Its the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

YAY! It is craft fair season and that means I get to set up a table with all of my jewellery out for display and for sale. I used to make simple colourful jewellery but after a few years I have realized that that's what EVERYONE does so I decided that this year I will be different. This year I will make jewellery that requires skill and patients. This year I will step out of my comfort zone and challenge myself to use the skills I knew but was afraid to produce for sale because so much time goes into them. This year I was going to try and sell my bead woven jewellery. Fingers crossed this helps me stand out from the rest of the jewellery for sale at these shows. Here are a few pictures of my newest stuff!:

Cupcakes Num!

I have been busy working on a Christmas fair that is coming up so I haven't been able to cross stitch much this past week. After a couple of days doing jewellery I felt like I wanted to do some cross stitching so I brought out my mom's collection of started and put together kits. In the process of sorting through all of her cross stitching stash I came across a project I had sat down and finished within 1.5 days. It was my cupcakes!:

The pattern was originally for a cupcake cushion and it was featured in Cross Stitch Gold issue 11 (April 2009) and was designed by Susan Bates. It was a pretty cushion but I wanted to just do one cupcake, the cherry on top one. I enjoyed stitching the lovely coloured cupcake so much that I had decided to do two more and make a wall hanging for my future kitchen. I changed a few colours in order to make them all work together and I made sure there was a fruit on either end with the flower in the middle to make it balanced.

I don't know how I should finish it though. It is between framing it in pink fabric with white polk-a-dots and finishing it off with it being kind of quilted...or just frame it in a frame with a soft colour mat in either a yellow or a pink. What are your thoughts? I would love to hear your opinions.

Flower Faerie Update

I had the goal of finishing her skirt by Friday of this week...I made this goal on Sunday night. It is now Tuesday and I have gotten up to this point so far:

I think it is safe to say the skirt will definitely be done by Friday. My goal now is to have her skirt all done and backstitched by Friday so I can move onto finishing her head and doing her wings! I can't wait to have her done.

Update time!

Wow sure has been a while since I last posted. I have been super busy with moving to a new town and getting organized and back into the swing of things! Moving isn't easy and doesn't allow a lot of down time or creative time. Over the past month or so I have been able to get a few things done though and I wanted to share how much I have done.

This is the progress I have gotten on my Christmas Angel by Joan Elliot:

She is coming along nicely. I spent a total of 4 days stitching the update in between organizing everything for the move and I think a couple more days of stitching she should be done! It is a pretty fast stitch if you are able to dedicate a couple days to it. I am just excited to start adding the beads! :D My goal is to finish her by late October...but we shall see how that comes along..I may get distracted once again!

Because of all the reds and greens in her I got a little bored. I kept messing up in areas so I had to put her away for a little while. I then decided to pick up my first ever project on linen that I started about 4 or so years ago. It is the Flower Faerie by Barbara Baatz. My mom has been on my case about completing her since it was one of those projects I HAD to start right away. So after unpacking I had found my mom bought all the missing threads so I didn't have an excuse to not finish her. This was how far I had gotten before I stopped for 3 years:

And after 2 days I was able to complete this much:

I have done a bit more since I took this picture, but not enough to post an update of it just yet. I love all the colours in her and she is going to look so beautiful when she is done.

I have a craft fair coming up at the end of November so I have also been working on new products to be sold there. I have been doing a lot of bead weaving lately and would like to share my newest additions to my collection.

They are very blingy. I love how from afar they look as if they are high-end gem encrusted gold but when you look closer they are just made of beads! They are perfect for the party season that is approaching. If you are interested in purchasing them you can see if they are still available at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LastingAllure


And one last thing I have been working on are my own cross stitch patterns from my paintings/drawings. I hope to have a pattern up for sale in the next month or so so please check back to see if my current project is up! I promise you it is very pretty and will have beads and sparkles!

For now though I must go do some chores so I can get back to being creative! Happy weekend everyone.

Christmas Around the Corner!

With Christmas around the corner I have decided to start designing a Christmas Cross Stitch collection. They are going to be quick and easy cross stitchings that people can whip up in an afternoon or evening. The neddlepoints will be perfect size for ornaments, gift tags and Christmas cards and any other project you think may seem fit for them! All my patterns are in PDF format and can be found on my Etsy store that is: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LastingAllure just click this link and you will be taken to my online store :)

Anywho here is the first design that I have added to my collection. He is a jolly and joyful snowman who is adorned with a smile and a Christmas tree on his side. He started out as a drawing that was coloured in with coloured pencil and then I transformed him into this handsome cross stitching. Hope you enjoy and happy stitching!

Birdhouse Update

Well I haven't had much time to work on the birdhouse because I have been distracted by activities going on in my dorms and looking for a job. No such luck on the job hunting though so I am just finding other ways to make money by designing my own cross stitchings, I will post a picture a little later of how far I have gotten on one of my cross stitch designs. I need to make my way to the store in the next few days to pick up some more DMC colours since I seem to be missing some for the birdhouse I am working on. I have a bad habit of high-jacking threads from one project for another! Here is the most recent update of the birdhouse:

For my Parents

It is now 1:30 in the morning and I am up and cross stitching. Some would call me crazy but I don't like the heat so I choose to sleep through it and be more productive at night when it is cooler.

My parents are moving into a new house and I started this birdhouse cross stitching a year or so ago and I just picked it up again tonight so I figured I will finish it and give it to them as a home warming gift. My mom has already cross stitched the other two to this collection and hasn't framed them yet so I figure I will finish it off and she can get all three done at the same time. It is done with DMC and on Aida, I don't normally work on Aida I prefer linen but since my mom choose the others on Aida it only seemed fit. Here is how far I have gotten so far:

As of July 8th, 2011

And this is the finished product in the magazine I am working from:

"Home Tweet Home" by Donna Vermillion Giampa. Published in For the Love of Cross Stitch Magazine Volume 13, Number 5.

And these are all three of them together:

Published in For the Love of Cross Stitch.

Newest Painting

Here is my latest painting I am happy with enough to post:

My friend holding another friend's newborn baby. Skin and purple top is coloured pencil, background water colour paints, hair water colour and ink.

Update of Christmas Angel

Well I guess I don't need sleep when it comes to cross stitching. I have been up all night working on this and think I am going to power through a little bit more after my dinner (KD ahh...the cuisine of a university student). Here is the newest picture:

 I also just bought a cross stitch pattern maker to design my own patterns which I also plan on posting here and most likely will sell the patterns that work out on my Etsy store along side my jewellery. Keep checking back for more updates on how the designing is coming along for that one...Anywho back to cross stitching!

First Entry :D

Well for the past few days I have been working on a Christmas Angel by Joan Elliot. The design can be found in the cross-stitch magazine Cross Stitch Collections issue 189. I started it last Christmas and haven't had much time to work on her but since I have been having a creative block I decided to pick her up again and work on her in hopes to finish it by Christmas 2011 (With my pace and attention span I may be lucky to finish her in 2030 lol).

I am working on 32 count linen with no hoop or frame. She will be adorned with a bunch of specialty threads and beads and will sparkle in the light once I am done her. Feel free to share your thoughts on it and I will post pictures as I progress but I may be distracted by other projects that I will try and post on here as well.

Here is a picture of the design and the second one is of how far I have gotten: