Shabby Apple Gift Card Giveaway!

I'm so excited about this giveaway!

Shabby Apple is an absolutely adorable online clothing shop.  I'm pretty sure that they are the clothing embodiment of Quaint and Quirky!  Their fashions are vintage, modest, feminine, fun and liveable.  Shabby Apple not only offers regular women's clothing, but maternity, new mom, child, and preteen styles as well.    I was so happy when they contacted me to give away a gift certificate on my blog!

One winner will win a:

Yes, a $75 Gift Certificate to Shabby Apple!
Here is the fine print:

• To enter, you MUST do two things.  Like Shabby Apple on facebook:  Shabby Apple's Facebook Page.  Next, visit Shabby Apple's website and pick a favorite piece (or outfit).  In your first comment, tell us which item you like the best!

• If you'd like additional entries, share a link to this giveaway on facebook and/or twitter and comment again telling me you did so (one comment for each one).  Make sure to leave a way to contact you!

I will keep the giveaway open until Friday, August 17, 2012.  I will then pick a random winner and announce by Monday.

This contest is open only to those with US Shipping addresses. 
Shabby Apple has also generously offered all blog readers 10% off for one month using the code quaintandquirky10off !

What would I pick?  Maybe this:

or this:

or this:

Have fun dreaming about what YOU would buy!

My Very Last Quilt (Subtitled: The Sewing Accident)

In reading all the responses to the SMS giveaway, I've learned about lots of thoughtful quilt presents that you all have given to your loved ones.  Quilts were by far the most popular favorite gift you all have given!
That made me think back to the last quilt before my sewing accident.

I had a sewing accident.  Not lately, but almost seven years ago. I'll tell you the whole gory story.

I used to quilt.  I liked quilting.  I was a machine piecer, hand quilter.  I have a quilt on my bed at my parents' house to prove it.  When my grandparents' 50th anniversary began approaching, I decided to make them a photo quilt.  I picked the photos, treated and printed and treated the fabric, and cut the other pieces.  I was trimming the photo fabric into squares in the bathroom (hard floor) one Saturday in April when the rotary cutter hit a nick in the ruler and took a bad angle toward my outstretched hand. 

Don't read this if you have a weak stomach.  WARNING!

I actually saw a piece of my finger roll away and I've never seen so much blood come all at once. I screamed for my dad (who was, thankfully, home).  He picked up the piece of my finger and put it in a baggie and drove me to the hospital with a piece of my finger in his pocket.  Shudder.  I know people have had much worse happen to them, but it was pretty horrific to me at the time.

I have since had the privilege of going through childbirth.  When I think of pain, I do not think of childbirth.  I think of this ride to the emergency room. 

Looooooong story short:

• They couldn't reattach the sliced finger.  Lest you think I have half my finger missing, it was only the tip of the finger (nail and fingertip at an angle).
• Finger flesh regenerates for the most part (did you know that?)
• I spent 2 months with a very large bandage on my finger and my finger sticking up straight in the air (my index finger).
• I taught preschool at the time and preschoolers are not the people you want around you with an extremely painful finger injury.  And there was a field trip laced with Vicodin in there somewhere.
• I had to tell people that my finger was cut off in a sewing accident.
• I have a bum finger to this day.  Parts of it have no feeling and parts of it are painful depending on what I'm doing. It's slightly disfigured, but only if I point it out to people do they notice.
• That was my last quilt and it's in a bag in my craft room closet.
• I got ZERO blood on any part of the quilt.
• I now have attached safety shields on all of my rotary cutter rulers. 
• My husband's favorite thing about me might be that I've had a sewing accident.
• I've filed this under "quirky."

It's difficult to take a picture of your own finger.  It looks relatively normal when my nail is short!

That's my sewing injury confession.  I feel guilty that the quilt was never finished.  :(  Maybe I just need some motivation to revisit it.

Sooooooo......tell me your worst sewing/crafting accident!

(And come back tomorrow for a One Yard Wonders book giveaway!)

