Simple Crafts Ideas

2005-10-19T10:58:00.000-07:00

Yes, finally the King & Queen cross stitch design is completed. This is the design that I created myself. I was still pregnant with Kaitlyn when I did the draft. I simply took out a pack of playing cards and picked out the King and Queen. I did a simple drawing, and then substituted the crosses for the coloring. I was very pleased with the final outcome, and it only took me 3 weeks to complete. I will use this for the powder room.

2005-10-18T17:18:00.000-07:00

Kaitlyn loves Heroic Rendezvous, so this is what I did for her. I especially like the clock, because it is made from my old clock that I've used for over 10 years. The other two projects will be hung in the powder room and Kaitlyn's bathroom, just to add a bit of an artistic interest.

2005-10-18T17:14:00.000-07:00

"Hitomi no heya". This is going to be used on Kaitlyn's bedroom door in the new house. Hitomi is Kaitlyn's Japanese name. "Heya" means "room" in Japanese. I especially like this design, because it is both Japanese and Victorian-like, with the lace design (though you may not be able to see it in this photo). Special thanks to Heather Rivlin for giving me this mini collage of Kaitlyn. We love your work!

2005-09-17T20:08:00.000-07:00

Since I wasn't able to finish Kaitlyn's cross-stitch birthday project on time, I had to do something else for her to celebrate her first birthday! Thanks to hot glue gun, I was able to create 3 projects for her. And all of them didn't cost anything over Cdn$5!

I got some artificial flowers at Lewiscraft at discount prices (because they now have a sale going on for fall flowers). I was able to get about 10 full blooms and some buds for the small flowers (as shown in the head band) for about Cdn$2 a stem. The pink sunflower as in the denim hat cost about $2 for two full blooms and one small bud. The accent pieces, such as the boa, ribbons, ... cost about $0.50 to 1.50.

It's a lot of fun making these pieces, and I can truly see myself making more accessories for Kaitlyn as she grows. I hope that by being creative myself, I can also teach her to be creative and be true to her sense of style.

2005-09-17T19:26:00.000-07:00

Finally, Kaitlyn's 1st birthday is in the past now! The thank you notes had been designed and e-mailed. Most photos had been printed and scrapbooked! Presents had been exchanged for larger sizes (apparently, friends thought that since Kaitlyn is 1 year old, she wears size 12m clothing! Well, to their surprise, my little angel is already wearing size 3T!!!).

I now have more time to do my own stuff, like the cross-stitching project that I promised to be Kaitlyn's birthday gift! But to my surprise, after her birthday, I was not that crazy to finish it off. Instead, I started on another project (which I will post later on). It's a design of a King and Queen (like in the playing cards) merged together upside down from each other. I intend to use this design for my powder room, because people seldom have the luxury to have a male / female toilet at home; so this is the perfect design. I created it when I was still pregnant with Kaitlyn, and I did a trial finished piece a year ago, in the traditional red, white, yellow, and black colours, often associated with playing cards. But I wasn't pleased with it. So, I am now working on a "pastel color" design. I am loving what I see, and I intend to work with pastel floss more in the future. Mind you, I am still using the basic DMC Art 117 floss; so the pastel that I am referring to is simply what defines as "pastel" in my mind.

But before I show you this fabulous project of mine (which I intend to finish in about 2 weeks' time), let me show you my daughter's latest name card. I've been creating name cards for her since her birth. It's the best thing for me to pass out to friends, telling them the web address they can visit to see her latest photos. The new version has her Chinese name and Japanese nickname printed on it. I think that it is quite cool, don't you?

2005-09-08T19:43:00.000-07:00

I've finally finished Kaitlyn's 1st birthday hat! I made it out of scrapbooking paper, furry boa, artificial flowers, ribbons, and tulle. With a little help from my trusty glue gun, it is put together perfectly. However, I think that it is a bit heavy for baby Kaitlyn to wear; so it's got to be held in place by hand when we take the photos of her cutting the cake. But I am sure that it's going to make a lovely display along with the other birthday hats that I am going to make yearly from now on. The entire cost of the project: approx. Cdn$6 (But I say it looks like it's worth a million bucks!) Wouldn't you agree that it looks like something that a Medieval princess would wear?

