Potter Time Again!

Greetings Witches, Wizards and Muggles alike!

I'm really excited to share something with you guys today, this was something I made my niece, Alex for Christmas, and I'm really pleased with the final result. I think it's magical (harr harr)!

I should probably first state that while cross stitch isn't my forte, I do like it, and have some other things in mind, I don't think it's my strong point, but practice makes perfect, so I'll keep at it. I've definitely made some mistakes with this piece, but I'm not going to point them out, heehee.

I LOVED this pattern that I found in Kristy Kizee's Etsy shop, Bombastitch, and decided this is what I was going to make for Alex.

Ok, so this is about where we left off...

And here we are, finished!!

Oh, but I wasn't done there, I had plans to frame this piece, which ended up being a wee bit of a challenge because of the long narrow shape, but! Where there's a will there's a way. I had to cut my own picture matting, and I think it turned out great!

Dark Mark!

I frayed the long edges a bit, then sewed the stitched piece to a black patterned fabric. It's not the fabric I'd originally purchased for this project, it was left over from another project, and I like it so much better. And it's fitting too, because that project I made for Ana, Alex's sister... I love a happy coincidence.

Before framing I layered the piece with batting, adding some dimension so as to not look so flat under the glass.

And did I tell you? I stitched this Dark Mark with Glow In The Dark Floss by DMC, and I'm really happy to say, this sucker glows really well. Unfortch, it's not that easy to photograph, but you can kind of see it here.

Woop~woop!!

I sent this piece (carefully packed in bubble wrap) to Alex with a couple of other great Etsy finds too, and with permission of the shop owners, I get to share these with you guys as well!

You should know something about Alex, she's not a froo-froo girl. She's a tomboy, and a straight up nerd. And despite my deep love of delicate tea things and a passion for embroidery, so am I. It's easy to shop for her, because I get to pick things I like and I know she will too.

First I found this shirt by S&S Ink. I still get the giggles when I see it.

She loved it, naturally.

Super mega bonus here, people!! The gals at S&S Ink have offered a special for my readers (this is so cool, I've never done this kind of thing before!!) if you go to their shop and purchase anything, make sure to use the promo code: BLOG20 for a 20% discount!!!

Yeehaw!

I also found these amazing, custom made key chains on Etsy in Tesoro Jewelry's shop.

The front...

And an added surprise on the back...

I absolutely adore these key chains, I think they're so terrific, I ordered two!

I'm pleased to say that Alex freaked out when she opened her box, she told me that she couldn't wait to get back to the barracks, so she opened it in the parking lot at the post office. She said she actually squealed (loud enough to garner the attention of passersby) when she unwrapped the stitched piece, and if you knew Alex, you'd know... that's pretty major. She loved the key chain & t-shirt too. Yay!

I'll be honest, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself when she told me about her uncontrolled squealing. That's one of the things I love so much about handmade. It's always nice when you give someone a gift that they really like, but when it's something you made yourself, there's a deep satisfaction which is almost like a gift to yourself. You guys know what I mean, right?

I have a bunch more stitching to get to this weekend, but as I write these words, the sun has come out from hiding and I have the day off, which only means one thing... it's time to get my Vespa out of the garage and go for a ride! Seems like it's been forever since the last time, and I got some new winter riding gloves this week that I'm dying to try out! No more frozen fingers for me!

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

oxo,

Lisa