Peep Peep - Duckies!

We have 2 new furry friends in the house.  All I wanted to do is get pictures of Bianca with the Ducks at the local Farm Store.  However, they wouldn't let her "hold" them for a few pictures... so we bought them instead!  
Meet "Peep" and "Cheep"  

Bianca LOVES them.  Well, she'd like to "eat" them as everything seems to go in her mouth these days. But it's adorable on how they will follow her around and climb on to her leg when we let them out to play.  She thinks they are toys, so she'll swat at them and they get right back up and go after her again.   I'm going to take Easter pictures with them probably on Monday.  Still looking for the "right" outfit.

Once they are bigger, we'll be bringing them to a bigger farm just a few miles away. They have ducks, chickens and turkeys there.  With our cats they wouldn't last long outside, and we don't really have a "coop" to put them in so that the coyotes don't come up to the house to try getting to them.  But we'll enjoy them while they are here :)  

Diamond Candles

I got an early birthday present from Tom the other day.. he ordered a candle from Diamond Candles! This was our first time ordering from them and we are very happy with how fast it came.  He ordered late on a Tuesday night, it was marked shipped Wednesday, and it was at the post office by Friday.  

I've just recently found out about these and after my first one.. I'm in Love!  He ordered "Chocolate Truffle" which is AMAZING!  Anyways, with these candles, there is a ring INSIDE the candle!  It could be worth $10, $100, $1000 or even up to $5000.   I've seen pictures on their facebook page of people who have found the more expensive rings in the candles.  

Below is my candle burning - there's a gold foil package on the right side - that's the ring! 

And just after about 3 hours of burning, I was able to pull the package out and get to the ring.  I didn't "strike it rich", but it's still pretty! 

Click HERE for a $5 off coupon, which basically will cover the shipping.

I just placed my 2nd order and have 2 on their way - this time I got Vanilla Lime and Orange Vanilla. 

**I was not paid or given any gifts for this post - they are just wonderful candles that I had to share with my friends!**

Bianca's 1st Birthday Invitations!

Miss Bianca will be turning 1 at the end of April!  Oh my has the time gone by fast :(

I saw this on Pintrest and thought that I'd try it out.. after all, her room theme is butterflies and it just seemed fitting for a happy occasion.   She cooperated for a little while and then Mama's arms were getting tired holding her lol.   But we got 14 of these made, which I think will be just enough for her small party.
We'll be having 2 of them, one in Iowa with Tom's side and one in MN with my side.

I used acrylic paints to do the footprints...I took her feet and put them in the paint first and then on the papers.  

 And although they are not the fanciest cards by any means, they were made with Bianca's footprints, which to me is worth a lot more than a fancy invite.  (hoping that more people will choose to keep them rather than toss them, they've got special meaning to them now!)  I'm actually thinking of doing this for each year so it'd be like a "watch me grow" type thing.  I bought 2 canvas's also to do her foot prints on and I was going to hang them in her room.

And here is Miss Bianca, these pictures were taken at 10 1/2 months.   She now has 6 teeth!  4 on top and 2 on the bottom.  (and it's been very hard to get a picture of the top 4, always seem to just miss them when taking pictures)

My Quilt is in a Contest!

I have entered my quilt in Cre8time / CHA 's National Craft month contest.
If you have a moment, please click the LINK and vote :)
It only takes a minute or two, and you will need to log in to facebook to vote

Thanks so much!

VOTE = BLOG CANDY

There are only 2 days left of the Riddle's Jewelry Contest.  I have fallen behind by about 70 votes now.  Me and this one were going back and forth, and then out of no where someone jumped up 500 votes in 4 days, and they are still going up through out the day.

I need all the votes I can get, so I decided to do a BLOG CANDY to help out on getting more votes :)  This candy is valid until 11:59 pm on February 28th, as that is when the contest ends!

1. http://woobox.com/ats7je/vote/for/198055 <--- a="" click="" facebook="" in="" into="" li="" link="" log="" must="" nbsp="" new="" open="" the="" will="" window.="">
2. "Like" the Riddles Facebook page
3. Click the white "VOTE" button - take note at the vote count number
4. You'll have to accept the APP for the vote to count, the app is not like the gaming apps, it will NOT spam you and you will NOT receive requests for it.
5. Then, the VOTE box should turn Green with a check mark, and the vote count will increase by 1.

