- I did this one for my parents, though originally I'd hoped to keep it for myself. ;) But with their 40th anniversary coming up, I thought it would make a great present for them. The pattern came from an English cross stitch magazine (Quick & Easy Cross Stitch) which also gave the information on how to get the charms for this piece. In most patterns, the charms are an afterthought - you don't usually need them to make the piece look finished. In this one, though, the charms are a major part of the piece. I've provided both "charmed" and "charmless" (heh) scans so you can see what a difference they make.
Without charms:
You can see how it looks rather empty, even with the beads here and there to liven things up texturally. Now here it is with the charms:
This was my first cross stitch to incorporate either beads or charms, and I think it came out very well! :) I did use a few dabs of white glue to help hold the charms in place, because I had it custom framed and didn't want the charms to get turned about or off-kilter in the framing process. The framing itself required some spacers because two of the charms (the first Diamond and Desk Sets) are very "tall" and would have hit the glass otherwise.
It is a bit more washed out than I would've liked. I need to adjust my scanner. -_-;