More giveaways

First, "I am very Mary" is going to do two more giveaways...one this Friday and then the following Friday....boxes of junk..you know you can't resist. I'll be good and not put my name in the hat...that is just tacky. My blogging buddy, Alisa, of "Life Is A Beautiful Place To Be" is having a blogaversary giveaway...pretties...you know you can't resist the lure of pretties either. Lastly, (but in no way leastly) Cerri of "Little Pink Studio" is celebrating the opening of her lifelong dream.....a store of her own. If you haven't been by to shop or just look at all the neat stuff...head over. She is offering up one of her Little Pink Studio Samplers...it is chock full of all sorts of good stuff. Good luck and if you are still hoping to get into Silver Bella...good luck as well and I hope to see you there. :)

Silver Bella...here I come!!!

I won't say that I was camped out by the computer...but today did drag on. I had the computer set up to the website and went and watched "Law and Order" with Clark. I was so worried I wouldn't get in...it sold out quite quickly last year and all those ladies were determined to make it this year, plus all the ladies who have been before. I just need to book a flight and a room. :) I'm so excited. Clark is going to have the boys all by himself for a few days...oy. He'll probably convince the grandparents that is a good time to visit. :)

Happy news

First, I found this cuter than shit lamp yesterday at an antique/flea mall. The same one where I found Humpty on Mother's Day. It's Hansel and Gretel....oy. I'm doing my screamy, happy hand wavy thing...you'll just have to imagine. It was a tad bit more than Humpty, but it was 20% off. I've now got a collection (I think three lamps is a small collection). I got to go to two thrift stores as well and found a bevy of craft items. Today, we hit the AC Moore here in Columbus...they are shutting down our store....they found out two weeks ago, but we just got a chance to go today. It was rather picked over, but we found quite a bit and saved more than we bought....it was all 60-80% off. I got an embossing tool (the heat thingy)....always thought that looked interesting, but was too cheap to pay full price (and always had another use for my 40% off coupons). Clark found some carving tools. He can make me some rubber stamps now. :) We also went to the B&N and I picked up the new "Cloth, Paper, Scissors" and the new "Somerset Life". I had sent some aprons into Pino and Katherine for their party this weekend and she was in the magazine...I got to see and read some more about them. We went to the commissary after that and bought more food...oy...I'm going to have to ration out the food....they eat way too much. :) Our cable was out most of the afternoon and evening (we have a cable modem) and finally got to check and I won a giveaway. The one I mentioned in my last post. Woohoo...I'm getting a box of artsy crafty junk...I love it. I cannot wait to see what I got. I'm the kind of girl who likes those grab bags of stuff...mish mashes of treasures. I got a bag or two of those this weekend. What I miss is the bags of fabric I used to get in Alabama....$1.99 for a big ole bag of scraps and such. I've gotten some cool, vintage fabric that way. Their bags of Xmas stuff were great, too. Oh well. I won a box of fun stuff. :)

Free Junk...if she picks your name

I was over at Sherry's (http://www.ificouldsetmysoulfree.blogspot.com/) and she mentioned a blog giveaway at "I am very Mary" (www.averymarydesign.blogspot.com/). She is giving away a flat rate box full of junk from her attic. Here is the catch...more of us might be able to win...if she reaches 100 comments, she will be giving away three flat rate boxes of junk. So go over and sign up....help her get over 100 comments....which alone would be too cool.

In the Good Ole Summertime...

These are my tags for the swap. The top one is the front and the bottom is the back. In the mini library pocket is a recipe for lemonade. I'm almost tempted to write the words "Help Me" on the front above the ant. I don't know...I may just leave it like it is.

Tags, tags, tags

Fifteen of them to be exact. I've been working on my tags for the Good Ole Summertime Swap. I'm almost done. I came up with something for the back side and just need to photocopy some things, cut them up, fold them, glue on the last little bit, and add some ribbon. I had agoodtime making them....this is only the second tag swap I've done. I wanted to redeem myself...I did Karla's St. Patrick's Day tag swap....the pictures are on my other blog. They were so simple and plain jane. My pendants are going to be mailed today....cutting it close, I know. The car troubles just threw us all. Heather (aka swap goddess for hosting the Hippity Hop Easter Swap) is hosting a one for one card swap. Just head to her blog for details..... www.boobyfish.blogspot.com/ . I haven't decided if I'm going to attempt that one or not. I've never made cards before and the challenge of doing so is tempting. We shall see...I want to see how my tags turn out and I am working on some other things as well.

