Holiday Deals & Reasons I'm Insane...

If you're sane and staying home today, doing your shopping online, come check out my Black Friday Sale! I'm offering free domestic shipping, and a free gift with every purchase!

I am not sane.

I went to JoAnn's thinking it wouldn't be as crazy as the Toy R Us next door. WRONG. I had fabric being held at the cutting counter, so I walked in, nearly had a heart attack when seeing the line inside, and reluctantly grabbed a ticket. They were on #83. I was #43.

After a good 20+ minutes of waiting (by then they were only on #86) a nice shopper let me know there was a line for 3 bolts or less. I hopped over there quick and had cut fabric in hand by the time the I'm-buying-too-much-fabric line I was originally in got to #1. Of course it still took a good 45 minutes in the get-me-outta-here-quick line.

I waited right in a long aisle of quilting items. I'm a self-taught, just-started quilter. I didn't even know half of this stuff existed. I learned quickly that I'm making things much more difficult than necessary. Story of my life.

I left with the 1 fabric I came for...

AND a really fabulous blue quilter's cotton I probably don't need, a super soft butterfly fleece I definitely don't need, and a cotton Christmas tree fabric I'll never use. Four spools of thread and a cool Draft N Cut ruler-thing.

Did I buy anything for anyone else? Nooooooo. Did I remember after all that time in line that I should check out the rotary cutters that are supposed to be used with the ruler? Noooooo. Did I buy the magnet parts that I needed? Noooooooo. Did I save a super huge ton of money? Noooooooo. Did I totally show up for this shopping insanity in my pjs? Yesssssss.

Happy Holidays!

And The Winner Is....

EcoChicHandknits!! Thank you so much to all of you who entered my giveaway! EcoChic will be receiving a goodie from my shop as well as that AWESOME planner from AnArtfulAgenda!

Stay tuned for more giveaways after the holidays!

And since you're already here and all, why not go check out EcoChic's shop! She makes these awesome crochet bowls perfect for your little goodies! I would totally use one of these for my jewelry at night!

Photo courtesy of EcoChicHandknits. Go buy her stuff.

IT'S A SHFoR GIVEAWAY!!

I'm keeping this giveaway as the top post on my blog for it's duration. If you're looking for newer posts just scroll on past this one!

My first ever giveaway! I always thought that when I finally got around to doing a giveaway that it would be for an item from my own Etsy shop, but then I bought something perfect and awesome on Etsy.

Ok ok I buy a lot of awesome from Etsy, but this I realllllly needed and it's so fabulous. So what did I do? I went back and bought 2 more! Just so I could give one away on my blog!





Meet AnArtfulAgenda. She makes amazing planners, organizers, etc. They are spiral bound with a nice thick cover. And a pen fits into the spiral which is a must for my notebooks. But that is not the best part. They are FILLED with artwork from various artists that collaborated with her on this project. Every single page has beautiful art in many different styles. It's just an amazing book. Even if I didn't seriously need a planner, I'd have bought it anyway. It is PERFECT. And I want to share.




Enter now to win your very own planner from AnArtfulAgenda! I'm planning on throwing in a goodie from my shop as well, I just haven't decided what yet. Hope you like surprises, lol.



So here's the deal. You can enter as many times as you'd like. There's a few different ways to enter:

*** Leave a comment on this blog = 1 entry

*** Start following my blog if you aren't already. Leave me a comment to let me know. = 1 entry

*** Visit AnArtfulAgenda , come back and tell me what your favorite item is (in a separate comment than above) = 1 entry

*** Visit my shop, delainie, come back and tell me what your favorite item is= 1 entry

*** Follow me on Twitter @delainie (comment here to let me know, Twitter is a madhouse of following and unfollowing!)= 1 entry

*** Blog about this giveaway on your own blog, and link me to the post in a comment = 2 entries


*** Buy something from either AnArtfulAgenda or my shop = 3 entries (If you buy from my shop, put "GIVEAWAY" in the notes to seller. If you buy from Artful, come back and comment here and let me know!)


The winner will be chosen randomly using random.org on November 24. Please note that Anonymous comments will not be entered, leave a way for me to contact you (etsy site, blog link, yahoo, email, twitter, etc.) so I can find you again if you win!! Also, EVERYONE is eligible! I'll even ship overseas since I'm nice like that :)


Good luck!

A Preschool Thanksgiving...

Tomorrow is my boy's first Thanksgiving party at school! I can't believe he's growing up so fast. I asked him what he wanted me to make for his party after signing up for a dessert. He wanted candy. That seemed like the easy way out... even moreso than my typical grocery store purchase switched from the plastic tub to a fancy Christmas plate. So after a little convincing we decided Dirt Cake would be fun. My son is more likely to eat dirt than actual food so I wasn't surprised he was such an easy sell on something he'd never even tried. "Cookies?! Pudding?! GUMMY WORMS?! Yes Mom, of course I wants that!"

