It's Sew Easy!

Hello Everybody,


Yesterday morning, I made some quick "Thank You" cards to say thanks to my relatives for my Christmas gifts. 

They were easy to make and took about 10-15 minutes to make each one. As you can see, they are embroidered with cute little hearts. How did I make the cute little hearts? Well, I purchased a new and highly unnecessary device to add to my mounting collection of non-essential crafting kit.

It's a stitch piercer, made by Sew Easy. Basically you buy the handle, which comes with a basic running stitch piercer, and then you can buy lots of different heads depending on which pattern you want to create. You just run it along whatever you're piercing (in my case, a piece of normal card) and it makes the holes. You have to sit the card on top of a piece of foam matting (I just used a sheet of fun foam), otherwise it doesn't work. Then you simply use thread (I used standard embroidery floss) to complete your pattern. Simple!

As you can tell, I haven't quite worked out where the pattern correlates with the spikes (to start and finish neatly), but I'm working on it.

Does anyone else have one of these nifty devices? Please share your work, I'd love to see it!

Thistle Girl x

All the Pretty Things

Hello Everybody,

Today I thought I'd quickly show you some of the pretty things seen around my house this Christmas. Some are gifts (from me for me and from others!) and some are just Christmas decorations. The decorations are all coming down later today, which is a little sad but I think it is time. Balthasar, my rooted Christmas tree, came down on Saturday as he had a bit of a bug infestation. I realised that I haven't even taken a photo of him this year (his 3rd year), which is a little sad. 

1. A little canvas bag, a gift from my Auntie, it's the perfect size for carrying lunch or a few bits and bobs (from Seasalt)


2. Another bag, a shopping bag, which has lots of pretty cupcakes on and was a gift from my cousins (from Paperchase)


3. A little angel candle, I think this was a gift from my cousins a couple of years ago (no idea where it's from)


4. A little wicker heart decoration from my Mum


5. Heart photo holder from my cousins (from New Look)


6. Super cute Russian Doll measuring cups from a friend (from Fred and Friends)


7. Herdy garlic pot, also very cute, from friends (from Herdy)


8. Snowflake window gel stickers, from the local garden centre


9. Heart glass jar, for holding a tea light or something, from my Mum (also from a local garden centre)


10. My new rug!!! It's red (I don't really do red, so this is a shock). It is a present to my lounge from me and I got it in the sale (£100 off!!!) (from Dunelm)


11. Welcome to the Beach House sign, another present to myself for my coastal room (don't ask, I live probably as far inland as you can get in England) (from Matalan)


Thistle Girl x