Jewels of the Sea Swap pendants

These are the two pendants my fellow swappers might get. They were from the defunct booklace idea. I didn't want them to go to waste....especially after I handsewed those f-ers on eight of those tiny ass things. :)

Tag...I'm it

Alisa over at "Life is a Beautiful Place To Be" tagged me. So here I go:

1) What was I doing ten years ago? We were stationed at Fort Hood, TX. I was probably baking cookies or cooking dinner for the guys in my husband's shop.

2) Five things on my to do list: Still need to wrap my pendants, Organize my happy place, mail out the pendants, work on my tags, and probably a butt load of laundry.

3) Snacks that I enjoy: carrot cake, potato chips, baked items with apples in them, pumpkin pie

4) Things I would do if I were a millioniare: Buy a house in Normandy, pay off our mortgage, open a small shop, put a lot away, and help out my family anyway I could

5) Place I've lived: Dugway, UT; Pittsburgh, PA; Logan, UT; Augsburg, GE; Killeen, TX; Baumholder, GE; Birmingham, AL; Fort Benning, GA

Okay....tag others, I must.....Wendy (my sis); Angie (A Day At A Time); Rhonda (Rhondamum)

I actually worked on my tags for the Good Ole Summertime Swap....man, I hate waiting for glue to dry. Almost like watching paint dry. :)

My pendants are done

I finished up my pendants today after Billy left for school. Each person is actually getting two pendants. Booklaces are made up of different "pages", so I had most of the pages done and didn't want to waste them. I had to make jump rings for 14 "pages" this morning...they are a little loppy-jawed....at least you can tell they were handmade. :) I just need to finish wrapping them up....that reminds me I need to make little tags, so they know who they came from...(sigh of relief for remembering before wrapping). I'll have hubby take a photo for me in a little bit, so that I can post it on the Flickr site (and here). Usually I don't like to post things ahead of time, but since this is a swap where you have no idea who is getting your pendants....I might as well. I still don't know who got my collage or my screens from prior swaps. I did see one of my sister's screens on someone's blog. Speaking of her.....she went and joined a swap all by herself...no prodding by me. A new swap whore in the making. :) I didn't organize at all today (she said defiantly). I did start on a little something in the creative department....actually I started two things..I forgot about the other thing..typical of me. So even though the happy place is still a dive, I did get my craft on today.

It's my anniversary and all I did was work

After I finally got Billy on the bus (they were 15 minutes late), I came back in and built two chrome shelves for my happy place. One is in the closet and now holds all my fabric. The other is up against the wall and is holding a variety of containers full of all sorts of stuff. I can almost use the library table. I'm so impatient....I want it done now. I did some laundry....I got a bunch of old linens in Birmingham and this weekend and finally got them washed, dried and folded. I put them all in one of the empty fabric boxes for now. Most of them are cutters. I can't wait to repurpose them into something. No crafting, just organizing. Boohoo.

Creative block

Also known as messy work room. It is driving me nuts. So I worked on it a little today. I actually put things away that I've been done with for at least a week. I got two new shelves tonight at Target. One will go in the closet....I'm tired of lugging out boxes of fabric just to get to one and then having to put all the big boxes back in the closet....pain in the ass. I'm thinking of taking all the fabric out of the boxes and placing it on the shelves. I think I'd use more of it up if I could see it on a regular basis. The other shelf will hold all the containers residing on my library table (which I'd love to actually work on...instead of the floor) and the floor. Just after purchasing the shelves I feel a lot better. Maybe now I can actually finish my pendants and start on my tags. Speaking of tags I ordered some from Rhonda's (Rhondamum) Mother's Etsy store and they arrived today. She actually paper presses the shells she puts on them....they look so realistic. She has more at her store...check it out. I bought a few things from Rhonda's Etsy store as well.....I like to get things that I can split with my sister. She has the neatest tags and tickets....different colors and she stamps all sorts of neat things on them. She also has a couple different language cards...you've seen them all over the blogs. They are so cute and educational. I got the French and German ones. There are so many neat things available on Etsy. Why try to bust your ass making some of these things when there are ladies out there who can do it for you. :)

Toadstool Swap

I sent Liz the green with pink polka-spots toadstool and the brown with green polka-spots toadstool.

