A Little Shamrock

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

(Try not to get pinched.)

I embroidered a little shamrock onto some pretty pink paper this morning, just for funsies.

It was super easy.  I used a needle to punch holes in the shape of the shamrock and then embroidered into them with a backstitch.

Perhaps I'll have the luck of the Irish on my side when I skate in the shows tonight?
We'll see...

xoxo
Laura

An Embroidered Dolphin

I made a dolphin card today.

I didn't use my Doodle Stitching kit to make this little guy.  I used google images to find a picture of a dolphin and then traced its outline onto some tracing paper.  Fun, huh?

I did use my kit to make the waves under the dolphin, though.

I think I'm going to make a few more ocean themed cards.  This one really got me in the mood for it!

xoxo
Laura

Embroidered Drinks

I may or may not have been feeling a little thirsty when I made my next two cards!

Just like the last two cards I posted about, I used images from my new Doodle Stitching Kit.

I wanted to use the satin stitch to make the red liquid in the martini glass, but I knew that I would end up ripping the card if I made that many holes that close together on the card.  I avoided that problem by outlining the red area with a backstitch, then threading the satin stitch around the backstitched outline instead of through the card itself.

I just used regular old backstitching on the card with the champagne glass.  I wasn't sure how the bubbles would turn out, but I think they ended up looking alright.  I especially like the two little ones inside the champagne, and I sort of wish I had made them all that small.

I need to pick up my stitching pace if I'm going to have enough cards finished by Saturday...  I hope I can do it!  I'm going to get back to work on it right now.

xoxo
Laura

Embroidered Carrots and Cranes

These are the first two cards I made with my Doodle Stitching Kit.

I used a basic backstitch on these little guys.  I found it difficult to make my stitches quite as small as Aimee Ray made hers because the paper would rip if I made my holes too close together.

When I'm finished with this card embroidery project, I definitely want to try embroidering on fabric so I won't have to be so careful about it ripping like paper.  For now, though, I'm very happy with these two cards and I have more ideas brewing for the next two.

Until next time...
xoxo
Laura

Doodle Stitching

I finally ended up buying this embroidery kit and I'm trying it out right now, see?

I'm only a week and a half away from the end of my current ice show contract, and with the end of a contract comes a lot of goodbyes.  With that in mind, I'm going to spend this week embroidering cards for all the friends that I'll be leaving.  I think it will be a fun learning experience, since my current embroidery skills are super basic.

Have you ever used a kit like this one?  Did you find it helpful?
xoxo
Laura

My Mom's Birthday

Today is my mom's birthday!  Happy birthday, Mom!!!

My parents went out for dinner and dancing at a fancy hotel in Colorado Springs last night to celebrate.  Doesn't that sound fun?

I did a little embroidering for the occasion, as pictured above.  I used this embroidery technique.

This is my mom (and my sister):

I wish she were in Mexico with me today; there's surfing here too!

Anyway, my mom is really cool and I love her to pieces and I hope she's having a great time in Colorado Springs!

xoxo
Laura

Easy Embroidery Tutorial

Back in November I wrote a blog post about about chain stitch embroidery.  Since then I've moved on to (what I consider to be) the simplest embroidery technique ever.  It looks like this:

I used this type of embroidery on my little pink notebook and on the card I made for my friend the other day as well.

To do it, start by poking a series of holes in the paper with an embroidery needle in the shape of whatever you want to embroider.  Then thread the needle and tie a little knot at the end of the thread.

Now it's time to begin embroidering...

Step 1: Bring the needle through the 2nd hole, coming from the bottom up.
Step 2: Plunge the needle down through the 1st hole.
Step 3:  Pull the needle back up through the 3rd hole.
Step 4:  Bring the needle back down through the 2nd hole.

Repeat the process of bringing the needle up through the next empty hole and bringing it back down through the hole before it.

Once you've embroidered through all of the holes, tie a knot on the underside of the work and cut off the excess thread.  This is what the bottom should look like:

The front side of the embroidery should now look like the very first picture in this post; a neat and tidy embroidered line.  Easy, right?

Now that I've covered the basic concept, the less easy and more fun part of this process is thinking up new designs to embroider.  I've already embroidered one more piece that I'm looking forward to sharing on Friday!

xoxo
Laura

An Embroidered Card and Some Crafty Kits

I embroidered a birthday card for my friend Randy, and I had so much fun doing it.  I don't know if I'm loving embroidering these days just because it's a new activity for me or if it's really an activity that's going to stick with me for a while.  Either way, I'm having a great time with it at the moment.

I was browsing the fun section at the front of Barnes & Noble where they keep the gifts and impulse buys, and I ran across the perfect box set for my new interest!  It's the Learn Doodle Stitching kit by Aimee Ray and I really want to buy it next time I'm there.  If I do, I'll let you know what I think of it!

Image via Barnes & Noble

I also couldn't help taking a picture of the Yummy Crochet kit by Kristen Rask.  How cute is that?! If I were to learn how to crochet, this is definitely how I would want to do it.

Have you picked up any new crafting skills lately?  I'd love to hear about them.
xoxo
Laura

Embroidering on the Beach

Today I'm hanging out at Orient Beach in St. Maarten.  I've mostly been lounging on one of these lawn chairs:

Instead of reading my book (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay) or messing around on my iPad (7 Little Words is super addicting), I did a little bit of embroidery on the front of my notebook.

It's been a great day.

I'll show you how I did the embroidery in my next post!
xoxo
Laura

Hand Embroidered Thank You Cards with a Free Printable Stencil

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!  There are so many things to be thankful for this time of year, so why not say it with a handmade card?  (I made these because I recently received some birthday presents, but don't forget about the Christmas presents and the plethora of holiday parties on the horizon.) 

To begin, I made a stencil that will fit on a 3.5" by 5" card.  

You can download it as a free printable right here.

Once you've downloaded and printed the stencil, place your card on top of a cork board, cut out the stencil, and tape it on top of the front of the card.  

Use a push pin to poke holes all along the letters on the stencil.  When you've finished that, remove the stencil and you'll be ready to begin the embroidery.

Thread a needle with embroidery thread and use a basic chain stitch to embroider the letters.  Here's how to do a chain stitch:

1. Bring the needle up through the first hole.
2. Bring the needle back down through the same hole, but don't pull it out all the way.
3. With the back of the needle still halfway through the first hole, bring the front of the needle part of the way up through the second hole.  Check the picture to make sure your needle looks like mine.
4. Loop the thread up and around the needle.
5. Now you can pull the needle through the two holes and you will have the first loop on your chain.
6. Repeat the process over and over again to make a chain.  Each time you finish a loop, that loop's second hole becomes the first hole for the next loop.  For example, when you've finished step 5 and you have your first loop, you've just done step 1 for the next loop, so you'll repeat your process by bring the needle back down the hole it just came out of, halfway up through the next one, wrap the thread around the front of the needle, then pull the needle out again and you'll have your second link in the chain stitch. Keep going until you reach the end of a line, then bring the needle out and around the last loop and back down through the last hole to secure the chain.  Once your thread is down under the card, you can move it to the hole where you want to start your next chain and begin again.  Keep going until you've embroidered the whole word.

I hope this tutorial makes sense, because once you get the hang of doing a chain stitch it's easy and makes a big impact.  If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section below.  

Happy Friday!

xoxo

Laura