I asked what each child was into (Angry Birds, Harry Potter, and Racing).  I then ran with the idea (using my Silhouette Cameo and some vinyl) and decorated the front with their names on them and did a little something small on the back.  The teacher’s filled the baskets with a ton of goodies for them (sorry, no pictures of the final look with them full).

Here are the baskets.  They were so easy to make and I think they made a Dollar Store find turn into something that looks so much more.

The tickets for this benefit were $25 a piece, there were several silent auctions for some really nice stuff that was donated to the school to help raise money, and each classroom in my son’s school (there are four) created a basket to be auctioned off.

I was in charge of creating the tags for each basket, listing which classroom put the basket together, the value of the basket and the contents.  The basket themes were:

• Gardening Fun
• Date Night
• Rainy Day In
• Spa Time

And here are the tags I made:

I completely forgot to take pictures of the fun things I found for my swap partner.  Her name is Angel and she blogs over at Living with Moxie.  I stalked her instagram and blog like nobodies business, trying to get to know her better.  I had so much fun shopping for her because I felt we had several things in common (making it pretty easy).  I’ve really enjoyed getting to know her so far and look forward to getting to know her better as time goes on.  She put a pic on instagram (of what I got her) that I’m stealing from her (hope you don’t mind Angel):

I received my mug last week and it couldn’t have come at a better time.  I’ve had a really rough week with Brody starting back at preschool (because he’s had a really rough week).  Poor kid.  This was definitely “happy mail” when it arrived.

My mug is just perfect!  I love the bright and cheery colors!  I love the size and weight of it (yep, those things matter too).  I love the shape of the mug (I have two other mugs already that are shaped similarly and they were my favorites…now I get to add another to the mix of favorites).  A very sweet lady, named Melody, who blogs over at Melody Mae, had my name this year.  She is beyond sweet and so thoughtful!  We’ve become instagram friends and have emailed each other off and on already.  I’m enjoying getting to know her better. 

I already can’t wait for Mug Swap 2014.  I think Kim needs to do half blog anniversary mug swaps as well.

I know it’s been forever and a day since I’ve posted to this blog. I have a million things going on in life right now and a million things to post (I’ve been quite creative with the addition of my Silhouette Cameo over the past year).

I do hope to start posting to this blog again. Until then, feel free to follow along on our family blog.

In the meantime, I’m in the Mug Swap again (laughing that my last post to this blog was almost a year ago and talking about last years Mug Swap).  *sigh*  I hope to get back to this neglected blog soon.

We were pulling out of the driveway last Saturday to go to church.  My eyes caught a package sitting on our front porch as Jason was getting ready to pull away.  I made him stop so I could quickly grab the box.

I knew instantly that it had to be my mug and I couldn’t wait to open it, so as Jason pulled away from our house, I got a finger nail file out of my purse and opened the package right up.  Forgive my pathetic pictures (which do not do this package justice at all).  I quickly took pics in the car as we were driving to church.  I just couldn’t wait to unpack it all when we got home that night.

Oh the goodness!!!  I was in heaven!  Jeanette made an amazing box for me full of so many fun things!  I could tell she put a lot of time and attention into her package.  There was tea (for the days I’m into drinking tea), there was coffee (for the days I’m into drinking coffee), and there were chocolate covered sunflower seeds (which are obviously for every day, because who can’t eat chocolate each day).   She also included a really pretty hand towel and wrapped my mug in a beautiful tea towel tied with a pretty pink bow.  My guess is she made the hand towel and tea towel after checking out her fun Etsy shop, full of wonderful goodies!

You’re just dying to see the mug she got me, aren’t you?  It says, “Live well, Laugh often, and Love with all your heart” all over it.  The colors are great and I love the writing all over the place.  So fun!  Thanks Jeanette!!!

Be sure to check out Jeanette’s blog.  She has some GREAT recipes posted (several I can’t wait to try).

I spent a couple of days trying to get to know the person I had to send a mug to (via her blog).  Nothing popped out at me (as for her style or favorite color, personality, etc…).  Sometimes this is a good thing.  It makes me think that she would be thrilled with anything (making it easy for me to just choose something).

Well…I’m a people pleaser (so just choosing something…anything isn’t easy for me), so I read her “about me” page several times, looked at different content, pictures, etc… that she had posted on her blog and then searched online for various key words.  Then…I saw it.  The cup that I felt would fit her well (not a clue if it will, but I felt good about it). I liked the design on the cup, the size, the colors (or lack thereof) and the verse it said.  Perfect!

And, since I’m a people pleaser, I don’t want my person (Melissa) to feel like she got gypped if she doesn’t like the cup, so I threw in a $5 Starbucks gift card (this much I was able to get from her blog…she likes Starbucks). I then went another step and made her two gift card (or business card) holders using this tutorial.  I didn’t think to take pictures of them (made them at the crack of dawn and was ready to just seal up the box so it was ready to ship out).  I was able to use my new sewing machine (new as in I got it back in December, but just opened the box in July and just used it for the very first time while making these gift card/business card holders).

