Stuff

Hi all... hope you're having a good week so far. It is very hot and muggy here in AZ, so I'm just doing my best to try and stay cool. Been doing alot of sewing ... figured out how to make a zippered pouch... zippers are easier than I thought! I am taking my first sewing class this afternoon at my local Jo-Ann store. It is the beginner class, but hope to learn some new stuff. Then in a couple of weeks I will take the 201 class in which we will be making a jacket.

I will be working on Debi Y.'s tote this week... I picked out some really cute fabric Debi, I hope you will like it!

Here are some more pictures of the new kittens. They are growing by leaps and bounds:

They love hanging out in the craft room with me, and their favorite place to sleep is on top of the printer. They get a birds eye view of the front yard, although they're sleeping most of the time that they're up there! Our other cats are getting along with them just fine, thank goodness. It is alot of fun having these 3 crazy kittens around.

That's it for me for now.

And the Giveaway Winner is.....

It's time to announce the winner of my 100th Post Giveaway. Here was the process of picking the winner - first I typed up all the names:

Mr. S. helped out by putting all the names in one of his Arizona Cardinals hats:

Then he shook them all around and drew this name:

Congratulations to DEBI Y.  ... you are the winner!!! Debi, you said you would like a tote bag, so just send me an e-mail at azbelle3@yahoo.com letting me know if you want the black initial bag or a reversible bag. If you want the reversible bag, let me know some of your favorite colors and I will try to oblige!

Thanks to everyone who entered...  if you didn't win this time around, have no fear... I am always doing giveaways. I am almost up to 50 followers, so maybe when I hit that number I will do another one.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Last Day to Enter my Giveaway

Don't forget that you have until midnight tonight to enter my giveaway. I'll draw the winner tomorrow.

100th Post Giveaway.... Finally!

I know I promised a Giveaway for my 100th post ... and that was a few posts ago! I've been trying to think up something fun and clever but I got nuthin'! So here's the deal - just follow the easy Giveaway Rules below and enter to win. What can you win you ask? Well, how about the winner gets to choose from one of the following items you've seen me post about on my blog:

• Placemat Purse
• Tote Bag (it can be a black canvas tote with your initial like the one I made Becky or a reversible tote that I make for you, your choice)
• Crochet Hook Case
• Knitting Needle Case
• Fabric Covered Mouse Pad

Here are the Giveaway Rules:

1.  You must be a follower of this blog to enter.
2.  Leave a comment on this post telling me that you'd like to enter the giveaway and what you'd like to win.
3.  Deadline to enter is by midnight this Friday, July 23, 2010.

That's it.... easy peasy!  If you'd like to post about this Giveaway on your own blog, feel free .....  the more the merrier.  I'll either use a number generator or pick the name out of a hat to pick the winner (depends on how many entries I get).

Good luck to all.

If You're Happy and You Know It...

make a Happiness Board! I was inspired by this post today over at The Crafting Chicks blog. What a great idea to make something that reminds you of those things that make you the happiest every time you look at it.

Here's mine, posted up in my craft room so I can see it all the time:

I simply covered a piece of cork tile with fabric (a fat quarter fit perfectly) and then added photos of loved ones, the pink "S" that always makes me smile, my business card, and some things to remind me of my travels to the Philippines and Hawaii. I then found a quote I liked about happiness and put it right in the middle of the board.

I know I'll continue to add to this as I come across more things that make me happy!  I hope you take a minute today to think about those things that make you happiest... I'm sure it will make you smile.

A Lovely Gift

My neighbor came over yesterday bearing a lovely gift for me. Take a look:

Isn't this a beautiful sweater?? She knit it for me using my favorite yarn, Hobby Lobby's I Love This Yarn. The size is perfect too. Now I can't wait for the cooler weather so that I can wear it. Don't you just love getting unexpected gifts? It sure made my day.

The Reason I'm Not Crocheting as Much Right Now...

Well, actually, there are three reasons:

and their names are Ellie, Sammi and Cleo! Yes, believe it or not we adopted three kittens from a rescue shelter. That brings our total number of cats to 6. I know, I know, we have officially become Crazy Cat People. We just couldn't help ourselves, I mean, look at them.... are they cute or what???

Ellie and Sammi are sisters, and Cleo was in the same foster home with them and had bonded with them, so we couldn't very well not take her now could we??

I've never had children, but I think having 3 kittens in the house has got to be similar to having kids. They get into everything, are constantly hungry, squabble with each other, and are complete angels when they're asleep!

The only time I can crochet is when they are all asleep at the same time! I can get more sewing done because they don't mess with the sewing machine. They like to hang out in the craft room with me and will usually just fall asleep while I'm sewing.

