Thanksgiving Cross Stitch

I have two cute finished pieces to share with you today!  I love fall designs and finished these two cross stitch patterns over the last year.  They were small and fairly simple to work on but did contain a bunch of pretty varigated floss which can be pricey!

First up is The Thankful Owls by Bent Creek.  I fell in love with the owls on this one!  And, they are tiny enough to fit on a fork!  I had to stitch it :)

I used the called for floss and stitiched it up on a 32 count linen.  I can't recall the name of the color but if I remember, I'll edit this post to add it in.

I finished this one in this cute frame by Jillibean Soup.  I found it at my local Joann store.  I added a bit of brown floral fabric I had in my stash from when Stampin' Up! made fabric (remember that?).  I wrapped my cross stitch around a piece of sticky board and then matted it inside the frame.  Simple but cute!  I ended up displaying it in a tobacco basket I picked up at Target.  I add seasonal pieces here throughout the year- it makes a cute background for stitched pieces!

My second piece features A Little Thankful by Lizzie Kate.  I purchased this as a kit and it included a cute tiny charm and beads.  

This one is also finished on a frame by Jillibean Soup that I found at Joann.  I matted this with a ruffle of torn fabric I made using another brown fabric from my stash.  This one is also from the Stampin' Up fabric line from long ago...

I love how easy it was to create these pieces using the frames from Jillibean Soup!  I will be getting some more of these for sure!  I may need to update my fabric stash though, lol!  Most of my fabric is nearly vintage!

-Tess

Products:

Thankful Owls by Bent Creek

A Little Thankful by Lizzie Kate

Jillibean Soup Mix the Media frames

Halloween Cards

 Hi!

The week before Halloween means I'm sending out my most resent spooky card creations!  I haven't made many but I thought I'd share two that made me smile :)

These use a mix of goodies I have in my stash.  I created the focal points with Lasting Impressions brass templates.  Papers are from Lasting Impressions and Reverse Confetti.  The sentiments are stamps by Lawn Fawn.  

I love the face on this guy!  So cute!  I used two different colored papers for him and used a black pen to fill in his smile and eyes.  I thought they popped more that way!

And the spider is a little spooky but silly at the same time!  He looks like he's ready to tap dance! lol!

I layered him a bit with foam dots for dimension.  I love how glossy the Lasting Impressions papers are- they are so pretty and easy to work with!

Halloween supplies always call to me!  I wish I had more time in the fall to create!  The beginning of the school year is always busy and my creative time just doesn't happen as much as I would like...

I hope you are enjoying the Halloween season!

-Tess

A Stitchable Donut Card

Hello and Happy Friday!  This is my last Friday off this summer!  Even though it was a weird summer that moved very slowly, here on the last day it feels like it sped by!  I am excited to be back to work though and can't wait to see my students, even if only virtually!

I created a few other cards for the Stitchables release from Waffle Flower Crafts earlier in the month.  I thought I'd share one of them with you today!

I used the Stitchable Circles Die to along the bottom of a white card base.  I stitched the donuts using DMC floss in a caramel brown and bright pink color.  I added seed beads from my bead stash to create the look of sprinkles.  The sentiment from the Stitched Sentiments Stamp Set was perfect for this card!

This stitched design was made into a free downloadable pattern.  Pop over to the Stitchables area of the Waffle Flower Shop to find it!

Off to enjoy my last Friday off!  Have a great weekend!

-Tess

Waffle Flower Stitchables Blog Hop

Hello friends!

I am so excited to be hopping along with the Waffle Flower team today!  For their latest release, Waffle Flower has merged two of my favorite crafts- card making and cross stitching!  Their new Stitchables products are so fun and innovative!

Waffle Flower’s Stitchable products are now available in the store!  In case you missed it, Nina introduced the beginner friendly Stitched Borders here, and the Pinking Shapes and Holiday Shapes for more experienced users. You can also find some Coordinating Products here!

