Blogaholic Blog Hop

Welcome to the July community blog hop!

Here is how it will work:


The one and only rule: You must be a member of BSN. If you are not a member you can join here for free.

Once you add your blog- stop by a few other blogs on the list to follow and leave a comment, let them know you are stopping by from BSN so they know you are a new friend and can connect with you on the community as well!

Feel free to:

• Share this blog hop on Twitter (link at bottom of page)
  

• Post about this blog hop on Facebook( link at bottom of page)
  

• Place the link up on your own blog! Just grab the code for your blog (the code is located below the linky list).

Bookmark Kit

Hello again friends.  And how is the weather in your little corner of the world?  If it's like mine, you're wet!  It doesn't rain here, it floods.  Lately every night.  And the days are cloudy if it's not raining.  I can't get outside to take good pictures, so I hope you'll cut me some slack.

I have been a life member of Creative Home Arts Club for a few years now.  When I first joined, I received a bimonthly magazine called Today's Creative Home Arts.  It had all sorts of neat crafts.  Well, it seems they have changed internally and no longer print that magazine.  They changed to a scrapbooking mag called Creating Keepsakes.  I'm not too happy about that since I don't scrapbook.

To make a long story short, they let members test products and I finally was chosen for one.  I was sent a Blooming Bookmarks & Barrette Kit.

Ok, now I would have liked something like a punch, or pretty paper, or even markers.  Ribbon bookmarks?  Well, I did say that I liked sewing.  Ok, no prob.

The kit contained 3 ribbons, various buttons, needles, thread, floss and a barrette.

The instructions say to cut two 7 1/2" lengths of the yellow ribbon, and cut one 9 1/2' length of each of the other two ribbons.  This leaves three short lengths left over for the barrette.



At this point, I decided to assembly line them.  Easier that way.  I centered a yellow ribbon on each of the green and blue ribbons and pinned them in place.

Now comes the sewing.  I had to sew the yellow ribbon all the way around all four sides.    Instructions stated to zigzag on the machine or hand sew.  Rather than get my sewing machine out and then thread with the right color I chose to hand sew.

Now using the different buttons, I sewed them on randomly.  Then using the embroidery floss, made stems for them.  Then tied them together for a floral grouping.  And there you have it.  As far as the barrette goes, I will probably just wear it like it is.

I know you can't see the stems on this picture but they're there.  I wasn't too happy with the results.  I informed the club of this too.  Needless to say, I did not give a good review of the product.  Maybe next time they will think twice and give me somethin good!

Til next time, have fun.

Huge Giveaway Blowout

Hello friends!  I have discovered a site that is giving away a bunch of blog aids.  Just take a look at this list:

• 30 Day Ad Space  by Cup of Jo
• 200 x 200 30 Day Sponsorship by  Here's What I Think About That
• Large Ad Space by The Fontenot Four The Fontenot Four
• Ad Space for 60 Days & Moss Letter by The Slogans
• $30 Gift Certificate to Stella & Dot by Our Pinteresting Family
• Tessa Earrings by Shaping Up to be a Mom
• Large Ad Space by White Lights on Wednesday
• $20 Amazon Gift Card by Second Chance to Dream
• Medium Ad Space by My Favorite Finds
• 125 x 125 Ad Space by Two Sasters
• Medium Ad Space by Pamela's Heavenly Treats
• Custom Made Blog Buttons by Yours Truly

I don't know about you but my blog could stand a little (ok, a lot) of exposure.  And a custom blog button - well, who doesn't need that!

But wait!  What about those of us who don't have a blog you say?  To that I say look closer.  There are gift certificates and earrings.  Up my alley also!

It's so easy to enter.  Just go to The NY Melrose Family to enter.  You can enter up to 38 times (plus one a day) just by liking or tweeting or blogging.  That simple.  There's only two days left though, so you better get on the ball.

As a side note, there will be a bloghop on July 26 at The NY Melrose Family.  Try to make it.  I will.

Til next time, have fun!

Bloomin' Daylily

Hello all.  I wanted to show you what I found in my flower garden today.

