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!

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!)

Sew many pants...

I have found a new addition.  And now, I think I will be renaming my blog to just "Creations by amkscrap" as I rarely use my cricut, and when I do, I use SCAL. (I have the older version before the lawsuit)   Plus I would hate for PC to try to shut me down for using the word "Cricut".

My new Hobby?  Sewing. It is something that I've always had a thing for and more recently have been doing a lot more of.  It reminds me of my Grandma Jeannette Forcier.  I miss her so much! She passed away 12 years ago. *moment of silence for Grandma* 

I know that she'd be thrilled that I have continued to do a hobby that she loved.  And I know she'd love these pants!

So I bought a bunch of Flannel thinking I'd be making a ton of poodle skirts.  Eh, I sold two so I did get my money back for all the flannel that I bought, but now I have a few different colors.  I found a free pattern online, printed it out and traced it on to cardboard so that I could reuse it.

--Please excuse the upside-downness... I thought I could rotate once I uploaded it, but I guess not--

The next day.. I went shopping at JoAnns and checked out their remnant section - Love it! 50% off even if the fabric is on sale!   I can make oodles of jammies out of these!  Flannel and Fleece!

These were the next ones.. I just think this pattern is so friggin adorable!

And even Bianca liked it!

 These next ones, I'm making a matching set for a friend of mine who has 2 boys.. One is a month old and the other will be 3 in May.

Let's go to the HOP!

Wednesday January 31 we went to the Sock Hop at the Surf Ballroom!  The girls all had a blast!  

We had fun watching everyone dance and even joining in on a few. Bianca jumped and jumped to the music - she was a hit!  There was even a couple that stopped dancing to take their camera out and get a picture of her in her poodle skirt!   I think this will be an event that we'll be doing again! 

Poodle Skirt!

Been playing around with the sewing  machine again. 

Actually.. this was by request of Sarah.  Each year in February, her class (well, the elementary) goes to the Surf Ballroom  and tours the Museum.   The Surf was the location of the last performances by Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper.  On January 3, 1959, they were on the Winter Dance Party Tour and their plane crashed just five miles out of our town of Clear Lake, IA while they were en route to Moorhead, MN.   There is more on the story via Wikipedia. 

Anyways, Sarah wanted a poodle skirt last year when they went, just that we didn't have the money for one at the time.  She asked again this year and after doing all those quilts, you'd think I'd be sick of my sewing machine, but I did have some fabric left and figured that I'd google a pattern and try to make one.   I was talking with a friend about them, and asked her on if she'd think they would sell on the "FB Garage sale sites" in our area.  With the Family Sock Hop being about 2 weeks away, along with the Winter Dance Party Celebration, she gave me a big thumbs up and said I better get sewing incase there's a huge demand for them. 

The Hot pink one is for Sarah and boy was she VERY HAPPY when she got home and I had her try it on!  The smile on her face was priceless.

This pink one is what I put up on our garage sales sites... and it was only up for an hour when some asked for one in Red and little bit larger.  I'm sending Tom to JoAnn Fabrics tomorrow to pick up some fabric (and it's 50% off this week!) and more elastic... and a big cardboard box so that I can use it to make a few different sized patterns. 

Abby is Home!

Sorry for the delay in this post.. but Abby came home on Sunday!  Just in time to ring in the New Year!

I don't know how long the Stint will be in, sounds like they are just playing it by ear for now.

Thank you all again for your prayers and well wishes!  Here's hoping for a full recovery!