Art and Design

Learning a new hobby or skill has never been easier with the growth of the internet. If you’re anything like me, what was once hard to learn as you had to try and find books or local instructors is now … Read More

Why do cross stitch pattern design?   It can be daunting to try and design a cross stitch pattern for the first time, especially if you’ve seen how complicated some patterns are. A cross stitch pattern chart is usually made … Read More

What’s a Kokeshi Doll?   A kokeshi doll is a lovely traditional Japanese doll, and originally they were made of wood. They’re so simple but so pretty, and for some reason I’ve been really fascinated by them recently. I used … Read More

    I realized that possibly turning my photographs into drawings and then turning the drawings into cross stitch patterns was making the details harder to read in a smaller pattern. I decided to do a bit of experimentation and … Read More

As I mentioned last week, I just finished the big cross stitch piece that I’ve been working on for the past nine months. I wasn’t sure whether to start a new stitching project or whether to work on some new … Read More

Having just moved into a new apartment, I thought I would share how I created my gallery wall and how I hung some artwork on a concrete wall. I’ve got a mix of art from paintings, drawings, needlework, prints, and … Read More

Today’s post is about a topic I brought up in my last newsletter – having way too many ideas and not knowing how to organize them or be able to work on them all at once. I know this is … Read More

Recently as I’ve been finishing up my big Michelangelo cross stitch (which still has a bit to go but is almost there), I’ve been thinking about other ways to render drawings in stitching. I really like the way the cross … Read More

  So as I’m nearing the end of stitching my current work in progress (my big Michelangelo piece pictured to the left), I’m considering what I would like to do for my next design. I don’t really need to stitch … Read More

This week I decided to go to an exhibition I’d seen posters for around town – The Greeks: Agamemnon to Alexander the Great. I’m completely batty about Greek and Roman art, as it is the basis of Italian Renaissance art … Read More

  This video is a little different than my other ones – this one is more focused on ways to create crafts and artworks around any physical limitations you might have. It might be an injury (like me), an illness … Read More

As promised, here’s a post about how I decorated the photo frame project I made as part of my video about how to cut a mat board frame. I have some books (from a dollar shop of course, but they … Read More

I’ve noticed recently that many people are talking about the amount of money that they’re spending on framing cross stitch pieces. I’ve always done my own framing – I learned how to do it in art school years ago – so … Read More

I decided tonight to sit down and start a drawing of a sepia flower image I created in this post, but just as I was about to turn on my iPad and open up ArtRage I thought about what the … Read More

So in the past few posts I’ve been talking about using ArtRage again, and in conjunction with photo editing software. I’m thinking I might work on the sepia-toned flower photo I did as a sample, but I wasn’t sure what … Read More