Stitch From Stash Update: April

It's that grand time of the month again. And for the first time this year, I actually have some stash spends to report! Me and my house mate made an order from 123Stitch and these are the goodies I received.

3 packs of clearance stickers to add to my Europe 2013 scrapbook. (I had to buy them immediately, in case the store ran out of the matching ones!)

32ct Light Mocha Belfast Linen

Country Cottage Needleworks - The Needlework Shop

Little House Needleworks - Miss Peepers

Just a small stash enhancement, but it really made me smile. I can't wait to get started on the new charts. So, my grand total was (not including posting and darn custom charges we were forced to pay) . . .

£21.81

Out of a total of £100 I could have spent this year, I've only spent £21.81 of it. I'd say that's a pretty good track record :) And I've still got plenty of items in my stash to work on, so I don't think I'll have to buy anything else this year, maybe just a couple of thread colours. 

Onto the stitching update!

Current WIPs:

White Magic is coming along beautifully. I'm enjoying this piece so much, I've even got into the swing of the blended thread sections. I'm nearly half way through this piece, nearly onto the second set of pages. 

Finished WIPs:

This is my latest finish - Country Cottage Needlework's The Tea Room. I hope to finish the three charts of this set that I have in order to frame them to decorate my new home in the summer. I don't quite know where I'll be living yet, but I know I'll have some pretty pieces to decorate it with!

I also finished up this cute hippo as a gift for my sister.

I'm nearly finished with my last assignments and then I've got a bit of free time heading my way. You can be sure I'll be spending lots of time stitching this summer!

Best wishes to all,

 

European Adventure: Part Three

I've had so many lovely comments and emails about my Europe posts - you are all too kind! I'm really pleased you're enjoying them. It seems almost a shame that we've made it to the final instalment :P Today's post features Frankfurt and Paris :)

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We only stayed in Frankfurt for one night. It was an ideal stop off location, as it's pretty much halfway between Munich and Paris. Going directly would have cost us more than staying over in Frankfurt, bizarre isn't it? We stayed in the best hostel of the trip, it was welcoming and very well organised. If we weren't both looking forward to Paris, I think we might have stayed on an extra night. Frankfurt is a plain city, until you reach Römer. It's the traditional area of Frankfurt and has stunning architecture. I'm not quite sure of the history of the place, we weren't there long enough to find out! Lawrence is quite keen to do a trip focusing on Germany, so maybe we will be lucky enough to return one day.

In Frankfurt we:

• Took a long walk around the town.
• Visited Römer.
• Shared a huge banana split sundae!
• Did laundry :P We wanted to be fresh for Paris!

Fantastic buildings in Römer.

Lawrence in front of the stunning church, Römer.

I'm afraid I haven't formed much of an opinion on Frankfurt, as we didn't have time to see much. I'm not quite sure it has as much to see as the other German cities we visited, but it would be worth returning to if we were ever in the area again.

Ah, Paris. Right from the start, I wanted to go to Paris. As soon as we started organising the trip and choosing places to visit, Paris was at the top of my list. I have visited before, on a school trip but I wanted to explore more of this city with Lawrence. We stayed for two nights and three days, before heading back to Blighty on the overnight coach. The hotel we stayed in was a little bit out of the way, but there were Metro stations nearby. Paris is understandably very expensive, but at this was the last stop on the journey, we did have a few treats. I loved just being in Paris, walking around and taking in all of the sights. When we first arrived, we wandered around the centre just as the sun was setting. It was very romantic and a true highlight of my trip :)

In Paris we:

• Visited the Louvre, used our elbows to see the Mona Lisa and promptly left. It was horrendously busy in there and not enjoyable. It seems most people are there to take pictures of the art and not enjoy the art itself.
• Visited the Musée d'Orsay, which is round the corner from the Louvre and a much better gallery. It was free entry, as we are both under 25 and held EU passports. You weren't allowed to take photos in this gallery, so we viewed the Van Gogh and Lautrec paintings undisturbed. It was wonderful.
• Took an evening stroll to the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomph and the down the stunning Champs-Élysées with all the beautiful shops and displays.  
• Found a gluten-free patisserie shop and enjoyed a strawberry tarteflette.
• Drank wine.
• Ate well.
• Recollected our glorious holiday memories and vowed to do it again :)

Yours truly in front of the Eiffel Tower.

One of the many delicious bistro meals we enjoyed.

 

Lawrence in front of the Arc de Triomphe.

 

Paris is beautiful, there is no two ways around that. I feel like we have done most of the sights now, especially as we had both already been up the Eiffel Tower before this trip. I don't think we'll return soon, but I know I will visit Paris again.

 

Our trip was incredible. We saw so much and did so many things and took so many pictures! There were a few grumpy days where lack of sleep spoiled it, but we soon cheered up. With careful planning, it is possible to travel and enjoy your travels. We had to save for a long time and stick to a budget, but the memories are priceless. I think we would travel in this style again, spending at least a couple of weeks moving from place to place. But not for much longer than that. By the time we got on our coach, we were both looking forward to the stability of home. It sounds clichéd, but the best part of travelling is coming home :)

 

I hope you've liked travelling with me through my photos. I bought this gorgeous scrapbook from Paperchase last week and I plan on getting some photos printed and making up a few pages. I collected tickets, passes and various bits and pieces along the journey, so I'm going to display them all in here.

 

 

 

It might take me a while to complete it, but I'm sure this scrapbook will become a real treasure :) Thank you all for visiting today!

