And the Winner is...

Thanks to everyone who came and checked out my new blog and especially to those that entered my first giveaway.  

I really appreciate your visits and sweet words so.... I decided to give a pattern to everyone that entered!!!

I'll email you shortly to get the details worked out.

Congratulations and Thanks again!

My First Giveaway!

Thanks for checking out my new blog, I hope you take a look around and check back often.

To celebrate the new blog and the Grand Opening of my new Etsy store: Averly Patterns (formerly Purple Cow Patterns) I decided to have my very first giveaway.

What am I giving away? 2 cross stitch patterns!

How to Enter:

All you need to do is follow my blog (preferably using Google Friend Connect) and just check out Averly Patterns and leave a comment below, telling me your favorite pattern from the store.

The giveaway will end in one week on Sunday, May15th at 7:00 pm CST and 2 lucky readers will be chosen at random.

You don't have to, but if you wanted to tweet/blog etc. about the giveaway I'd really appreciate it!

Good Luck and thanks again for stopping by.

P.S. If you don't want to wait you can use the code GRAND to get 25% off right now.

A Quick Intro to My Etsy Store

As I mentioned before I have an Etsy store that sells cross stitch patterns. I thought I'd give just a quick intro here.


My goal is to offer cool, fun patterns you won't find anywhere else. I like to think my patterns are a little arty and funky.

I started with some old Hollywood classics: Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and of course, Elvis.

Then I found some chandeliers and became obsessed with them, which began my love for silhouettes in general. What I really like about them is they only use two colors so they're great for beginners, but they also let you customize them by picking which two colors to use. (I keep envisioning a series of 3 or 4 of one of these chandeliers in different colors as a headboard. I will get around to it someday.)

I also fell in love with these floral patterns. They just have such a cool, vintage feel to them. I originally pictured them as wall hangings, but I think they would be really cool as throw pillows too. What do you think?

Okay, that's my quick intro, hope you liked it. I have a bunch more patterns in the store if you want to come check them  out. I'd love to hear what you think of them.

Cross Stitch of Ava

I mentioned before that this all started because I wasn't happy with the selection of cross stitch patterns available in the stores.

For me, finishing a cross stitch project can take forever. I love to stitch, but sometimes I just have too many other things to do. So, I might work on a project diligently everyday for awhile and then all of sudden it's been a week or two (or more) and I realize I haven't cross stitched at all. So, in order to keep coming back I want a project that I absolutely love and can't wait to see the finished project.

I wasn't going to find that in any store. So, I looked into how to make my own patterns, and this the photo I decided to try:





This is a photo of my daughter, Ava when she was 8 weeks old. I love this picture!



I made this pattern as 11x14, on 14 ct. fabric with 50 colors.



This is a preview of the pattern in color blocks.

Here's the first picture of my work in progress I took back in January.

And here's one I just took:

Yeah, I started this in December, I'm a little embarrassed by how much I still have left to do. Oh well, I really love how it's turning out though, the eyes look amazing!

What do you think?

How I Got Here

Awhile ago I decided to make cross stitch patterns for myself. Then I created a website called Purple Cow Patterns to offer custom patterns for sale. Shortly after, I opened my first Etsy store: www.etsy.com/shop/PurpleCowPatterns which had patterns I had designed.

Well, I really liked my website, and I had a lot of fun making it. But, once I was finished I was bored. I realized I didn't really want a website, I wanted a blog. I wanted to be able to change it and add to it as I pleased. I wanted to talk about cross stitch patterns, but I also wanted to be able to talk about a thousand other things that had nothing to do with cross stitching. But, most importantly I wanted to talk to people, and hopefully have them talk back to me.

So, I decided to start fresh. I ditched the website and decided to start this blog instead. I debated whether to keep the name Purple Cow Patterns, but decided it just didn't incorporate everything I wanted this blog to be. Hence the name Averly Gets Creative. I am not Averly, my name is Stacey. Averly is a combination of my kid's names; Ava and Riley (and I just think it's pretty).



Ava + Riley = Averly



I also closed up my old Etsy shop and renamed it Averly Patterns, (it can be found here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/AverlyPatterns). It has all of the patterns from before (plus new ones when I get the chance) but also offers custom patterns too.

And that's how I got to this point. I'll definitely be posting about cross stitching, but I'm very excited to be able to talk about my family and our daily life, as well as all the other arty and crafty stuff I love like photography, painting, papercutting, scrapbooking, and jewelry design.

I've very excited to be starting this new blogging adventure. I have a ton of ideas and am eager to explore many of them, and hope you'll come along for the fun.