All You Need Is...

In the immortal words of The Beatles, 'All you need is love'. 

After having captured Grace's 5 year old handwritten 'love', which has been my VERY favorite embroidery project so far...

I was inspired to capture and preserve more 'love'.

So, I cut 6 inch squares, out of white cotton fabric, and I'm having those near and dear to Grace, write 'love' and sign their names.

When I've collected enough 'love', I'll either frame them OR turn them into a quilt for Grace.

The quilt will be titled, 'All you need is...'  Grace is so blessed because she is loved by many and I never want her to forget it.  If ever she needs a little extra love, I hope she'll find comfort wrapped in a warm quilt surrounded by the love of those near and dear to her.

Until then, I'll be busy collecting love and embroidering.

All while humming 'All you need is love'.

Nothing you can know that isn't known
Nothing you can see that isn't shown
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be
It's easy

All you need is love

DIY Embroidered Handwriting Keepsake

Turn your child's handwriting into an embroidered keepsake.  Those carefully written letters should be preserved and displayed.  A simple and easy way to do that, with embroidery thread.

To create your embroidered keepsake you'll need the following:  fabric, embroidery hoop, water soluble pen, needle and thread.

Enlist your artist of choice to write something onto your fabric.

Center the written sentiment in your embroidery hoop.

Begin embroidering. I used a back stitch for the letters.

To back stitch bring your needle and thread up through the back of the fabric.  I started at the top of the L.  Sew a long stitch forward, bring your needle down.  Return your needle back up, leaving space, approximately the same size as your first stitch.  Return your needle back down, where your first completely stitch ended.  Repeat.

At the end of love, I decided to punctuated it with a heart.  

 

Love should always come from the heart.

 Love was the first word Grace learned to spell. 

Love is what this sweet child of mine shows me every single day.

Love, written by a 5 year old, will be a keepsake I hold dear for always.

Valentine's Decorating

I happen to be one of those people that decorate for Valentine's Day. 

February can be a gray, dreary, cold month in the Midwest.  Valentine's Day gives me an excuse to add some happy, cheery bright colors, flowers and a heart or two to my decor and, in turn, it brightens my mood.

An easy and inexpensive way to change up decor is with pillows.

I whipped up some pillows, in less than an hour.  Using some heat transfer vinyl I customized each with LOVE and a heart.

And, those pillows are getting love...

From the dog.  Sigh.

Valentine's Day and flowers (ok, and probably chocolate) go hand in hand.

I've become a sucker for the $3.99 bouquet of roses at Aldi.  Such an inexpensive way to add some color and a good reminder that spring will eventually return.

I'm slightly obsessed with all things letter related.  I went through my collection of letters and was inspired to add an XO (hugs and kisses) for another subtle Valentine's touch.

Rustic coasters are scattered about. 

Herman, the head that usually wears my eye glasses, is donning a heart shaped eye patch...he obviously doesn't mind making a spectacle of himself for the sake of Valentine's.

Not only do I decorate the house...but I also make sure that Grace gets 'decorated'.  She has lots of heart sweaters and pretty hair accessories to wear.

Which reminds me, I need to make sure she has a chance to show off her LOVE dress before Valentine's day.

 And, though I wish this weren't the case, our front yard is still decorated with some ice cold hearts. 

Here's hoping we get some warmer weather soon and those cold hearts melt.

Do you decorate for Valentine's Day?

Embroidered LOVE Letter Dress

I have a confession.

I love embroidery.

If I notice a blank canvas, or if you standstill long enough, something is likely to be embroidered.  You have been warned.

This proved to be the case with a dress I had bought Grace, from Goodwill (a dress that I think is actually a women's top...sigh).

With a water soluble pen in hand, I decided to sketch out LOVE, written in faux school lined paper.

With a needle and thread, I embroidered over the lines and 'Love' using a back stitch.  If you've never embroidered, I promise you a back stitch is SO easy.

