"Watercolors by Arlene Faye" Etsy Shop Review & Giveaway!!

I think I was born about a century late. I love the good old days. The stories, the pictures and the lifestyle. I love antiques, and want to pass on the "old things" and "old ways" to my children and grandchildren!

A while back when I was "shopping around" on Etsy, a watercolor painting popped up and I went to check out "Watercolors by Arlene Faye"! I Just Love her paintings!

It is hard to say which painting would be my favorite, but I love laundry hanging out to dry, so the "Laundry day" painting would be high on my list!

After visiting "Watercolors By Arlene Faye" you will soon see that she has a wide variety of paintings and you can find a painting that will fit in every room of the house! And you can pick from Original watercolors or prints!

The "I CAN REACH THAT" Giraffe would be great for a children's room! I know my girls would Love it!

I love the "Sweet Gardenia"!

Isn't it breath-taking?! I would have this on a bedroom wall too!

I love cherries! And I think the "Life Is A Bowl of Cherries" painting will make you hungry for a fresh cherry or cherry pie! =) YUM! They look so shiny and real!

"Watercolors by Arlene Faye" would make great gifts!

I would get several of them for Christmas gifts! Or maybe you would rather give watercolor painting notecards? She has a lot of them too!

She has a lot of great winter scene paintings on notecards! Including these "Sheep in Winter" (below)! And watercolor cards that will be great for Christmas cards! There are a lot of them to choose from! Just visit "Watercolors By Arlene Faye" to see them all!

I have a print of the "Vintage Pink Teapot" from "Watercolors by Arlene Faye", and I am so excited about it! It is like having a rare treasure to me! When I first got it, I had thought about giving it to someone special for a gift, but I think I am going to keep it for our family and pass it on to our girls!

I love tea and teapots and as I said before, vintage items! Plus I think this will look really good on the cedar walls in the kitchen! Maybe someday I will have a dining room and can hang it up in there!

Visit "Watercolors By Arlene Faye" and let me know which one you love or bought!

Now for the Giveaway!
"Watercolors by Arlene Faye" is offering one of my blog readers the choice between two of her prints! A Big thank you to Arlene!

One winner will get to choose the 8x10" print of the "Life Is A Bowl Of Cherries" or an 8x10" print of "Laundry Day"!

Mandatory Entry:
Visit "Watercolors By Arlene Faye" and tell me another original, print or set of cards you would love to buy for you and your family, or give as a gift!
Mandatory entry must be done to enter giveaway!
Please leave your email address in your comment or have it visible on your profile.

Extra Entries After completing mandatory Entry:
-Tell me which print you would pick if you won! (1 entry)

-"Heart" Watercolors by Arlene Faye Etsy shop (1 entry)
-Purchase a product from "Watercolors by Arlene Faye" during the time of this giveaway (10 entries per purchase)
-Follow my blog (1 entry)
-Follow me on Networked Blogs (1 entry)
-Follow me on twitter (1 entry)
-Tweet this giveaway (1 entry per day)
-Add my blog button to your sidebar and leave a link of where I can find it(3 entries)
-Write a blog post about this giveaway and leave the link to your post below (5 entries)
-Enter one of my other blog giveaways (1 entry per giveaway you enter)

That gives you 26+ chances to win! Have fun!
Please leave a comment per entry that you qualify for, for each entry to count!

This giveaway is open to the U.S. Only and Ends on Oct 23 rd at 12 am central. The winner will be chosen at random using random.org.
The prize will be sent directly from "Watercolors by Arlene Faye" to the winner.

Disclaimer:
For purposes of this review, I received a sample to review.
This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me.
The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own.

Girl's Romper Pattern Review and Giveaway!!!!

When I first took up sewing for our girls, I quickly narrowed down my pattern preferences for patterns that were simple, easy and yet turn out a beautiful garment! I love having clothing for my family that I have sewed but I am not someone who just loves to sew! I kind-of have to be in the mood I guess you could say, and I am not a tedious person!
I love looking at and getting fabric, sewing supplies, patterns and finishing the garment though! That is tons of fun!
Every time I find a sewing blog/site, I just have to take the time to look it over! This is another reason I love Etsy shops of course!!!!