2005-09-04T19:18:00.000-07:00

I had finally finished the back of Kaitlyn's 1st year photo album. As you can see, the two Chinese characters in the middle is her name. It is pronounced
as "Hei Tung" in Cantonese, and the last character is pronounced "Hitomi" in Japanese. So, we will also call Kaitlyn that name. As a result, she now has Chinese, English, and Japanese names.

The meaning of "Hei Tung" is "rare / special eyes". Some elders may think that there isn't much of a meaning in this name as compared with names that actually mean something good, like: handsome, pretty, happy, ... But for us, we like the name because it sounds really nice, it's also usable in Japanese, and most of all, it was given to us by a master (in fung shui). So, it's got to be good enough to protect our dear baby!

In terms of the arts aspect, you will find lots of cartoon characters surrounding the name. I decided to paste things that Kaitlyn loved during the year of the album, so that when she goes over them when she gets older, she will also see what her passion was.

2005-09-02T17:04:00.000-07:00

It looks as if I am not going to be able to finish this project in time for Kaitlyn's birthday. But I will not give up just yet! I will do as much as I can. I really like how this project turns out. I didn't expect the Chinese characters to be so clearly presented once I fill in the colors. I used the PC Stitch software to map out the characters, and the result is fantastic.

Can't wait to post the next progress up-date.

2005-08-30T14:34:00.000-07:00

I was pretty bored when I was pregnant with Kaitlyn. According to Chinese customs, I was not allowed to do lots of things. And cross-stitching is one of them. So, I focused on crafts like: scrapbooking, designing cross-stitch patterns, and "Baby on Board" signs. These signs are super easy to make, and they look great! All you got to have is a computer, where you design the lettering with fonts you like. And to save on the budget, I bought one yellow paper folder and a black paper folder (I believe, for a total of Cdn$0.50 or less; buying construction paper would cost about Cdn$2.), and started to cut the letters using a cutter and cutting mat. A trick I learned from teaching kindergarten is to have the letters printed out on paper, and then staple it onto the colored paper so that the design won't shift. Then, to embellish the signs, I designed some simple patterns and also downloaded some off the computer. Kenneth especially love the "monkey" themed sign, because our daughter was born in the year of the Monkey, and the monkey, banana, and banana tree fit the theme perfectly. Plus, it is 100% my own design.

As for myself, I prefer the cursive design, because it is more of a Art Nouveau themed pattern. I love doing the filligree design, but it requires a lot of skills to draw. But I am sure that one day, I will master that! When Kaitlyn gets older, I am sure I will have to change the signs to "Child on Board". I hope that the results will be as striking as this one. (Already, I have some people ask my husband where he bought these attractive signs! Can you imagine my excitement when I heard that?)

2005-08-24T22:15:00.000-07:00

You can't forever be cross-stitching, this is not healthy for you. It's bad for your eyes, bad for your back, bad for your creativity, and most of all, bad for your family life. I would expect that I can do more cross-stitching on the weekend when my husband is home and can take care of Kaitlyn. But it turned out that weekend is a time when my productivity is the lowest. We are usually out and about, running errands, shopping with Kaitlyn, or visiting our new house (under construction). I really don't mind, because most of my work don't have a deadline (with the exception of the project that I am working on at the moment, as I wanted to present it to Kaitlyn on her birthday, less than one month away ~ though I doubt that I will ever have it done on time).

Last Sunday, we took Kaitlyn to the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition). We had a blast even though Kaitlyn is still too young to comprehend what's going on. But I must say that she was really thrilled to see mountains of Dora the Explorer dolls. The best thing about the CNE is that there are lots of crafts to see, and this means lots of ideas to be discovered. Great deals are to be found at the CNE too. Last year, when I was 9 months pregnant with Kaitlyn, I bought loads of books at the CNE. They were all 3 for $10. (But the original price for each book was about $20.) My best find(s) of last year were Martha Stewart's decorating books. This year, the best find(s) were Mary Engelbreit's fabric related books. And what a coincidence too; last year, I was really crazy about Martha's books, and this year, I learned to love the works of Mary Engelbreit.

CNE, to me, is more than fun and games. It's more inspirations and surprises, I would say! And I bet Kenneth has already learn by now that going to the CNE means shopping than rides. But thanks (or no thanks) to his fear of heights, he is not the least bit interested in rides.

