Mail Goodies!!

Let me just start out by saying I am one of those people that the universe has decided should never win anything. Lady luck, good fortune .. whatever name you give it, it does not usually bless my house. But a mysterious thing has happened. Just out of the blue, I won not one, but two blog contests! The first was hosted by the talented Karin at Creative Chaos to celebrate the opening of her Etsy store. Look at this pretty, pretty box she crafted! And she even made the cutest little gift tag to go with it too :)

And then, shortly after, I won this beautiful cupcake stand with cloche in the 100th post giveaway at Vintage Threads! Charity, the creative force at Vintage Threads, also sent all these awesome goody extras! What a sweet gesture -- I love it all! Already have some creative ideas in mind :)

My mailbox has also gone a bit bonkers in the yummy book department. I think all those hours setting heavy concrete pavers has made me long for a stack of soothing reading material, a soft comfy chair, and a cup of tea. In the art/craft department I now have the new Somerset Home & Artful Blogger, French Inspired Jewelry, and Making Metal Jewelry (cold connection metalsmithing).

For outgoing mail goodies, this Red Poppies scarf is ready to be sent off to a friend for her upcoming birthday! I think it's really cool and super cute, but I would since I made it :) Now I just hope she does too! Don't worry, she won't see this. She doesn't blog and doesn't even own a computer, so I think it's safe to post. I am just so happy to have finished it on time and that it turned out so well, I had to share. And yes, that's me modeling it :)

I'm making one more of these. Same black felt base with the fringe cut at the ends, but with hot pink flowers and little green leaves. Here's the first few crocheted pieces and I already have the felt base sized and ready. I think with all the leaves, I'll do a few less flowers?

In other news, the patio is ALMOST done! Yeah! Can't wait to celebrate! This week is going to be insanely busy as I try to finish that patio, get my little guys ready for school (pre-K and 1st grade - how quickly they grow!), do Saturday Market, and create product for the upcoming Art & Antiques show I'm doing in mid-September. I'm also horribly behind on my entries for the 2007 Bead Journal Project. So, it might be a while until my next post, but when things settle down, I'm thinking about doing my first tutorial. What do think about one for either crochet wire earrings (I call them spiderweb earrings)? Or one for fairy/princess hair combs?