Give-a-way over on Make It and Love It

Check out my friends over at Make It and Love It and enter their great new give-a-way! 

Lots of great tutorials and patterns from Resweater.  I think these cute little tissue covers are my favorite!

Win your very own sweater to re-purpose! 

Can't wait to see if I'm the lucky winner!

Facebook Fans!

I'm so excited to have reached 50 (actually 55) facebook fans!  I promised a random prize drawing for all fans when I reached 50.  I logged on today to discover not just 50, but 53 fans, which quickly progressed to 55!

Thanks to all my fabulous facebook fans and congrats to Patricia who is the big winner of my random prize drawing!

If you're not a fan, check us out at www.facebook.com/radiantgirlcrafts!

Home Decor

Now that we know we are closing on our house in April, I've been scouring the blogosphere for some great Home Decorating Ideas.  Here are some that I've found recently - check them out!

Ashley at Make It and Love It recently had a great serious of posts titled Decorate My Home. Here's a few of her projects that are my favorites - check them out!

Picture Collage

Ashley traced all her frames on to piece of paper and then arranged them on the wall, moving them around until it was just right!  I think it turned out great.

Here's my favorite part of Ashley's Picture Collage tips:
**And I also marked with little dots where the hooks on the frame were, so that I could just put the nail right into the paper, tear the paper away, and then hang my frame.

Simple Curtains

 These cute curtains look very simple to make - and in fact they are!  Check out Make It and Love It for all the details on these stylish curtains!

Design Sponge is also a favorite home decor/design blog.  Here's a great tutorial on how to make a Duvet Cover!

 Hello Marzipan recently posted this great lamp refashion.  I think it turned out amazing and makes me wish I had a lamp shade that needed an upgrade!

The Rubber Punkin posted these great Embellished Knobs.  I can't wait to try some of my own!

These are a few of my favorite recent Home Decor Posts!  Thanks to Make It and Love It, Design Sponge, Hello Marzipan and The Rubber Punkin for the great inspiration posts!

What's in my purse??

Here's a fun little blog game that's going around. Learn a few things about me by what I carry in my purse :-)

Purse: TINY crossbody bag, in boring black.  I just switched from a Ginormous Hobo bag to this tiny thing - BIG change.  But it's might lighter to carry around!

1) wallet - new, funky green and much smaller than my previous wallet, which was weighing my purse down

2) Calendar
3) Sunglasses - in a case made by me, I hate it when my sunglasses are all scratched up
4) Pen - a must have!
5) Gum
6) Keys
7) Lotion
8) Hand Sanatizer
9) baggie of Ibuprofen - never know when you're gonna need it :-)

Sorry, the picture didn't turn out very well!

Pattern Review - Fresh Fish

I recently purchased a pattern for a fish stuffy from MimiKirchner's Etsy shop.  I finally completed my first one and thought I'd share with you my thoughts on the pattern.

1) This is not a beginners sewing project, but I am not a beginner.  I struggled with the pattern.  I read the directions twice before I even chose fabrics to make the fist from.
2) Pattern was not cheap.
3) Pattern did not include seam allowances, pattern must be traced and then sewn on the traced lines.  I found this very hard, although it shouldn't really have been.
4) She gave great tips on working with both recycled materials and stretchy materials. I was lazy and used quilters cotton for the most part, although I did recycle an old shirt into the body of the fish. Using the quilters cotton for the fins actually made them more difficult because I had to sew more curved seams to get the ruffled fin look.

All this being said, I am very happy with my fish, I gave it to my husband as a birthday present and he thought it was cool.  Because the pattern was not cheap...I'll be making lots more, so I don't feel so guilty about the price!

GIVE A WAY WINNER!

Congratulations to Asch!  Email me with your address so I can send you your shamrock key charm!

Offer Accepted!

Yay!  Our offer on the townhouse was accepted!  We should close some time in the last half of April.   We are so excited to choose paint colors, and work on making the place our own!  We're scheduling another appointment this weekend to go look at the townhouse and measure some stuff for window treatments, bar stools, etc!  Here it is... I know it's not the best picture, but we'll take some more this weekend!

CRICUT GIVE A WAY!!

I know I'm yelling, but WOW!  I'm so excited about this give-a-way...and REALLY hoping that I win :-)  I have been drooling over the cricut forever...just haven't been able to drop the $$ on one.  And now, I'm sharing with you the opportunity to win!  Check out Women Who Do It All to enter!

Shamrocks and Shamrock GIVE A WAY!!

I've been working on some projects for St Patricks Day this weekend, even though I am not Irish, I still love St Patty's day!.  I found some fabulous projects through several blogs I read, so I started trying them out. 

First up is this cute fabric covered headband and shamrock charm, curtesy of Make it Do.  Calli had two separate tutorials, one for the shamrock charm and one for the fabric covered headband.  I used both and thought they were great!  Thanks Calli!  I couldn't find two different green colors of felt locally and I wasn't going to drive to a Joann's just to try this one out, so I used some green fabric with a flower print that I had in my stash for the smaller shamrock, I used wonder-under to applique the smaller shamrock to the larger felt shamrock.  I sewed the button to the small shamrock before I ironed the applique to the large shamrock.  I love the way it turned out.  Just a little femine, but without being too over the top.  Can't wait to wear it to school on Wednesday!

