It's All About the Giveaways!

It seems like all I've been doing lately is tell you about giveaways, but, really, who doesn't want to know about cool, free stuff?

So here's another one for you, and it's a really good one. Puj Baby is giving away 100 baby tubs! Yeah, that's a lot of tubs, so your odds of winning are actually quite phenomenal. They're looking for product testers, so you need to be a mom with a baby, and you need to have a blog or website where you can post a review. And the tub is yours to keep!

Are you in? If so, click here for more details and to enter. The deadline is November 11th, so hurry over!

Even More Little Joys!

Remember my talented friend, Karla? She just opened an etsy shop of her very own! It's called Gracious Bloom, and it is graciously blooming with beautiful, imaculately-made purses, wallets, and gift tags.




I'm lucky enough to own a wallet and gift tags Karla made. Well, the gift tags are all gone, actually. They're so handy, they got used pretty quick!

My favorite thing in her shop right now is this adorable Petals Pink Errand Bag.

PLUS: In celebration of the shop opening Karla is doing another GIVEAWAY. Check out her blog for more details.

Back in August, I made my first purchase for the nursery. It is a lamp shaped like a dachshund. I think it's adorable, and it gives off the perfect amount of light to be an ideal night light. I love it. When I tried to explain it to people, they gave me lots of interesting looks. I would try to reassure them, "I know it sounds weird, but I promise it's really cute!" I don't know if anyone believes me until they see it. I thought I'd post pictures for those of you that my have heard about it, but hadn't seen it in person yet. Apparently I'm not the only one that thinks it is the perfect accessory for a child's room. Look at all the pictures below of other peoples nurseries and children's rooms with this lamp. And these are just ones that I've happened upon while doing my blog surfing, not specifically looking for this lamp.

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So there, I'm not crazy weird, I'm crazy like a fox (or dachshund).

Our nursery is still a work-in-progress, but I promise to post pictures once it's all done!

Little Joys for You!

My uber talented friend, Karla, is doing a lovely give-away on her blog, Little Joys. This girl has serious skills in all things crafty. Just look at the baby present she made me!

Remember what my stuffed elephant looked like?

Yeah, she's good. So be sure to check out her blog and enter her giveaway!

Babies and Beads

My SIL Emily just gave birth to her fifth, beautiful child last week, and blogged about it the same day. Amazing, that woman is! I made a couple of appliqued onsies as a welcome-to-earth present for the little man. Even though they are kind of outer space themed onsies...

Also last week, my sister Nancy and her daughter came over for dinner and hang out time while the boys went to the football game. She and I, along with our mother, went to a bead show in salt lake city about a week ago, and Nancy purchased some festive beads. She brought them down to girls night and had me turn them into a necklace charm with matching earrings. After I made them she said, "Oh, I guess I probably could have done that myself. But it's just a lot easier to have you do it!" Lucky for you, she decided to pay-it-forward and is now giving away the necklace and earrings as a set on her blog, so go sign up here!

I also made a necklace this weekend during general conference out of the beads I bought, but that post is forth-coming, as I have yet to take any pictures. You'll just have to wait patiently.

I'm pretty sure my heart skipped a beat when I saw this picture on tastespotting.

Chocolate, peanut butter, cream cheese, peanut butter cups. It's like a combination of all the best things you could ever eat! If it tastes half as good as it looks/sounds, I would be one happy camper. I will be trying this recipe. Peabody, you are crazy like a fox!

Oooh...Ahhh...

Check out this slide show with interesting public gardens around the world. These are some of my favorites. (from top to bottom, Costa Rica, France, England).

Haven't You Always Wanted A Stuffed Elephant Shrew?

I've always admired the work of people who make soft sculptures, like Abby Glassenberg. Probably because I wish I was better at sewing. I can get by, but don't look too close, or you'll see a lot of tucks, and crooked seams, etc. I'm just a little too lazy to fix things when they go wrong. So over a year ago I found a pattern on Martha Stewart for making soft toys. It seemed relatively simple. I thought I'd try it out.
The thing was, I didn't want to make a lamb, or a chicken, or a pig. I wanted to make an elephant. I'm kind of an elephant fan. So I thought I'd just use the pig pattern, but alter it slightly to make it an elephant. No big, right?
I just used some scraps I had in my sewing room and got started. Everything seemed to be going well at first, but kind of went down hill. I got to the part where I needed to stuff it, but I didn't have any stuffing on hand, and I was feeling like it wasn't turning out well, so I just put it in one of my drawers, and there it sat. Sad and unfinished. Silently mocking me for my lack of sewing skills.
Fast forward to now, and I decided to finish it. Because I'm having a baby. Have I mentioned that? Yes, I'm having a baby. We're thrilled. And I wanted to make a toy for the baby. I bought some stuffing and some jingle bells to make it rattle, stuffed away, and hand stitched the opening closed. Now I could get a good look at the completed piece:





It kind of doesn't look like an elephant. This is what I was going for:



It kind of looks like a cross between a mouse and an elephant. Like this:



So if anyone asks, I totally made an elephant shrew on purpose, and the big ears are just use of my artistic license.

This Necklace Has Yet To Be Named

Oh, I have been a lazy blogger! I apologize for that. I actually made this necklace like two weeks ago, but just never got around to taking some good pictures of it. I got the idea for this one laying awake in bed one night, and made it the next day. I usually just start making a necklace without laying it out first, but this one required a little more planning. And even after that I did a little editing on the fly to get it the way I wanted. The stones I used (in order, starting from the light yellow going to the deep red) were citrine, carnelian, pink peruvian opal, tourmaline, and garnet.

p.s. I made those peanut butter cookies from the previous post. Phenomenal, and quite easy. Two thumbs up!

A Bevy of Beauties

I signed up to bring dessert to a work party at the end of this month, and I have about a googillian recipes I've been wanting do try. Maybe I'll bring a dessert platter with some of each of these. You know, so I have an excuse to try them all.

Four Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

Lime Melt-Aways

Hazelnut Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Oreo Truffles

Is it obvious that I've been spending entirely too much time on tastespotting?

Janice Necklace

My good friend Janice is getting married in August, and I am so happy for her! Janice and I met while "working together at H-E-double-hockey-sticks". Her words, not mine. Mine probably wouldn't have been so forgiving. I'm pretty sure I only lasted as long as I did because of her and one other friend I made there.
She requested a custom necklace for her special day, and I was thrilled/honored to make it for her. She sent me pictures of her dress and pretty much gave me free reign to make whatever I thought would look best. Here are some pictures of what I came up with:



Jan, I hope you love it, and I can't wait to see you at your open house in Utah!

Edit: My mom pointed out that I didn't tell you what kinds of beads I used! Can't believe I forgot that one. This piece is on sterling silver wire and has pearl, rock crystal, moonstone, Czech glass beads in silver, clear and clear AB finish.

Now That Billy Mays is Gone...

Who will fill his shoes?