Welcome to the Flock Bridal Shower - prizes

We played two fun games at the shower, so I needed to have a few prizes on hand. I came across these adorable bags on Etsy and fell in love with the design, but I didn't realize quite how small they were till they arrived. So I took the bags into my local Bath & Body Works and walked around like a lunatic fitting little things into them to see what worked and what didn't, and I ended up going with some items from their aromatherapy line (shower gel, lotion, and a candle) in three different scents. I tied each set of 3 bags together with some bright colored ribbon I had on hand, curled with the scissors, and voila:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCK!!!!!

That's the sound my inner control freak makes when I'm under the gun and know I won't be getting everything done I had planned. It's nothing new, I do it every year - aiming high is good, right? Unfortunately I'm not good at cutting projects or dealing with the emotional effects of not getting everything I wanted accomplished. This year has been obviously a little more of a struggle, being 7+ months pregnant I don't have the strength, endurance, or physical agility to get everything done I usually do. Somehow that message has not made itself clear in my brain yet, and I keep being disappointed when I have to stop and rest or ask for help. I'm working on it. Pregnancy is humbling in all aspects.

Despite my limitations, I did manage to make the most of my last weekend of work time - all of my pre-shopping is done, the Mardi Gras and Voodoo rooms are done, half of the pieces for the front yard are finished, and the glue is drying on this year's costume awards:



More voodoo dolls! These guys are a little bigger than the invitation , around 14", and I whipped them together tonight when my plan of working on the basement fell through (I ran out of staples. How do I not have staples?!?!?) I stuck with the three main awards I've established - the obvious "Best Costume" award:



I also like to give out a "Most Creative", and each year there have been SO MANY deserving candidates. This year's award looks like:



And finally is the "Best Couple or Group" costume award, so far it's always gone to a couple living in the same house, which is fortuitous since it's only one "trophy", but not necessarily a requirement. Perhaps a shared custody agreement could be arranged for non-spousal winners. Or there's always the possibility of surgery, though I worked hard to stitch these two voodoo dolls TOGETHER:



Not the best photos, but you get the idea - now I just can't wait to see all of the costumes!

Out of the Blue: Check Another Item Off The Bucketlist

#129: Win at Bingo

CHECK!

It was no great fortune, but still quite fun. Last night I went to a local Bingo Parlor with a couple girlfriends and right off the bat, first game of the evening - BINGO!

I had to share it with a few other people, so my "JACKPOT" was only $16 in the end - but it covered the $15 I paid for my package, and I got the thrill of hollering "BINGO" in a crowded room. Take that octagenarians!

Prize #7 - Baby, it's cold outside...

It sounds like I'd better hurry up and get this package opened before tomorrow, when I just might have an action shot for you (6"-12" of snow? I'm so not ready...warm fall, you've spoiled me...)

Here's our new handy-dandy Toro power shovel! This was my one "responsible" purchase with my whole gift card, and it was practically the cheapest one :)

We have a relatively small yard and not a ton of shoveling to do, but there is a logistical problem with piling the snow. In the back of the house we have a little driveway off of the alley, maybe 15' x 10'. It's not too bad to clear, but the problem comes in having to lift each full shovel 3' in the air to dump it over our fence (the only place we can pile it safely/legally/on our own property). That'll kill your back MIGHTY FAST.

Enter Toro Power Shovel!


This little guy is like a mini snowblower on a stick - it sounds PERFECT for our situation. It'll propel all of our pesky snow up and over the fence with ease. It had great reviews and I'm really optimistic. It's electric, which should be easy enough since we have lots of outlets on the garage and several long extension cords. It's fairly light weight, and I should be able to manage it on my own (as opposed to "real" snowblowers, which I often have trouble starting and turning).

I'm perfectly happy we got to wait so long to use this, and I'll gladly wait a few weeks more, but it's really nice to know that if we need it, this little puppy will really help!

Prizes #2 & 3 - more fun toys!

Time for another installment of "what I did with my amazing Amazon giftcard prize!" Time to move on to the most fun parts - the ones I got MYSELF! Here's something I've been wanting for quite some time, especially since I drive to strange high schools all over the state, have zero natural sense of direction, and get easily perplexed & have no ability to cope when my mapquested route ends up unavailable due to the constant Minnesota road construction: A GPS unit!



