A little bit of awesome makes the day swell

One of the advantages to starting a blog and getting involved in BlogLand is that I "meet" plenty of other crafty, creative bloggers that love to share their ingenuity with the world at large. Sometimes these bloggers reach milestones (like getting 100 or 300 or 1000 followers) and decide to host a giveaway. My BlogFriend Ellen over at Creative Passage decided to do just that and gave away some amazing felt creations.  She has an etsy store, Woolen Wonders by Ellen, and sells some beautiful work.  Of course I had to enter her giveaway, and I actually won!  The two cupcake pincushions that she made arrived and have totally brightened my day.

Aren't they so cute? The picture doesn't even begin to do them justice.  And now I have to decide -- keep them both for myself, give one as a gift, or actually share the love and give both away.  I know plenty who would adore such pincushions!

Thank you, Ellen, for making the day a bit brighter!!

And the best part?  Ellen is having another giveaway, so that you, too, have a chance to win cupcake pincushions. Now who doesn't like that idea?

If I had all the time in the world...

...I would learn to sew.  Properly.  I think.

For years, I refused to have anything to do with sewing or anything that could be evenly slightly, remotely related to something a seamstress might do.  Part of the reason for that was because when I was young, I was forced to take several years of sewing lessons.  These lessons included tips on how to make your own pastel-colored, gigantic-floral-patterned jumper, complete with matching 2" buttons running the length of said jumper.  The outfit looked something like this:

Imagine bigger.  More floral. With buttons. On someone well over three years of age.  Then try to imagine being told to be excited because -- guess what! -- that was your one new outfit a year. And you got to make it yourself!

There was a reason that I ran fast and far whenever someone started talking about sewing their own clothes.  For years, the hideous mental image that was permanently scarred onto my brain (when all other memories of life before age 19 or 20 were blocked) was all that I could see when I heard the words sew and clothes in the same sentence.

In my early adult years, things slowly started to change.  I bought a sewing machine, even though for ten years (or was it closer to 15?) I swore I'd never touch one again.  I started sewing quilts, quillows, and working on little projects that struck my interest.  Then honey asked me to hem a pair of pants, fix a sweater, and I realized that I would have to use the words sew and clothes in a sentence. 

Several years later, my best friend's mother started sewing clothes.  At first, I was afraid to look at those clothes.  But -- wonder of wonders! -- I found that instead of looking like a hideous pair of pastel overalls on a giant toddler, the clothes that this woman made were beautiful. She stuck to sheath dresses in pretty prints and everything looked like it could've walked out of The Loft or some other fashionable retailer.

Now I've decided that I am okay with home-sewn clothes as long as they look handmade NOT homemade.  My skills are non-existent, but I am open to the skills of others.  And now I enjoy collecting fabrics and supplies for sewing -- I just happen to stick to creating things like quilts and aprons instead of clothes.

All of that to say that I entered a giveaway on a blog that I follow, and I won two adorable pin cushions!!  I am so excited about this!!  And the fact that I can be so happy that I am dancing in my seat thinking about sewing supplies...that is the true miracle.

Thank you, Ellen, of Creative Passage, for this amazing giveaway!  Keep crafting! :-) (And for those of you who want to see what Ellen does, please visit her blog using the link in this post or the button to the side of my posting page.)

When I grow up, I want to be Lemony Snicket.

It's true. My dream of growing up to be Lemony Snicket has followed me ever since the first book in The Series of Unfortunate Events was released to the masses. The fact that I was already an adult when the book was published mattered very little. This author was able to weave wonderful vocabulary words into stories in such an artful way:

"'Passive'" is an unusual word to hear from a baby, and in fact it is an unusual word to hear from a Baudelaire or anyone else who leads an interesting life. It merely means 'accepting what is happening without doing anything about it' and certainly everyone has passive moments from time to time. Perhaps you had a passive moment at the shoe store when you sat in a chair as the shoe salesperson forced your feet into a series of ugly and uncomfortable shoes, when all the while you wanted a bright red pair with strange buckles that nobody on earth was going to buy for you."

My passionate obsession with Lemony Snicket is perhaps only just surpassed by my love of children's books.  Last year when I discovered that Lemony Snicket wrote The Composer is Dead, a "children's" mystery, I was ecstatic. Pair two of my favorite things together?!?  Could life get any better?  That question was left unanswered until today, in which the answer arrived with a resounding "Yes!" for today was the day I discovered another Lemony Snicket book: 13 Words.  It has beautiful, full-color illustrations, exactly the way a children's book should be. 

And the best part?  The author of the blog Sugar Pop Ribbons is doing a giveaway of a prize pack revolving around this book!

My fingers are crossed.

But I'm not worried, if I don't win this and grow up to be the next Lemony Snicket, there's always my other goal: growing up to be Alexander McCall Smith.  (One of these days, I will be a published author!)