Wedding Cross Stitch: Joshua 24:15

Yup, I did it again. I'm kinda shameless like that. The Story: I was invited to my friend Scott's wedding, which took place on New Years Eve near Lynchburg, VA (the town of his fiancee's alma mater). It was a destination wedding, in a sense, since we had to book hotel rooms, and that cost me a bit more (ok, double) what I usually budget for a gift. Discussion abounds on the etiquette of gift-giving for destination weddings (yes, I realize they usually involve beaches or other countries), but long story short, my poor-little-grad-student self elected to take the handmade route! :)

I came across this blog post and fell in love with the pattern - I felt it would not only commemorate Scott and Katie's new home together, but it also reflected their shared passion for missions:

Unlike the lovebird pattern I used for Laurie and Ross' wedding cross stitch, this one was much easier to enlarge and print as a pattern - it even came with measurements. I did add an extra little detail to the design, though:

Sorry for the reflection - this was taken after I framed it!

Isn't it cute? I got the idea from the wedding invitations, which (I'm pretty sure) were an homage to Katie's maiden name. I had found the mini castle pattern on this site a few months earlier - that's why it's always a good idea to tuck these things away! I made a few adjustments, stitched in a few rolling hills, but overall kept pretty true to the pattern below:

Since the verse results in a narrow rectangular design, I knew that I wanted to mat it out somehow to fit an 8"x10" frame. As I've mentioned previously, Michaels has this really neat textured felt - it's a pretty small selection, but lo and behold, they had a stonework one in a really nice grey that complemented my design concept brilliantly! I also picked up some black grosgrain ribbon at Hobby Lobby (they sell these itty bitty spools that are perfect for crafting projects!) to 'hem' my stitched piece on the felt matting and scored a nice 8"x10" frame there as well. After assembling, here's the finished result:

I love the incorporation of the castle imagery and stonework with the idea of a household. But, that's just me. Hopefully the newlyweds can find a place for it in their, well, new household. :P

Bonus Segment: I really liked how the wrapping turned out for this gift, so I took a shot of it to share! I had found another mini ribbon spool in a clearance bin at Hobby Lobby that was patterned with the letter "S," which was perfect since Scott's last name begins with an "S." And I had nabbed the "Eat, Drink, & Be Married!" ribbon on clearance at Michaels a few weeks earlier. Combined with some chic black, grey, and white striped wrapping paper (courtesy of my roomie!), it came out rather nicely, I thought.

"But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." -- A little OT Chuck Norris, there. ;)