Category Archives: uncategorized

Losing steam?

I think I may have upset some thing in my universe. All that work over the weekend was awesome! So much was accomplished, and I know it’s only 4 days later but I feel like I haven’t done a thing. Aside from updating the shop Monday night. I need to find that momentum again.

I added this fun little gem to the shop tonight, I’m loving the possibilities of this cup cozy.

There’s a pile of things to finish up and I seem to be procrastinating by doing other less important tasks. Perhaps the reality of a craft show about 2 weeks is sinking in. Here’s my pledge to be at least just as productive as last weekend over these next 4 days, if not even more!!!

And the winner is . . . .

I just decided to play with stickers on Picnik, capsule can you tell?

Giveaway!

At the Creativ Festival I met this lovely lady with an amazing product!  It combines a who lot of things I love into one fun product.  It’s a DIY craft project,  it’s earth friendly, it’s cute and you can keep it or give it as a gift!  The patterns are printed directly onto the 100% organic cotton (it’s really soft!) and all you have to do it cut, sew and stuff!  All you need is a needle/sewing machine and thread.  It’s brilliant.  Fun for a veteran crafter and easy enough for a newbie.

Not only is Berene a wonderful lady, when I asked for a card and mentioned I would blog about her items she asked if I would take something and host a giveaway.  Free stuff and fun, there was no way I could say no.  Sooooo I picked something I thought would be fun for the upcoming holiday season, or even for a special valentine.

So here’s the deets, head over to the Happy Sew Lucky site, to see the different products and then click her Facebook to place a comment about their fave kit.  EXTRA ENTRY if you come back here and tell me what you like the most about her awesome products too, so I don’t feel all lonely like.

Ooops, happy belated.

So how special is this, I had this funny feeling I might have missed something important. Turns out I did. I missed the 1 year anniversary of my blog!! Which I suppose could be seen as a good thing since I’ve been busy finishing orders and making things to sell in my Etsy shop. Guess I’ve just been that busy, or tired, that I didn’t realize the date! I’m only 12 days late.

I’ll think of something fun to acknowledge this neat milestone . . . .

Giveaways galore!

Emily and the Anderson Family crew are eagerly awaiting their chance to bring home a new addition to their family, Elsabeth Mae.  Things are in the works for Emily and her hubby to adopt Elsabeth, who’s in Ethiopia, but of course these things cost money and so they’ve come up with a smart way to raise some!  AND it involves fun handmade crafts and winning stuff!! What could be better?

Head on over to her blog starting Tuesday, October 12th at 7am.  She’ll be posting items all day, fun bundles made from donations from 46 crafters, including me!!  Good luck!

Annnnd the winner is!

Thank you everyone for leaving a comment and of course to Julie for being so wonderful and agreeing to donate an item to some crazy stranger who just emailed and asked.

Onto the winning! I was going to have someone in my house help me with this but it appears I’m the only one still awake! Then I was going send a chat message to a friend online demanding a number between 1-13 (Corinne commented twice, one was Julie and 1 comment was me) but I’m not getting an answer. Annnnd I’m too lazy to go get the camera and do an artsy names-written-on-paper-in-a-bowl kinda thing. So I googled the thing everyone else seems to use on their blog and went with that!

Therefore the winner is #, and that makes it . . . (here’s me flipping to the other tab to count comments!) . . . HEATHER!!!! Congrats! Now you’re going to have to decide on your favourite after all. I’ll send you details.

This was so much fun, I think I’m going to have to do more of these. Beware local to me indie crafters!

What I’m reading.

I just started reading this book the other day, Little Bee by Chris Cleave. I’m only about 100 pages in (after 3 sittings I think) and I love it so far. I’m a sucker for neat book covers, I think that’s what always makes me stop and pick up a book. That’s how I picked this one up, same with my all time favourite The Time Traveller’s Wife.

I love the silhouette and the flowing cursive writing. There’s no blurb on the back, it’s covered with reviews and praise. On the inside sleeve it says this:

“Once you have read it, you’ll want to tell you friends about it. When you do., please don’t tell them what happens. The magic is in how the story unfolds.”

SOLD!

