Charmed life...

I'm participating in a couple of charm swaps right now and working on Valentine's gifts too. So, this is what I was up to today and this is what my work area looks like right now...

But, I made a lot of progress and should be able to finish up tomorrow. One of the swaps I'm doing is for the Arte du Blythe group I ma in and it's a Blythe charm swap. I took some photos to make shrinky dinks with and it has worked beautifully before, but this time I was NOT happy =( Will have to retry tomorrow.
We have a winner for the pin cushion!! Only one comment so she is the lucky winner!! I've got your addy EC and I'll mail it Monday. Thanks for your comment, you are a sweetie! =)

Have a heart...from me to you!

As I was cruising around the other day, I found a site with free pincushion patterns. One in particular really caught my eye, the Homespun Heart Pincushion. I have to be honest, I need another pincushion like I need a migraine, but I have a weakness for them. It's a super easy project, you can find the directions HERE. You can make it with a single fat quarter, another weakness of mine ;)! Here is my finished cushion:

It's actually pretty big so I think next time I might make a smaller version. I was able to make 3 with the 1/2 yard of Valentine's fabric I had. So guess what....I have one to give away! So, if you'd like a chance to win this little pin cushion made with lots o' love, leave a comment in this post and let me know what you have a weakness for...fabric? pin cushions? cookies? puppies? kittens? Yikes...I guess I'm pretty weak!
I will randomly pick a comment on Saturday morn and post it. Good Luck!

Hey Cookie!

While my G.G. was visiting we tried out a recipe for BIG 5 inch Chocolate Chip Cookies. I love BIG cookies, especially for gift giving and thought they would be great to give the teachers for Valentine's. A BIG wrapped cookie is a great treat, but every time I've tried to bake them before, I haven't been happy with them. I am a cookie snob I guess, I like the cookies I bake to look perfect. =)
I followed the recipe you can find HERE minus the sea salt and they turned out PERFECT and BIG! They baked evenly and when done were lovely round thick cookies. The recipe made 18 cookies, and I plan to bake them again for Valentine's gifts. Give them a try, but make sure you give yourself 24 hours for the dough to chill. You won't be disappointed!

A blog I follow Lola..Again posted a cookie quiz so I took the quiz too! Here is my result;

Quizzes Girls Games

I love fortune cookies, so I think it's a good match for me! =) Although I'm not sure I would consider myself mysterious...but maybe I should!

Lucky Me....HOO? Me!

My little Valentine Owlie arrived today, YAY! He's is adorable and best of all I WON him! I was visiting Nikki of Whimsy Love's blog and she was offering a giveaway, and lucky me won. Check him out:

So sweet, thanks Nikki!! You can visit her blog HERE
On to some more owls...HOO? Owls! These are the Valentine's cards I made for the Craftster Classroom Valentine's Card Swap. My cards say "Love Owl-ways" and I really like the little owl stamp I used. He's a cutie too.

I am loving this swap because just about everyday I am receiving a Valentine in the mail and by the time it is done I will have 24 Valentine's. Just like in elementary school. It's always a nice surprise to see what will be waiting in my mail box. =)

SWAK XO

I have been lucky enough to have my Grandmother aka G.G. visiting with us for a few weeks. And my Mommie aka Sweetie also came down to visit with us and G.G. too. Oh and G.G. is Sweetie's Mommie. Okay...are you confused now?
Well, amongst all this confusion we have been crafting, YAY!! This is a project I have been working on, for Valentine's.

Just paper piecing on a canvas. Then I painted the edges, added some Modpodge, baubles and ribbon. The monkey is a pattern that can found in the current issue of Cloth Paper Scissors. They used a larger version to make a pieced pillow top. I made the froggie pattern after I was inspired by a frog I saw on a cellophane treat bag. I think froggie is my favorite. ;)

Blythe Charm Swap

This is another swap I am participating in. We will all have a lovely Blythe charm bracelet when we are done. Yay! I'll post pictures when it's done.

Yay I'm famous! Ok, not at all...

I am a member of Craftster and LOVE Craftster, do all kinds of swaps on it etc. I do periodically post completed projects and visit the site a lot. It is a great online community and I HIGHLY recommend joining it. Well, anyway, I was looking at their "Best of 2008" and under "Most Popular Swaps" category was the Chunky Book Page Swap I participated in. And I noticed that 2 of my chunky pages are featured in the photo. YAY!!! Mine are the ones in the upper left and lower right corner.

I recognized the LOVE one right away, but it took me a while to recognize the BLESSED one. If you ever have a chance to do a chunky page swap DO IT! So, fun =)
The Link to Craftster's "Best of 2008" is HERE

Great finds...

I received a number of yummy gift cards for Christmas and once school was back in session, I hit the stores!!!
Michael's had Martha goodies on clearance, I got these awesome rub-ons and cutie pie pennants for $1.49 each. YAY!

Then I found this FABulous mushroom fabric at Joann's which was not expensive per yard and then 30% off, WHEE!

Then, after school I was rooting around in the garage and found a bag of "old" junk jewelry and lookie what was hiding in there!!! I don't remember the story behind this one, I will ask my Mom. But I LOVE IT!!! The little faces are really sweet.

So other than the fact that I lost my NEW Brighton sunglasses somewhere along the way it was a GOOD day. =)

Resolutions....

Well, it's January 6th and I've already broken one of my resolutions....My resolution was to NOT participate in as many craft swaps this year, mainly to save some $, and I have signed up for three already...oh well, you only live once right?? =)
The first is a bookmark swap on Craftster. I had to make 4, easy peasy lemon squeezy. I did elastic style, which I love because it will not fall out of your book. Yay!

Bookmark in action:

If you want directions there is a great tutorial HERE
So, Happy New Year and happy reading!