Sunday, June 10, 2012

Live Simply

I always enjoy patterns that have a lot of color in them which is why I think this pattern, which was quick to stitch to begin with, stitched even quicker. I made a few color adjustments just due to the fact that the sample pattern itself was stitched on a chocolate brown fabric, but more or less, everything stayed the same. 

For the finishing, I used a 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" frame from my dad's shop, and painted the edges white, with just a smidge of mocha acrylic paint. After everything was set and glued in, I added some brown kraft paper to the back and then attached a sawtooth picture hanger for easy mounting. I went a little crazy with the fabric flowers, trying to bring in as many colors as possible to really make the floss colors pop before finally spraying some decoupage sealer on them to keep them sturdy.





"Live Simply"
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Designer: Lizzie Kate
Stitched on: 28 ct Jobelan (lambswool)
Fibers: DMC

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Teaching is a Work of Heart

I have had five white 5x7” picture frames from IKEA in my stash for far too long, so I promised myself that before I had my dad make more frames, I would try to “get rid” of as many of them as possible. In looking through my patterns, I found a few that fit these measurements, “Teaching is a Work of Heart” being one of them. The pattern is 36w x 71h and fit perfectly inside. However, it looked a little boring to be honest with just the white frame so I knew I wanted “more.” I went to several craft stores looking for embellishments to add, but couldn’t really find the right size, shape or color that would look okay. When that happens to me, I figure its best to just come up with something on my own.





I settled on flower embellishments because I knew I would be able to coordinate the different colors within the pattern. After punching out different sizes and shapes of flowers in the five main colors shown in the design, I inked a little brown on the edges, and rolled the outside flaps with my trusty paper bead tool to add a little depth and give them some dimension. After I was satisfied with the look of them, I coated the flowers with a layer of Mod Podge and then sprayed on some decoupage sealer to harden them.