What I Designed Today…er, in late May: Article of Faith #4 for Ben’s Baptism Program

Ben’s baptism was a rushed one. We had a small crowd for our last baptism but it was beautiful. He is such a one-of-a-kind kid. He chose the 4th Article of Faith for his favorite “scripture” and so I quickly typed it up a little bit prettier than average for the program. I am offering it here as a FREE download for your personal and church use, should anyone be so inclined.

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Giveaway at Grosgrain Fabulous

I have been following Grosgrain Fabulous for quite some time now. Love, love, love her giveaways. The costumes are just the best. These baby clothes are adorable, too, and are patterns for a beginner which gives me hope. Pop on over and take a look – I’m sure you’ll love her site, too.

Amy Bradley Book Giveaway Winner!

Ta, da, da, da…the winner is….Carmel of Mellow is Me. Congratulations, Carmel. Email me your address and I will get your book sent off to you.

On another note, I am super swamped with “real” design work so the blogging will be on hold for a little while. Be patient with me and I will make up for it with super fantastic holiday ideas that I’ve been saving up and will post very soon! Not to pass over Thanksgiving, but I’m in the mood for Christmas!

Amy Bradley Quilt Book Giveaway!

I love, love, love Amy Bradley’s designs. Partly because she was a graphic designer first. Yes, I’m biased. In honor of meeting her at Quilt Market, I’m putting up one of my purchases – her book pattern called Peek-A-Boo – for a giveaway. Just make a comment on this post before Halloween at midnight and you will be entered to win. If you link back to this giveaway on your blog (I can see your links so no need to tell me), I will automatically enter you twice. I haven’t held a giveaway in awhile since we moved and this is a great way to remember all the Quilt Market fun! Good luck!!! For details on this particular book, which runs $20, check Amy Bradley’s website.

Link Love & Giveaways for a Rainy Wednesday

It’s a wonderfully rainy day in Houston today and I have lots on my plate. Mainly getting my office straightened up – still – so I thought I’d just share with you some wonderful links including great ideas and giveaways. Hope you enjoy them! They’re from some of my favorite sites to visit when the need for inspiration strikes.

Grosgrain Fabulous always offers the most beautiful creations. Now she’s offering a poppy boutonniere, but even if you don’t win, there’s always the tutorial on how to make the beautiful things. Click on her link and be sure to check out the blue one attached to the pillow – gorgeous!

Dudecraft made a bookshelf from an old ladder – I don’t know how practical this would be with children shaking walls and all but it looks fantastic, doesn’t it? And oh so clever. I love repurposed things.

So I’ve been searching for what to put in my kids’ lunch boxes other than the usual fare and I ran across this idea from Bakerella (isn’t that site wonderful?!): pancake muffins. With chocolate chips. Sounds like something my kids would eat and it’s not quite as sinful as a full-on brownie for lunch. Sometimes you do whatever you can to get calories in a child or they would not eat at all.


If you have thousands of extra dollars, be sure to check out Get Back‘s website full of beautiful vintage chairs, tables, you-name-it. It’s a fun reminiscent kind of thing and the restoration of the items has been just lovely. It would be kind of nice to step back in time…but we probably wouldn’t appreciate it like we don’t appreciate our current design trends. Anyway – it is surely fun to look around the site!

The Long Thread has this adorable little house pouch. I just love this cute design.

Design Sponge has the cutest lunchbox creation. And it actually looks like something I could do! But I’m not sure if it’s something any of my B-O-Y-S would carry to school or use. Maybe if I made a camo lunch box out of other repurposed fabric. But I do love this notebook version.

Wool & Hoop make the cutest crewel-work kits. The only crewel thing about it (ha! I crack myself up!) is that I don’t do crewel work. But the work is just gorgeous, no?

Artist Jeni B. Gochnour makes adorable festive fall and Christmas holiday items, doesn’t she? What great faces these characters have!

Cathe Holden of Something I Just Made created these items from pictures of a cherished quilt. What a great way to remember the quilt in a more permanent fashion.

There. I think that’s enough browsing for today. Hope you enjoyed some of the links!

