I will use this post to track the progress on the smaller cross-stitch piece (and return to the bigger one sometime later this year). I will refrain from providing any details on the kit for now, lest the final design be revealed prematurely. Suffice to say that the kit had a piece of plain white Aida cloth, with laced edges, the size of a bookmark, and the design and colour codes printed on a separate piece of paper. I went to Joann's and purchased the embroidery floss for the various colour codes.
After finishing up a couple of colours, I realised that it would be prudent to avoid the knotting of the embroidery floss, and also linking two different sectors of the same colour with a running thread. I got curious, Googled for further tips, and ended up on this very informative page.
I plan on updating this post with edits as and when I complete each colour.
First off, the blank Aida cloth:
Cross stitches with Colour 1:
Cross stitches with Colour 2:
Back stitches with Colour 2:
Cross stitches with Colour 3:
Back stitches with Colour 3:
Cross stitches with Colour 4:
Cross stitches with Colour 4:
Cross stitches with Colour 5:
Cross stitches with Colour 6:
Cross stitches with Colour 7:
Cross stitches with Colour 8:
Cross stitches with Colour 9 (Completed Bookmark):