Best wishes,

 

 

Memories

Today cannot pass without remembering those who died on the fateful day 10 years ago. Although I was young, I do remember watching the events unfold and being horrified as people ran for their lives away from the collapsing buildings. So many brave people should not be forgotten.

I have come to blog about my new scrapbooking haul. I tried a different website, just to compare, but they wanted £19 just for postage and packing! Luckily, 123stitch pulled through and I got these beauties for the combined price of £6.68 ($10.65), much more reasonable for a student like me. I am quite happy to pay the £3.76 p&p they ask for, it's a good price. Anyway, here are my goodies . . .



One sheet of flocked stickers from K&Company (left) and two sheets of Dear Lizzy Thickers, these ones are all in beautiful greens and browns. Can't wait to do a page with these!
Next up are these gorgeous Remarks stickers called Etiquette. I had to snap these up, for only £1.24! There's lots of different colours so I hope to find lots of different ways to use them.

And lastly my most expensive purchase (but still a bargain at £2.94) is this pad of Distress Ink by Tim Holtz. I've seen some wonderful scrapbook pages using this product over at http://www.scrapbook.com/ and I thought I'd give it a go myself. I'll let you know how I get on!

I've been doing a little bit of stitching, but not really that much. My mojo is still wandering. I am sorting through all my cross stitching stuff soon in preparation for Uni, so maybe that will kickstart my needle. I've decided to take my cross stitch tower with me, but I want to fill it with stuff I will actually use, not some of the junk I've been storing in there at the moment.
Just over a week to go before I set off for Uni! Can't wait!

I hope you all have a relaxing Sunday doing things you love.

Scrapbooking and Stash

Hello everyone! I hope you are all well. I've got quite a bit to share this post, so settle on down :)
First of all, thank you so much for all of your lovely and kind comments on my last post. I'm going to agree with the general consensus and write about all types of crafts (and maybe other things) that I like. This blog will now feature other crafts, as well as the wonderful cross stitch. However, for those with a real love of scrapbooking, I've set up a profile on http://www.scrapbook.com/. It's a wonderful website showcasing talent from all over the world, as well as beginners like me. You can find my profile here.
 So, where else to start posts about scrapbooking than with my very first scrapbook page. It's called "Wild" and is displaying some of the mementos I collected from my trip to South Africa, way back in 2004. I like using scrapbooking as a way to keep all the tickets, coins and other such things we collect on travels. And to decorate photographs too.



In stitchy news now, I've recently added to my stash. Not by much mind, but I'm still all excited about it nonetheless. First up, I bought the last three threads I needed to go with this LHN design, Mississippi Riverboat. I hope to start this one very soon.

Next up is two ebay wins that I was extremely lucky with. I paid £1.06 for one and just 99p for the other! Every so often, you can find great bargains on ebay. This is Gingerbread Cottage by CCN (one that was on my wishlist) and Autumn Bird by Heart in Hand.

Also, my Prairie Schooler chart arrived for the upcoming exchange on the Rotating Designer Exchange blog. I hope my partner likes the design I've chosen!
I haven't done that much stitching so far this week. My boyfriend just came back from a two week trip to Thailand so I've been spending lots of time with him. Here's where I'm up to on All Things Bright . . .

I'm really enjoying this piece and I'm thinking of turning it into a long cushion when it's all finished. What do you think? Any ideas for this oblong shaped finish?

Results day is only two days to go now - eeep! I'll be sure to post my results on the day, just to let you all know :)

I hope you've had a great start to the week,

A Bit Different

Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful weekend. Mine was certainly very busy, but I enjoyed it all the same.
Thank you so much for the kind comments about my finish in my last post. I will definitely continue to practice and make more lovely ornaments so that my room will be filled with them come December.
At the request of Teresa from Teresa's Heartfelt Stitches, I'm here with a scrapbooking post. Scrapbooking is my second favourite hobby after cross stitching because I am a big lover of photos. I have countless albums and framed pictures all around my room and I think scrapbooking is a nice way of displaying some of those pictures. So, I thought I'd share a couple of scrapbook pages that I've done recently. Don't worry, normal stitchy service will resume in the week! Charizard is coming on really well and I hope to make a new start soon too, maybe another Christmas themed piece?


Piano Man - the picture is of my friend Callum, he is a superb self-taught pianist.

Oui Oui Paris - a picture I took myself of the Eiffel Tower when I visited Paris in 2009

Try Not to Stare
This is my favourite page I have ever done with two pictures from a school trip to Paris I went on a couple of years ago now. I like that the picture of the two boys was taken at exactly the right time. I also really like the butterfly rub on that I've got a close up picture of here . . .

When I went hunting for felt last week at Hobbycraft, I couldn't help picking up a couple of extra bits for my other crafting love too. If any one else enjoys scrapbooking or papercraft, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Anita's Letter Stickers. They're so easy to use and I find them more sturdy than Hobbycraft's own brand. I got a gold set, some other letter stickers, butterfly stickers and some adhesive ribbon, which is another favourite item of mine. Here's my little haul!

Thank you so much to Barbara for sending me the beautiful Just Nan chart, Bluebird Alphabet. Barbara was passing it on after she had finished stitching with it and I will be doing the same so that another can enjoy this lovely chart. Look out for it!

I hope you all have a very pleasant week doing lots of stitching and any other crafts you enjoy. Best wishes,