Not at the end yet, and apparently I can’t tell you what’s so good about it when I get there anyway, but I will share part of what’s making me love it. The main character is a refugee from Nigeria and she’s in England, which is all new and shiny to her. She has these little moments of ‘what would they think back home in my village?!’ when she sees something new to her. The last one, that made me laugh out loud was this part when she comes to the busy and crowded highway:
“If I was telling this story to the girls from back home they would be saying, Okay, it was the morning, so they people were travelling to work in their fields. But why do the people who were driving from right to left not exchange their fields with the people who are driving from left to right? That way everyone could work in the fields near to their homes. And then I would just shrug because there are no answers that would not lead to more foolish questions, like What is an office and what crops can you grow in it?

So far the book is full of awesome observations like this. I like it, they’re funny and some of them I’ve thought of before myself.

I also love books that are written in a different way, I guess I lucked out with The Time Traveller’s Wife. Drawn in by the cover, and neat title it just happens to be written in a remarkable way. I loved this book. If you did too NEVER see the film. NEVER.

Another great book I’ve read recently is The Book Thief. Absolutely fabulous! I think it was the title that got me for this one. Fantastic story and beautifully written.

Well, off to read I guess. That’s what I’m in the mood to do, for some strange reason.

100th post, the end.

81.  Twitter is still a bit of a mystery to me.

82.  Collecting fonts is lots of fun, thanks Fonts for Peas.

83.  Some things sell better in person rather than online, especially soft cuddly things.

84.  Sometimes making your own _____ is more meaningful and fun than buying it.

85.  Hot topic is a good place for goofy laptop stickers.

86.  Changing a bobbin seems to really slow you down.

87.  Birdcages and little birds are cute.

88.  Embroidery can be cool.  Thanks for the freebies, and the purchases.

89.  Online swaps are a lot of work, but really fun when your package arrives.

90.  My life would be easier with a Cricut and Sure Cuts a Lot.

91.  I like Dainty Squid‘s blog.  I like her is easy, I just have to open my ‘note to self’ email every time to remember how.

93.  BFF’s support you and buy your stuff.

94.  Brainstorming with other people generates amazing results.

95.  You need a day off, even from doing what you love.

96.  Travel fuels creativity.

97.  Never write a post listing 100 things.  It’s harder than you think.

98.  Keep Calm at all times.

99.  Sleeping less can make me happier if I’m using that awake time wisely.

100.  Writing your 100th post happens quicker than you think ;)

100th post part 4

61.  Family members join fan pages because they love.

62.  Collage art work is so fun, like here at Cabin and Cub.

63.  People want to feature me because I’m so cool!  Thanks One Artsy Momma.

64.  The internet is bad (good?) for my tote and bag addiction.  Thanks Kimmykingsbury and Hot Butter.

65.  Other bloggers are friendly and helpful!

66.  Happy mail is super awesome fun.

67.  WordPress is pretty easy to use.  Except for the HTML part.

68.  My hubby doesn’t like programming for me late at night.

69. Multitasking has become my friend.

70.  Watching Lost distracts from writing blog posts.

71. When you talk about doing what you love the people listening get inspired too.

72. Your hobby can get even more fun as you share it with others.

73.  Getting featured when you’re away at Christmas at a resort with no internet stinks.  Thanks for the link Sew Mama Sew!

74.  I can share my creations with people who appreciate it more than my husband, toddler, baby and cats.

75.  Vintage Dick and Jane readers are harder to find than you think.

76.  My phone headseat is super handy for crafting.

77.  Apparently changing from a 2 column layout to a 3 with is tricky.

78.  Getting an email that someone commented on your blog is a little thrill.

79.  Ringing phones distract from writing blog posts.

80.  I’ve never used so much thread in my life.

100th post part 3

41. Mentioning to your handy with wood working friend you need a display pays off, thank you Derek.

42.  Blogging is addictive.

43 & 44 Canadian girls are awesome!  Thanks for all your answers, teaching and neat ideas LA.  Vintage is so fun, Jill makes it so.

45. Home decor is funner when you can make it all yourself.

46.  Sometimes it can be surprising what a person can suffer and how positive and inspirational they can be, thank you for your blog NieNie.

48.  Shopping online is waaaay to easy.

49.  My hubby is happy I have someones elses to talk to about crafts.

50.  Word of mouth is great exposure.

51.  Unique gifts are always a hit.

52.  The people at MOO rock!

53.  Maintaining an internet presence take a lot of work.

54. Posting pictures of my face and body didn’t kill me.

55. An RSS feed can eat up a lot of  time.

56.  Giveaways are fun.

57. An iphone is super useful.

58. Ephemera is a word I have no idea how to say.

59.  Thrifting doesn’t make me weird.  All the cool kids are doing it.

60.  I can craft with small children underfoot (just not well sometimes)