Finding a meaningful wedding gift for friends or relatives can be a difficult task. However, if you have an interest in cross-stitching, consider creating a special keepsake for the bride and groom using basic, intermediate, or advanced cross stitch skills. Cross stitch wedding gifts are a wonderful way to give something handmade and beautiful that the couple will cherish for years to come.

The following are a few ideas to use as you consider a cross stitch wedding gift:

For a Christian couple, a sampler pattern using the couple’s name, the date of the wedding and a Christian cross is an appropriate way to celebrate their ceremony and their faith. For many Christian, their covenant with God is as important as their covenant with each other and your gift can celebrate that commitment.

Incorporating flowers along with a scripture or a poem is another great cross stitch idea. If you know the type of flowers that are going to be used in the wedding you can incorporate them into the pattern to make it more special. Instead of using a longer written statement, you can simplify it by using “Just Married”, “Love of a Lifetime” or other short phrase.

To symbolize the couple’s lives being united in love, incorporate two rings in your cross stitch piece, which also tells of a love won’t end. Because doves symbolize purity, they can also be used.

If you are an advanced stitcher with a love for the alphabet, you can create a replica of the couple’s wedding invitation. Present it as a framed gift with their actual wedding invitation or give it as a cross stitch wedding piece that they can display in a place of prominence.

There are many other ideas for your wedding gift. Traditional wedding themes like hearts or a unity candle with the family names are two examples. Non-traditional motifs include lyrics to the bride and groom’s favorite song.

Of course, if you know the bride and groom very well, you will have less problems deciding on a theme that will merge their likes into a flawless design. The gift can be personalized and unique making it a cross stitch wedding gift they’re sure to enjoy. And you’ll be satisfied knowing that your gift will bring them enjoyment for years to come.

Personalized gifts are a wonderful way to provide your loved ones with reminiscent gifts that are sure to please them, and make them remember you, an occasion or a mood.

The perfect solution to gift giving problems is the customized photo gift. The timeless heirloom quality of personalized gifts makes them even more special.

Today a process has been developed where a coffee mug can change color when hot liquid is poured into it. Your photo is magically revealed underneath. Wow, this is a great gift idea.

Many gifts are available that can be personalized. From plates and dishes, cups and mugs to photographs printing right onto fabric.

Anyone can easily upload a photo to a personalized products website and work with that photograph to include it in any personalized product.

Few families don’t have some photographs that are cherished. Scanning and uploading these photos will be diminish their quality. You’ll duplicate the photo and be able to have it applied to just about any product you can imagine.

The digital nature of these products means there is no limits on ordering. You can order one of each of our products, or you can order a thousand of each. This is another great part of online custom products. There are 5 basic file types you can use for your photo gifts, each are generally easy to save your photos in: .jpg, .bmp, .tif, .png, and .gif.

Black and white images can give your photo gifts a “timeless” feel that will give them a special feeling to you many years from now. You can use black and white images, sepia (”old-fashioned”) images, or even just designs your kids have drawn using Paint or some other computer-graphics program.

The idea of creating gifts from photos is not new or original, but the products offered today, that are able to have photographs printed right onto their surfaces, are original and the finest available.

Our ideas are to take everyday household items such as sandstone coasters, serving trays, glass cutting boards, jewelry boxes, pocket books, mousepads, photo mugs, photo throws, and more to create long-lasting, heirloom quality products to delight every person on your gift list.

Lately there are more and more custom product websites coming online. These sites make it easy to fine tune your custom gifts.

Before using a photograph please determine that the photo is not copyrighted or owned by someone else. You’ll find limitless opportunities at an online custom gift site to make unforgettable gifts. You can use your regular film photos or digital pictures. Digital pictures make life easy and you can take your own to make certain you have a one of a kind gift. We always hear that our gifts are enjoyed year after year.

The premise here was also to only offer affordable photo gifts that would go beyond any store bought item of any value. For you see, there is no better gift than one that is personalized to suit the taste and style of the person that you are giving to.

Sometimes your leather goods need a little help and you have got the urge to dye or paint it. With dye, it is pretty straight forward, but if you want to paint it there’s a little more involved to make it look good.
Whenever you are attempting a project like this, always test it out on a scrap piece first. When using different pigments, be sure to let one dry before adding the next color.

What to Use
Use water-based acrylic paints designed for leather because they are more flexible than ordinary acrylics. If painting the entire surface of the leather, check to see if your leather goods are vegetable-dyed, as they absorb the paint better than leather goods tanned by other methods.
Not sure if the leather goods are vegetable-dyed? Test a scrap piece to see how well it absorbs the paint.

What to Do
Begin by cleaning the leather goods, using a solution of one ounce of leather bleach to one pint of water, applying the solution with a soft brush or wool dauber. You can also lightly sponge the leather with water prior to painting in order to ensure a more even absorption of color. Do not soak it, just get it damp.

