Sampler goodness!

Since I have been busy working and have therefore not even finished my own sampler, I thought I would showcase two other crafters who gave my 2009 embroidery sampler a go! First up is Rachel of Potluck Crafters, who stitched up this lovely bright sampler. I just love her color choices, they make me think of spring!

Librarianguish also made her own version, on a lovely gray fabric. Don't you just love that spider's web stitch?? Check out Librarianguish's Flickr for more pics of her sampler, and lots of other cool photos!

I also thought I would mention a very neat giveaway over at Blueberry Junike - if you'd like to win a cute little bird onesie for one of the kiddos in your life, check out this blog! Last day today, so hurry up!

Time to get organized

Sorry it's been a little quiet here lately - I thought I would have more crafting time now that I'm done with school, but it's been quite the opposite! I have done a lot of organizing though. This is what my new embroidery floss organizer looks like:

Yummy, isn't it? I also tidied my craft space (long overdue!) and reorganized my inspiration board with some new images. I need to make some more button thumbtacks, too!

And here's something for any Swedish crafters reading my blog: last week when I was busy studying, this little gem dropped into my mailbox. It's the spring catalog from Sweden's largest craft store chain, Panduro, and it's fabulous! The new fabric line from Tilda is just lovely, I wish I could get every print!

If you haven't picked up a copy of the catalog yet, check it out here. My resolution not to buy any more craft supplies is killing me! :-D

I love IKEA fabric!

I do! I try not to go to IKEA too often, because it usually gives me an urge to redecorate and let's face it, that's not in our budget right now. But I did go there before Christmas, to get some fabric for one of my mom's Christmas presents. She had told me that she needed a new bag to carry all her school stuff (my mom is a teacher) and I wanted a challenge! This is what I came up with:

Here's a closeup of the wool felt decoration. Blanket stitch on round objects is tricky! Thanks to futuregirl for the great blanket stitch tutorial!

Pretty paper

I just joined a really exciting swap over at sweet jessie's blog, called the Collate: project. I'll be getting an awesome notebook with pretty papers from the whole world! Yay! This is the batch of papers I sent to Jessie for the swap:

I haven't done much crafting this week because I'm busy preparing for a major exam next week. I did take the time to stamp up some bear postcards though! What do you think?

HELLO bear

I just wanted to say hello to everyone who found me via the CRAFT: blog! Boy, did my blog stats go crazy yesterday. I'm glad so many people liked my little sampler!

I stamped these little bear note cards up yesterday. They were lots of fun to make, and I've started thinking up loads of variations... I made a little bear Santa hat - but then I realized I don't have a red inkpad! And to make matters worse, one of my new years resolutions was not to buy any more craft supplies for two whole months! Ack! So now I was wondering, would anyone like to swap a pack of bear notecards for some inkpads? Let me know if you do! :-)

Happy 2009!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had a wonderful holiday. I certainly did - and I got lots of crafty Christmas presents! Fabric, books, a glue gun (can you believe I haven't had one until now!) and paints and supplies to try carving lino. I'm looking forward to using some of my new supplies in my crafts this year.

One of the presents I got from Keith was this great book - a huge encyclopedia of embroidery stitches with great and detailed pictures!

I couldn't wait to get started on some embroidery so this is what I designed to practice some new stitches:

I'm sorry about the poor photo - can't wait 'til the light returns here to the far north! :-) I promise I'll get a better shot of the finished piece. Anyway, I designed a little sampler to help me try some new stitches, and I wanted it to be something inspirational for the new year... I scanned the pattern for you if you'd like to make one too! There are a lot of straight lines to make trying new stitches really simple - if you do decide to make a new year's sampler yourself, I'd love to see your result!

Click for a larger view of the pattern: