I love making samplers, whether they’re in paper, cross stitch, knitting, or crochet. I think they’re so fun and can be really great art pieces. I have a goal to have paper samplers for every season, and maybe every holiday someday. This piece doesn’t fit that exactly, but I also love samplers that feature the four seasons.

Designing the houses was really fun. I picked four colors that I thought worked well together and symbolized each season. I cut out a bunch of pieces in different colors and got to work coloring and placing everything.

The problem came when I had finished all of the houses. What color could work as a background mat and tie them all together? I was lucky to find this balmy blue DSP, and I think the black mats help tie them all together. The Mark Twain quote helps make it more obvious that this is a four season sampler, but also I love Mark Twain.

Do you like doing samplers? Is there one that you’ve been thinking about doing but haven’t started yet? I hope you break through the creative block and create something beautiful.

Happy crafting!