Birthday cake - card sized cross stitch design

Birthday cake - card sized cross stitch design

Colour	Anchor Thread numbers
Grey	234
Brown	363
Blue	129
Yellow	290
Orange	304

Hello everyone,
I have been wracking my brains this week for the perfect design to stitch for Birthday cards. I wanted something which wasn't too hard to sew but still looked very impressive since I'll have to stitch a few at once for my families Birthdays which fall close together.

However when I got down to designing I just went crazy with half stitches. I mean don't those candles and that fancy cake stand look great? However if you find half stitches a little daunting you can avoid several of them by stitching the candle in one colour and squaring off most of the half stitches in the base (or leaving off the base to stitch just the cake)

The blue icing is a reference to my friends favourite colour so I wanted to include it somewhere on the design I sew for her.However the icing can be swapped out for any colour you think will look nice, White, pink or yellow are quite traditional icing colours but with the range of food colourings available practically any shade of thread would work.

I may have to re-use the cross stitch design for this cake base, perhaps make it a little fancier and add a wedding style cake instead of a birthday cake. Lets see what I can come up with for this :)

Much love and happy stitching
Gemma xx

For more food themed designs here are some links:
Marmite jar

Raspberry ripple ice cream in cup
Ice cream cone with heart decoration
Ice cream double scoop cone - Summer fun cross stitch design bookmark
Kawaii coffee cross stitch design - I love coffee, coffee loves me
Cute coffee - Simple Kawaii cross stitch design

For another Birthday design heres a link:

Presents with stars - Fun and colourful Birthday card cross stitch designs

  For the Buzy Bobbins Index page Click here.  

Ice cream milkshake sundae - summer fun cross stitch design.

Ice cream milkshake sundae - summer fun cross stitch design.

Colour	Where is it used	Anchor Thread numbers
Black	Outline on icecream, cherry and wafers	403
Pink	scoop of ice cream	48
Yellow	scoop of ice cream	293
Red	Cherry and stripes on straw	46
White	Shiny areas on cherry and stripes on straw	2
Brown	Ice cream scoops and backstitch on wafer (shown in red the chart)	1048
Light brown	On wafer	852
Dark blue	Outline and details on glass	123
Light blue	Main colour on glass	1031

Hello everyone,
I got a little bit peckish and decided to draw a delicious summer treat for you all.
What better to have on a warm summers day than a cool milkshake topped off with ice cream and a wafer. This is something that you would find at a beach side cafe to sip while under a beach umbrella.I may have to pack myself a nice cross stitch kit to work on while i enjoy the sunshine this year. I look out of the window and hope for some but its been raining all week :(

Feel free to change up the scoops of ice cream to represent your favourite flavours. Its as simple as picking a skien of embroidery thread which reminds you most of that flavour and swapping it out.

Anyway I hope you enjoy this design
Much love and happy stitching.
Gemma xx

For more food themed cross stitch designs here are some links:

Food

Marmite jar

Raspberry ripple ice cream in cup
Ice cream cone with heart decoration 
Ice cream double scoop cone - Summer fun cross stitch design bookmark
Kawaii coffee cross stitch design - I love coffee, coffee loves me
Cute coffee - Simple Kawaii cross stitch design

  For the Buzy Bobbins Index page Click here.  

Rainbow butterfly cross stitch kit by Climbing Goat Designs - Unboxing and review

Hello everyone,

I havn't posted for a little while, don't worry, some more cross stitch designs will be coming soon. I have just been very busy finishing off my cosplay for this years London MCM. With it being only two weeks away I decided to crack on with it and not leave it until the last minute. (like last time) 

I took a break from sewing to scroll through some cross stitch focused Facebook pages and discovered to my delight that one of my favourite pages, Climbing Goat Designs is launching a new range of cross stitch kits of some of their most popular cross stitch designs. 

Heres some links to the pages:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClimbingGoatDesigns/
Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/goatdesigns/
Instagram: @climbinggoatdesigns

Etsy: www.climbinggoatdesigns.co.uk

You may have already heard of Climbing Goat Designs from their Etsy page ( www.climbinggoatdesigns.co.uk) where you can find a variety of modern, colourful and fun cross stitch designs. There's none of those stuffy designs like I find in my great grandmas stitching books (and cannot bring myself to stitch) but a collection of designs I can't wait to try.

