Plastic Canvas Box

On my last trip to the Scrap Store I picked up a handful of small squares of plastic canvas. I thought they'd be perfect to make a box with.

I'd also recently discovered this pack of embroidery thread that  I don't remember buying. 36 for £2? Such a bargain. These were just what I needed.

 I haven't used plastic canvas before, and I haven't done cross stitch in a very long time so after trawling Pinterest for pattern ideas I decided on a simple chevron pattern.

Note: This photo is of the first square I sewed. After that one I made sure all my cross stitches were facing the same way.

 The sewing took a week (and all the episodes of Married at First Sight) but I finally got all six sides sewn.

Then it was time to assemble the box by sewing the edges together, trying to keep the cross stitch pattern.

I lined the inside of the box with pink felt which I glued in place then sewed round the top edge.

I'm pretty proud of my attempt at plastic canvas cross stitchery!

Cross Stitch Heart Box

As previously mentioned, I love the papier mache box section in Hobbycraft, but I can't buy any more until I do something with the stash I have.

I remembered seeing an image of a similar box which had been stitched through - but it was so long ago I can't remember where to link to - which is how I got this cross-stitch idea.

I've got square, oval, circle, and hexagon shaped boxes but I thought a cross-stitched heart on a heart shaped box would be cute. It would have been even cuter in February...

I started by googling 'cross-stitch heart pattern' and printing one out the same size as the lid of my box. I placed the pattern on the lid and poked a hole through the corners of the squares.

Using a double strand of red embroidery thread I got cross-stitching, something I haven't done for years.

The back was kind of messy, as it can get with cross-stitch, so I cut out a piece of card and stuck it to the inside of the lid.

To finish the box I stuck a piece of matching red felt to the inside of the box.

I love that this was such a quick and easy project.

Any other ideas of how to decorate my little boxes?

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Cross-stitch me

When I was younger, as in 4 years old younger, my Mum made me this bookmark.

She cross-stitched me and four of my friends from playgroup, two of which are still my best friends.

Isn't that nice.