The Exemplary 2023:
1st Place, Professional Original

I wanted to create a snowman containing no Christmas colors — something I could keep out after all the decorations were taken down. So, light blue was selected. I spent some time searching for stitches reminding me of snow or snowflakes. I created beaded snowflakes to hang from the arms; I watched more than a few videos to figure those out. Six of the snowflakes are created off the canvas, then attached. The others are stitched directly onto the canvas.

The ground was designed to be wavy and to look like he was sitting in a mound of snow. I used Bargello for the ground, which I thought was the best stitch for the snow. And, finally, I added lots of glitz and beads, so he had to be named Mr. Sparkles.