This is what I received in Lucy-Kate Craft's Toadstool Swap from Liz Burford of Idaho. She is the mother of Melissa Burford...I got one of her screens.

I got to leave the house

Clark was nice enough to take me out to some yard sales. I only picked six places...this was the first time since we've been here. We hit two church rummage sales, an estate sale, and three yard sales. The last one was a lady selling off some of her crafting stash (to make room and money for new stuff..isn't that how we all are). I got some cloth lace for my stash...I've been running low....all the swaps I've been in lately...my giant button jar is slowly being depleted as well. How sad. :( I did find some buttons at the estate sale....I got a big sewing box for $3. It didn't have as many buttons as I would've liked, but there was vintage trim and a tracing wheel with a wooden handle and a pair of vintage pinking shears. Woohoo.....I already have pinking shears that I got for Christmas, but they are still neat. Speaking of Fiskars pinking shears...when we were at Michaels the other day...they had a pair of the Scalloped Pinking Shears for fabric in the clearance section...I got them for $3...I've been wanting a pair of those for awhile, but had never seen them anywhere. Happy, happy....yes, I've already put them to good use. Back to yesterday...hmmm, what else did I get....vintage fabric (not much...the one rummage sale had loads of fabric...most of it was knit though), vintage linens and hankies from three of the sales, ribbon and other packaging trims...my mind has gone blank..dang it. I haven't had any coffee yet. I'm going to go and have some coffee and read the paper. You need to go over to see Angie's blog...she is a wicked girl. http://angiebeth.blogspot.com/ She is so funny. Bravo Whore is her new nickname.

I shopped in my house

I got things ready for Susana (my partner in the Summer Regift Swap). I hope she likes everything..I need to make a list to take to the post office (customs form..oy..how I hate those things...I've filled out my fair share in the last few years). Today is going to be another multiple package days at the Post Offcie....they are going to think I run a business from my home. :) It's not as bad as last week. I only have three envelopes and three boxes this time. The envelopes from last week have been trickling into the consolation prize winners and I hope everyone has a good time get creative. Don't forget to post your creations on your blogs for us all to see. I am still waiting on three ladies to respond if they want their prize or not. I actually got a package yesterday. It was from Tangee (Thrifted, Gifted, and Made Swap partner) ....it had all sorts of different goodies in it....paper, scrapbooking stuff, ribbon...thank you. Pictures will come later....Clark had a long day. No major plans for today (yet)...I should be a good little swapper and finish my pendants and start on my tags, but I think I'd really like to get out of the house. :)

Change of plans

After assembling one of the said pendants...I've come to the conclusion it is too much. I wanted to make booklaces and couldn't find mica and I didn't feel like ordering some (just in case it didn't come in on time), so I made different pages using different materials. Blah...hey, there is a silver lining in with all that copper. One of the pages I assembled....it was a last minute page idea....worked out pretty well and I'm going to use that...I do need to tweak it a little and I'll be doing that today...woohoo, out come the pliers. So I am no longer blah about the pendants and most of the work is already done. :) I may even put them on chains, because I am so happy and relieved. I do have 15 tags and a package to Slovenia to work on. Good times, good times.