Streamer Ruffle Christmas Trees

Can you take one more streamer ruffle idea???  How about some streamer ruffle Christmas trees?
To see the ruffled gift wrap or to see how to make ruffled streamers, go to this post:  Ruffled Streamers.

 I started with some green and white ruffled streamers, styrofoam trees, and some pins.  It took me about 8-9 feet of ruffled streamer to go over the large tree.

To do the green and white one, you should place the streamer at the bottom of the tree with the white streamer overlap on top and the white part facing up.

Pin in place to secure, then start wrapping!  Make sure you go over the bottom of the tree so that you cover the Styrofoam.  When you get to the top of the tree, form the top into a point and secure with another pin.  Done!!!

The green one is just one streamer gathered at one edge and wrapped around.  It gave it a lot more volume, so that's another technique you can try!

Of course, I had to make a snow scene to display the trees.  I decided to get out my Memere's (great grandmother) antique Christmas figures.

I displayed these every year as a child, but I'm afraid they have lead paint, so I won't put them out anymore.  They came out for a little shoot style though!

I actually think the pine cone elves would have been better, but I gave them all away!  Oh well!

A little yellow streamer star for the top!

Added to:

Craft Room 3.0

This post has been a long time coming.  I LOVE looking at other people's rooms, especially rooms where they create, so I hope you will enjoy a peek into mine. Some of you may remember Craft Room 1.0, which became slightly famous in Flikr land.  Well, when we moved, Craft Room 1.0 had to be taken down and moved to our new house.  Craft Room 2.0 was never really finished and probably never photographed.  It had yellow walls which were pretty and it was pretty big.  HERE is what Craft Room 2.0 looks like now!  We moved bedrooms upstairs with the coming of Amelia, so that meant CR2.0 had to move downstairs.  Well, enough chit chat - come on in!

 My mother-in-law gave me the sewing room sign and button heart.  The framed pattern is actually some scrapbook paper I found.  The best thing to do with beautiful scrapbook paper is to frame it and hang it!

The view right as you walk in.  I do my photo editing at that desk.  Josh gave me the Degas repro painting last Christmas.  I love Degas, ballerinas, and Impressionist paintings.  This one is called Rehearsal of a Ballet on Stage.  Catchy, isn't it?  The cubes are all from Michaels or Joanns and are super perfect for building a desk.  The desk is a door painted green.  It's the perfect width to go across two cubes.  The To Do chalkboard is really a mirror from HomeGoods painted white and chalkboard paint.  When I first signed up for Pinterest, the first thing I wanted to do was chalkboard paint everything!

A better look at the far corner of the room.  The chair I planned on reupholstering looks good, right?  Too bad the sides and back aren't done!  It's only been a few years!  In that cabinet is most of my random crafting supplies.  I use plastic bins to keep things organized.

The other side of the room houses a closet where all my fabric is stored.  Yeah, we definitely aren't taking pictures in there at the moment! Josephine is hanging out by the window, wearing a shirt that's never going to be finished...

 Here's a full on shot of my sewing area and inspiration board.  The middle machine is my main machine.  Then the left hand one is the only machine I can get to do shirring.  The right hand machine is my serger.  The chair we reupholstered in zebra print fabric.  I love it!

The cubes are almost all different.  Here are some looks inside some drawers.  The top one is labeled, "embellishments."  The bottom one is labeled, "cutting tools."

Some organized scrapbook paper.

My Heather Bailey pear pin cushion, a flowery pin cushion from my bridal shower, some antique silk thread in a glass container, wire dress forms from Home Goods, and various other things (including the casings from the first time I fired a gun!).

The inspiration boards. 

I hope you enjoyed a peek into Craft Room 3.0!  Currently it is decorated for Christmas, so I might be back with some more pictures of Christmas Craft Room 3.0!

Thanks for looking!

Dear Amelia

Dear Amelia,

Yesterday, I read you 1,714 books.  Actually, it wasn't 1,714 different books.  It was about seven different books that added up to 1,714 times.  And most of the books weren't stories.  They were books of pictures that either you or I pointed to and I said the name.  So I couldn't even act it out or sing it or assign new voices. Every time you handed me a book, you climbed your chubby body into my lap and snuggled in to listen to the most fascinating book in the world to you.