Of course, if you don't want to embroider a 'Love' letter dress yourself, you can always purchase one at Anthropologie for over a $100. 

Or you can find a blank canvas of your own and add your own personalized embroidered touch for a fraction of the cost.  In my case, $2.99.

Watercolor Embroidered Mason Jars

With mason jar crafts and creations all the rage, I how have finally succumb to the craze...in my own way, through embroidery.

These watercolor embroidered mason jars were inspired by Cresendoh, you can see the full tutorial at their site.

I took their tutorial and made a few minor changes.  Where they stamped a mason jar onto fabric to act as a pattern, I hand drew my mason jar.

Into an embroidery hoop, I layered the following:  my hand drawn mason jar fabric followed by a layer of batting and finally another layer of white fabric.

*Using a stem stitch, I embroidered the mason jar.  I used dark brown embroidery thread for the jar, gray for the lid, red for the lab and dark brown for the word on the label. {These steps were not included in the tutorial by Cresendoh.}

When my embroidery was complete, I applied blue watercolor, using the technique described by Cresendoh.

After a few trials and errors, I decided to leave my mason jar untrimmed until I applied the watercolor and it fully dried.  I feel like it left the edge of the mason jar and batting beneath cleaner.

 

When completely dry, I cut my mason jar out, cutting around the embroidered stem stitch I made outlining the mason jar.

I applied no fray to the edge of the 'grace' jar.  No fray was not applied to the 'hope' jar and you can see, over time, some fraying did result.

Attach some floral wire to the top of the mason jar. 

And hang.

And, I am absolutely in love with the results. 

I hope you'll decide to make some of your own.

If you liked this tutorial, make sure to check out my 'Make a Wish' embroidery pattern and tutorial.

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Wordless Wednesday

The best things in life aren't things.

Paper Heart Garland

One of the items on my Christmas wish list, that I provided to my husband, was jute twine.  My husband no longer questions my list and knowing that he could go to Home Depot and buy twine suited him even better.

My husband obviously knows the way to my heart...jute twine.

With my jute twine in hand, I made a simple garland to add to our Valentine's day decor.  I cut out some red hearts (by hand...can you believe it!), secured them to the twine with miniature clothes pins and strung it up.

I am thinking, I may even add 'I love you' in different languages to each heart.

Or, maybe I'll write, I love jute twine...er, I mean, my husband onto the hearts.

If the shoe fits, remember them.

Grace starts ballet this week. Seeing those tiny ballet shoes, brought back memories from when I took ballet as a little girl.

That's me...

As soon as I held her first pair of ballet shoes in my hands, I became overwhelmed with emotion. The warnings I have heard, countless times before, about how these childhood days should be cherished because before you know it, you'll look back and wonder where the time has gone, suddenly seemed so real to me. I can already fast forward and see myself reflecting back, thinking of Grace as a little ballerina.

I decided, if the shoe fits, remember them. Simple enough, right. Grace, in her pink leotard and ballet shoes, is definitely something I won't want to forget. It's a memory I want to preserve not only for myself but for her as well.

I found a couple of ideas, I know that I'll want to try of my little ballerina.

I love they way Smashed Peas and Carrots has captured her daughter's ballet shoes in the photograph below.

Such a simple photo but so full of meaning. {If you visit her site, she also has a great tutorial on how to make those leg warmers.}

My favorite idea comes from Martha Setwart. What a great idea to display not only your adorable ballerina but also her first pair of ballet shoes.

Last year, 'the shoe that fit' Grace was a sweet pair of pink Converse sneakers. Nearly every picture I took of her last summer, she was wearing those shoes.

Using Picnik, I converted a picture of these Converse, on Grace's chubby little feet, using their editing effect '1960s'. I printed it as a 5x7 and it's displayed on our bookcase.

Whatever the shoe, whatever the memory, whatever the moment you are in, cherish it and look back on it with...