7/100: View-Master

If I remember correctly, I owned one View-Master but I don’t remember what the reel was. Eitherways, I no longer have mine, it was given away. But I found two of them at fleamarkets, and I based my 7th cross stitch design on this red one.

This one was made in the 70s, it is red on one side and white on the other side. Very good condition if you ask me! I love the pop of blue for the turn button, the one I had was orange.

I also bought this black Sawyer one, made of a sturdier plastic. I believe it was made in the 40s, and still in very good condition.

I actually have never seen this one before and was very pleased to find them at the fleamarket for a reasonable price. I’m now on the lookout for vintage Disney View-Master reels!

Someday I want to pass these on to my children and I hope they would enjoy playing with these toys that I used to play in my childhood, these View-Masters are so fragile now that I’m not sure if they’ll stand up to vigorous play..

 

6/100: Polly Pocket

Polly Pocket was one of the childhood toys that I collected the most of, I think I had over 20 of them, however most of them have been given away. Lucky for me, my mum kept some of mine because they are super rare to find these days.

I went to the Antiques Show in Pickering and found this set for only 10CAD, unfortunately it was missing the ballerina doll.

I actually didn’t have this set when I was a child, so I was really happy to have come across this one. I love how to stairs fold out when you open it and theres a little dial to twirl the ballerina on. So precious isn’t it?

5/100: Russian Dolls

I never actually owned a set of these beautiful dolls, but I remember fondly playing with them and the littlest one was always my favourite.

The middle doll and the smallest one are available in my shop: Flower Russian Doll Pin / Heart Russian Doll ring

4/100: Toy Camera

This Fisher Price toy camera works like a Viewmaster, it came with three discs that you can insert and view the stories through the back. I’m hoping to start a Camera series after this, let me know in the comments if you have any camera requests that you’d like to see be made into cross stitch!

3/100: Water Ring Toss

There were variations of this game, but mostly the point of it was to press the button to swirl the water inside and get the colourful hoops on to the sticks. These were the kind of handheld games I played with when I was child.

2/100: Etch-a-sketch

I love retro toys because they were what I grew up playing with. I have decided to start my challenge based on retro and vintage toys, and here is #2/100: the Etch-a-sketch!

My bestfriend found this most adorable mini Etch a Sketch at Chapters and we both ended up getting one for ourselves. I “drew” a heart on my cross stitched Etch A Sketch and used gold sparkly thread for the “SKETCH” word.

See more in the #crossstitchchallenge: HERE

 

New #crossstitchchallenge!

I have started a new cross stitch challenge, and my goal is 100 new designs!

Here is 1/100: Hi!

Thought I’ll do a little intro. Hello there! My name is Melanie and I grew up in Singapore but now call Canada my home. I have been sewing for almost 20 years of my life, I started when I was 8 and I haven’t looked back since. When I first started out, I had a lot of guidance from my mum. She would give me little cross stitching projects and that was how I mostly spent my holidays. Cross stitching was a past time I never got bored of.

The previous cross stitch challenge I did had a lot of positive feedback and I would love to continue with it. I might even turn some of the designs into accessories for sale on my shop.

Boo!

I think one of my most favourite thread to work with is DMC’s Glow in the Dark, also known as E940. I just can’t imagine how they’ve managed to create thread that can glow in the dark, the science behind it is beyond me but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with this very unique “colour” to create these little ghosts for Halloween.

SHOP: Ghost Ring / Ghost collar pin

We have about one month to Halloween! What would you be dressing as for Halloween? I think I am going to go as Wednesday Addams from the Addams Family.

Love Letters

I am in the midst of preparing for my Etsy: Made in Canada (Toronto) event coming up in a few weeks (Sep 24), it’s been very busy so far. I’m making little charms out of Shrinky Dinks to give away as freebies at my booth. Seriously, I never played with Shrinky Dinks before and they are such wonderful inventions, perfect for crafting!

I made the love letter design inspired by my airmail cross stitched collar pin.

 

My bestfriend was here for the week and I took her around Toronto. I found this beautiful dress from a vintage shop in Kensington Market. So in love the lace peter pan collar!

Shop: Airmail Cross Stitched Collar Pin