When I first found Whimsy Couture, it was blog surfing and I found Whimsy Couture's blog! I just love the adorable pictures of all the cute patterns that she has and dresses, skirts, rompers, etc. that she and others have sewed!
Whimsy Couture's patterns (tutorials), are very easy!
And they come in a large range of sizes! The romper tutorial I received covers preemie thru size 10!
You can have them emailed right to you and have them printed off in no time, so you can get started sewing, or you can pay a small price for shipping and receive the pattern/tutorial by mail.

I received mine by email and it was in Adobe reader. I printed off the pages I needed and got started!
I had 6 rompers cut out in one morning! They do not use much fabric, and can be sewed together fast too! So if you do not have much time, this is a good pattern for you!

I had some cute "spring flowers" fabric. One piece was large flowers, and i used it to make oldest daughter and another 5 yr. old girl friend a size 5 romper! (pictured here)


Then I made one large print flowers and one small print flowers in size 3 for youngest daughter and my grandbaby!


I also made a size 12-18 months in small flower print, for my niece!

And I had another small piece of fabric, with pink flower print, that I just had to make for my niece! Her middle name is Rose and it had tiny roses on it! Perfect! Plus she had a birthday coming up! I had a darker pink that I used for the ties and put ruffles on the bottom!

Want to sew some yourself? You can buy the Pillowcase Romper pattern HERE on Whimsy Couture! And you have to check out the other adorable patterns!!

Meet Our Featured Etsy store and Owner!
Here is what the owner of Whimsy Couture shared with us about her and her store:

What inspired the name of your Etsy store?

"I love everything whimsical and thought that Whimsy Couture describes clothing for kids.
What inspired you to open your Etsy store?

To establish an online business without the work and investment of a stationary website.
Would you like to share a little bit about yourself?

I am a young 40 something mom to 2 that loves everything handmade. I am a workaholic, nature and animal loving person that supports the environment and sees the values in people not by looking at them but by listening and watching them.
Anything else you would like to share with us?

My little company specializes in sewing patterns that are easy to whip up also for the busy, working mom. I make easy to understand tutorials with lots of pictures to help my customers make the best handmade garment for their little ones."


Now for the Giveaway!

Whimsy Couture has offered one of my blog readers a Pillowcase Romper pattern!

Think of all the cute rompers you can make for all those special girls you know!

From Whimsy Couture:

"PATTERN DETAILS:

This new version is completely overhauled with 3 great additions to my first version!!!

Elasticized ties - so any little BIG girl can dress herself now without mommy's help! Simply step into the romper from the top and pull it on over her shoulders! The straps have now elastic! Actually you can choose how to make your romper with or without the elastic:)

CUTEST middle ruffle - can be added if preferred! Tutorial shows detailed steps how to!

crotch snap buttons can be added for the littlest romper wearers so mommy and daddy can change her EASILY!

This tutorial comes with an adjusted sizing chart, NEW and paper saving armhole and crotch cutouts! The cutouts come separately per size so you can print only the size you need!

3 lengths which are shortalls, capri-all's and full length rompers!

how to add a ruffle or a border to the leg hems!

Sizes from preemie up to size 10 girls!

comes on PDF files - must have Adobe reader to open them

You will need: fabric, a sewing machine, notions, elastics, scissors, iron and intermediate to advanced sewing skills!"

Mandatory Entry:
Visit Whimsy Couture and tell me another item you would love to buy/make or give as a gift!

Mandatory entry must be done to enter giveaway!
Please leave your email address in your comment or have it visible on your profile.

Extra Entries After completing mandatory Entry:
-Follow Whimsy Couture On Facebook (1 entry)
-Follow Whimsy Couture's Blog (1 entry)
-Purchase a product from Whimsy Couture during the time of this giveaway (10 entries per purchase)
-Follow my blog (1 entry)
-Follow me on Networked Blogs (1 entry)
-Follow me on twitter (1 entry)
-Tweet this giveaway (1 entry per day)
-Add my blog button to your sidebar and leave a link of where I can find it(3 entries)
-Write a blog post about this giveaway and leave the link to your post below (5 entries)
-Enter one of my other blog giveaways (1 entry per giveaway you enter)

That gives you 26+ chances to win! Have fun!
Please leave a comment per entry that you qualify for, for each entry to count!

This giveaway is open to the U.S. and Canada and Ends on Oct. 22nd at 12 am central. The winner will be chosen at random using random.org.
The prize will be sent directly from Whimsy Couture to the winner.