2005-08-20T17:21:00.000-07:00

I woke up one morning, when I was still pregnant with Kaitlyn, with an idea to design a jewelry piece for her. I've heard a comment about a baby born with a silver spoon in his mouth as a good thing; so I decided to design something silver for Kaitlyn. After consulting my friend and owner of Irene House, Irene, we decided to make something out of White Gold, as silver will tarnish easily. I wanted to incorporate diamond into the piece, yet didn't want it to be an expensive piece, as I intend to let Kaitlyn to wear it on a daily basis once she is a little more grown up. So, I opted for melee diamonds. Since not too many Gold keys had been designed in the past, I have to present Irene with my own design, and let the craftsmen work their magic from there. I designed it quite short and round, so that it is kind of cutesy and safe to wear around the neck. The clasp used was also one that is typically used on jades instead of precious metals. Finally, things I learned in G.I.A. has become useful in everyday life. This piece also signified my completion of the G.I.A. Diamonds program years ago.

It felt great to play such a large part in designing Kaitlyn's first piece of jewelry, and I look forward to doing more designs in this area. Thanks to Irene, for making my dream come true!

2005-08-20T16:45:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a new photo frame launched in the Ikea 2006 collection, I am able to preserve Kaitlyn's first outfit along with her first baby blanket and birth announcement (hospital version).

When ever I look at this project, I remember the day I was admitted into the hospital. It was really late into the night, about 11:45pm. I had been having labour pains since 8am in the morning. It was a Sunday, and I kept telling myself that I shouldn't get all excited about labour because it is most likely a false labour. So, there I was at church, trying to calm myself down during each contraction. At first, contractions were really far apart, about 15 mins apart. So, I told myself that I will be okay, and don't have to be hospitalized yet. I even went to lunch with my family, and had a seafood pasta. Of course, contractions never ceased to bother me. By the time I got home, my husband asked me to have some rest, while he played soccer on his PSII with my dad. Hmm...

By the time contraction got to being about 10 mins apart, my parents were already out with friends having their buffet dinner; my husband then went out to buy us dinner ~ BBQ pork lunch boxes, yeah, yummy... (this is purely sarcasm if you haven't noticed). By the time I watched my "Friends" DVD, contractions had been 5 mins apart for quite awhile now (in fact, I could swear that they were closer than 5 mins apart). But knowing that our Health Card had not yet been activated at that time (since we just returned home less than 3 months ago), I didn't want to admit myself into the hospital and spend an extra Cdn$1,000! So, there I was trying to tell myself that I can make it for hours. I think that most people would've rushed themselves to the hospital by 5pm in my case, but I insisted to stay at home until 11pm. The moment I realized that I couldn't wait any longer was when the mucous plug came out when I went to the washroom. Okay, this is a sign! I called a friend who works at the maternity ward and she told me to quickly take a shower and head off to the hospital. She asked me to wait for her downstairs and then she would take me to the maternity ward at around 11:45pm. By the time I had my test and get assigned to a room, it would've been after midnight already! And that's what I did.

I remembered that in the examination room was another pregnant mother. However, her baby was breached & premature, yet she fell and was probably rushed into doing a C-section. I sure hope that both the mother and child were okay. At that moment, I realized how minor my labour pain was, and how lucky I am to be able to try having my baby the natural way. But I did get a shot of Nubain to help ease the pain. And after that needle, everything seemed fussy to me. I didn't recall being asleep, yet, I don't recall any other activities either. Anyway, I just remembered that the doctor arrived eventually and broke my water. Then it was a series of difficult pushing and gasping for air, and pushing some more. I wasn't at all bothered by the pain, in fact, I don't feel much pain; but I was so scared that I have to do a C-section if I don't do a better job. So, I pushed with all my might, and finally, baby Kaitlyn Madison was born. That was less than 24 hours since I first sensed my first contraction. It was also the most happy moment of my life! My first words to baby Kaitlyn were: "You did a great job", "Happy Birthday", & "I love you".

2005-08-18T15:49:00.000-07:00

From Kaitlyn's birth, I had been trying my very best to document every little bits of details about her life. And one of the most incredible projects that I've done, and aim to continue as she grows up, is to have a photo of her taken everyday. As Kaitlyn reaches one next month, this signifies that the first folder will come to an end, and folder two (i.e.: Kaitlyn Madison 1 to 2 years) is about to start.

