I had the idea of doing a giveaway but then I thought maybe other people are having the same problem and we could set up a swap. I’ve got some things that came as freebies with Etsy orders, or items from other swaps, cute sticky notes, stickers and of course ribbon, fabric and buttons that I’ll probably never get to using!

Sooooo anyone want to play along? Sign up below until Wednesday January 11th. I’ll match us up (open internationally unless you tell me otherwise) and email partners so you can work out addresses and such. I suppose the contents should cost about $10-$15 but I’m hoping we can all just share some neglected creative stuff and pass it on to someone who may be inspired. Of course you can also include a handmade by you item, I know I will.

I was also hoping this post will distract from the fact that I haven’t completed a CreateAlong project in a while . . . next week I’ll reveal all my neglected projects, I promise!

Some fun vinyl stuff, nice linen/cotton blends, fun ribbon and a button.

And this cool piece with vintage images on it, it’s some sort of panel type thing. I’ll find a use for it.

Luckily it’s a half day of work for me so here’s hoping Nate has a nice nap and Wesley is enamoured with his LEGO yet again this afternoon and maybe I can wander off and create something fun with all this pretty new stuff!

I’ve also got a DIY post featured here today, a little back to school organization sewing project that anyone with little kids to get ready will love. Hope you all have a great day, even if it’s not your birthday!

Ok, I got the most amazing scraps in one of my scrap swap packages. I can’t even begin to tell you how awesome the pieces were and how great they fit with the fun fabrics I love! Not to mention she threw in some fun stuff left over from when she ran a Japanese store online.

Here’s some eye candy.

Some of these Japanese prints are amazing! I don’t know if I can bring myself to cut them up and actually sew with them.

Anyhow, I’m smitten with the contents of this package. And remember to store your strawberries in a DRAY place.

Speaking of the day 3 winner is . . . . thanks to random.org this time is Laura!  Congrats!

Ok back to the partners . . .

SewTara & Elizabeth
Oh Leela & Sarah
Hazel & SewTara
Lauren & Sara
Marysza & Nerina

Please get in touch with your partner, I’m sending out emails today, find out mailing info and start destashing!

And I am off to a cottage for a week! For the first time in a few years I’m heading out to a cottage. It’s going to be great, right on the water, sandy area for the kids, a dock . . . oh the list goes on. I’m not sure what the internet situation is up there, and if our phones have a signal my hubby is going to be tethering and using most of our data plan so I thought I’d go easy on it and take time to read and be offline a bit.

But fear not! I’ve worked on some of my blog land friends and I’ve got a few guest posts lined up so it’s going to be a good week at SewTara even without me.

Note: These aren’t terrible pictures, honest, keep reading.

I love Spoonflower, the idea is so great and all the lovely creations are even greater. While clicking around the last time I was there I got to thinking, ‘hey I can probably do this!’. So I uploaded a square of my blog background design, the pink honeycombs. I thought it would be really neat to make something using that. See the lovely pink honeycomb print on the fabric? . . . . Yeah, me either.

Guess there’s still some things I have to learn about graphics. I did go back and played around with some of the settings and I think I’ve successfully darkened it. The test swatch will tell me. Hurry up snail mail!

The lovely Janee has done a little interrogation post all about me, complete with bed head photo.  And of course there’s a giveaway involved as well.  So head over and enter before Friday!

If you’re a creative blogger, or have just been reading creative blogs for a while you probably already saw Scoutie Girl’s interview with Leigh-Ann from Freckled Nest but I wanted to point it out. It’s full of some great backstory on the growth of Freckled Nest and ideas if you’re on a mission to grow your own crafty empire. My favourite part was this behind the scenes photo in the interview, LA hard at work shooting my blog banner!

Amy has re-emerged with a fun new site, Amy is the party.  She’s featuring guest posts all this week.  It’s all summer themed to get you all geared up for some summery fun.  My DIY post will be up Saturday.

Annnnnnd I had a bit of a brain wave and wandered over to Spoonflower and turned my block background image into some fabric!  I’ve ordered a test swatch to see how it goes.  It’s hard to tell from the image on the screen just how it will look in person.  Very excited to get it!

If you live in/near Toronto The Workroom is a craft and sew place that lets you make use of the studio by the hour. They’ve got sewing machines, sergers, cutting tables and other crafty people hanging around. The exciting part for me was all the pretty fabric they have for sale. Oh and sewing books, and Japanese craft books. They also have Amy Butler patterns, Colette patterns and some other goodies I can’t remember now.

They sell some lovely fabrics and have a whole pile of shelves full of fun fat quarters. Of course I left with some goodies.

There’s also a blog if you want to check out some of the things they’re up to.

Images stolen from here, here and here. I felt silly asking to take pics with my iphone.

First my scraps from my scrap swap. They came all the way from the Netherlands, and thanks to Wendy for playing twice. I didn’t realize until I got her address that she was so far away but then I was really excited to see what sort of different stuff I might get.

The other package was one of my prizes from the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day. I didn’t enter all of the giveaways, there were sooooo many. I did click on fellow Canadians to see who’s in my neighbourhood being crafty and bloggy. I also clicked on anyone international because if I was going to win something I wanted it to be all exotic and cool. Even just clicking on a slimmed down list I was still bogging down my browser with tabs and spent the whole holiday Monday clicking around the internet. It was crazy.

Ok back to my story. I won these 2 charm packs, some more fabric scraps and there was some lovely tea in the package as well. Canadian Ice Wine tea, the entire box smelled so lovely. Thanks Steph for all the goodies.

AND I forgot to share this one before I tore it all apart and spread the pieces here and there in my workspace but these are some of my favourite scraps from the pile I got from Janee over at Yellow Bird, Yellow beard.

And these! Only they say ‘Tara’ and not ‘Stephanie blahblah’.

I also took advantage of a Heartsy deal and ordered some packaging supplies from this shop.

If you missed my fabric swap, or want to see scraps before you get them, my friend Tabatha is looking to part with some lovely pieces in return for some new to her fabric. I was with her when she bought most of these recently and it’s great stuff. Head over if you’re interested in taking a peek.