I created two cards for the hop today!  I pulled inspiration some two patterns I stitched last year.  The first one is part of Hands On Design's Chalk Full: Harvest and inspired by Priscilla Blain.  I pulled one flower from the pattern to stitch on the Stitchables Pinking Circle Die.

I cut the die from black cardstock and gave it a chalkboard look with white pigment ink before I stitched the flower.  The design was meant to look like chalkboard art and I love that you can diecut any color paper to use with the Stitchable Pinking Dies.  Endless possibilities, right?  Here is a closer look:

This was stitched using overdyed threads by Gentle Arts Sampler Threads and Classic Colors.  I also used the new Stitched Sentiment Stamp Set for the sentiment and stitched with my sewing machine on either side of it to keep with the theme.

My second card features the smallest llama from the Llama Lump pattern by Plum Street Samplers.  I stitched him up on some linen textured kraft cardstock cut with the Stitchable Pinking Rectangle Die.  

This was also stitched using overdyed threads from Gentle Arts Sampler Threads, Classic Colors, and Weeks Dye Works.  You can really see the varigation in the grass and the llama's fur :)

The sentiment is also from the Stitched Sentiments Stamp Set.  The simple hello is perfect for this card!

These dies really sparked my imagination to think up a bunch of fun things to do with them!  I can't wait to share some of the other things I've been stitching soon!

More Blog Hop Goodness

Here is the list of today's participants:

Waffle Flower (Nina)

Lydia Fiedler

Tessa Wise (you are here now)

Laura Bassen (visit here next)

Wanda Guess

Amy R.

Channin Pelletier

Elyse Robinson 

Galina Filippenko 

Rebecca Keppel

Giveaways:

For today’s hop, Waffle Flower is giving away $25 gift certificate to THREE lucky winners. You can leave a comment on this blog and along the hop by 11:59pm EDT on August 9th, 2020 for your chances to win. Winners will be chosen at random from the comments left on any of the posts in this blog hop and will be announced on the Waffle Flower Blog on 8/12/2020.

There are more giveaways to enter on our Instagram! Follow us at @waffleflowercrafts so you don’t miss out! 

Specials:

From now till August 7th, 2020, all orders over $50 placed at waffleflower.com will receive a free Cloud Storage Magnetic Board (you can find the 5-pack here).

A kind reminder from Waffle Flower:"We appreciate every order we receive but we also recommend at this time of uncertainties, reserve your resources and use what you have first! Stay positive and healthy!"

For those of you who are new to Waffle Flower, they have a Last Chance section on their website that lists many goodies for 25% off until they are gone! This would be a great place to start your collection!

This release really is the best of both of my favorite crafts!  Thank you for visiting today!

Progress on Big Red Ship of Life

Cross stitching has been my main crafty focus for a few years now.  Although I used to cross stitch when I was young, I picked it up again after finding all sorts of intresting and modern patterns on Etsy!  I started working on a few fan art projects and then moved on to some more intricate designs.  I found a wonderful cross stitch community on social media which also helped with the obsession!  Currently I have 31 works in progress (WIPs) that I am working on.  

One of my most favorite projects is Big Red Ship of Life.  This beautiful pattern was designed by Ink Circles.  Here is a cover photo of the finished piece:

I started this in 2017 and have been working on it here and there over the years.  Instead of stitching with one color thread for a monochromatic look, I chose to create a colorful ombre' using Fiberlicious silk flosses in the Ocean Sunset collection.

I worked my way from the bottom up, changing colors every 25 rows or so.  I also feather slightly so that there isn't too harsh of a line between the colors.  I have completed 2-3 colors a year so far and currently am about half way done!  Beautiful reds, oranges and yellows are left to fill in the top.

Before I started stitching, I planned out the ombre effect.  I took the vertical stitch count and divided it by the number of colors I wanted to use.  That number gave me the stitch count for each color.  I stitch 23 rows of each color.  To take the harsh line between colors away, I choose a few stitches above and below the line to intermix with the next color.  I call this feathering.  The next picture is a closer look so you can see this.