This is really a simple yet meaningful project to do, but it requires the parent to start thinking before their babies are even born. I prefer to use film instead of digital, because it makes it much easier to control the number of photos taken on a particular day. With digital, you will be tempted to take multiples, and it will make the final printing decision a hassle. With film, I just have to take my roll every 25 days or so, and I'd be able to keep the negatives at the back of the folder neatly with negative plastic holders / dividers. Also, using film means that not all images are picture perfect (but it would be the case with digital), which makes it even more "realistic". And in case I want to make duplicates, I can either choose to have it done at the shop using my negatives, or simply scan the image onto my computer and print it from there (of course, you may have to compromise with the quality in the latter case). I especially like the cover that I made for this first folder, as it is a collage of Kaitlyn's photos taken within that year (I will keep on doing this theme for the other folders). At the back (I've not gotten to finish that yet), I planned to do a collage of things that Kaitlyn loves during that year. For book one, I have some computer printouts of Treehouse TV cartoons that she enjoys watching right now. I intend to incorporate her Chinese name onto the back, as it is our birthday gift to her this year. I haven't gotten around to how I want to layout her Chinese name amongst the cartoon images yet, but I was thinking about doing a cut out of the name, and then have the cartoon images showing from behind. But this would call for really large fonts, and I am not sure if the folder will have enough space for me to plan such large characters. Well, no hurry, as my priority now is to finish her Burberry themed "English / Chinese / Japanese names" project.

Cost of this project: Cdn($6.50 Folder + $5 Extra photo pockets + $3 Negatives plastic pockets + $ Films (about 15 rolls) + $ Developing / printing charges. = totally worth it results!!!

2005-08-18T15:27:00.000-07:00

I wasn't really fond of cooking when I was young, but I wouldn't say that I am totally ignorant either. At 24, when I first got married, I was able to satisfy my husband's stomach with much ease. In fact, even to this day, he is still very much happy with my cooking.

I hadn't been cooking for a while (over a year at least), because we are now living with my parents awaiting to move into our new home. I must say that I too am eagerly awaiting to cook many of my specialities: Japanese Miso-spare ribs soup, Chicken / Salted Pork congee, Sukiyaki, Japanese Beef n' Potato, Spicy pork n' bean sprout, BBQ spare ribs, Winter melon and vermicelli served in a hot pot, and a very simple long beans & BBQ pork fried eggs (just to name a few).

You can say that I am not a fan of sauces, as most of my dishes are quite dry. I guess this is because I don't like my rice soggy. I like to pick up my rice with my chopsticks, instead of brushing rice down into my mouth. This is a Japanese way of eating rice, I believe. I am really lucky to have a husband who has the same taste and dislikes in food as I do. We both LOVE Japanese ryori, both hate most herbs (esp. cilantro, or otherwise known as corriander), and both think that it's justified to spend more on food than on other stuff (buying toys and clothings for Kaitlyn are exceptions).

I love my kitchen in Hong Kong. In fact, I love my house in Hong Kong. It is facing the HK International Airport, and therefore it is right in front of the Victoria Harbour (the not so busy part; probably not called the Victoria Harbour anymore, but rather part of the China Sea). It is a rather small house, about 800 sq ft, with 2 bedrooms, a bath, a kitchen, and a living / dining room. But this is considered a "not-too-bad" house in Hong Kong already, considering that it also consist of a pretty cool clubhouse (I used to spend a lot of time there cross-stitching, exercising, or playing video games). I did a lot of cross-stitch projects for that house, and the "Michiko's Kitchen" is just one of the many. I love to label all my rooms, as if no one will know which room is which if I don't (yeah right). This kitchen-themed pattern is super easy and fun to do, and surprisingly it turned out to be less childish than I expected. I might hang it up again in my new house also, only that it is going to be an open concept kitchen, so it will not be hung on a door.

2005-08-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

It took me over 6 months to complete (I was doing some other projects in between, so theoretically, this took me about 2 to 3 months to finish. But overall, this is one of my larger projects.). I stitched this because both my parents were born in the year of the tiger, so I thought that it is quite meaningful for them. By the time I finish this project, I only had about one month's time to have it professionally framed before I fly home to give it to them. I was living in Hong Kong then, and picture framing is a lot less costly than in Toronto. I remember the owner telling me that the frame used is from Italy, and the glass is not reflective. Seems like every material used is of good quality, yet the price is really really reasonable. I think it took about Cdn$50 to do the entire piece. If I was to frame this in Toronto, I wonder if Cdn$100 will do... doubt it.

