Cross stitch wedding portrait

What do you give the bride who makes her own wedding gown? A hand-stitched wedding portrait, of course! When I heard that my friend Rebecca had spent over 250 hours hand-stitching her dress, I knew I wanted to commemorate that with a wee little stitches custom cross stitch. With a little sleuthing from Rebecca's sister, I had photos of the dress and the couple to send off to Jacqueline. Jacqueline quickly created a custom pdf pattern that included metallic thread on the bodice and train of the dress to represent the lace in the real dress. I stitched most of this project while on a family camping trip on the Sunshine Coast and it was lovely to sit outdoors while thinking of Rebecca and Eric and wishing them a happy life together.

The wedding was gorgeous and I have to say, the portrait really does look like Rebecca and Eric (even down to Rebecca's hairstyle!) If you ever want to create one of these portraits, check out weelittlestitches on  Etsy for a custom pattern.

p.s. Rebecca had awesome shoes!

I'm linking up to The Handmade Parade at There & Back

Potential

This photo from last Saturday shows all my cross stitch supplies ready to be put into use on a new and exciting project. I haven't cross stitched for over a decade, but it all came back to me quickly and I'll reveal the project I made very soon (just have to finish a few last details!). In the meantime, you can browse weelittlestitches' pattern shop and decide which pop culture pixel people you just have to make!

Thanks to Austen Gilliland of the make + do blog for the inspiration to post a crafty photo today!

Bicycle print by My Little Buffalo

Sophie says: "I would like to have a brown and blue bicycle like that sometimes."

I say: "I'd love a copy of this print with a red bike!"

Spotted this great bike print by My Little Buffalo on Etsy. Spotted her shop via Handmade Evolution.

Etsy goodness

I'm having so much fun getting to know the online craft fair that is Etsy. So far, I've purchased some beautifully illustrated letter press cards, a cool t-shirt with collective nouns on it (fun ones include a parliament of owls and a crash of rhinos), a colourful new camera strap that makes me smile each time I look at it, and some supplies for crafting (project to remain secret until after the holidays). The creative people on Etsy are inspiring and they give this environmentalist non-shopaholic some serious urges to go wild with my PayPal account. Plus, you can list favourite items in your profile like your own personal wish list.

If you haven't seen Etsy yet I'd highly recommend it. Try it, I dare you!
Credits: card by sweetbeets
t-shirt by Xenotees
camera strap by Straps By Leslie