To enter for the blog candy, come back here and comment that you voted along with your vote number  so that I can verify the vote

On March 1st, after I get off work (3pm cst) I will randomly pick a comment using random number generator, based off the vote number.

BLOG CANDY::
I've been making a ton of Fleece Jammie pants, and I can do from sizes 6 months to 5T.  You will have your choice of Size along with fabric (based on what fabrics I have on hand) If you do not want the Jammie pants, I will do a $15 gift card to JoAnn Fabrics.   You must leave a way for me to contact you.  (like email address, put spaces before and after the "@" symbol)

Thank you!!!

Cleaning my craftroom and Shirt Making..

So.. the other day I got the itch and just acted on it.  I condensed down my scrapbooking stuff down to ONE cabinet.   2 years ago, I had THREE.  When I moved in with Tom, I had 2.  And now... I'm down to just one.  Why? I have found that I just don't scrapbook THAT much anymore to justify having so much stuff.  Plus, once I moved everything to one cabinet, it's not really "squished" in there, tight yes, but there is still room for a few more things if need be.

The other cabinet I put all my fabric in.  Now I can actually see it and it's not in a tote.  Maybe this will remind me how much I actually have so that I don't go back to JoAnns and buy a bunch of remnants again. (although I'm sure I will!)  I have a feeling that I'll be hoarding fabric just like I used to hoard paper.

I've been searching for a pattern to do a Pajama shirt to match all the jammy pants that I've been making, and I finally found one... and had to modify it once, and looks like I'll have to modify again as the arms just seems a little tight for a shirt.

It's a good thing that Bianca can't tell the difference yet between a good sewing job and something mommy just threw together one night!  Even so, it still looks cute on her!

Mr. Rebates

I checked my account just recently and noticed that a few of my referrals have made purchases :)  so I know that its being used and others are earning rebates, so I thought I'd post it again.  So far this year, I have received $30.48 to my paypal account, and I have another $11.40 that is not cashed out yet.  It's not a "get rich" thing, just a little extra here and there. 

Get a Rebate when you shop online!

Here's just a few of the rebates offered.  All you'd have to do to earn the rebate is go to Mr. Rebates first, type in the site on their search and click the link from there.  Then just shop as usual.

HSN - Earn 5% of purchase price

JoAnn's - Earn 6% of purchase price

Walmart - Earn 2% of purchase price.  I use this one a lot for Diapers!  I just do the site to store, get the diapers at the same price as in store.  I just have to go to the back of the store and pick up - they are pulled and ready to go and paid for already (no waiting in the check out line with Bianca!)

Target - Earn 3% of purchase price

Shutterfly - Earn 5% of purchase price

Snapfish - Earn 12% of purchase price (doesn't apply if you pick up at Walgreens, they have to be shipped to you)

Walgreens - Earn 6% of your purchase price - I use this one a lot too for photos

(I promise the next post will be crafting related!)

Help a fellow Crafter, and get a chance to WIN $50 to Scraptastical Kreations!

I'm writing this post in support for a dear friend, Faith.  I won't post the whole story here, it's up to you to decide if you want to continue reading it and you can do so at this link: Faith's Story and how you can help

But, here is just a glimpse of it.  Imagine being in an abusive relationship for 10 years, and finally being able to build up the strength to take your kids and leave.  But leaving also has it's price of starting all over and having a completely new identity (like the witness protection program.. new name, new social security numbers, new LIFE)  Even tho you have a great education and graduated with honors, you can't use that in your favor to get a good job since well, the "old" you doesn't exist anymore, and when your new potential employers search your "new" social security number, it sets up red flags because it's a newer number with no history on it.  You can't list previous jobs or friends you used to know, if someone were to ask about you with your current name, former employers won't know who it is. The old you doesn't "exist" anymore.

My friend Faith is going through that now.  She's trying to rebuild her family, raise her kids and start a new life.. and continue her photography which is what she'll be making a career of.

For every $20 donation she receives, your name will be put into a drawing Sponsored by Kristy at  Scraptastical Kreations, for a $50 gift certificate. Scaptastical Kreations sells a variety of paper piecings and SVG files.  Every penny of your donation will be used for the reasons listed in Faith's Story.  To be entered in the drawing, just make a donation on Faith's Story (min of $20 for the drawing) and at the end of March she'll draw a name from those that are entered.  She let me in on a little secret.. so far there's only 1 person entered in the drawing since Scraptastical Kreations recently offered the $50 Gift Certificate.

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