Reduce, Reuse, Re-Tote!

Happy Saturday, evening! The girls are at my parents tonight, so I have been working on switching the summer/winter clothes out, and I made part of Brianna's Toodee costume (more on that later).

Last week on Inside Edition, there was a segment on free samples, coupons, etc. They interviewed a woman named Heather from http://www.freebies4mom.com/ . You have got to check out this site! She compiles links to great coupons, freebies, etc. that are legit. I printed out $1 coupons for cereal (Honey Nut Cheerios and Kelloggs), and was able to use them, along with my local sales, to get $28 worth of cereal for $3.50!! That was 8 boxes, and we ♥ cereal in this house.

This site is just jam-packed with good stuff, and I found a link tonight for a really cool thing. I just had to share it with you all. We all ♥♥♥ Target, right? Well, I guess they are recycling used Target shopping bags into reusable totes. If you send in 5 used bags by 11/30, you get a coupon for a free tote ! How cool! If you don't want to buy People magazine, you can just send the bags (and your mailing info) to: TerraCycle, 121 New York Ave., Trenton, NJ 08638

And the Winner Is...

WOOT! We have a winner ☺ All of the entries were put on slips of paper, mixed up in a bowl, and the random number generator told me that the 9th one to be pulled out was the winner... congrats to Sunnie Fairy! Please email me your shipping info to gumby8@hotmail.com . I will get your prize package gathered together and sent out to you ☺ Thanks to all of my blog friends, both new and old, for playing along. Seeing your comments on my blog, and reading your blogs, makes me super-happy!

♥♥♥

Well, by this point you have obviously met my new little friend. I adapted the pattern from one of the old "Workbasket" magazines I spoke of a while back. The original pattern is over 30 years old! Back in the day, people had to draw a graph of 1 inch blocks and recopy the pattern to scale, by hand! I was able to do some mathematics and use my scanner to do the dirty work for me.

The original pattern is supposed to be a duck, but I think it looks more like a swan. I think of her as the original "Ugly Duckling"... she just doesn't fit in with the ducks, but she is just so very beautiful and charming in her own way.

(Sorry about the junky photos...and the fact that the feet are not yet attached...it is getting late and I wanted to get this posted yet today!)

She is made from a heavy-weight black vinyl, with safety eyes and hand sewn/embroidered features. Working with the vinyl was a new experience, but one I thoroughly enjoyed. Although you have to be careful not to poke it too much, it is very easy to cut and obviously doesn't fray. I filled her bottom half with a good measure of rice, so she is weighted quite nicely. She would look sooo great on a bookshelf, desk, etc. She will be ending up in my shop soon, hopefully with a white counterpart.

My goodness, this long day is drawing to a close...and I can hardly believe that tomorrow is Friday again. Off to sleep!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Foam and Vinyl

Another cold, dreary day. Brianna's preschool class is supposed to go to the pumpkin patch tomorrow (and I am a driver/chaperone), but it will be canceled if it is rainy. The chance is 70%, so odds are we won't be going :-(

Sunday evening, I decided to let Brianna make a simple, fun little craft with me. I found this cute foam pilgrim kit at Jo-Ann in the $1 Deals. I would put the hot glue on the pieces, and she would stick them on. Then when we finished, I let her draw on his face. I think she did a pretty good job for a 4 year old!

I am pretty excited about a project I started yesterday afternoon. Working on the pattern was a bit nerve-wracking because I was scared it wouldn't work out right. But a huge sigh of relief....it is awesome ☺ This particular shiny black softie still needs the finishing touches, but she wanted to peek in and say hello:

Can you guess what she is?

Don't worry, you should see the finished product tomorrow afternoon when I let her announce the winner of the Autumn Amigurumi Give-Away!

Autumn Amigurumi Give-Away!

On the car-ride this past weekend, I fiddled with some amigurumi projects to pass the time. As this little guy unfolded, I decided I wanted to share him with someone... hence, my "Autumn Amigurumi Give-Away"! I think it will be a fun way to hear from my visitors and meet more crafty-mommy-bloggers!

Here's wee little Bailey bear! I made him from this pattern. From ears to toes, he is about 5 inches tall. Bailey has embroidered nose/mouth, little shiny black eyes, and an orange wool-felt scarf. On his chest is a tiny, handmade polymer clay pumpkin. He will gladly keep you company through the Autumn/Halloween/Thanksgiving season! Who knows what else might accompany Bailey to the lucky winner's home ☺

To celebrate the beginning of Fall (my FAVORITE season), my blog visitors can earn entries for the random drawing. Through Oct. 22, you can earn entries in several ways:

♥Earn 1 entry for each comment you leave on my blog through Oct. 22!

♥Earn 2 entries for becoming a follower of my blog (under "Blog Friends" on the left side of screen)!

♥Earn 2 entries for linking to my blog from your blog or website (this could include adding my blog to your blogroll)! Please email me (gumby8@hotmail.com) and let me know so I can give you proper entry-credit.

The more entries, the better your chance☺

Have fun! I can't wait to read your comments and meet more of you!

♥♥♥

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

(Sitting on Thomas, waiting for our ride to begin!)

The long weekend is officially over! We went up near Des Moines to see my husband's cousin/family and go to the Thomas thing I mentioned before. It was a good, relaxing time, but all of that driving (or, in my case, riding) really wears a body out! As we left our driveway to leave town on Friday morning, I thought to myself how we are always so eager to get started to a destination... but also so glad to pull back into that driveway again when it is over! Nothing like your own home and own BED! So true when we pulled back in yesterday afternoon.

On our way, we stopped in Coralville to shop a bit. We also stopped at the Tanger outlet mall in Williamsburg. I bought a new amigurumi book at Barnes & Noble and a few things at Target. I just wasn't in the mood to sift through racks of clothing for some reason. That night, Hubby's cousin took us to a place called Fuji Steakhouse. I had my first REAL, authentic sushi, and the rest had food off of the hibachi grill. That was entertaining, and the cook hit me in the head and hair with chunks of fried egg THREE times! LOL

The Thomas event was much less stressful than when we went up to the one near Chicago. However, Bella was a crab! We were able to get our pictures taken by Thomas and Sir Toppemhat before we ABSOLUTELY had to get her our of there. However, we were able to buy some time with the petting zoo area. She LOVED it!

Today, on the other hand, has been a mess! Hubby took another day of vacation to work on the horrible "bathroom in progress" mess. I am without shower or toilets (I had to go to the Y just to use the restroom! LOL), but hopefully it will be worth it in the long run. Right? Please??!!

Nighty night!

♥♥♥

ps... Check back tomorrow because I am going to start a little contest! WOOT!