Applying the Paint
You can paint over a large area of the leather goods or just a small part for highlighting effects. If you want to do the former, paint over the leather first with a water-diluted solution of the paint. In this way, you will prepare the surface of the leather goods to receive the undiluted paint.
Use one part paint and one part water, and apply in broad, even strokes with a wool dauber. Add more water if the leather is not absorbing the solution, and more paint if the color is not showing sufficiently. Two coats of the solution should be applied, leaving sufficient time between coats for the paint to be absorbed but for the leather to still be somewhat damp and not dry. Try this out first on a scrap piece of leather and take your time.

Applying Undiluted Paint
Now it is time to apply the undiluted paint using a brush or wool dauber, and broad even strokes. For small areas that you wish to highlight, use undiluted paint and a small paintbrush. To prevent the paint from cracking, it is important to flex the leather goods throughout the drying process. Do this between coats of paint as well.

Using an Airbrush
Another option when applying paint is to use an airbrush. A double action airbrush allows you to control the flow of the paint and the air with one finger and avoids the initial blob of paint emerging with a single-action airbrush. You can strain the paint to remove any flecks by using a piece of pantyhose. If you over spray, acrylic paint can be easily removed while it is still damp.

Tools to Use
* Water-based acrylic paints
* Leather bleach
* Wool dauber
* Paint brushes or airbrush

Summary
* Vegetable-dyed leather goods and water-based acrylic paints work best
* Clean the leather goods with a solution of water and leather bleach
* Apply two coats of water-diluted paint, with sufficient time between coats for the paint to be absorbed
* Apply undiluted paint

Flowers are beautiful on their own. Even so, a great flower arrangement could serve to enhance their natural beauty and brighten up the room. The same goes with artificial flowers. Below are some basic artificial flower arrangements that you can use to make your room look attractive.

Before you start making your artificial flower arrangements, remember the rule: artificial flowers are different from real flowers in all aspects. So even if you have experience designing flower arrangements for real flowers, it might take some getting used to before you can learn to make artificial flower arrangements. The steps below should help you get started.

Horizontal Artificial Flower Arrangements

1. Use a relatively shallow container and anchor foam to the bottom, using a lot of glue or using anchor pins. Insert the sprays of line flowers, positioning them to establish the shape of the artificial flower arrangement design. 2. Next, insert focal flowers in the middle. Let them droop over the lip of the container on both sides, reaching towards the line material and extending on either side of the middle. Make sure that there is enough room in your artificial flower arrangement for the filler flowers. 3. Now, add the filler flowers and foliage around the focal area to finish the design.

Vertical Artificial Flower Arrangements

1. Using a long-stemmed vase, wedge or secure the foam with hot glue. Then, select the tallest flowers from the bunch and cut the stems to reach three or four times the height of the vase. Do the same with the foliage. 2. Next, place the focal flowers vertically within the diameter of the vase. 3. Then, insert the filler flowers, filling in the area as needed to complete the artificial flower arrangement.

Triangular Artificial Flower Arrangements

1. Use a bowl-type base, not too long nor too flat. Secure the floral foam to the bottom using glue or anchor pins. Using the smallest line flowers and/or leaves, determine the vertical height and the horizontal width of your artificial flower arrangement. The only rule to follow is to make the height greater than the width. 2. Place the largest focal flowers in the center of the artificial flower arrangement and slightly lower than the rest to give weight and balance. 3. Finally, fill in with the filler flowers and foliage to keep within the triangular shape.

Crescent Artificial Flower Arrangements

1. You need a tray-shaped vase. Carefully anchor the foam to the bottom using glue or anchor pins. After determining the length of the crescent, insert curved line flowers or leaves. Position them to follow the crescent form of the artificial flower arrangement and angle the shape to achieve balance in the container. 2. Insert the focal flowers. Be sure to place them in the fairly low portion of the bowl to ensure balance, stability and depth in your arrangement. 3. Finally, fill in around the focal flowers with smaller flowers and foliage. To give your crescent artificial flower arrangement look even more graceful, place wisps of filler flowers to taper off the ends.

Allow me to guide through the aspects of this exciting baby scrapbooking technique. As you already know, there is just one thing that is nearly universal about proud new parents, it is the number of pictures they love to take of their new little child, their angelic little bundle of joy. But then what do they do? As the little infant quickly grows into a busy toddler, those photographs seem to grow in number with no real organization or means of display until the parents get around to it and finally put their treasured picture collection into a baby scrapbooking layout.

I have found that I will teach many of my clients these techniques but they won’t put them into action. As Ernest Hemingway says, Never mistake motion for action.

