Victorian Valentines

When I was little I was enchanted by an illustration of a pile of pink and red ribbon, paper, lace, and sweet little paper vignettes. The little girl in the book was making her friends and family valentines. The memory stuck with me all these years. For quite a while my sisters and I have been making these for our friends and family. I love how utterly girly these valentines are. 

To make your own you will need:

Victorian vignettes or pretty magazine clippings (I have this book).

Glitter

Pretty paper

Ribbon

Glue (Elmers glue and a hot glue gun)

A very fine paint brush

Double sided tape

3D pop up dots (adhesive on both sides)

1. Mix the Elmers glue with water for a runnier consistency. Using your fine paint brush paint glue onto your vignette, over the areas you want sparkled. Shake the sparkles on top then turn the vignette upside down and, while firmly holding the vignette with your one hand, flick with your finger to remove excess glitter. Some good areas to sparkle on vignettes are flowers, leaves, and clothing creases.

2. Using your vignette as a guide take your pretty paper and cut out a heart. Go back over the heart with decorative scissors for a pretty edge. I like to layer two paper hearts. Add glitter around the edges.

3. Assemble your valentine! Use your double sided tape and tape the two hearts together. Take your 3D pop up dots and stick them on the back of your vignette. Stick the vignette onto the hearts. Now the vignette will be slightly raised. Take your ribbon and tie it into a bow. Using the hot glue gun stick the ribbon half way up the valentine so the loops from the bow and the ends droop nicely. Cut the ends of the ribbon into a pretty slant. 

You now have a lovely valentine to send to a friend or hang up around your house.  

Nutcracker Embroidery Tutorial

 Every year my siblings and I, instead of buying each other presents, create ornaments.  Last year I drew my brother's name and I embroidered this nutcracker ornament for him. 

When we all have our own families it will be special to have these handmade ornaments to decorate our trees. 

Here is the embroidery pattern I created + instructions. 

Click on the pattern below and print (you can probably size it in your printer window).

For this project I used DMC cotton embroidery floss in several shades of red (this gave it a nice depth). 

The stitches I used are as follows:

Hat, jacket, and boot outline: couching

Hat details: stem stitch + 1 french knot (for the swirly design), chain stitch, and a woven wheel on top.

Boot details: stem stitch + 1 detached chain stitch per boot.

Eyebrows and mustache: leaf stitch

Eyes and nose: split stitch

Teeth: stem and back stitch (go ahead and improv in this area, it's so tiny)

Collar: trellis stitch (tiny but simple)

Face, arms, legs, and hand outline: stem stitch

Shoulder pads and cuffs: padded satin stitch

Hair and beard: heavy chain stitch

Buttons: french knot

Inside of legs and arms: seeding

These are all crewel stitches so they're not too complicated. You could of course choose your own stitches!

 My finished embroidery measures slightly over 4 in. 

As with most embroidery the rule is start with the the areas that are farthest back. A good place to start would be the collar, teeth, shoulder pads, or anywhere there is couching. 

If you want your finished embroidery to measure 4 in. then use a very small needle and only several strands of DMC floss.

Enjoy!

xo, Abby

       

Advent Calendar

Advent calendars have never really been a part of our Christmas tradition, but I've always wanted to create one. This year my sisters and I (and even my brother!) created a calendar full of little, handmade, natural decorations.

I'll be posting the inside of these packets as they're opened.

xo Abby

Home

Pictures I took on Christmas Day

Thanksgiving

The desserts looked so pretty once they were set out that

I had to take a pic of them!