Disclaimer:
For purposes of this review, I received a sample to review.
This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me.
The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own.

Old Sewing Patterns! How Exciting!!!

For the July 4th weekend, my brother was able to make a trip up from TX. to visit us!!! It was SO Great to see him! I really miss him a lot!

On his way up to visit, he stopped by our grandparents place and they sent some stuff up here with him for us, my sister, and parents. I was expecting most of it to be old canning jars, so was very surprised to see old games, dishes, etc, mixed in the boxes!

But the most exciting one, was when I opened one box and found it filled with these...........

Sewing patterns!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How neat! All are women's and girls patterns and a lot of the little girls patterns are size 6 which is perfect! most of the women's patterns are around size 10 so I think I could make them work for me! I am going to share the patterns with family with they would like them too! =)

If you can see the pictures well, you can tell that most of them are pretty old too!

But they are soooo cute!

I was glad to see the girl night gowns patterns, since I would love to make the girls flannel nightgowns!

I would guess they are between 15 and 50 year old patterns here! My grandma wrote on one, that she had made it for my aunt when she was little! Several of the women dress patterns, I remember my great grandma wearing the dresses when I was little!

I hope I can get some fabric and material now to make some things this winter! =)

Giveaway @ Kellie's for Craft Kit!!

While skimming over my facebook today, I noticed another giveaway! It was a craft kit giveaway, so I had to check it out! I found it on a facebook friends blog (glad to find her blog too!!).

Kellie @ "Training Up A Child" has the great giveaway of a craft kit from "Creativity for Kids"!!

This is another great site that I had never seen before that has GREAT ideas for homeschoolers for Christmas or birthday gifts! A ton of good crafts to keep you children busy and learning! I will have to shop around here over the years to come (Lord willing)!

I think I would have to pick the "Make Your Own Cupcake Soaps" kit! I think my girls would love it, and it looks like it would be easy enough for them and they could give some to "Nonnie" and their Aunt!!

Doesn't it look fun? Hope you will go over and check out Kellie's giveaway and maybe you will shop around at "Creativity for Kids" and get some Christmas shopping done there!!

Thanksgiving Crafts!

I am not as much of a craft person as I would like to be (or maybe I should say hope to be!)! I think it is mostly because I am too much of a clean freak and the idea of having glue and little pieces of paper stuck all over you and everything is just not appealing to me! =) I know, I know, I need to get over that! My girls love to make crafts and I just have to overlook stuff like that and make it as fun as possible!

We did out Thanksgiving crafts on Monday (the 23rd) and made some turkey pictures! First we did the "hand turkeys" tracing the girls hands on construction paper and drawing the head on the thumb and making legs for the hand turkeys! I also printed off some cute Thanksgiving pictures for them to color that I found linked up on HERE.
For the main, big craft, we made "Thankful turkey place mats"! I just made my own patterns, drawing and cutting them our of construction paper and we used an old desk calender pages to glue them onto! Very frugal, huh?

Here is both girls, (above) with their finished products!


Princess S. got to cut out most of the feathers for the turkeys! I let her come up with most of her things to write, but we had to settle for "animals" and "bugs" instead of each individual animal and bug!! =) She wrote all the things she was thankful for on her feathers too. She is a very good writer!

Princess A. "wrote" with her markers on her feathers, making circles and squiggles! Then mommy wrote the words that she approved for her turkeys feathers!

Both girls had a good time and are very proud of their turkeys! I plan to cover them with clear plastic so they will not get tore up and we can keep them better for future Thanksgivings!

"100th Post Giveaway @ Sister To Sister"!

Congratulations to Courtney at "Sister to Sister"!
She is having a big Giveaway celebrating her 100th post! She has a really great blog that I follow and you should go check it out and join!

The giveaway is great!A lot of great sewing and crafts to pick from!
I hope to get her 3 E-Books! They are SOOOO cute!

Adorable Craft Give-a-way!

A really great and adorable Give-a-way From "A Little Birdie Told Me"

-vintage knitting needles

-needle gauge

-vintage craft magazines

-knitting pattern books

-donkey softie pattern

-vintage tin of vintage buttons

-11 pieces of fabric - new and vintage

-and a rabbit softie

What an adorable give-a-way! I can't wait till my girls are old enough to learn how to sew and knit and make crafty things! Go check it out!