Giveaway Announcement

Before I tell you about this giveaway, I want to send a heartfelt hug to the families of those we lost this past couple of weeks, beginning with David Carradine, then Ed McMahon, then Farrah Fawcett, and the one that has troubled me the most, Michael Jackson. I grew up with Michael. He was only about a year older than I and he was a huge part of my childhood and early adulthood.

I also heard tonight that Billy Mays, star pitchman for Oxy Clean, Orange Glo and other well known products was found dead today. This is just crazy and I hope that's the end of this for a long time.

So, that being said, for those who wish to participate in this giveaway, please leave a comment and tell me which one of these persons passing troubles you the most, and why. The winner will be announced on Sunday, July the 19th.

I am giving away this lovely oblong pin cushion with organza roses, rick-rack, crystal bead and "Made With Love" charm. The fabric is from a vintage pillowcase It is an odd shape that you never see and it's really pretty. Be sure to spread the word to your friends so that they can enter as well.

Good luck to the entrants!

I Know, I Know....

I said my last post was it for the week, but I was working on my Zazzle store and realized I had wanted to post about this design, because I think it's so cool! I don't normally purchase my own designs, but I'm getting one of these for myself in the form of a T-shirt. I put this design on several products in my shop, so there are a few things to choose from. Click on the image to visit my Zazzle store.

Last Two for the Week

OK, here are the last two items for this week that I've just put up in my Etsy Shop! Click the images for more details.

I'm under a time crunch right now, so that's it for today!

Have a great week!

Another Wallet and an Upcoming Give-Away

Here is another little wallet made just like the one I posted in my last entry, but with a more romantic and feminine style to it. I LOVE this one and am making one for myself. This is a fun and easy pattern to work with and I love this fabric combination. I also made a travel tissue holder in the same two fabrics, but I have to wait until tomorrow to photograph it. I like my photos in natural light. I think I'm going to do a zippered pouch and a checkbook cover in these fabrics as well, so be looking for those!

Click the picture for more views.

I'm planning another give-away soon, too. Just trying to decide what I want to give away. Be sure to check back often, as I will be announcing it soon!

Also remember that I'm posting all the family goings on etc., on my Deb's Daze blog now, so hop on over to hear to news.

Pattern Perfected

I have been messing around with this pattern for ages and finally got it the way I want it. Thank goodness for yucky scrap fabric that nobody would want. ::smile::

These are so fun and easy to make and I'm gonna be making quite a few of them. There are so many design and embellishment possibilities! Perhaps I'll sell the pattern? We'll see.

If you'd like to purchase this cute little wallet, it's available in my ETSY shop.

Is it Soap Yet?

YES, it is soap! I'm posting this on both of my blogs, because this is something I've been trying to figure out for a long time. What to do with all those little bits of soap that your frugal tendencies won't let you throw away? I've Googled it and found a few ideas, but I decided to try something and it looks like it's going to work!

I saved up soap chips for a while and then I took and grated them with a cheese grater. When you grate soap, some of it's chunky and some it turns to a finer powder, but it doesn't matter as long as the pieces are small. These are bits of Dove and Ivory.

Once grated, put it all into a bowl and add a tiny amount of water. Just enough to make the bits so they'll bind together. You may want to wear some latex gloves for this. After you mix it, let it rest for a couple of hours and some of the moisture will evaporate. If you get it too wet, let it sit longer.

Scoop the mixture out with your fingers and shape it into whatever shape you like. Compress it tightly so that all the pieces bind together nicely. Knead it together really well, and set them out on a piece of wax paper and let them dry out more. The more they dry out the more like a bar of soap they will become.

Below are the first ones I made. They're a bit rough and primitive, but they work wonderfully and being that they are round, I bet they can be used in the shower until they are pretty small and won't break in half like a regular rectangular bar of soap would. For the next batch, I'll smooth them out more.

Give this a try. It really works and you can do your part to avoid soap waste!

Deb's Daze is Reopening

Well.....it IS a woman's prerogative to change her mind, right?

Actually, since I stopped posting to Deb's Daze back when, I realized that having my business and personal stuff on the same blog was a bit hard to manage. Some people aren't interested in my personal stuff and vice versa, so it's just a matter of practicality and wanting to keep my business stuff separate. I will put links to my personal stuff in the sidebar, but won't post about my personal stuff here. If you're interested in reading about the more personal side of my life...my children...grand baby and other family stuff, you can visit my Deb's Daze blog.

Swagbucks

If you're unfamiliar with Swagbucks, basically it's a search engine that randomly rewards you with points just for doing online searches. That is really all there is to it. I just signed up today!

On Average, you'll earn between 1-3 points per day for searches and when you have 45 points, you can cash in for a $5 Amazon gift card. There are also a bunch of other prizes that you can save up points for.

Just click the button below to check it out!

What Would You Grab?

OK, so I'm having a really nice weekend and today, in my opinion, was a lovely weather day. I was home alone. Everyone else was off doing other things. It was overcast and somewhat cool. I really like it like that. I lazed around most of the day and at about 1:30 I decided I should probably go take a shower. So, I'm standing there with my hair full of shampoo and all of a sudden.....the "air raid siren" starts going off. That can only mean on e thing....a TORNADO has been spotted over our area. I start freaking out, because I don't know how close it is, or how much time I might have to escape. I am frantically trying to rinse the suds out of my hair and I bolt from the shower trying to dry off a little and find something to put on. I look out the window and I can see the funnel cloud descending downward. I go into panic mode. Of course, it's times like this that you can't find ANYTHING you're looking for. So, I grabbed a pair of sweat pants that were hanging on the back of my door....yanked a t-shirt out of the drawer and put it on quick...skipping the undergarments....slipped my feet into my Crocs and then started thinking about what I needed to grab before I leave the house. I chose my purse and my laptop.

What would you grab in that situation?

I turn off the TV and run to my car. Right before I get into the car, my son, Dj calls me up and I can't hear him due to the deafening sound of the siren. I yell to him that I'll call him when I get away from it. I start heading toward my son, Jason's house, because he has a basement and lives nearby. I call his cell phone on the way and it turns out he's in another city and his girlfriend is at work and they're not there. So, I decided to turn around and head for the fire station where there's a tornado shelter. When I came close to my house again, I don't see the twister anymore and the siren was off. I decided it was probably safe to go back home.

When I got back inside, I became aware that my heart was pounding and my hands were shaking. It took me a minute to come back down to earth and I was just relieved that it had passed us by. However, it did touch down in another city and caused some minor damage to some homes and cars. Nobody was hurt though, last I heard.

WHEW, what a day!

I did manage to salvage the rest of the day and when my daughter got home we sat down and watched Slumdog Millionaire. It was a really good movie. I was glad, because the last "critically acclaimed" film I saw was The Wrestler and I hated it. In my opinion, it was a low budget piece of trash with a horrible ending. It left me saying, "Is that it???" I am glad I didn't go out and buy it like I often do with movies.

We cleaned out the shed on Saturday and did some outside sprucing up and the yard looks really nice.

So, that's about it for now. I was up early and am super tired, so I'm off to bed.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Holy Cute!

Just a quick note to show you what I just put up in my Etsy Shop!