Name Hoop Art--Cameron

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The final hoop in my childrens' name and birth date series was my oldest son's. His was very challenging, because nothing babyish would do. He's a Teenager, with a capital "T", so I had to come up with something that wouldn't make him roll his eyes, haha!

Each of my hoops represents my kids as I see them now: Eve's is soft, dreamy, and calming, using lavenders and purples. Madden's is bright and bold, using primary colors and thick lines. So Cameron's could never be anything but gaming-related, since as soon as my mom bought him a Game Boy Advance at 5 years old, that's been his love. 

Name Hoop Art--Madden

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Last week, I completed an embroidery hoop for my daughter. It was stitched on a cream-colored background and was done in purples and grays. I really like the romantic, dreamy feel of it. Eve is a calm, happy baby, and the mellow hoop suits her.

Name Hoop Art--Eve

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I spent a few hours on this piece last night after the babies went to bed. It's made up of some lovely wool felt I got in yesterday.

Look at this rainbow of softness:

And a scrap from my 20 cent scrap bundle I scored:

I used dark gray, silver, and 2 shades of purple for my embroidery floss colors.

I plan to do one for each of my children, but I started with my daughter, because her name is shortest, haha!

I am pleased with the result and can't wait to have all 3 of them hanging up!

Last Name Hoop Art

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Well, readers, we were hit by a couple of illnesses in our family, and it's been very exhausting, hence the blog-silence. It's a new year, though, and I'm still crafting along, upcycling what I can!

This hoop art is a fun design that I completed over a week ago, but didn't get a chance to blog about. I upcycled a piece of my husband's old dress shirt for this one. I really like how the lines both allowed me to keep the text and design straight, and lend a whimsical notebook-paper look to the piece.

Round-up of Hand-made Christmas Gifts

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I hope all of my readers had an amazing holiday, filled with family and friends! 

I thought it would be fun to do a "round-up" of Christmas gifts I gave this year, that were hand-made. Some I blogged about and others I didn't, but all were fun to do and well-received.

Kite Embroidery Hoop Art

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I haven't been doing quite as much upcycling during this week before Christmas, other than my seat belt pillow, because I've been working on hoop art. I do, however still use upcycling in everything I do. This hoop upcycles an old pair of trousers. The fabric was perfect for this.

My world embroidery project came out well, but it was meant for the play room and my 14-year-old snagged it, so I had to start a new decoration. 

This one is my favorite, yet. I just love rainbows, and this one is very colorful. The phrase is a Fleetwood Mac song. I just love it. It sums up one of my main parenting philosophies. 

For the felt graphic piece, I almost went with cars, a hot air balloon, or a suitcase, but in the end, the kite won out, because I could picture it in my head better.

My favorite part of this hoop has got to be the little pink leopard-print bow on the end of the kite string. It was an inspiration I had at the end of the project, to replace a solid green bow with a surprise—a bow that "goes its own way". 

The process:

And the finished piece:

This will be wonderful in the play room. I'm going to wrap this up for the babies to open on Christmas. I know they won't know what it is now, but it was definitely a labor of love from me to them. :)

World Embroidery Hoop Art

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This isn't a tutorial, just a post to show you guys my continuing love of hand-embroidery and to show off my latest project.

I DID use some upcycling principles, though. The cloth I embroidered on is an old, off-white curtain. The embroidery hoop was $1.69 and I used scrap felt for the earth.

Upcycled Sewing Caddy

Lately, I have been having so much fun with hand embroidery. It's pretty surprising, since I am quite impatient (just ask my husband) and embroidery is very slow-going, but I just love the pictures the thread creates. My first try at embroidery was sprucing up a sweater destined for the donate pile; a Charlie Brown Christmas tree:

Baby Boy Edition: No-Cost Upcycled Thanksgiving Shirt

I definitely couldn't leave our 2 year-old out of the cute holiday crafting. He needed a shirt, too.

I had a blank burgundy shirt and knew it would be perfect. I had seen this adorable shirt on Amazon and it was my inspiration for this project.