One giant 7 pound can of pudding, 50 smashed Oreos, and 25 gummy worms later, we had one hell of a mess and 25 individual Dirt Cakes.

They don't look too bad huh? This is about as domestic as I get. :)

Netbooks Are Awesome.

So my super fantastical sissy-poo bought me a netbook. I might've shouted my thanks from the rooftops already, but here I go again. I made my lil baby netbook a case. It's so darn cutesy-woo. Yes tiny things make me talk like this. Oh little wubba wubba netbooky baby, you are now safey-wafey in your new little casey.

Ugh I'm sickening. I can only do that so long.

Anyway, awesome netbook case is finished! I made it yesterday intending to sell it online, but unsure if that could happen since my sewing machine is still all jacked up. Of course, it turned out perfect so I don't want to part with it. My sis wants to see, so here I be. Using my blog purely to show her a pic, and hopefully embarrass her with that baby talk on here. I *know* people she knows read this. Yup, that's right y'all. We're related. She's stuck with me and all my nerdy glory. Love ya sis, thanks again!

Front:

Back:

Result = 1 super padded, super quilted, super fun, netbook case. Obviously I'm a little attached. I think I'll be keeping it for myself.

Michigan Made!

I'm in a really nice Michigan treasury! I've met so many talented artists from MI, I love seeing them all grouped together in treasuries. Thank you to ForrestConcepts for including my Ninja Pants inher treasury! Go check out her shop, she makes the most fab upcycled books!

That picture is so small :( The one downfall so far for my new netbook, you have to do a normal screenshot in 2-4 pieces! There's got to be another way!

Halloween 2009!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2009!!

That's right kids. I'm baaaaaack! October is officially over, we were treated with an extra hour this morning (thank you daylight savings!), and I don't have to make another costume for approximately 11 months. All in all, November is starting out good on this basis alone. I'm choosing not to go outside into the cold yet so it can stay a good beginning.

The 6-pack pictured above is part of what kept me so busy recently! My OCD forced me to make the 'labels' as close to the actual beer as possible. There's a whole lot of copyright infringement going on here I'm sure, so don't expect these for sale next year, but they sure did turn out great! My crowning achievement is below...

...the Stroh's lion. I put this off until Friday night convinced that there was no way I could make a lion even close to the Stroh's can out of felt. This was my first try. How I managed to make it work is beyond me. Doesn't it look fantastic?! Just like I knew would happen I didn't get an individual picture of each costume. Just the Stroh's and the Guinness. Oh well. I did expect that after all.

Originally the 7 of us were going to be a 7 pack but I made my Blue Moon costume first and it didn't fit. I got it on ok, even over a sweatshirt, but then I couldn't get it off. I was stuck. Twirling around the living room with a big brown felt tube stuck halfway over me, with my arms stuck straight up. My son laughing hysterically and yelling "Mom's stuck in a beer! My Mommy's stuck in a beer!! Mom are you stuck? Mom's stuck in a beer!!" Love that kid. Didn't he used to not talk? Oh yeahhhh... those were the days....

I kid I kid.

I finally wriggled my way out of it, all of the clothes I was wearing under it coming off as well. I vowed not to get back into that Tube-of-Terror and was out of brown felt to start over with, so I needed a new and FAST costume.

Cue the white hoodie and a pair of off white Ninja Pants I had made myself years ago and was willing to sacrifice. Add to that 4 yds of bleached muslin and 1 yd of unbleached muslin. 20 minutes to shred that into pieces, and roughly 2 hours of wrapping fabric around my body. I tacked the layers in random places with a few stitches and said a little prayer that it stay together for 1 night and that people will know what I am.

Lessons Learned:
-- Stitching fabric to the ass of the pants you are wearing isn't easy and is dangerous.
-- If you're dumb enough to go to a field party in late October in Michigan, THIS is the costume to stay warm in. Too warm.
-- People are easy to impress. Anyone could make this.

Ever seen a mummy drunk on pink wine? Well now you have.

I wish I had a picture of me as a mummy rocking out to the Amish Alice in Chains cover band! My hubby the Guinness was in 90s music heaven last night.

I didn't get a picture of my son as Harold and the Purple Crayon (that really wrote!). Bad mom. How did I not get a picture of my cute little Harold?! At least I didn't eat all of his candy (not any! OMG!) this year after he went to bed.

Thank you October for ending finally, but going out with a bang!