So now you know why you haven't seen much crocheting from me lately. I did manage to make a couple more of the cup cozies.

There was a third one, but I gave it to my neighbor and didn't get a chance to take a photo of it. Speaking of my neighbor, she sold 4 of the placemat purses for me ... yay! I'm so excited to have sold something... not so much for the money, but for the fact that it lets me know people like what I'm making, and will actually pay money for it!

I need to go get dinner in the crockpot, clean up the house and do some laundry. Hope you have a great day.

I Started Another Blog

Since sewing seems to be at the forefront of my crafting, at least for the moment, I decided to start a blog dedicated only to sewing. It is called "Sandy Sewz" and you can find it HERE.

I'll still be updating this blog too, so I'll still be around! If you are into sewing, I hope you'll check it out.

I Love a Bargain

I found a discount fabric store yesterday and look what I found:

Moda, Heather Bailey and Amy Butler fabric for $3.95 a yard!!! That is an incredible deal. I also found some purse handles to use with my placemat purses for only $2.25 each and some webbing to use for my tote bag handles for only 65 cents a yard. I sure do loves me some bargains!

Friday Inspiration

It's the best day of the week, Friday... yay!  Hope all of my blogging friends have had a great week.

Last night's dinner was soooooo good.... if you haven't tried the Asian Noodle Salad that Pammy Sue featured on her blog, you need to. It was delicious, and you don't feel guilty eating it since it is packed with veggies. Mr. S. ate two big heaping platefuls of it!

Last night after dinner I crocheted a little cup cozy that I also found on Pammy Sue's blog. I used her pattern of HDC with a shell border:

I found a skein of Hobby Lobby ILTY that I had bought awhile back (color is Ombre/Sunrise) and an "I" hook. I'm going to make several more of these, as I'm thinking these would be great to have on hand when we have company over; you can slip this onto your cup and then you'll know which one is yours.

Thanks so much for all of the inspiration Pammy...

I'm off to do more crafting... maybe make some more of my placemat purses and crochet a few more cup cozys. Have a great weekend all.

Thursday Things

I made two more placemat purses yesterday:

Thank you all so much for your nice comments about these purses.... one will definitely be included in my giveaway. I really enjoy making these, they're a lot of fun to do.

I spent a good part of yesterday (with help from my Mom) organizing our den/craft room and am so pleased with the results. Everything now has a place, and Mr. S. can still use the room without feeling overwhelmed by craft items everywhere! Here are a couple of pics:

I found the green tray in the office supply section at Wal-Mart... it is a great holder for my scissors, tape measure, etc. The green flower cup holds chalk pencils, seam rippers, sewing gauges and other assorted items. I got it (along with the green "S" just for fun!) at Michael's for half price.

The bookcase still has some books and photos in it, but I managed to secure the top of it and the bottom shelf for my plastic bins full of sewing items. I stuck my ironing board between the bookcase and the wall, and used an empty basket to hold all of my odd-shaped items that wouldn't fit in containers. I'm so looking forward to crafting/sewing in here now!

I had my 6 week check up today (has it really been that long since the surgery??) and the doctor gave me a clean bill of health.. yay! I can't believe how much better I feel since having the hysterectomy... wish now I had done it years ago!

I am trying something new for dinner tonite.... the Asian Noodle Salad that Pammy featured on her blog the other day. It looked so delicious I just had to try it... besides, it is too hot to use the stove anyway! I've got oodles of veggies to chop up, so I better get in the kitchen. Hope you have a great rest of your day.

Just Call Me the Bag Lady...

Hi, my name is Sandy, and I'm a Bag-a-Holic!! Yes, the bag bug has bitten me and I can't stop making them. Is there a 12 step program for this??? Ha Ha

My newest obsession is making Placemat Purses. Here are a few:

The first one I made ribbon handles, then decided that wouldn't be sturdy enough, so I found some sturdier handles (on clearance at Jo-Ann for 97 cents, so I bought all they had). I plan on re-doing the handles on the sunflower purse.

I've got several more I'm going to make because I might actually sell some of these..... yay! I'll tell you more about that later when/if it happens.

Hey, guess what? This is my 100th post. You know what that means don't ya? Yep, another giveaway to celebrate. I'll try to think up something fun, so stay tuned.

glitter-graphics.com


Hope all my blogging friends have a very Happy 4th of July!!

Fast and Easy 4th of July Projects

I put together some really easy 4th of July decorations for my table. The inspiration came from here and I just elaborated on it a little further. All you do is color white rice with food coloring... fast and easy!

I had extra rice leftover after I made the first project, so I took a canning jar and added all three colors of rice mixed up and then added a votive candle and a ribbon... so simple.

Hope everyone has a very safe and Happy 4th of July.