I went with the Garmin, the same version we gifted my father-in-law last year. And, of course, I needed a super cute little case. The only thing is that in retrospect it would be better to have a case that can fit the mount and cord too, since I don't have a great place to leave them in my car. Oh well. The one I got is by "case logic" and just fits the display. It's fine, but if I had to do it over again I would have gotten something bigger.



And the GPS is so much fun! Of course I had to try it out immediately, and it wanted to take me a crazy backwards way to work that I just couldn't abide. But the next night it helped me find a friend's new house, even when I couldn't take it's first route due to a huge accident - sure, it gets a little panicky shouting "RECALCULATING" but then BOOM! it comes up with a new route! LOVE THAT!

By the way, I'm not leaving it on the window there - it's actually handy to see, but the cord is a problem, and I promptly knocked it off when I drove into my parking facility (forgot that lowering the window wouldn't work...yeah, I'm on auto pilot in the mornings!) my dash isn't flat enough, and I think it's illegal to have it on the windshield in MN, so lately it's just been lying on the parking break - and since it talks to me, that works pretty well!

Heather's Mailbag - Fluff to cheer us all up :)

Few things seem to cheer me up as well as packages and mail. I just love finding surprises on my doorstep, and there have been LOTS of them recently - that's right, my Amazon purchases have arrived! This prize has single-handedly propelled my technological IQ forward about 20 years. That means I might be close to entering the year 2010 with the same technology skills as today's fifth graders :)

But on to the fun!

I had originally planned to spend the entire prize all on myself, selfishly and greedily and deliciously revelling in all the toys - Happy Birthday to Me, right? :) But as I wrote and re-wrote my wish lists, I found that I had plenty and knew there was one thing that would REALLY make my husband's day: A Kindle.

Hubby is a voracious reader, I'd be willing to bet 25% of his income is dedicated to reading. He keeps lists on a million tiny pieces of paper of all the books he wants to pick up, and our entire basement is lined with bookshelves. A Kindle was right up his alley. And he was as excited as a new puppy for it to come.

When the boxes arrived, he called me at work to ask if he could open them. When I refused (hey! This is my prize!) he was crestfallen. Then when I finally got home and opened them, I didn't even see the kindle and told him it wasn't in this shipment! But it really was, just tiny and flat and packed in the bottom of the package:



Amazon has "no hassle" packaging, which was definitely nicer than the plastic formed stuff you fight with and get cut on, but I have to admit it took us 10 minutes to figure out how this box opened. And I'm keeping it a secret so you know what I mean if any of you ever get one. It's like a magic trick.

The story begins...



I was super impressed with the design - they are so thin and light, but not too tiny to read on (I couldn't deal with reading on an iphone or the like). Here's someone else's photo to show you the scale:



Of course he had already done all the pre-research and had it up and running in moments - a pretty cool contraption. You can download books anytime, anywhere, without a computer. It can store about 1500 books, and also receives newspaper and magazine subscriptions. The reading surface is NOT backlit, so it doesn't eat up battery life or strain your eyes - it's really similar to reading a book, and nearly the same page size as a mass market paperback. There's even a function with many books to have it READ TO YOU! How awesome is that? You can read when you're free, or have it read to you when you need to drive, cook, whatever.

I'd suffice it to say that prize #1 was a huge hit - hubby even let me take a photo, which he NEVER agrees to easily:



I still have a few bucks left on my gift card, and I'm sort of considering one of these for myself. Vampire novels at my fingertips? How intriguing :)

That's just item #1 of 7, so I'll be back soon with more fun prize talk :)

Major Award - A Prequel

So it occurs to me (mostly because people keep asking) that I described WHAT I won, but never told you the how & why! You can see the part that I'm really concerned with :) But here's the story:

A few months back I got an email from Michael's (the craft store) about a big Martha Stewart giveaway on a website called HouseParty.com . House party selects "hosts" to hold parties celebrating various new products or TV shows. The Martha Stewart party would have included various craft supplies to play with, but I didn't get selected. Bummer.

But since I was already registered on the site, I started poking around at what else they were giving away parties for, and the only other one open was an "online party" for Sargento (the cheese people). I signed up, and then got a little disappointed when it turned out to be a discussion group about Sargento products...uh, okay. I like cheese more than the average person, but I don't have a lot to say about it.