By the end of the day, I felt like I couldn't read (if you call it that) ONE MORE BOOK.

But then I thought -

There's going to be a day where I'd give anything for you to snuggle your body into my lap to listen to a book.

And there are moms out there who would do anything to get the opportunity to read their child one more book.

And there are people out there who would do anything to have a child to read a book to.

And I was humbled.  And I would love to read you My First Word Board Book as many times as you want (and even more!).

For the curious, this frilly dress girl is reading a Red Sox board book.  :D

A Present for Ezra

My friend Tara's little boy Ezra turned one at the beginning of November.  The theme of the party was Birthday Monsters which Tara pulled off amazingly well.  I'm sure she will be blogging about it soon!
  I'm a girl who likes a party theme, so I had to make something to go along.  I had the idea of making a reverse applique bag for his books and toys.  THEN my idea got out of control but I had a better idea.  I did the reverse applique so that it looks like the monsters came crashing out of the bag and are causing havoc. 
It started as this:

 An orange t-shirt I bought at Target and various other knits/items waiting for repurpose.

It turned into this:

I was very happy with it and I hope the birthday boy will get good use out of it!

The back:

Thanks for looking!

Adding this to I Heart Naptime's Link party!

Oh, blog, how I wish I had more time for you...

After *another* unintentional blogging break, I am going to try to get back into it.  I have had a very busy few months, with various wedding and family photography projects to edit, Amelia's birthday party to plan and execute, and lots of other things to do.  I admire people who can blog through motherhood and other activities.

Some things that have occurred:

• We went on a beach holiday.  Amelia ate a lot of sand.

• Amelia turned one.  We had her first birthday party at an area carousel.  It was a lot of fun and my friend Tara blogged about it. You can find her post:  HERE.  I, unfortunately, don't have any pictures from her party because they disappeared into a technological black hole.  I have never lost a picture in my life until then and it had to be my first baby's first birthday party.  :(
• I did take some cake smash pictures separately though, so at least I have those!

• I started watching my cousin's baby during the day, so that has affected my free time as well. 
• We had a freak snowstorm this weekend.  This is at my inlaws' house in New Hampshire.

• I have a little crafting secret that I hope I can reveal in the next few days.  I don't have to keep it a secret, but I am.  Muahahah! 

 I hope I'll be back soon with some more fun things to report!

Five Minute Friday (and don't forget the giveaway!)

Today's Five Minute Friday prompt is Home

I like the memory kind of posts, so I thought of my first home that I remember.  It was a third floor apartment, but big and spacious.  My brother and I shared a room and I remember the window in our room.  We used to look out it to see if we could see the cars of expected visitors (our cousins were our favorite visitors).  It was a turn of the century mansion turned apartment, so the rooms were very big.  The bathroom was especially large and you could have hosted a dance party in it. 

Across from the bathroom there was a storage room of sorts and I think my mom sewed in there.  I remember her making me a large Annie doll in that space.  My memories are cloudy though, just flashes here and there.  I was six when we moved from there to our first house.  I remember the old woman on the first floor, but just barely.  It's interesting how memories work.  How it's just a flash and then it goes away - a window, a woman, a bathroom, a doll.  I just remembered the telephone.  It was at the end of the hall, near the bathroom.  It had a dial. 

I will try to find a physical picture, but the five minutes are up!

This may be my weirdest post yet!


What do you remember about your first home?

Also, the Uprinting giveaway ends tonight! Don't forget to enter!

The {Awake} Baby Dream Pictures

I saw a post somewhere about Adele Enerson who decorates around her daughter when she is asleep.  I decided to try my hand at some.  Except at the point when I was taking these pictures, my child didn't sleep.  She's only recently realized that naps are things babies (and tired mommies) should take!  Here are some of our "Dream" photos though!

Walking Levi

St. Patrick's Day

Riverdance

Play Ball!  (Obviously she's a Red Sox fan!)

All the backgrounds are just scarves, sheets, t-shirts, pieces of knit fabric, burp cloths, etc.  

