A Finish and a Challenge

Today I finished my little lovebird tag. All along my plan was for it was to use it as the gift tag on the gift I am taking to a baby shower this weekend. I had planned to put "to" and "from" on the back. But that changed at the last minute. After all the time and work that had gone into it - from the stitching to the tassel and the cording - I decided just making it a gift tag wouldn't be special enough. So I skipped putting my name on it all-together and made it more of an ornament or door knob decoration with a message on the back. I had given a lot of thought to at least signing my name really small on it somewhere, but I thought it might detract from the overall feel of the ornament as a gift in-and-of-itself for a very special new life. I want to put up pictures of it, but it's late and the artificial lighting around here mixed with the flash makes any picture I take look way off. It's just too beautiful to put up a picture that won't do it justice. So pictures will have to wait until tomorrow. It's worth the wait, though. I promise!

Today I got up the courage to venture outside my comfort zone and join a challenge hosted by BeckySC of BeckyBee's Stitching Hive. She has started the Monthly Finishing Challenge where she gives participants a finishing technique to complete every month. I thought this was a really good opportunity to try out different finishing techniques since I am familiar with very few and have actually tried even fewer than I'm familiar with! I'm sure my finishes won't compare to those of the experienced stitchers and finishers, but I am taking the opportunity to learn more about project finishing. The month of March is a pinkeep. So I have until March 30th to complete my very first pinkeep - something I have been itching to try out and that Michele tells me is not as difficult as it looks. But I need to figure out where I can get the pretty pins everyone uses. Any suggestions?