But as part of the "Great Create Afterparty" as it was called, they posted a series of questions about holidays and traditions, and asked for us virtual guests to leave comments on each of the questions. They randomly picked a winner each week, and it just so happened that I got extremely lucky!

Thanks cheese people, and HouseParty.com - I can't wait to play with all my new toys!

It's a Major Award...

Mr. Parker: It's a Major Award!
Swede: Shucks, I wouldn't know that. It looks like a lamp.
Mr. Parker: What is a lamp, you nincompoop? It's a Major Award. I won it!
Swede: Damn, hell, you say won it?
Mr. Parker: Yeah, mind power, Swede; mind power.
~A Christmas Story





It appears I myself have also won a "Major Award", and it required very little mind power at all.

I've actually been holding off on this post for a short while, since my skeptical nature hasn't quite let me get excited until I had confirmation, but guess what I'm crossing off the bucketlist today, quite unexpectedly?

#40 Win a big prize

WOW!
YAY!
HUZZAH!

This is just so unbelievable, I never win stuff! Especially big stuff, thus it going on my bucket list? So just what was my "major award?"




A $1500 Amazon Gift Card!
Holy Cats!

Can you tell I'm a little excited?

I've been writing and re-writing my Amazon wish list in preparation, all the while not totally believing it would ever come. When I had called to clarify the award, the gentleman said "it'll be a while," so I definitely didn't expect to get it in less than a week! Gift cards are just the perfect prize - half the fun is in researching and comparing and weighing what to get, and yet you sorta have to blow it on FUN stuff! I mean, it's not like I can pay down my Visa with an Amazon card, so I will be spending it all fully, selfishly, and luxuriously on MYSELF! (I did end up sharing a bit with the hubs...though I waffled on it for a while ;) I made a big purchase last night already (you didn't think I had willpower, did you? Also, there was a sale :) but I think I'll wait till it all comes to show you what I picked out.

What would you get with an Amazon gift card?

And the Winner Is...

Holly!

Congrats Holly, and thanks for continually reading my blog and cheering on my crafty endeavors. I appreciate your support!

I'll send you an email this weekend with several frames for you to choose from :)

Here's how it was determined:

First, I went to random.org and used the "list randomizer" to sort all of the entries - two for Jennifer (she mentioned my contest on her blog), and one for everyone else.

Here's how it laid everyone out "randomly":
1. Joanna
2. Mara
3. Jennifer
4. Jennifer
5. Carin
6. Beth
7. Queen of Clearance
8. Holly
9. Alison
10. Jana

Then I used the "true random number generator" to choose the winner from that list, and here's what it gave me:



#8 = Holly, whose comment read:
I might be one of you biggest fans! I check your blog 2-3 times a day!! It amazes me how creative you are. I love everything you do. A few of my favorites are your aprons you sew (I use the one your made me all the time : ) I like your choice in fabric nice and bright! I also really liked the big X-mas colored mirror mosaic. With all my friends having babies I am for sure making your baby face cookies. They were adorable! Keep up the great blogging!!
~Holly
Could she be any sweeter? Thanks to Holly and all my readers, I'll try to keep it up!

Tips & Tricks: Wicked Wonderland Costume Awards

Last year for the Hollywood Halloween theme I did the super cute Mummy Barbie Oscars for costume awards, and gave out Best Couple, Best Costume, and Most Original. This year since the theme was such a focus and our guest list grew (attendance doubled!) I added an award, and ended up giving out 4 prizes - Best Couple or Team, Best Wonderland Costume, Best Costume on This Side of the Looking Glass (non-wonderland theme) and Most Original.



I used the image from the invites of me as the Cheshire Cat, and used Powerpoint to add text - with my old standby, the Wicked Wonderland font, "Saved As" JPEGS, and printed as photos so I got a perfect 5" x 7" size. Here's what they looked like:



I went to my old standby, the Dollar Tree, to snag some cheap frames and settled on some simple wood ones with a silver aged patina. I trimmed the photos, slapped them in the frames, and voila! The text was a little close to the edges so the frame cut off a small part, but I was out of time and just went with it. :) Can't be perfect all the time, and let's face it - people aren't going to keep them forever.