I am excited to get back to this!  I am currently trying to complete some of my projects (WIP down) so that I have around 20 current WIPs.  30 just seems like too many!  Once I WIP down a few more, I will pull this project out again.  I am in no hurry to finish it!  I absolutly love working on it and hope it lasts forever! :)

Do you have any projects that you will be sad to finish because you love working on them so much?

-Tess

Supplies:

Big Red Ship of Life by Ink Circles

Antique White 32 count Linen by Wichelt- a full yard

Fiberlicious Silks- Ocean Sunset Collection

Crochet Baby Yoda

Anyone else have a pile of crafts they started during quarantine???

I am sure there are some people out there who can relate when I say I had a moment of start all the things in my craft room!  One project that I had been wanting to make was this cute little crochet amigurumi piece featuring The Child (Baby Yoday).  I might be a little obsessed with Baby Yoda, lol!

I found this adorable pattern on Yarn Society through Pinterest.  Her instructions are amazing!  Pictures of many steps plus you can scroll through so you don't forget your place.  Many of her patterns also include a full video tutorial on YouTube.  Like I said- she is amazing!

I found yarns in the correct colors at Michaels- it was the only local store open at the beginning of quarantine.  I chose Rich Mint and Almond Crisp.  Almond Crisp has three different tones of brown so I had the cream and tan in one skein.  I used an E crochet hook for my Yodas.  I picked up safety eyes in an assortment from Amazon.

I ended up creating two of these- one as a gift and one for myself.  I would say a beginner could do it with the help of YouTube for unkown stitches or terms.  I hadn't crocheted in many years and had a pretty easy time getting the hang of it.

Creating Baby Yoda has jumpstarted my love of crochet again!  I will have a few more crochet projects to share soon- like I said, I had a crazy case of start all the things, lol!

-Tess

Yarn Society The Child pattern

Disney Love- Epcot, December 2019

Over Christmas we travelled to Disney World for an improptu holiday trip.  We needed a little holiday Disney magic!  Over the last three years, we have spent time at Disney over the holidays so we were expecting the crowds and long wait times.  We are usually okay with that since our schedules only allow for travel at Christmas time or summer.  

We stayed at the Coronado Springs resort for our first time.  The new Gran Torino Tower was beautiful!  I loved the architeture and details!  We enjoyed the lobby and surrounding areas very much.  Our room was in an older area but seemed like it had also been recently updated.  We loved the Three Amigos theme!  It also had an amazing pool area.

After arriving and unpacking a bit we headed over to Epcot.  Epcot is usually our first day choice because we don't feel like we need to have a long day in this park.  Our favorite thing about Epcot is the food!  During the holidays they host the International Festival of the Holidays and we enjoy walking around to all the booths to try different things!  

We have a few favorite rides in Epcot including Soarin' and Mission: Space but I prefer to spend time walking around in Epcot.  We only rode a few rides this time around.  Since we travelled early, we also went back to the resort before the fireworks.

It was a great first day in the parks!  We loved all the different foods we tried- especially the poutine, asian fries, and sushi.  We can't wait to see what our next trip to Epcot looks like- hopefully we can plan a trip soon!

What is your favorite Disney park?  Do you have a favorite time to visit Epcot?

-Tess

I'm bringing back dry embossing

Dry embossing is an old favorite of mine!  I first learned about dry embossing while working at my local scrapbook store, Recollections, years ago.  We stocked Lasting Impressions embossing templates and accessories and I always loved the samples they sent!  I collected many of the templates and even taught classes for awhile.  My local store closed 12 years ago which was when I stopped finding Lasting Impressions locally.  I kept my plates in my stash, only creating things here and there over the years.