Next is the cute lucky shamrock key charm, curtesy of Holiday Crafts and Creations.  I made several of these, I love the 4-leaves of this shamrock.  However the cute little sequins were not my favorite part, so I replaced the sequins with a green button, for a more understated and manly version of the shamrock, which my hubby now is carring on his keyring.  Now he says he has the luck of the Irish with him.  I asked if it was still the "luck of the Irish" if it was made by a swedish girl...he said yes.  Guess we're covered then :-)

I decided that I personally liked the shape of the shamrock from Calli's shamrock charm so I combined the two projects to make my own key chain.  I cut out two of Calli's rounder three leaf shamrocks from my Kelly Green felt and one of the smaller shamrocks from the same green flowered print.  I appliqued the smaller shamrock on one of the felt ones and then stitched the two together, stuffing the leaves as I went.  When I was finished I sewed a white button in the middle.  I love the way this one came out also!

I saw one more shamrock charm that I want to try.  This Shabby Shamrock from Ramblings from the Sunshine State is also on my short list.  I have my fabrics all picked out, I just haven't had a chance to try it yet.  I'll be sure to post pictures when I do!

I am proud to announce my very first GIVE A WAY!!  I've got one Lucky Shamrock key charm all set, just waiting to bring someone the "Luck of the Irish"!  Pictured below.

To Enter:

1) Leave me a comment on your favorite part of St Patrick's Day. 

For Additional Entries:

2) Become a follower of my blog - leave me a comment and let me know

3) Fan me on Facebook - leave me a comment so I know

4) Post about my give-a-way on your facebook, blog, twitter, etc. - Leave me a comment with a link

GIVE A WAY closes at MIDNIGHT on WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17th!

Giveaway!

Head over to Kim Sherrod's Studio and check out her amazing give-a-way!  Two lucky winners will receive either a pattern for the beautiful spring time quilt and a surprize OR a pattern for the Sweet Love quilt and the Blush Charm pack!

*gulp* Big Purchases!

My husband and I just made an offer on a townhome in our current town!  We are anxiously awaiting the bank's response.  It's a foreclosure, in excellent condition.  Just needs a little TLC and we'll be set!  A little paint, some new flooring and some added touches of our own and it'll be great!

It's got 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, the main level is very open and spacious.  Here's the front of the house (and the listing agents car).

We are very excited and nervous about our first home purchase, we are really hoping to land this townhouse!  I've already claimed one of the bedrooms as a craft room!  It's got an unfinished tinkerbell mural on the wall, and I think Tink will fit into my craftroom just fine.  My husband it a great artist, so he's promised to finish it for me!
Look for more on the house hunt, craft room and home decorating!

Dr Suess

One of the most well know names in Children's literature!  Today, March 2nd is his Birthday (or would be if he were still alive!)  So in honor of Dr Suess, all the primary school kids were wearing paper hats like the cat-in-the-hat's hat.  It was VERY cute!  I bring you one of my favorite Dr Suess books...The Lorax.  "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, its not going to get better, it's not!" - The Lorax.

callous or safe?

I work in a rather large metropolitan area, and to get to work I drive through an area that's know for the pan-handlers.  As women, who is usually alone in the car, I NEVER give panhandlers ANYTHING.  Now that doesn't mean that I don't feel compassion for them, and maybe even pity.  Today as I drove into work, I passed two panhandlers.  The first an older man and the second a young man, probably close to my age.  I watched as drivers of cars around me rolled down their windows to offer cigarettes to these two men.  And I felt a little callous, sitting in my warm car, having just eaten lunch, munching on a cookie for dessert.  I watched the younger man take two cigarettes from the car in front of me, thank them and return to the spot he had been sitting.  As he sat back down on his backpack, to keep his pants dry, tucked his jacket over his knees and his hands inside his sleeves, I wished that I had something to offer him.  I felt awful actually.  Was I being safe or was I being callous?

I had a few dollars in my purse, true, I might have even been able to scrounge up a bottle of water.  But were those the offerings he was looking for?  I felt uncomfortable rolling down my window to even offer.  I didn't want to give up the few dollars that I had in my wallet, I was saving the one dollar bills for the health kits that my church is putting together to send to Haiti. 

I am willing to give up my time, my money and lots of other things for Haiti, for local charities, for church, and yet I couldn't bear to roll down my window and offer a mear dollar to either of these men.  Honestly, part of it is fear.  Part of it is that I don't want to give them $$ if they are going to blow it on liquor, cigarettes or drugs.  I'd love to help, I just don't know how to help the most.  And it makes me sad.

R-word

The Special Olympics is sponsoring a great campaign to get rid demeaning use of the r-word.  As a paraprofessional in the local school district, I was very excited to discover this campaign.  I am fortunate to work in an Early Childhood program, so I have the ability to impact the thinking of the regular education kids to have respect and understanding for our students with special needs. 

Check out the r-word campaign and pledge your support to eliminate the demeaning use of the r-word! I pledged in honor of my student, pledge your own support in honor of the special people in your life! Then spread the word!  Buy a t-shirt,  be a fan of the campaign on facebook, put it in your email signature, do whatever you can to help stop the demeaning use of the r-word.