Working hard or hardly working

It has been going both ways the last few days. I'll have spurts where I'll work on things and then moments where I get discouraged and stop everything. The pendants have kicked my butt a little. It is probably because of the idea I chose. It was inspired by some pictures of things done by people who had taken a class by Nina Bagley. It has a lot of detail work that I'm not quite used to doing. Like many of you, I'm making an extra one for Heather (for hostessing) and I've got one as the prototype..so that is eight of the little mothers....oy. The other problem is that they are small....less than 2x2 inches....I've got shaky hands to start with and add to that the small work surface and the detail work...argh. Why didn't I just wire some shells and beads together??? It worked out splendidly for some of the other ladies...there is a Flickr group for us. Enough whining. Some of the ladies from the giveaway have gotten their consolation prizes. Two of my swap partners received their boxes (Object of Mayaffection and Pink Faded Roses).....go check out their blogs to see their loot. I usually don't take pictures of what I send....I'm always tempted to post them before they arrive and I hate to ruin the surprise. My other swap partners should be getting their items in the mail any day now (Liz doesn't have a blog, but her two toadstools are posted on the Flickr site under MayMouse1 or the Toadstool Swap group). Melissa (Helles Belles) might not post hers for a little bit...vacation time coming up for her. Katherine Dunn over at http://donkey-dreams.blogspot.com/ could still use some aprons....you have until the 20th of this month. That is also the day Lori of Pink Faded Roses needs tags for her son Marc's party. So if you are feeling crafty or have an excess of aprons...send them. Can you also keep Rhonda (Rhondamum), Karen (Popsicles and Lollipops), and Lori (Pink Faded Roses) in your prayers, please....there is a lot of sadness and pain going around and they could all use your best wishes. I'm torn now....work on my pendants or sit on my ass and read...what to do...what to do. Maybe I'll call my sister instead.

Change of partner

I got an email from my partner in the "Summer Re-gift" Swap this morning...the swap had an odd number of participants, so she had two partners...myself and another lady. Well, a last minute lady asked to join and now we are partners. Susana of Slovenia (originally of Spain). I don't know if she has a blog. I hope so. This is going to be really fun...I was excited before, but this is even better. I got a package in the mail from my partner in the "Thrifted, Gifted, and Made" Swap..Marilyn loved what I sent her and she asked if she could send me a little something as a thank you. She sent me a old canning jar full of buttons and some fabric she had laying around (she's a quilter). She spoiled me. That was so nice of her. Today is definitely looking up. It was kind of blah until then. I did work on a prototype for part of my pendant...it took me three times to get it right...so frustrating. I think things should start to go smoother now. That one part will probably be the hardest. I know it's the middle of the afternoon and it is hotter than heck outside this is Georgia), but I want some more coffee....I need some more coffee. The air conditioner is on and now I'm not freezing..I'm cheap and it's set for a smidge below 80 degrees.

"Weeds", Season Three

We were bad and watched all of Season Three of "Weeds". We did take a break and got the grocery shopping done. :) I got my partner for the "Summer Re-gift" Swap...her name is Melba. She does quite a bit for a stay at home mother of two. She has this site http://www.bealivebelievebeyou.com/ ,she she also facilitates http://www.justbeconnected.com/ , she recently wrote a book, has an Etsy store, and loads of other things. Damn...I'm lucky I get up and take care of the kids. :) At least for this swap....I get to shop in my house. Yesterday, after we mailed a butt load of envelopes and three packages (on eprize and two swaps), we hit Hobby Lobby, Micheals, Target, and B&N. Oy. I was tired. I think I can start my pendants (there are gals out there who are done already..argh..over achievers..make us all look bad). :) I have an idea of what I'm going to do for the tag swap....a couple of the ladies have already made contact...they are really nice...Kim Hesson and Kim Caldwell. Sherry seems really nice as well. The ladies in the swap are impressive and I hope I don't make them all look bad for letting me in. Well, dinner is waiting.

My 4x4 Collage

This is the 4x4 collage I made for the "For the Birds" swap. I had to get the picture off my husband's old laptop.....that was the one I used when the swap went out. He was a sweetheart and transferred it over for me. I figured since I don't know who ended up with mine...I'd just post it.

