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Handmade Hostess: Book Review

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Handmade Hostess just came out. And, oh what a spectacular book it is!

Kelly Lee-Creel and Rebecca Soder teamed up, and their work is just impeccable. The book shows us 12 party ideas from top to bottom. And within those 12 occasions, there are 37 craft projects (favors, decorations, name tents…) all with complete instructions and templates on how you could achieve the same results for your party.

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They show us a St. Patrick’s Day party, and one of the decorations is a clothes line with leprechaun laundry drying on it. So cute!

One of the most important things about a book for me is “will I be able to do this at home?” And this book addresses that concern beautifully. These parties are spectacular, and clever, but they are also very “real life”. They really look like you could host one at your house (without moving your family out, and hiring a full time staff the week before. And let’s be real here, sometimes it feels like that is what it would take!)

One of my other favorites is a “Mad Scientist” party:

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She gives us a full template to make this Lab Rat. (so great, with little corduroy paws!) But also – look in the background – that clever beaker display! It adds such a punch, but it is completely non-toxic, non-erupting, and non-messy. Win, win, win. I have fiber fill in a closet that is just waiting to be stuffed into a beaker!

I am really excited about this book. I have gone through it once, and I will be going through it again. It is really a great source of inspiration and ideas! Thanks Kelly and Rebecca!

 

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Christmas Ornament Cross Stitch Patterns

The other day I shared some cross stitch patterns with ornaments on them, so this time around I wanted to share cross stitch patterns that you can use as ornaments. It would be fun to do a whole tree in your craft room with cross stitch ornaments, or just add a few to your tree or give them as gifts.

These little quilt inspired cross stitch patterns from Flamingo Toes look like ornaments and fit in 3-inch hoops, which are perfect for hanging on the tree or using to decorate a gift. I love the pastel colors on these but you can use more traditional Christmas colors if you like.

This cute Christmas tree from Lagodargetoshop uses a single color and fits in a 4-inch hoop, but you could make it smaller if you wanted by trimming the last ornaments and gifts from the sides, or just stitch the tree without any other embellishments. Either way it’s a cute addition to your holiday tree.

Stitched Modern has a super cute collection of retro Christmas ornament cross stitch patterns from designer Gera. This is a printed pattern that will be shipped to you. Each pattern is about 40 by 56 stitches, or 2.9 by 4 inches/7.4 by 10 cm on 14 count fabric. To work the whole set you’ll need 20 colors of floss.

These snowflake ornaments from Our Little Handmade Home are each about 2.5 inches/6.4 cm when stitched on 14 count fabric, and they use a single color of floss. They are pretty in red but you could also do white on a blue or black background, or whatever suits your other Christmas tree decorations!

From the description it sounds like this set of vintage style cross stitch characters is presented as one large chart, but the photo from Sampler Antique Stitch shows each of them stitched up as their own little ornament, so it gets included here. You’ll find Santa and snowmen in different poses in this cute collection.