Let’s just say that I’m in love with my new sewing machine. It’s a slight upgrade from my last one (even the same brand), but it has some great features that my last one didn’t have (like telling me when my bobbin thread is almost out and an even easier, fool proof way of self-threading the needle, and the list goes on).  Ok…got off topic, didn’t I?

Ok, so on to the cup (mug).  What did it look like?  This is actually something I did remember to take a picture of.  The outside is grays, blacks and a light green.  The inside is this green color (not sure why I didn’t get a pic of that…oh well).

What a fun swap! I love the excitement of waiting to see who you get (and who gets you…can’t wait to find this out). I had fun trying to get to know my girl. I will definitely do this again next year (Kim…you ARE doing this again…k).

As I was going through my RSS feeds tonight, I ran across a site advertising a new website who is selling washi tape.  A ton of different and fun styles in various colors.  And get this…each roll is only $1.99. What’s even better, is that there is a flat rate shipping of $2.95 (so get as much as you want).  SCORE!  They even go as far as to put the amount of each roll they have left in stock (I find this so helpful).  I hate when I click on something and it says it’s out of stock.  *sigh*

One of my favorites is under their “randomness” section.  It’s called, “Light the Tree in Rockefeller Center” (shown below).  How perfect this would be to seal each of your Christmas cards with this year (tear off the “Merry Christmas” and put it on the back to seal the envelopes).  Super cute, huh?

I just had to share my latest, fun find. If you love washi tape like I do, I’d love to hear what fun ways you use it. Oh, and for some more ideas, check out their Pinterest page (and no, I’m not getting paid to say all of this, just excited to have stumbled across this company).

Well, this super cool swap is back again for the 2nd year and I’m not missing out this time.  I struggle with putting me first sometimes (putting my desires first and doing things that I think would be enjoyable for me).  Sometimes, we just have to make time for ourselves, ya know.

Want to join in on the fun?  Whether you like coffee or tea, hot chocolate, or just a fun mug to drink out of, you’ve got to check out the details on Kim’s blog for her 2nd Annual Mug Swap.  It’s super easy to join and you’ll automatically be entered into her giveaways (she has several great things to give away).

Thanks Susan for making sure I knew about this swap again this year and for encouraging me to join in and not miss out on all the fun again.

I saw this fabric almost 6 months ago and knew from the start that I was going to make a quilt for my friend using this fabric.  The problem was that it wasn’t due to come out until mid-to-late March.  *sigh*  That is the only reason her quilt was the last to be made (I had to wait for the fabric to be released).

I LOVE the bright colors, the fun patterns, and the classified ads just make me laugh.  It’s totally boy!  So cute!  I even found ribbon that goes with this fabric line (who does that?) so I HAD to buy it, knowing I was going to roll it up and tie it with a ribbon (stole that idea from Andrea).

And now I’m done with my sewing machine for a little bit.  It’s actually moving on to my niece this summer.  Jason got me a new one for Christmas that still needs to come out of the box (yep, I’ve been that busy that it’s still in the box…seriously).  I know, I know…it would have made much more sense to have sewn three quilts with the NEW sewing machine.  Don’t think I didn’t think about that.  I’m so overwhelmed with several things that the thought of unpacking a sewing machine and learn something new right now just might send me over the edge.  LOL!

Side Note:  The fabric is a Riley Blake Design called “Peak Hour” by Kellie Wulfsohn.  If you’re looking for fabric, check out Fabric Seeds first.  Her prices were more than $3 less per charm pack than anyone else that was selling it.  She wasn’t selling any yardage of this fabric, so I just emailed her.  I found out that she has a Riley Blake store near her and has access to many of their fabrics and  was happy to get what I needed for a very reasonable price.  Everything shipped in one envelope, so the cost of my shipping didn’t even go up even though I added two whole yards to my order.  She was amazing to work with and I will definitely buy from her again.

I made her first daughter (Nina’s) quilt (it was actually my VERY FIRST quilt EVER).  Here’s pics of that quilt from six years ago.  It was purposefully purple and green because her room was purple and green at the time.

Her second daughter (Selah’s) quilt was made by someone whom I admire so much.  She is one of the most creative people I’ve ever met and I just love checking out her blog to see what new creations she’s made.  Click here to check out the quilt she made for my friends second daughter.

And now for the latest quilt I’ve created, for my friends third daughter (Eliana).  My friend didn’t want purple or pink, so I went with the fun teal color and ended up loving the Riley Blake Designs Verona by Emily Taylor fabric line.

I’m very pleased with the way this quilt turned out.  It was such a fun fabric to work with.  I know she’ll treasure this for many years to come.