My Lucky Day

A couple of weeks ago, The Cottage Home blog held a fat quarter giveaway in conjunction with Riley Blake Fabrics.  The prize was a fat quarter bundle from the fabric line Little Matryoshka by Carly Griffith. 

Well, I don't enter a lot of blog giveaways because sometimes it can be a lot of trouble but this fabric was just so cute that I had to.  And guess what?  I won.  Can you believe it?  It's like winning the lottery because so many people enter to win.

Any who, Riley Blake Designs contacted me promptly and sent me this lovely fabric. 

I dont' have a clue what I'm going to do with it but for now I just like looking at it.

I'd like to make something for my MIL because purple is her favorite color but she's not always receptive to gifts.
I couldn't get my lighting right when I took these pics so some of them make the fabric look washed out but it's not.  Some of the colors are soft such as lilac and pale aqua but others are very bright like the dark purple and orange.  It goes so well together and would look great in a quilt. 

So now I just have to decide what to make with it.  Any suggestions?

And a special THANK YOU to Lindsay at The Cottage Home and to Riley Blake Fabrics for sponsoring this give away.  You guys rock!

Back to School Etsymom Blog Giveaway

The Etsymom Team is featuring several Back to School blog giveaways and this weeks featured giveaway shop is Handmade Whimzy (that's me!).

My giveaway is a set of my mini ribbon bookmarks.  So if you didn't win the set that I gave away here on my blog a couple of weeks ago, you have another shot.  Just go here to the team blog and see the many ways to sign up.

You could win this:

And the winner is.....

My first ever blog giveaway has officially ended.  I got 16 comments!!  YAY!!

So I went to random.org and put in 1 and 16 and the randomly generated number is.................

#6

The winner of my mini ribbon bookmark giveaway is Amber owner of TwistedRibbonsBows on etsy.  She is actually having a giveaway on her blog RIGHT NOW!  She sells the cutest hair accessories for little girls.   Check out her blog here and her etsy shop here.

Thanks to everyone who participated!!  The Etsymom's blog is having a back to school giveaway featuring another set of my ribbon bookmarks starting August 26th.  Check out the team blog for more details.

First ever bottle cap pincushion

I've long admired the bottle cap pincushion - in all their tiny goodness.  There are many sold on etsy using recycled soda or water bottle caps as their base and they are adorable.  Little tiny works of art in felt.  In fact, I bought this one from Refabulous almost 2 years ago.  I long to start collecting them. 

I started making one several months ago but never got past sewing the bottom to the band that goes around the side.

So this past weekend, I made one from start to finish.  I followed the instructions on Craftstylish written by Jen Segrest who I believe has been selling these for some time.  Instead of using a soda cap, I used a peanut butter jar cap - so my pincushion isn't little bitty, it's fairly big - about 3 inches across.  I made the flower and leaf on top using my own flower drawing.  It's alittle bit primitive but I tried really hard to keep my stitches uniform and it was good practice for me.  I can't wait to make one with a soda cap.

The only complaint I have about the instructions is that it leads you to believe you can embroidery the side of the pincushion after it is completely finished.  How do you do that?  You have to bring your needle and floss up from the back of the felt but the back is all sewn up into the pincushion.  You can't get to the back because your pincushion is complete.

Huh.  That was a stumper for me.  There I sit, all ready to embroider pretty flowers around my base but couldn't figure out how to do it.  Next time I'm just going to embroider each piece before attaching them all together.

I really enjoyed making this.  I think I've come up with a Christmas idea that would make cute teacher's gifts.  I'll keep you posted with how they turn out.  I have to collect more bottle caps first.

**Don't forget to enter my blog giveaway.  Only 2 more days to enter.  Just click here.

Heat Wave Blog Giveaway!

I'm having my first ever blog giveaway!  YAY!

In celebration (or despair) of the horrible heat wave that has hit us all this summer, I am giving away a set of my mini ribbon bookmarks in sunny citrus colors. 

You will get the set of 3 ribbon bookmarks - one red ribbon, 1 yellow ribbon, and 1 orange ribbon with white spots.  The charms dangling from the bottom are silver plated laser cut hearts with sunbursts inside. They are topped off with orange cat's eye beads and red and yellow glass flower beads.

Total length on each one is approximately 5 1/2 inches (14.5 cm) from the top of the beads to the bottom of the charm.  These are perfect as a back to school gift or to keep!  They work great in any book as the bookmark lays flat while the beads dangle out of the top.  I will wrap this in a sweet little handmade pillow box before I ship it.