Needless to say I brought one of the brand new kits as soon as possible. Currently they are available by messaging the Climbing Goat Designs Facebook page but will be coming to Etsy soon. There are seven different designs available in kit form currently but I will be going to be taking a look at the rainbow butterfly kit (since I fell in love with it the moment I saw it) Without further ado here's a little sneak peak inside my kit. 

First up, my kit came wrapped in this cheerful purple postage bag. As soon as it plopped down on my doormat I knew I was in for a treat. Almost felt like my birthday. 

Blurred my address out here, don't want random visitors :p 

The kit itself comes in this cute little box with a very clear label. So if you needed to pop the kit in your stash for later it is super easy to find it again. :D Though I won't be keeping this in my stash for very long. 

Everything was packed inside nicely. It contained a piece of Aida, DMC threads, a chart, a beginners guide to cross stitching and a needle kept safely on a small piece of felt. 

A quick note here. I asked to pay a little extra for a slightly larger piece of fabric because I needed the aida to be a certain size for my particular project. The aida that comes with the kit by default is enough to sew the design with a little extra around the edges for framing or sewing (so no stitching to the edge if you centered  the design correctly) 

The chart included a bright front page with a beautiful photo of the final stitched piece so you can easily tell how it's going to look when it's all done. 

The chart itself is two A4 pages (other designs may have more pages) of black and white symbols. It looks like the symbols were carefully chosen as there were none that looked too similar to each other. I did not need to get out my reading glasses and squint to work out the colours. Also the symbols were not too small and the print out very clear which just helped with overall readability. 

Alongside the chart itself is the guide to cross stitching. This is such a thoughtful little extra to include in the kit. I imagine that this will help make these kits a great starting point for beginners. The guide is written in a friendly manner and runs through the basics of starting stitching a chart including how to find the centre of the Aida, the loop start method and going through how to create your first cross stitches. Each set of instructions comes with a clear set of photographs making them easy to follow. 

Don't you just love these colours!

The threads provided with the kit are all DMC threads and are all conveniently preorganised and numbered. It looks like there is a generous amount of each colour too but I'll update once I've finished stitching it. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see this, the amount of kits I've ordered with scratchy cheap thread all strewn about and tangled in a bag for postage this was a very welcome change. 

The colour key in the chart included the DMC numbers for each thread which I always appreciate in kits. Particularly if my nephew gets hold of my threads and decides to make chains out of them.(again) I will at least know what colours to buy if I need to replace any due to such mishaps. 

This is how far I need to go to get some uninterrupted stitching time, better pack a kit!

My first thought was that this little box would be perfect for a holiday stitching kit. Since the kit contains everything you need to start stitching. just bring your own hoop or frame as you prefer. I tried out my favourite small hoop (5 inches diameter) and it fit perfectly in the box with all the rest of the items. With this addition I could easily pack this in my summer holiday suitcase for some stitching in the sun! 

So to wrap up, I highly recommend these kits, they come in a range of bright and fun designs. The included cross stitch guide makes the kit brilliant for stitchers who are starting out or perhaps someone who needs a little refresher after being away from the craft for a while. The kit contains everything you need to get started and even have a handy box to keep everything safe and sound. 

Ordering from the Facebook page was really easy, just a few messages and a PayPal payment later and I was awaiting my new kit. The designer was able to kindly answer questions I had about the kit too. If you'd like the chart only it is available on the Climbing Goat Designs Etsy page for instant PDF download if you'd like to use your own stash for it. 

If you would like to see more of climbing goat designs here are some links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClimbingGoatDesigns/
Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/goatdesigns/
Instagram: @climbinggoatdesigns
Etsy: www.climbinggoatdesigns.co.uk

I heartily recommend the Facebook page, it was how I managed to obtain this kit before it was available anywhere else. There's also news, sneak peeks of upcoming designs and some adorable real life goats (some of the climbing variety) which really brightens up my Facebook feed. 

For a few more product reviews and Artist spotlights here are some links: 

Unboxing and review of Cutiepies' Hair bows

Artist Spotlight: Maz's Boutique

Artist Spotlight: Pins and Needles

Artist spotlight: Geeky Clean - Power-up your bath time with geeky themed soaps

Artist Spotlight: Twinkle Kitty Boutique

Zukiestyle - Beautifully bespoke fashion and pet accessories

  For the Buzy Bobbins Index page Click here.