Go Green – HP Giveaway

If all of my readers & friends click on the link above (or in my sidebar) to share it or display the widget on their website, I can win a laptop! It’s a Hewlett Packard thing. Check out ways to go green and click on the link to help me win. If I do, I promise to host a super spectacular giveaway as a thank you.

Online Giveaway Winner!

And the winner is…Danielle! Yeah, entrant #2 is the winner chosen by the number generator at www.random.org. Thanks for entering – hope you love the cookbook! Send me your new snail mail address and I’ll get it off to you ASAP. Congrats!

Online Giveaway: Rachael Ray’s Just In Time Cookbook!

It’s finally time for an online giveaway! Your comment could win you Rachael Ray’s 2007 cookbook called “Just In Time” and she includes recipes that cook in 15, 30 or 60 minutes. Looks like a great collection. It doesn’t appear to have ever been used – just stored on a shelf. Some of the 15 minute recipes that I saw as I was leafing through the book looked so yummy and easy to make that I was tempted to keep it! Enter by leaving a comment on this post. The winner will be chosen from all comments (one per person please) by random.org. Comments accepted until April 30, 2009. Good luck!

Crafty Chica’s Sewing Machine Giveaway

Wow. A really decked out Janome. Talk about bling! Sewing machine bling – who knew?! There’s a fantastic giveaway going on now at The Crafty Chica. To enter the giveaway, send an email to amalec(at)randomhouse(dot)com with Crafty Chica Sweepstakes in the subject line. Information on this giveaway was from CRAFT Magazine.

PBS Dog & Cat Photo Contest

We happened to watch PBS’ Nature: Dogs & Cats the other night and it was really, really good. Though I did have to convince Cole that, NO, we don’t need a bloodhound (though Holly in the show was pretty darn cute). We also liked listening to the trainer with the English accent scream at her dogs, “Don’t you dare!” Great stuff. Better than regular television by far. So, I was surprised to find an email waiting for me in my in-box the next morning regarding a PBS photo contest for dogs and cats where you can win a dvd of the show for yourself – not bad! Go here for information if you’re interested & good luck!

Fat Quarter Tote Bag Tutorial & Giveaway

From Cicada Daydream. Enter the giveaway here. In case you don’t win, here’s the tutorial on how to make one yourself. Deadline to enter is February 18, 2009.

…and the Online Giveaway Winner is…

Getpalmd from Helsinki, Finland who wrote, “Cool, I’m in here.” Very succinct, I might add. If she doesn’t claim her prize within 7 days (email me back with your snail mail), it will go to the second place winner who was Rachel. We’ll wait to see if Sara from Getpalmd really wants her sunglasses. I’ve already emailed her with the news and hope she loves ’em!

Great Site (w/pics!) for Toy Recalls

It’s hard to go through those lists of toy recalls without pictures, which is why I’m loving this recall list site from Parents. Be sure to check it over for more recent recalls. There’s great stuff here – recalls on toys, gear, and even a few contests.

And The Online Giveaway Winner Is…

TeresaB who said, “I just found your site through the City Farmgirls Blog. Fun fun!” Yes, it is fun! I think I like offering giveaways even more than winning (who’d of thunk it – I only wish everybody could win)! We had a peek at her etsy site here and she has some great ideas for your swiffer or sh-mop so be sure to take a look. Prepare yourselves for the next giveaway – it is going to be FANTASTIC and I’ll announce it tomorrow. Really. I-was-gonna-keep-this-one fantastic.

Links to More Online Giveaways

There’s a couple of giveaway links to share this morning (besides my own giveaway listed below, of course):

1. www.makemorescents.com – gives away a large scented candle every Monday (you have to click on the free drawing icon in the upper RH corner of the website). Watch this one – you will receive ads from their site to whatever email you put in (be careful if you don’t like to use your delete key!), and

2. The Inspired Room, which, I’ve posted about before — lovely site — is giving away an Urban Botanic fragrance thingy that is sure to make your home smell lovely for the holidays. Click here to enter that contest. Pic above is from The Inspired Room.

All rules and regulations per the hosting site. I just wanted to share the love links.