Giveaway Winner!

We have a winner! Kathryn Salonka said: It turned out great! Love the birds.

Kathryn is also a WONDERFUL jewelry maker. I have been eyeing some of her work for some time now. I love her necklace called "Keys and wood". I'm a sucker for vintage skeleton keys. Check out her website here.

Congrats Kathryn! Email me (hopefeathers {at} me {dot} com) with your address to claim your prize :)

This was a really fun experiment. I loved seeing a bit more of who reads my blog. Maybe I'll have to do giveaways more often! Don't be a stranger now.... come back every now and then to say hi! I love comments.

Since photoless "naked" posts from a photographers blog is just silly, here are some silly pics of me and Bluejay as we tried to take some tripod christmas photos. We're going to try again... haha. And hope for snow. Who takes christmas photos in Mn with no snow? I'm dreaming of a White Christmas!

Christmas Ornament Giveaway

Well... it's officially December! If you remember this post, you know that I have been counting the days until Dec. 1. Why? Well, for the last few months, I have been hang sewing an advent calendar which begins on Dec. 1. It was touch and go there for a while. Lots of real late nights and double movie marathons with Bluejay while I sewed, but it's done! I actually finished it two nights ago so last night Bluejay and I were able to do this:

in front of this:

We set up our sleeping bags in front of the tree and huggled (hug + snuggle = huggle... we're dorks). Last night I discovered that Christmas tree's are like bonfires in that I could stare into their glowing lights for hours!

But back to the giveaway and the advent calendar. The idea for an advent calendar had be nesting my head for a while, but when Bluejay's mom gave me a bunch of her old holiday fabric, that little egg hatched and my craftiness exploded! I had no idea it would be such a long process. Here are some pics:

        

(it hasn't been hung yet... hence the funky shaddows)

Inside each pocket there is a little birdie. Each birdies is different and will be pined to the tree on the corresponding date. There's going to be a million (ok...24) birdies in that tree come Christmas! So what's the giveaway? The advent calendar? Um.... no. Too many blood sweat and tears put into this baby. But, I happen to have a little birdie who needs a home on someone's tree. I will choose a random commenter to receive this yellow birdie in the picture.

If you leave a comment on THIS POST by noon on December 3, 2009 to be entered into the giveaway. Please check back to see if you have won! Once the winner has emailed me their address, I will pop that little birdie in the mail and you can put him on your tree in a couple days! Good luck everyone!

New Holiday Background

I am a proud participant in the Black Friday spree! It has been tradition with the girls in my family for years. I think it all began when I was in seventh grade and we found out the JCPenny was giving away a Mickey Mouse snow globe ornament to the first 500 customers. Who would want to miss out on a Mickey Mouse snow globe ornament? Needless to say, my mom, sister and I were waiting in line at 5am. While we aren't crazy enough to get up THAT early, we did discover that IKEA had free bacon, egg and potato breakfast with coffee on Black Friday. Now, we sleep in a bit (a blessing after all that turkey) and take our time and set a leisurely pace arriving at IKEA at 9:30 and then off to the Mall of America. As a Minnesotan, I often get "ooo's and awe's" about living in the same place as Mall of America. I hate to burst your bubble, but it's not that big of a deal. I avoid it because of the stressful crowds, and the overwhelming amount of stores. I go once a year... on Black Friday. I know! I'm not the brightest bulb on the tree. That's like the craziest day. Oh well. I forgot my camera this year. I took some iphone pics of my sister and I and our free breakfast and the free see's candy we got (yum!) but it was nothing blog worthy.

After a day of stressful shopping (which was semi successful in that I was able to cross 2 people off my list), we came home and watched Miracle on 34th Street and had cocoa. Yesterday we began decorating for Christmas. I'm a bit holiday obsessed and EVERYthing must be decorated. Hence the new holiday blog background. Bluejay calls me his little Elf at Christmas time. I think it's a jab at my height and my affinity to the season. I call him a grinch. We're a perfect match. The decorating isn't quite done. In fact, everything's about half done. I think I'll get more finished when Bluejay goes back to work tomorrow (tear). And of course, there will be pics! Also, stay tuned for the giveaway that will occur on Dec. 1! Make sure to comment on that day! Here's a pic of me & my Bluejay!