Valentine’s Day Treasury- It’s just around the corner

I was included in this beautiful treasury over at Etsy by a fellow Schooling at Home Etsyian, PuddinToes.

Giveaway Over at OrganicMamas

A fellow SHE (Schooling at Home Estyians) Teamer is offering up an amazing prize pack that has been contributed to by various other SHE Team members.  In honor of her 100th sale, Shannon, is making this giveaway available to customers, Facebook fans, bloggers, and the like.  Check out more information at her blog, Organic Mama’s Blog, and be sure to stop by her shop to give her some love, Organic Mama’s Place.

Above you can see the card I have contributed as part of the prize package.  There are many other great items, so be sure to check out this giveaway!

3,000 Hit Giveaway

Though I may not maintain this blog consistently, it appears I have enough visitors pass by from time to time that I reached 3,000 hits.  How fun!

As a thank you for any and all who may drop by, I am listing a bit of blog candy today.  Enter to win this fun little pack of cards.  It contains 6 cards, 2 each of 3 designs (and maybe a little extra will be thrown in).  Anyone who has been here before can see that my interests are many and my tastes varied.  I love arts and crafts of all kinds, and appreciate seeing what others enjoy, too.  So, to participate in this giveaway, please leave a comment about what you do.  What are some of your favorite crafts?  Leave follow-up comments if you choose to tweet this/follow my blog.

All entries must be received by the end of the year, December 31, 2009, at midnight.  The winner will be chosen using www.random.org and announced here January 1, 2010.  Hope you all enjoy the little we have left of 2009!

Christmas Felted Slippers

I started these slippers last year, thinking I would give them as gifts for Christmas.  Thankfully I only finished the first pair before other things occupied my time.  That allowed me to work on completing the other three pairs this year for my four children.  (Since I had the one pair completed I just passed those down to the next youngest from whom they were intended and made a larger pair for my older son.)

The knitting went quickly, and, even though they looked like clown socks, they turned out great once they were felted.  I chose to make them large sizes so I could felt them completely by putting them through 2 full wash cycles.  By doing this I created a thick finished slipper with no stitch definition.  The kids’ initials are needle-felted on the tops of the slippers to personalize them.  My second oldest wanted his G’s in cursive.  You can also see that the slippers have been finished with and without cuffs, somewhat based on personal preference (and lack of time =).

The kids love them, and they especially like that they make great “skating” slippers for sliding around our kitchen floor.  Interested in the pattern?  It is the Striped Slipper Socks from Knit One, Felt Too by Kathleen Taylor.  The yarn was purchased from Huggy Bear Knits, beautiful hand-dyed yarns.

Bugs Bunny Birthday

Bunny Amigurumi

For months I have listened to my third son requesting a “Bunny Birthday”. In the process we decided to make it a Bugs Bunny birthday to specify a more boyish theme and give us something to work with. Well, that proved to be rather challenging.  Looney Tunes are hard to come by right now in the commercial realm.  So implementing where needed and doing what we could, we have pulled together a fun day of activities and plans for our 4-year-old. He seems to be pleased!
I wanted to show the cake, as it turned out even better than I expected.  This started as two round cakes.

The amigurumi is largely based off the pattern you can find here and is sporting a hat that matches one I made my son a year ago.

Bugs Bunny Birthday Cake

Very Hungry Caterpillar on Etsy

In the process of planning for school I am preparing a preschool unit based on the well-loved book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.  As I am also an avid Etsy fan, I thought I’d check out what others have created based on the vivid images from this book.  Let the caterpillar parade begin!

This first image is a bright, fun blanket sewn by MamaSewCrazy. 

 Next is this adorable onesie from Speckled Sunshine .  Love the quote on the bum =)

JumpingBeanDesigns has created this wonderful, reusable snack sack.

Mazzy522 has these cute, coordinating hair clips for sale in her shop.

And, not forgetting Mom, here is an excellent apron made by Osha.  It’s even reversible!

So many fabulous caterpillar items, indeed there are more to be found on Etsy.  Hope you enjoyed some of these as much as I have!

Ellemar Designs Offering Free Shipping

One of my fellow SHE (Schooling at Home Etsians) Team members if offering an excellent deal right now in her shop until the end of the month.  FREE SHIPPING on all items purchased before August 31!  She has some wonderful pieces that I have had my eye on for a while and thought I’d share this great deal with you.

Laurel of Ellemar Designs has the following to share about herself and her interests:

I’ve been artistically inclined my whole life, but started creating art on ceramics just a couple years ago. My Etsy shop has been open since October 2008, and I’ve added abstract drawings and acrylic/mixed media paintings to the ceramics I started with. I’m a stay-at-home home-schooling mother, living in Upstate NY, with my husband, two kids, and a large gaggle of small pets. My other passions (besides art) are perennial gardening, history (everywhere/everywhen), and reading (about gardening and history, of course – but I also love books by Terry Pratchett, Brian Jacques and Dick Francis, among many others). I suppose “artsy-bookwormish-nature girl” would describe me pretty well.

Be sure to stop by her shop and take a look.

Collections beginning for Preemie Presents

Last year I came across a mom who prepares gift packages for families that have been blessed with the birth of a premature baby.  Lady Nunn, works throughout the year to bring presents to those who are struggling with the difficulties these little lives pose.  As she herself dealt with this issue in her own family, she knows firsthand the challenges each of these people deal with.  If you’d like to learn more go to Preemie Presents to read about the current call for package donations and to read about past package presentations.

New Shop Item

Well, I have finally done it!  I was able to list a new item in my Etsy shop.  Yes, it seems like it has been a while since I have listed anything of any relevance, so I am pretty excited about getting this finished.

As you can see from the image the newest product is a pet scrapbook.  My hope is to have more of these listed soon as I have the materials to make quite a few.  Check out my shop here and stop back by soon to see what else is coming your way.

Have a great day!

Featured in a Fun Red Treasury

Thought I’d share this great treasury put together by a fellow SHE (Schooling at Home Etsians) Team member, Prairiecottagerose.  In the lower left corner you can see my Red Sunday Dress card.  It is always fun to be honored by being featured in an Etsy treasury!