Try some of your own!  If you do, let me know.  I'd love to see!

BFS

BFS stands for Blog Friend Sarah, which is what I call her.  BFS and I have very very interestingly connected lives.  I don't remember who started commenting on whose blog first, but we were mutual blog readers.  She's one of the funniest bloggers I know!

Then we discovered we lived very close to each other.  We always thought we'd run into each other at the local Joanns or Michaels.  Despite our intertwined lives, we never did have a Joanns meetup.

Well, several months ago Miss Sarah announced that she was engaged.  (He proposed using buttons!!)  I was determined to somehow sneak into the wedding to see a blog friend I had never met get married.  I didn't have to though, because she asked me to photograph the wedding!  Woo hoo!  I was invited! 

So then we had to meet of course!  Here's Blog Friend Sarah holding Amelia. 

Amelia was very good at that Panera meeting.  I'm pretty sure that that was the last time Amelia was good at Panera.  (We met again at Panera and we had to run out of Panera before everyone else started running out of Panera because of the wailing coming from my child). The *very* weird thing is that we found out that we are related!  She's not my long lost sister or anything, but her family is related to my husband's stepmother.  The family tree would have to have many branches to explain how we are related, but it's good enough for me! 

So, I was able to be part of BFS's *very* fun and lovely wedding day.  :D

THEN, (BFS doesn't know this part!)  I was meeting with my cousin and aunt because I'm photographing my cousin's wedding and I was describing BFS's beautiful reception venue.  My cousin said, "The bride's name wasn't Sarah, was it?"  Oh dear!  It turns out BFS volunteered at the preschool where my cousin works.   God definitely wanted BFS and me to meet! ;)

Unfortunately, BFS had to go get married and move away, so she doesn't live near me anymore.  Too bad, because she was going to be Amelia's favorite babysitter.  But we hope Sarah has a wonderful, blessed, God-centered marriage! Check out BFS's blog, Dandelions and Daffodils.  Congratulate her.  Ask her how she met her husband.  :D

Have YOU ever met a blog friend before? 

Introducing...

Miss Amelia Jane!

I'm sorry I have been so silent.  I went on unexpected blogging maternity leave trying to get used to this complicated little girl.  I'll be adding my birth story soon.  She's six weeks right now.  I am loving being a mommy, but it is not without its trials!  We thank God for such an amazing blessing!

Here's one with her eyes open!

I hope many more blog posts are to come!

Baby's Room Inspiration

First of all, she had better be a girl!

Secondly, my baby's room is faaaaaar from ready.  She's due in less than 12 weeks, but you wouldn't know it by her room (which is currently the craft room, which needs to be moved down to what we call the "multipurpose room," which is next to our bedroom, which needs to be moved upstairs, next to the nursery, into the what is now called the "man room" and will later be referred to as "the study," which needs to be moved downstairs - catch all that?  Anyone like to paint?)

Thirdly, I thought I'd share the inspiration for her room.  The words I assigned to this project are: old-fashioned, yet whimsical (not stuffy).  I knew that I wanted vintage/antique art as the inspiration, so I started scouring ebay and etsy.  I found the perfect thing that I never knew existed - The Prize.

It's a nineteenth-century children's magazine which reminds me a lot of Godey's Ladies Book.  If you've never heard of Godey's Ladies Book, look it up.  It's *very* neat. 
The Prize came in monthly issues, but was also bundled into book form for an entire year's issue. It has hand colored illustrations as well as black and white illustrations inside.  Here are the three pieces that I'll be framing for the nursery:

The one on the left is the first one I found and I think it embodies "old-fashioned, yet whimsical!"  After I bought the individual covers off etsy, I found an entire bound book from 1890 on ebay!  It came in the mail today and it is soooo neat!  The cover is the first picture in the post.  Here is the back:

Some inside pages: 

I'm a bad person and I was going to take out one of the colored lithographs as my third piece to frame, but there was a colored lithograph in the front and I just used that instead with no harm to the book! ;)

The etsy seller has more covers here:  Prints and Paper

Much more blogging time with be devoted to setting up the nursery, but here's a preview of my next blog post! ;)