Anyway, I had to fly home that year because my dad had a minor stroke; only then we didn't know that it was a stroke, but suspected other causes to his dizziness and nausea. I presented the gift to them only to see my dad trying to get me to bring it back to Hong Kong on my trip back. I was pretty pissed, and told him that if they don't want it, I don't want it either. His excuse for rejecting was that he thought that the 4 feline subjects would disrupt the "fung shui" of the house, and thereby caused his health to deteriorate. What kind of scientific theory is that? But then in the end, it was "fung shui" that caused the picture to stay in the house. In fact, it is hanging proudly in my parent's bedroom. Why? Well, my mom said that "fung shui"-wise, they need another tiger (altogether 3 tigers: my dad, my mom, and this picture) in order to obtain harmony. And since the lion, the jaguar, and the cougar (or whatever the 4th one is) are much smaller than the tiger, they can not do much harm. Okay... whatever you say... so long as I don't have to hand-carry this picture onto the plane, then I will be satisfied. And regarding my dad's health... he is as healthy as a tiger!

2005-08-17T08:54:00.000-07:00

When you think of cross-stitch, you normally think of western designs. Howver, to my surprise, a collection of Chinese characters designed by a Thai designer result in a series of sophisticated pattern suitable for Chinese New Year and Chinese Weddings.

I had recently finished a Wedding motif for a friend, and the result is marvelous (at least I think so). I originally had it framed in a black frame, which I think is quite modern, and could go with a contemporary decor. But when asked about the appropriateness of this color as a wedding gift, the answer I got was that it is not so. So, I had to go out and search for a different color. I chose gold, because of the color of the phoenix and the dragon. It ultimately look less weary, but if you ask me, I still prefer the black... Oh well, I shall leave it to the newly weds to change the frame themselves. Who knows, they may not like it altogether and simply put the entire piece aside. It that's the case, I will be really sad. It took me about 2 months to complete.

To the person who is about to receive this piece as a gift (you know who you are), may I suggest converting this into a cushion cover in case you don't want to hang it on the walls?! But if I was the one to receive it, I would probably hang it amongst a grouping of contemporary black and white artwork. It would look pretty cool.

2005-08-15T19:35:00.000-07:00

This project is very easy to do. Ingredients include: picture frame (as large as possible, because you need more space for writing), scrapbooking paper (choose the design that fits your decor), some ribbons (to hide seams), photo matting (leftovers from other frames or pre-cut at your local craft stores~but it could be very costly), glue.

Simply arrange the scrapbooking paper and matting to suit your taste. Glue it down, and then hide the seams with decorative ribbons. Frame and enjoy. All you need now is whiteboard marker, and you have a unique whiteboard.

Approximate cost for each frame: Cdn$25 (And that's because the frame costs me Cdn$20!!!)

2005-08-15T19:13:00.000-07:00

Finally, we have decided on a Chinese name for Kaitlyn Madison. It took us almost a year to do so, but it's well worth it. Most people believe that it is important to find the most suitable name for babies because a good name will result in good fortune. In search of the perfect name, we desperately find Master Peter So to help us with it. And to my surprise, he is conveniently available on-line. Ha! 'Tis fate!

I wanted to announce it in a special way, so I decided to stitch it on fabric along with her English and Japanese name. Wow, that's a lot of names to remember for such a little girl, don't you think? But seeing that both myself and her father has a Japanese name of our own, we must also give her one, that's our theory. Well, here's how the project look right now! And if you don't see me up-dating my blog, this is what I am doing right now... (I started a month ago, and my deadline is also in one month's time. Pressure coming...)

2005-08-14T18:57:00.000-07:00

I've recently become a big fan of Mary Engelbreit's artwork. So you can imagine my joy when I came across her fabric at Walmart! Then, I transformed a Ikea picture frame into a cork board frame simply by removing the glass and cutting the cork board to size. From here on, it's basically stapling on the fabric and then glueing it to the board. And voila! A custom designed Mary Engelbreit corkboard to go with my Mary Engelbreit collage. These two are perfect for display in my future kitchen!

2005-08-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

I found this Ikea frame on sale while shopping there, and immediately I knew that I must buy it (actually I bought 3, I think). I know that as long as I have my frames, I will be able to find something to do with them. This project is actually a combination of 3 different cross-stitch kits. I especially like how the middle image (by Faye Whittaker) acts as a focal point, while the two at the sides balance out the entire piece with a soft, subtle atmosphere. I love the Forever Friends bear, but on their own, they seem a bit childish for my taste. So, by combining Forever Friends with All Our Yesterdays, I added a touch of interest and color to what would be otherwise viewed as a rather bland design.

