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Gaffergirls…Check out their blog!

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Beads by Deb Battan
Beads by Deb Battan

I’m friends with Gaffergirls on Facebook, me and 2538 other people, and I always notice they have a lot to say about glass. That’s a good thing. Glass is good! There I said it. So I think the gaffergirls blog is something that should be talked about. Right here. Check out their blog. And check out their  fearless leader’s web site, Gafferglass.com. The glass is 96 COE. I’ve worked 96 and it’s nice. I tend to spend most of my time with 104 and dabble in some 90, especially with dichro. But 96 has it’s advantages. And they offer a lot of cool colors and frits and shards and as long as you’re good about keeping your glass separate it’s something you should try if you haven’t already.

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Designer Spotlight: Bella Rose Craft

The designs from Bella Rose Craft look like they would be good for beginner cross stitchers and others who like relatively simple and small designs that are quick to finish for gifts or decor.

I’ll mention up front that this Etsy shop based in Indiana has no organization whatsoever. There are two categories: kits and patterns. So it’s a bit of a treasure hunt to find what you might be interested in.

As mentioned there are lots of minis and small looking projects with simple lines and minimal colors. There are holiday projects, animals, summer motifs like palm trees and beach umbrellas, a bathtub with a rubber duck, some text based designs (like hoppy spring and merry and bright), some biblical and religious designs, flowers, bunting and more.

On a site like this its difficult to pick something representative of the whole page, but I liked this bees and beehive design, so it’s the one I picked to share. This one illustrates a lot of my general points about the patterns from this shop. It’s small (2.79 by 2.57 inches, or about 7 by 6.5 cm on 14 count fabric), it looks like it’s all whole cross stitches and probably uses only six colors, and a couple of colors are only used for a handful of stitches.

Of the 300 plus cross stitch patterns available as of this writing, 140 are also available as cross stitch kits. These would be great to give as gifts if you’re trying to get someone interested in cross stitching. The kits include the pattern, fabric and floss, and you can choose to have it include a needle or not. The hoop is not included but the patterns explain what kind of hoop is shown if you want to get one to match.

So if you’re looking for cute, beginner friendly patterns for yourself or you’re trying to be a crafty enabler for someone else, check out Bella Rose Craft on Etsy.

[Photo: Bella Rose Craft]