Isn't it just gorgeous!  I wasn't expecting to see color this year.  So far everything has green leaves but no blooms.  I just assumed that it was because of all the transplanting I did (and am doing) this year.  I really don't have a green thumb and am not very experienced in growing things.  In fact, I usually kill everything that grows inside.  But hey, they like me!!  As you can see, so do the weeds.  :)

I had been asked where I had found to put Fannie Frog.  Now you can see where she ended up.  I tried to get a picture of her near the bloom.  Actually, you can see better pics of her here and here.  I think the yellow and green compliment each other, don't you?

At least now when I get to work on all those weeds out there, I'll have purty thangs to look at.

Til next time, have fun!

Liebster Award

Well, I'm happy to say that I was nominated for the Liebster Blog Award by Karri at My Life's A Treasure.  Now to be honest, I had never heard of this award.  So I Googled it and got tons of hits from other blogs that had received it.  I don't feel so special anymore. :(

Seriously though, the Liebster Blog Award is given to up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers.  I would guess that it was created to boost followers for small bloggers.  Sounds like a smart idea!

Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome.

The rules for the award winners are as follows:

Post about your win on your blog.
In your post, share 5 random facts about yourself.
Copy and paste the award button to your blog.
Link back to the blogger who presented you with the award and follow their blog.
Nominate 5 deserving blogs with less than 200 followers for the award.
Let them know by leaving them a comment on their blog

OK, my random facts:

   1.  At 50, I went back to school for a year and earned 2 degrees - Medical Administrative Assistant and Accounting Assistant. (But now I just blog-go figure.)
   2.  I've been in Tennessee for 4 years now and love it but miss Mississippi every day.  It will always be home.
   3.  I was the only one out of 6 siblings that never failed a grade and graduated high school at 17 years old.
   4.  I was a Casino Pit Supervisor for 5 years.
   5.  I love cats but don't own any.

Wow, that was actually hard. 

Now, to my nominations, in no particular order:

                      Handmade Harbour

                      All From The Heart Crafts

                      Talking Trash Wasting Time

                      Creative Juice By Shely Wely

                      Its On Random

By the way, all these blogs are on http://www.craftblogs.org/ along with me.  If you're not familiar with it, you vote for blogs you like, to increase their boost number.  I would be grateful for your vote.  I'm very low on the totum. :)

Til next time, have fun!

Road Trip Information Organizer

Hey there friends and a happy 4th to you! 

Today I have taken on a challenge from Jennifer at Jennifer's Jumbles.  This last weekend, her blog was phenomenal.  Two and a half days of hourly posts. And what was the theme?

Organization

Well, since I returned from vacation almost two weeks ago, I have had this box of road trip brochures sitting on the corner of my desk.

What an eyesore. Not only that, it makes me hungry.  So, for my organization project I decided to make a Road Trip Information Organizer. This will help clear off my desk area and also give me a chance to use up some of the cardboard I have been hoarding.

There are two sizes of brochures.  The size that is double folded, and the full magazine size.

I am not giving exact sizes because I want you to use what you have.  I used a cracker box first because it was just the right width as the small brochures.  I measured it and cut it in half.  For this cut, my large paper cutter was quick and easy.

I only needed one half.  The other half will be saved for another project.  I then measured and cut one side in half. Skip one side, then do the same for the next side.  This way it is cut exactly in two.  For these cuts, I had to use a box cutter.  To protect the table, I inserted my clipboard between layers.

Glue the bottoms closed.

I then cut another piece of cardboard as a surround piece.  This will help me to have something to glue it down to.

Glue the side and bottom of the surround.  Glue the two small pieces to each other side by side. Then glue the small pieces to the glued side and bottom as shown in the picture.

Now I cut the top off of the Purex box and cut open one side and bottom. Then I glued the finished small pieces into the front of this.  This creates a space in the back for the magazine size brochures.

All that's left is to paint and fill.

I hope you enjoyed my creation.  I sure feel more organized now.  Thanks Jen!

Til next time, have fun!