Go Big or Stay Home

I'm hosting craft night at my house this week & have agonized over what to choose for our project. Although our group has worked successfully for over two years, it seems that our tastes are starting to diverge a bit and as is natural, not everyone has the same taste or style. I use Pinterest to keep my project ideas in one place, and even started a board for our group to share with each other (all of us can add pins). Here are a few ideas I would have loved to choose, but I didn't think everyone would like them as much as I do.

Originally I had planned to host craft night a couple weeks ago, and chose oversized cross-stitching for the project, but the date ended up getting changed, and none of my friends seemed too excited about my craft - even though I thought it was awesome! So after thinking long and hard, and searching high and low, I decided to choose ....  mega cross-stitch art! I mean, who can argue with the awesomeness of these pieces?

All these images are of artwork created by Jessica Decker, check out her amazing work! I was tempted to copy her anchor exactly, but decided to go with something else for my first try. I liked the idea of a monogram, and was tempted by this pin.

But the letter C isn't that visually appealing to me, so I finally decided to go with the number 5, for the five people in our family. I used a 11x14 canvas, which I spray painted in a metallic champagne color, and I used hot pink mason twine from Home Depot instead of embroidery thread. It was a bit challenging, because the twine is thick and requires a wide-eyed needle, which was hard to get through the canvas. I was developing some pretty good blisters, depite my thimble use, before I had the idea to wear my yellow dish-washing gloves. I felt pretty silly, but it worked very well! Here are some shots of my project. The first picture is the design I made on the computer.

I finally convinced my sis-in-law to do a giant cross-stitch at craft night too, and I spent an afternoon last week helping her with this design. (She's a chicken nut.)

I hope these project ideas inspire my craft group friends and that they will all take on the project this week. I say, Go Big or Stay Home! Just kidding though - I hope they all come, even if they don't do the mega cross-stitch. Next week I will post some more detailed instructions for anyone who might want to try this, and hopefully I'll have the wisdom of several of my friends' projects behind me too. Wish us luck!

Mother's Day Loveliness

My Mother's Day started off with a delicious, surprise breakfast with fancy food & drinks; my family knows breakfast is my favorite meal! There were gifts, cards, and large Mama hugs. At church my sweet husband tried to divert the kids as much as possible so I could enjoy the nice program, which included two great talks, and some musical tributes to mothers. After a much-needed afternoon nap, I had a little free time before the super delicious Sunday dinner Aaron put together all on his own. He is a fabulous cook but doesn't get the chance to shine as often as he used to. This meal convinced me we should give him more opportunities! It was a lovely Sunday and Mother's Day and I felt the love of my family. I am lucky to be the mother of three handsome young men, who are growing up so fast. I am proud of their accomplishments and love them dearly!

Need Some Happiness

This afternoon I will attend the funeral of a sweet 4 year old boy from my ward. It has been an emotional and unhappy week for me and I didn't even know him well. I can not comprehend what his parents are going through, despite my own having done it. I don't think I have ever seen this boy's mother without a smile on her face, and I don't want to see it gone now. The family has sent out some messages thanking everyone for their love and concern and has talked about temples, eternal families, and Heavenly Father's Plan of Happiness for us. It gives me hope.

In case you are in need of a little happiness today too, here is a darling video I ran across this week.