Swap pictures

These are all the things I received in the "For the Birds" 4x4 Collage Swap and the "Brown Paper Bag" Swap. Mel of Lazy Day Creations made the collage. Michele of Helles Belles Misconceptions on Life made the scrapbook and gave me some extras to add to it. Thank you, ladies. I had a really good time making things for these swaps. I don't know who received my collage yet and Danielle hasn't posted the pictures yet. Michele's package will go out tomorrow....I hope she likes everything.

"In the Good Ole Summertime" Tag Swap

I got the very last spot...cutting it close. You make 15 of the same tag with a summer theme. Since there are only 15 of us...we will get a tag from each person. :) It's being hosted by Sherry @ The World Through My Eyes. I saw it on Swapdex this morning, but had to think about it for a little bit (good thing I didn't wait to much longer...I would have been screwed). There are all sorts of swaps opening up for the summer months...Swapdex just updated. There is a little something for everyone...sewers, non-sewers...go on over and sign up for something. You know want to...you can't help yourselves. I know, I can't. It will give me something to work on after I finish (okay, start) my "Jewels of the Sea" swap.

It's my birthday

So I asked my sister to make me a blog banner (in lieu of monetary gifts) and she came through for me. I like it. It's got food and mice....you can't beat that. :) We just got Chick-Fil-A for dinner...yum-yum, tasty, tasty. We were going to make cupcakes today, but I think we will wait until tomorrow....I'm kind of stuffed.

Pictures of my screens

Spent most of the morning slaving away

In a good way....I worked on the surprises for my giveaway ladies. I only need eight ladies to email me their addresses: Mandy, Deborah, Tonya, Dolls 123, Gayla, KatyLin, Kath, and Vicki. They are almost ready to pack up. Mailing Day for me is usually Saturday...we only have one car and the working member of the family needs it more than me. :) I'm used to having it all to myself...no deployments in sight though. So Saturdays it is. I have two swaps and a prize to get out as well. I did get soem happy mail today. My screens from Karla and Beth arrived today. I got screens from LaVerne Johnson (http://www.riversidestudios.blogspot.com/ ), Kathy Lowry (http://countrychintz.blogspot.com/), Melissa Burford (http://www.melissaburford.typepad.com/), and Nancy Reeb (http://mycraftylittlepage.blogspot.com/). I'll see if hubbie will take some photos for me. I ordered three Japanese craft books off of Etsy...they are so cute. I can't wait to try to make something...felt food books. I love fake food. Well, my hands need a break from all the cutting I've done the last two days....that's the only hint you gals are getting. :)

Oy

I only need to hear from 17 more ladies from the drawing. Not bad. Yesterday kind of sucked (you can read about it on my other blog http://wandamai.spaces.live.com/ ). But I have fun things to do today..I'm pretty sure I know what I'm going to send out...I just need to put together 39 of them (I'm hoping to track down all the ladies). Betty Jo- your email hasn't come through yet. I think I know what I'm going to do for the "Jewels of the Sea" Swap. I should probably whip up a prototype...always a safe thing to do...hey, it worked for the toadstools. Which I need to get out in the mail...always forgetting something. :) That last kid sucked my mind clean. I didn't have much to start with....much like Winnie the Pooh. I'm a mouse with very little brain. Well, off to work. Please email me ladies, so you can get your consolation prize (one of you said that and it was too cute).

I'm trying to track down email addresses

I still need email addresses for the following ladies who entered my giveaway:

CeeKay; Yelowflower; Betty Jo; Kim; Janelle; Trudy; Laura; Kath; and Vicki.

If any of the ladies above read this just email me your address so that I can send you a special little something for entering my giveaway. Thanks.

Rabbit, Rabbit

I read somewhere that you should say that first thing in the morning on the first day of each new month....that's what I get for reading too much. :) Oh..the real reason you are here....and the winner is....well, I put all the names into one of my many vintage purses and had the HOH (SFC Clark) pick a name. Rhondamum is the winner (I need you to email me...I tried the one I pulled off your site and was given a delivery failure notice). Congratulations. The rest of you are in luck....this is a kick ass month (birthday and anniversary)...so I'm going to send a little something to each lady who signed up for my very first giveaway. Since I know you will all be checking back to see who won...email your addresses and I will get a little surprise off in the mail to you. Thank you again.