~National Teach Embroidery Month~

Good Morning to all of you!!

yes, it's early morning here in California and with a little peace and quiet I finally decided to start writing this post. As you can see from the title, February is the "National Teach Embroidery Month"!!! Who knew? I would have had no idea if I wasn't following Sublime Stitching on instagram {if you are somewhat interested in embroidering, you should check out this website! It's full of tutorials, patterns...everything you need to know to start this beautiful art}. Jenny Hart is the artist behind all this. Check her amazing work HERE . I read her post about teaching embroidery and I knew right away that it was something I had to do... teaching my daughters how to embroider. I signed-up and I received some patterns in the mail. I gathered all we needed and I started teaching them. They loved it! Here is some pictures of their work:

The patterns they chose were easily transferred on fabric

Maddalena, 14 years old

Francesca, 10 years old



Their final work

Not bad for first time stitchers!! Right? All I know is that we will keep working, they are ready to start with their next project and I'm ready to start teaching them different stitches. I just want to thank Jenny Hart for the encouragement and ideas. 

Much love to you all.

xoxo,

~Hoop Love~

Ciao Everyone!

in this post I just want to say thank you to all the people that are supporting my little shop. You have no idea how happy my heart is when I see a "like", even just a "view"...and every time someone buys one of my creations I'm just amazed. The thought of something that I make is displayed in your house or used by you makes me incredibly happy!!!

I have recently sold a few of my embroidered hoops, especially during Christmas time. I am right now finishing up an order of one of my favorite hoops... "HOME SWEET HOME". I created it originally for my sister, when she finally found a beautiful home for her little family. I don't follow patterns, I've always like to draw, so I make my own designs and then stitch them. I feel like embroidering is like coloring with thread! I really love what I do.

Here's a few pictures of my favorite hoops, and their links:

HOME SWEET HOME

BLESSED

DO SMALL THINGS WITH GREAT LOVE

BE STILL MY SOUL

xoxo,

Easter Candle

Easter is veeeery near!!! I have to say that, as much as I love eggs decorating and all kinds of cute crafts, I don't think I will have the time to do any of that {it doesn't mean I won't enjoy looking at pictures and DIYs in my favorite blogs!}. I've been very busy decorating the Easter Candle for one of the parishes here in town. It was a big job!!! I'm happy with the results... especially because I've never really studied Art or taken any class of drawing and painting. My 2 sisters are both great artists, I had them as examples all my life.

I used acrylic paint, and of course copied the image from a beautiful already existing icon. The hardest part for me to paint is the face of Christ... it took me a while... I just hope that the priest who asked me to do it is happy... because he will have to look at it all year until next Easter!!!  

I want to share with you some pictures... :)

me at work..... so concentrated!

the whole picture

Christ, detail..

Have a wonderful day!!!

xoxo,

Visiting a good Friend and her lovely Shop♥

Just So You Know... I made it back to California!! It took us 2 days {tot. 18 hours drive}, we stopped in a Hotel in Salt Lake City to rest one night.. we couldn't stand to sit in the car any longer!

I had a great vacation and now we are getting ready for school.. before I blog about that, I want to share with you about a fun day I spent at my great friend Lisa's house. She's also known as Beadsoul. She has an incredible shop on Etsy and I took a few pictures of her brand new studio!! 

Check them out!!

This is Lisa working at her amazing desk!

 This is the new desk...custom-made by my super crafty husband!! isn't it gorgeous???♥

Here's a little cutie, her most faithful friend always keeping her company..

Lisa's organized tools..

..bothering her while working on an earring... :)

Lisa is very popular on Etsy, she's a great jeweler and she also loves to buy from other Etsy shops. If you look close in the pictures you can see in her studio a few of the items she bought:

an Alphabet-letter Block from RainyRootsStudio

a cute Mini Plush Owl from MsBittyKnacks

cute little birdies decals {not in this pic} from SissyLittle

I hope you'll go check all of these gorgeous shops too!! 

Happy Crafting to ALL!!!

..and thank you to Lisa for letting me enter and share about her world...

* * * * *

Beatrix or Francesca?

♥Beatrix Potter is one of my favorite illustrators. I love the cuteness of the little animals she draws and the character she gives them through her stories. I also loved the movie about her life, Miss Potter.. what a sad life!! Not a very happy ending.. and despite all her sufferings she was able to create such great Works of Art. I'll always be her biggest fan!!

♥And I'm not the only one... my little sister Francesca, who lives in Italy with her American husband and 3 gorgeous children is an incredible artist and big fan of Miss Beatrix. She is an iconographer, but she also loves watercolor. She has her little Etsy shop, where she sells Thank-You Cards, Tags, Bookmarks and Birthday Cards.. almost all inspired by Beatrix Potter's little creatures. Please go check them out!!! You'll find also some of her husband's drawings and watercolors, but I'll speak more about him in another post. :)

♥You can see here her last creation, "the busy Miss Mouse Birthday Card"... just adorable!!

Birthday Card

Cute Animals Mini Thank-You Cards

♥You can also find Francesca here:

mogliediunamericanoaroma.blogspot.com

*Christmas Cards*

I love writing Christmas Cards.. I have a long list of people I send them to every year. I always need many cards.. I usually like to send a picture of my children all cute and dressed-up {just as my Mom used to do when I was little}.. This year I will for sure send one of these gorgeous, incredibly cute cards made by my little sister Francesca! She also has a shop on Etsy, it's called PETERandFRANCESCA. She's a great artist {as well as her husband}, specialized in iconography.. but she loves also to use watercolors. Her inspiration is Beatrix Potter and the tales of Peter Rabbit. These are the cards I will buy from her shop... aren't they adorable??