I paired each of the frames with an Alice in Wonderland tea party gift that I picked up at HomeGoods and Marshalls. The couple awardees got a tea pot and two tea cups with saucers. The rest got two mugs with matching ceramic spoons. They were beautifully illustrated, came in adorable little lunchbox-type packages, and I just tied a big blue bow on the handles for an accent.

Here's a peek at the mug set:


I think they're really cute, and everyone can use a mug :) All the winners seemed quite flattered and impressed, and boy did they earn their awards! If I can get permission from the winners, I'll feature their amazing costumes here as well...I was totally blow away by the creativity!

More Mosaics - Mystery Trio

As my time gets shorter and shorter my Halloween projects will become more and more urgent - last night was another of those "I just want to flop in bed!" nights, but since it's now almost THE END OF SEPTEMBER, I knew I had to keep moving - and boy did I move!

I rocked out all three of these mosaic photo frames last night!

These are eventually going to be related to the Halloween Party, but I think I'll keep it under wraps for a while...your only hint is in the labels...

So, back to what I accomplished last night:

These bases are wooden frames from Michael's. I spent about 4-5 hours cutting really small glass & mirror fragments and arranging them in various patterns to come up with three totally different looks.

This one I did in the same color palate as my first mosaic - I think it looks bright and summery like watermelon, or obviously the red & green could be Christmas-y.


The light isn't great on this picture, but this one is red and orange - warm and fiery.


And this last one is black glass with mirror tiles, I was going for sort of a zebra-stripe effect.

I was super proud that I made them all with glass I had previously purchased for my other projects (a cool part of mosaic is that you can usually use every single leftover piece of glass eventually), and I think I came up with some good designs. Next step is to grout them all!

I'd like to thank the academy...

These were my costume awards from last year's party, which you'll remember was a Hollywood theme so the Oscar-gets-mummified style was doubly appropriate.

I borrowed the idea from someone on this guy who is someone I came in contact with on Halloweenforum.com (excellent site for sharing and getting ideas!) - what a super nice fellow! He actually sent me directions on how he made his little darlings, and I co-opted it for my skill level. They required a little practice and one test dummy, but I think the end result was spectacular.

I picked up the dolls at my local Dollar Tree, can't beat that price. I sent their ball gowns and tiny shoes off to my cousin's daughter, who was thrilled and only tentatively asked what I had done to the dolls who used to wear them.

I banded the hair to the neck, and cut off the excess - it just gets in the way and disrupts the stickiness of the tape. For the bases I varied from the original guy's version with wood because I really didn't want to cut and drill, but I happened upon these fantastic little blue triangle bud vases which looked to me exactly like an award base. The top was just a bit wider than the legs, but stuffing them with some plastic bag pieces held the ladies firmly in place, and the vases were heavy enough to keep them solidly upright.

The tape was a quandary, I actually tried several kinds of medical tape. The first attempt was a shiny reflective-type that was the perfect width (1/4" I think?) but it didn't like to stick to itself, hold the paint, or otherwise behave. It actually curled off my practice lady.

What did work was fabric medical tape, it had a little texture and was wider but I cut strips in half and that looked fine proportionally.

I wrapped the ladies using 4-6" strips for the most part, any more than that and you get bumps and wrinkles. I wrapped from the bottom up for the most part, as the head is sort of the focal point, but spent most of my time on the arms.

Barbie arms are sort of evil. At least knock off barbie arms. I found I really had to force them to do what I wanted, and more than once they ripped the tape right off going back to their original pose. Since they're wrapped, you could always rip the arms off and replace them with q-tips or pipe cleaners or anything else, but I just cut and bent and taped till I got the effect I wanted.

Don't forget to leave a little peep hole for the eyes, and to mask it while you're spray painting - this is a little challenging, but worth it.

For the "best couple" I used 1 1/2 dolls - I actually cut both torsos off (they popped off pretty easily) and repositioned them to be equally supported on the legs. I think I used duct tape to attach them first, then just covered with the medical tape like the rest. This is my favorite one by far :)

I went pretty low-budget for the nameplates, but I didn't think anyone would mind - as much as I'd like to think everyone will keep them prominently on their mantle forever, they're a novelty item, and a seasonal one at that. So I just cut a mat out of black card stock and used gold stickers to spell out the awards - this year we did "Most Creative," "Best Costume," and "Best Costume - Couple." Everyone seemed happy to get them and I would highly recommend this craft.