was still selling them and now I can enjoy card making with these beautiful designs. How lucky I was! My favourites among these sets are naturally the  gorgeous folky butterfly, 2 birds on the branches and a folky medallion with a butterfly inside (two separate stamps).

To finish off with this stampaholic confession, I'm linking up tonight at Hand-made Harbour to do some blog hopping. Hope all you have had a good weekend and enjoyed the last two sunny days. x x

Floral Cards (5)

My last batch of floral cards to reveal. These are mostly tent cards - long and narrow. I like this card format - it's a bit unusual and versatile at the same time - you can put the card vertically and get "a tall greeting card" or place it horizontally and have a long tent card. I like to experiment with the element layout on such card blanks. 

Some Martha Stewart edge punches and Spellbinders dies have been used to make these cards. I've also used some colour coordinated backing papers, punched branches, ribbons, glass painting outliner paste and little sticky gems. Now my home supply of spare greeting cards has finally been restocked :) as the card box has been remaining empty for months.

With the new craft goodies from the last weeks at home, I'm very keen to sit down and make some more cards.