I think I’m so ready that I’ll play twice.

Fine print –

- scraps must measure at least 2 inches by 2 inches, there is no maximum size but it is supposed to help you destash your scrap bin so sending fat quarters probably won’t help with that.

- scraps must be unwashed, clean, and in usable condition

- fabrics should be of relatively the same weight, cottons/linens/light canvas so allow for quilting or use in the same project

- be able to send 10-ish ounces to your partner mailed by May 20th

Leave a comment with your blog or email and I will match us up on Monday May 13th and send an email to you and your swap buddy.

Giveaway Day winner is Steph! Thank you to everyone who came by and left such great answers and I’m sure motivated others to get started on *that* project finally. I know I wanted to reach out and help you all get started. Please share if you do finally start something, send me an email, I’ll shout it from the rooftops for you.

The winner of the Spring Cleaning Handmade by me giveaway is Miss Cassy. Congrats.

And finally the winner of the Spring Cleaning Handmade by not me giveaway is Nancy!

Emails are sent ladies!

Adobe Creative Class

Click the link, not the video screen shot. I don’t know how to embed, that’s all fancy pants like!

I don’t want to mess with the comments on that post but please let me say I am ready each and every one of those answers and I cheer you all on in my head with little yeses and “I have that too!” and “Why haven’t you tried that yet it’s so easy? You *can* do it!”

If you have an unfinished project or a ‘man I have to start that some day’ project lying around, please go to that post and read the 60+ comments. You are not alone. There are others like you. And most importantly, you can do it!!

If you haven’t entered please do so now :)

And because I’m addicted to these scrappy wallets I’m going to give one away again. I just made a giant pile of them so choosing should be easy peasy. They are made with a fantastic Michelle Patterns pattern.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I may not have these exact wallets left but I’ll send a picture of a big selection and let you choose, should you be the lucky winner!

Now that I’ve lost over 50 pounds I figured I should start exercising. I’ve been on this mission for 16 months now and have yet to step foot into the gym, despite having a membership, despite living a 5 minute walk from the community center . . . yeah yeah yeah. Historically the obstacle to me getting to the gym has been the little ones. I’ve decided to stop using that excuse.

Last June I was counting the days to summer holidays because the community centre had child care during the day and I was planning on leaving the kids to play while I went upstairs to work out. Conveniently they cancelled it at the end of June. And while I can use all of the city gyms, this one right here was the only one with a childcare program. So I’m getting inventive in how I can work this with children in tow.

I downloaded the Couch to 5K app. Saturday I lugged the kids out of the house and took them around the block and up and down the street while I completed the 30 minute program. It was a semi success. We discovered someone must have stolen Nate’s new-to-him-at-Easter scooter from our front lawn so he had his old wobbily wheeled one. That meant that when Wesley and I would run for 60 seconds Nate would launch into tears at how far ahead we were getting, and rather than haul it to catch up he’d get off his scooter and cry. Oh to be 4 years old. *That* meant Wesley and i would spend the 90 seconds walking back to him so we’d all be together.

Sunday we walked over to the park, which was my warm up, then I ran circles around the play structure, nearby trees, the tennis court, whatever to complete the program. Other than me looking a bit silly this was more of a success.

Today was my afternoon off from school so I just ran right before the kids would be home from school. It was a nice time except for this crazy little black bugs that fill the air around the lake near my house at this time of year.

Tomorrow I might try running in the gym, just to change things up a bit, but we’ll see.

On the weekend I attended a workshop run by Uniiverse on lino cutting. It was run by Etsy shop. He was really nice and while I’m sure I could have figured this out myself since I’m crafty like that it was great to have him there to ask questions and be a guide.

I fell in love with these feather wall decals a little while ago and want to cover my bedroom wall with them. However, that could get expensive. I debating cutting them out of fabric myself but I don’t think I’ll get nice clean lines or prevent fraying. So when the workshop came up I decided I would carve a feather and then I can use it to stamp onto my wall.

I’m happy with how it turned out, the fine lines show up and everything. The tricky bit will be to do it properly on the wall. It’s easy to toss away a ruined piece of paper! I also think this is how I’ll be making my Christmas cards this year. As if I didn’t have enough crafts on my plate now I’ve stumbled into a new one I like.

Again, in the spirit of cleaning up my crafty space I’d like to share some fun supplies with one lucky winner.

I’ve collected things from swaps and people giving me stuff and craft shows and well, all over the place really and now I need to share the love!

Leave a comment below with a way to contact you and I’ll pick a lucky winner on Tuesday April 30th. For a bonus entry tweet or share on Facebook or somewhere and leave a comment letting me know you did. Good luck!

It’s similar to this one in her shop, same saying, just different towel.

Then Sunday I was feeling really down and a good friend from work, who’s very wise and has overcome things in her life to become this beautiful person who I adore, texted to see how I was doing. When I mentioned I was still a bit down she suggested I “go create something out of the pain and turn it into something beautiful for all to gain”.

I told her I couldn’t. While I Tweet or Facebook statuses about heading to the sewing machine, or sitting down to craft often, the truth is I very rarely do these days. I go to the basement to put a load of laundry on and I’ll turn on the lights at my craft space, pull the machine forward, even layout some fabrics, and then I proceed to just walk on by it all for the rest of the day until I admit defeat and shut the lights off at the end of the day.

She texted back “You’ve muted your voice. Give it sound again. Ask the angels to help you find your voice again”. I texted back with a picture of the towel and how I had gotten it the day before.

The funny thing was Christine said I had inquired about this towel in our Etsy convos about working out a trade but then at the show she pointed out I was changing my mind but maybe that was because the “sing your song” one was speaking to me and I should go with it.

I’ve met some amazing people lately. I’m so glad I have.

So I was doing some organizing and cleaning up in my crafty space and I realize I have just too many creations. Things I’ve tried, things I’ve made 1 of . . . they’re just piling up and taking up space.

Instead of letting that happen I’d like to make someone a nice big package of handmade happy mail and ship it off to you!

If you’re interested in some surprise fun stuff from me leave a way to contact you below and I’ll get stuffing that envelope. For a bonus entry tell me something you did to Spring Clean recently.

I’ll take names until Tuesday April 23rd and then I’ll get shipping.