**This giveaway is limited to shipping addresses in the US or Canada due to shipping costs. Sorry :(

Ways to enter the giveaway:

1.  Follow my blog and leave a comment on this post that you are now a follower.  If you already follow, just leave a comment that you were already following.

2.  Go to my etsy shop - http://HandmadeWhimzy.etsy.com - and leave a comment on this post with a link to your favorite item in my shop.

The winner will be chosen by using the random number generator.  Blog contest is open through Wednesday, August 18th.  I will randomly generate the winner on August 19th  (a week from tomorrow).

New Giveaway at Etsymom's Blog

The Etsymom Team is having a giveaway on our blog this week sponsored by FeltedKitten.  She is giving away your choice of either a pink or blue felt crown.  They are adorable and they fit adult heads - I checked.  LOL 

To enter and to read about Felted Kitten, click HERE.

This is my favorite item in her shop - a felted cupcake pin cushion.  It could also be used as play food.

It's made from upcycled sweaters.  I think that's so clever.  And so yummy looking.

So check out the Etsymom team blog and enter to win a crown.  Then no one will be able to argue with you when you say you're the Queen because you'll have the crown to prove it.  LOL

Summer Fun Giveaway from Etsymoms Team!

My team, EtsyMoms, is having a summer fun giveaway on our blog. The etsy shop - ShopAnnaVirginia is hosting the giveaway and the prize is a sweet, crocheted flower for your hair.

All you have to do to enter to win, is visit Anna Virginia's shop and leave a comment on the EtsyMoms blog with your favorite item you've found in her shop. It's pretty hard to choose as she's got some cute stuff.

This was my favorite item - lemon yellow shoes for baby. Those are so cute, I could just cry.

There are many other ways to win so just visit our team blog to find out how. Tomorrow is the last day to enter - June 9th - so don't delay!

The more times you enter, the higher your chances of winning!

Thanks ShopAnnaVirginia for supporting EtsyMoms!

A sweet little card

A few weeks ago, I entered a blog giveaway at Etsy Greetings. A cute little card shop named Klow was giving away an all occassion card. It's the prettiest little card with oranges and turquoise and a little crocheted flower.

I just love it.

I was lucky enough to be the winner of this sweet little card. Thanks so much Etsy Greetings and Klow.

If you haven't checked out Etsy Greetings blog, it's definitely worth your while. They feature different team members each week and frequently do blog giveaways. I've found several new "favorite" card shops through them.

Klow has some really cute things in her shop, too. Like this Backpack note set - this would be a perfect gift for a tween who likes to write. She crochetes the flowers that she uses on her cards. You can find them in her other shop - sugaryarn.

I WON!

Yay! I won Wise Impressions blog giveaway for this past week. It's a really cute pumpkin bookmark.

Thanks so much Cindy!

I can't wait to get it.

Remember all, Cindy is doing a blog giveaway every week. Go to her blog HERE to sign up. Signing up is very easy and she tells you how to sign up multiple times so that you have more chances to win.

To visit Cindy's etsy store, click HERE.

Free Stuff!! Blog Giveaway!!

One of our ETC team members, Cindy of Wiseimpressions is having a blog giveaway of a lovely fall bookmark.

Cindy makes sweet little pottery dishes, bookmarks, magnets, etc.
This is one of my favorite pieces from her shop:

Her prices are extremely reasonable for handmade and handpainted. Her pieces are very cute and would make lovely gifts.

I'm planning to give all my son's teachers a "handmade basket" of goodies for Christmas this year. So I'm already looking and thinking and trying to decide what to put in them. Of course, I will make something for the baskets, but I also want to put in some of the items I love from some of my team mates shops. I think they are going to turn out great. I have my eye on some magnets from Cindy's shop for my baskets.

Cindy is doing a blog giveaway every week in her shop, right now. This week, she is giving away a fall bookmark.
Go HERE to the WiseImpressions blog to sign up. Maybe you'll be the winner - or maybe I will :)

Deadline to sign up for a chance to win the sweet fall bookmark is Monday - that's tomorrow!! So do it now!!
And remember, she's having a giveaway every week, so keep checking back.

**(for some reason, blogger is not letting me post a pic of the giveaway prize but you can go to Cindy's blog to see it)