2005-08-14T09:43:00.000-07:00

My favorite children's design is Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit. But the only design I have of this famous rabbit was not very appealing as a focal point for my daughter's future bedroom. I wanted to have something colorful, inspiring, timeless, and interesting. So, I opted for designs by Faye Whittaker in her ever so famous "All Our Yesterdays" collection. This is one of the many large scale projects that I've ever done. The name of this design is "The Carousel", and it is one of my favorite from Faye. It took me about 2 months to complete, but the end result was fabulous.

I might have to reframe it though, because I didn't realize that the fabric "warped" quite a bit during the stitching process, but I think this is nothing that I should worry about. For those who do not cross-stitch, or has little understanding of what cross-stitching is all about, find this project amazingly difficult to do. But, as with all cross-stitch projects, I find that the level of difficulty does not relate to one's skills, but rather to one's ability to concentrate and be patient. For this reason, I will definitely introduce this wonderful hobby to my daughter early on in her life, because it is a great training of patience and endurance. If I had the chance to do cross-stitching when I was young, I am sure that I will be more successful than I am now today. If you ask me, my success lies within my fortune of being loved by my dear husband and daughter. Anything else, I am just a blank piece of paper... Sounds pessimistic, I think not. While others measure success by the amount of money they earn, I see success by the happiness and value of life.

2005-08-14T08:59:00.000-07:00

I believe the very first day I resumed cross-stitching after the delivery of my first born, Kaitlyn Madison, is really a time when I should still be lying in bed and getting all the rest I can get. I wonder if it was because I was privileged enough to have a natural delivery, or that I am really eager to do stitching again (since I had not done so ever since I knew that I became pregnant, as I had other worries in mind at that time regarding this pregnancy ~ this, I will not go into details); sitting down in the dining room table and stitching in the middle of the night didn't seem so crazy to me at that time. I remember cross stitching all through the night into the wee hours of the morning when I first resigned my very last job at the most favorite company that I ever worked in. I love working at night, because it's so much more quiet which I can easily concentrate on anything that I do. Now that with a new baby in my life, I really cherish those quiet moments when I am not breastfeeding (though not very successful, and later turned into pumping after bottle feeding to keep the milk production going), bottle feeding, changing diapers, or rocking my little one to sleep. Those of you with children should really be able to relate to that... And for this reason, I really really need to cross-stitch, because it is the only way that I can regain control of my own life. Sounds serious? Well, considering that my doctor already prescribed some PPD drugs for me to take just in case I became depressed again, I think cross-stitching is really my saviour. I am proud to say that to this day, I have not taken one anti-depressant pill. Yeah!

The first project I did for my daughter is actually one of the smallest project that I did in my entire cross-stitch "career". Now, I only started to cross-stitch in 1998, and that was just one project that I did actually. I resumed this craft in 2002 to get my mind away from the pressures at work, and eventually, it turned out to be something that made me quit my job and do full-time. Thanks to a really understanding husband, Kenneth, I am able to do whatever I please even though there was really nothing much to do at home. Nowadays, it is really rare to see women staying at home with their children while the men goes to work; and it is even more rare to see women stay at home with no children (at that time) just to do what they please, while the men make the dough... This, I must say, I am very very privileged!

Okay, I am getting further and further away from my topic... About this first project for my daughter... it's actually done in plastic canvas, which allows me to display it without having to frame it. This time-saving project is really ideal for new mothers like me, because I wasn't able to leave the house for 2 months after delivery, so shopping for frames were out of the question. Besides, I really needed something simple to get me started, you know, sort of building onto the momentum of cross-stitching. And it worked! After this project, I jumped right into the next one, and then another one, and another one followed. Now, I believe I did about 7 cross-stitching projects since that first one, not counting how I also got inspired to do some other crafts as well. You may think that this is nothing... but wait till you hear this: my daughter is only 11 months old now, and some of the projects I finished were actually really large scale projects. How did I even find time to do it? Well, besides cooking, feeding, playing, rocking Kaitlyn to sleep, ... I was cross-stitching the entire time! I feel so sorry for my husband! But like I always told him, I wanted to have more work framed up by the time we move into our new home the end of this year. So bear with me, I will focus more on the family once we moved into the house. And how can I be so sure? Well, there is only so much room on the wall!!! Ha!