Some time last summer I decided to look up Lasting Impressions on social media.  It seemed like they had also been pretty quiet over the last few years.  I checked out their website and found that they had quite a few new templates and cute ideas.  Then, one day, they posted that they would be hosting an online summer camp retreat type class.  I was intrigued and jumped in!

The class kit was wonderful!  Everything was included with enough extras to make plenty more cards from each set.  They included a beautifully printed instruction booklet as well as videos to follow along with.  They created a Facebook group for chatter and sharing projects as well.  Over all, it was just what I was looking for!  I think I created over twenty cards last summer just from this kit!

Since then, Lasting Impressions has been pretty quiet again but I am hoping that now that summer is here we will see another great online summer camp!  I have ordered twice over the year and have been enjoying their products and dry embossing techniques again!  I am glad I kept all my old templates- they feel like new again!

Have you pulled out anything old from your stash recently?  Has it sparked new creativity?

-Tess

Products used: 

Lasting Impressions Camp Emboss-A-Lot Nature's Calling Kit

Introducing Archie!

For the last few years we have been wanting to add to our family.  We have wanted to adopt a dog.  We have been keeping our eye out for a little guy or gal to add to our family but didn't really find the perfect fit until recently!  In March, with a little extra time thanks to quarantine, I started getting serious about our adoption.  We decided to look for a corgi pup.  We were lucky enough to know a wonderful corgi named Rocko several years ago who had really made an impression on the girls.  He stayed with us for about a year when they were young and ever since then, they have been corgi crazy!  

It would have been my preferance to find a rescue pup but unfortunatly, after looking for a few years, I realized that probably wasn't going to happen.  We also wanted to get a puppy instead of an older dog so that our kitty would get along with it a little easier.

We put our name down with a small local breeder for a spring puppy!  We have been so excited ever since!  Luckily we had lots of emails with cute puppy pictures to keep us updated each week.  When we finally met our little guy, it was love at first sight!  Our hearts are so happy!

We are excited to have the summer to work with baby Archie and watch him grow!  He is so much smaller than I thought he'd be.  Expect lots of puppy pictures on Instagram! 

-Tess

Has it really been this long?

Hi!  I've always planned on returing to my blog but I am suprised at the date of the last post.  Has it really been almost 4 years?  I will say they have flown by!

In 2016 I began focusing on a new chapter of my life- getting my master's degree in education and becoming an elementary school teacher.  I now have three years under my belt as a fourth/fifth grade teacher and I'm still loving it!  I have been blessed to work in a wonderful school with awesome coworkers and fun kiddos :)  I hope those things never change!  

My crafty endeavors have also changed quite a bit since 2016.  I still love card making but my focus has been on other crafts over the last few years.  I have fallen back in love with cross stitching, painting, scrapbooking, and crochet.  Having time at home has been wonderful for rekindling these crafts!

My family is doing well!  My daughters are growing into beautiful and kind young women.  Zoey just finished her freshman year of high school.  She loves music and dying her hair.  Natalie was in seventh grade this year and loves redecorating her room and hanging out with her friends.  Jeremy has been doing well too!  He's been enjoying working at home over the past few months.  We still have our kitty Ali and will be adding a new four-pawed friend soon!

As a family our love for all things Disney has grown quite a bit over the last few years!  We regularly visit the parks and love planning future trips to Disney properties all over the world.  We can't wait for things to open up again although we won't be planning anything for a bit still.

As I make my return to my blog, I am hoping to reconnect to some old friends and make some new ones in the crafty blogger community!  I am planning on posting regularly over the summer while I am home from work.  This may change during the school year depending on how things go this year- I'm sure you can understand!  Things with schools are so up-in-the-air right now.

Content wise I am hoping to share a little bit of everything here!  I am not limiting myself to paper crafts so you might see some stitching, gardening, crochet, and Disney posts along with my cards and scrapbook layouts.  I might throw in some family updates and silly adventure posts as well!

I am excited to see where this goes!

-Tess