Fortunately, retailers of scrapbooking supplies have recognized the colossal need for keeping those darling photographs safe, and now they make available an impressive and nearly endless supply of patterned paper stock, beautiful sticker art, and cool dye cuts to memorialize just about every special moment in a baby’s life! A baby is born with a need to be loved, and never outgrows it.

A question I often receive is “What Should I be Including in my baby scrapbooking layout?

Well first of all, the down side is that you can be faced with an overwhelming number of choices for craft supplies used to make a special album to hold all your treasured pictures; it is easy to get frustrated with the large variety of choices.

My favorite way to overcome this overload of selection is to determine what photos you would like to work with before heading to the craft store. Many experts in the field of scrapbooking will suggest a baby scrapbooking layout by working with your most recent photos first. They will start with the recent and then work back to earlier times.

Other helpful people might advise you to choose one of your favorite moments, perhaps one such as a birthday or religious holiday. This special moment is perfect to create your beginning baby scrapbooking layout. Whichever system or plan you decide to work with, having an idea in mind of the theme you will be creating will help you enormously when you start to pick your supplies and materials to create your original baby scrapbooking layout.

Working with a plan is the most important thing to do. If you don’t start with a plan, you plan to fail. I want you to succeed and get your first baby scrapbook completed. This will be a great gift to your child and love is, above all, the gift of oneself.

Something else to consider as a newbie in scrapbooking, is that you do not have to be fixed with narrow choices by stickers, papers, and photos as you are building the baby scrapbooking layout. I highly recommend using unique things such as the footprints and handprints from the hospital, copy of the birth certificate, and a lock of hair from the first haircut to make your album special and unique to your child.

As far as this hobby is concerned, remember that many of these keepsakes will not be acid-free and photo-safe, so when you place them onto the baby scrapbooking layout please do not allow them to touch your pictures. As I have mentioned, if your photos comes into contact with anything in your scrapbook that is not of high archival quality, it has a good chance of causing damage to the photos by scratching them or causing them to loose their shine and luster.

In other words, a new baby is a miraculous addition to your family that should be celebrated in a heart warming way. Creating a beautiful album full of pictures and keepsakes will be a treasured family heirloom for many generations to come.

I hope you have been able to gain something from this article, thanks for reading!

Stephen Covey, guru to business, has a lot to say to us regular humans, too. He teaches us to break patterns of self-defeating behavior and to replace old patterns with a principle-centered approach to problem-solving. He also teaches us to get our lives in balance, putting wellness, family and relationships, and personal growth just as high on our list of priorities as urgent business concerns.

“Between stimulus and response, one has the freedom to choose.”

let me show you the tutorial. This is absolutely my first time to create a sewing tutorial in English. I might be missing a lot of details… If there is anything not clear, please let me know!

The only materials needed are fabric(outer and inner), bias binding(you could make your own or buy one), matching thread, and a button.

1) The first thing is to determine the size of your digital camera to see how big your final camera case needs to be. My camera is about 3 3/4″(width), 2″(height), and 1″(depth), so I cut out one piece of 8 x 5 1/2″fabric from each fabric: one for outer and one for inner. If your camera’s size is about mine, you could cut out the same size’s fabrics as mine, but if your camera is a lot bigger you might want to make the scale bigger, accommodating with your camera’s size.

I cut out the batting for the same size+ some extra width and height. Then, I sandwiched the batting between my fabrics so the right sides of the fabrics are outermost. After pinning the layers together, I machine-stitched like this (the width between the pararell stitch lines are about 3/8″) and cut off the excess batting.

2) Then, I made 4 bias strips. (If you are using a store-bought one, please omit this step)

Two tapes : 6″ length
Two tapes : 9″ length

Using a bias tape maker makes it a lot easier and quicker!

They should look like this after pressing.

3) Then I attached the 6″ bindings onto the width part of the sandwich. First, open out one turning on the binding and pin it along the edge of the fabric, right side together, then machine stitch along the fold line.

4) Then I folded the binding over the fabric edge to the wrong side, so the edge of the binding is just above the machine stitching. I slipstitched the folded edge of the binding to the fabric, catching up the fabric in the allowance, just above the machine stitching.

5) Repeat this for the other side too and cut off the excess bindings.

6) The next thing is to do is to make a pocket. I folded the sandwich to make the pocket whose height is 2 1/4″ and based it. Then, I attached 9″ bindings onto the sandwich. This time, I turned the both ends like this then machine stitched.

so that the corner looks nice like this.

Your camera case should look like this now.

7) The only things left to do is to sew a button hole and attach a button!


Done!!

This is fairly easy to make and it does give a nicely soft protection for your camera.
Pretty to carry with as well!
If you make one, please let me know! I would LOVE to see it!

Thanks for looking!!

idea from

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