So fun and so simple!

Cross-stitching is an art as old as the hills, and just as satisfying to master! It is deceptively simple, looks cool and can be adapted to just about any pattern! It’s also hip and trendy! Check it out!

Materials you will need:

• Wooden hoop (I got mine at Pat Catan’s for 98¢)
• Cross-stitching canvas (I got that at Pat Catan’s too. You can cross-stitch on just about any fabric, but the cross-stitch canvas is really the best for beginners/it’s just easy)
• Embroidery thread
• Needle
• Scissors or your mouth but that’s gross just find some scissors

There are tons of websites to help you design patterns, from any combination of words that you want to a picture of your face or dog or whatever! Spongebob, even! Pizza! I’m going to focus on words because that’s what I’m doing now.

The cool thing about cross-stitching is that you are actually making little x’s with the thread, which gives it kind of a pixelated and/or rustic look. What a combo.

Here’s how you do a letter:

Step 1: Poke your needle (from back of canvas to front) through one of the holes in the fabric. Then push it through the hole diagonally across from it.

You’ve just made your first stitch! It’ll look like this!

Step 2: Do it again! A lot!

Keep going until your entire letter is all the way half stitched! (If you’re really good at this, you can do it with all the stitches going the same direction. I am not *that* good at this.)

Step 3: Start your x’s! Beginning with your last stitch, start stitching across each of your single stitches one by one, making a bunch of neat little x’s!

When you’re all done, it should look like:

Have fun stitchin’! If you make something cool, send me a pic! I wanna see!