One World One Heart Giveaway!

Comments are now closed! Winners will be announced tomorrow morning!

Last year I visited so many wonderful blogs and won a couple of very nice prizes on the One World One Heart giveaway. This year I too wanted to join the magic carpet ride and offer something to all of my friends out there. So jump on the flying rug and get cozy. Time to visit blogs from all over the world, make new friends, and win some wonderful art!

I'm offering up a sweet gypsy primitive art doll.

Gypsy is made of hand painted muslin with coffee dyed clothing. I love details so I gave her 2 necklaces and a little round pouch that can open. If she flys on the magic carpet to your home you will find a good luck charm in her pouch! She is weighted on the bottom to sit on a shelf or desk and remind you that life is like a gypsy caravan, you never know where it will take you next.

Since everyone on the magic carpet is so generous I decided to offer up a 2nd prize as well! A silk rose headband to keep you in gypsy fashion.

All you have to do to be in the drawing for the giveaway is leave a comment on this post! Make sure I have some way to reach you if you win, please!

I will draw and announce winners on February 15th! Take a moment and browse around my blog. If you like what you see follow me! I can't wait to start flying on the magic carpet in blogland myself!

Edit: Since I'm having such a wonderful response to my giveaways I've decided I'll add 2 secret atc's if my comment number reaches 300! I have been dreaming of some cards that will be a reminder of this wonderful event!

Tattoo My Heart Matchbox Shrine

Tattoo My Heart Shrine Open
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

The papercrafts gang over on Craftster posed the challenge of a love themed matchbox shrine and I accepted the challenge! I'd never made a matchbox shrine, but there is a first time for everything. I decided I wanted the end product to be something I could give to Aaron (the Hubby) for Valentine's Day. I'm in love with how it turned out and I can't wait to give it to him! The challenge also said the shrine had to have a secret. Want to know the secret of my shrine???? You'll have to head on over to flickr to see the pics of the secret pull out photo album!

On another note, don't forget that I'll be on the magic carpet ride of One World One Heart starting tomorrow! Come back to see my giveaway!

Hoop up, Deer!

Hoop Up Deer
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

Another quilt block finished for the Hoop Up swap! This time it is a wonderful vintage pattern from the Hoop Love group on flickr. It is for Michbrown1973 who has choosen a wild life theme. I love deer and have always loved this pattern. A buck in the spring. The hubby helped pick the colors for the deer since he knows more about the colors than I do. I guess I didn't realize that they are different colors during the different seasons. This, he assured me, is the color of a buck in the spring. He even brought up pics on the computer to verify. I hope Michelle loves it! On to the next block!

Embroidery For Hoop Up!

Crafty Goddess for Hoop Up
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

I finished my first block for the hoop up swap besides my own! This one goes to QuiltinKimmie! Her theme was crafty and her accent fabrics she has picked out to use are all in black and red so I went with that. My wonderful friend Digital Misfit drew the design for a line of free embroidery patterns she is doing at her new blog over on icraft. http://icraft.ca/digitalmisfit/blog/ Check it out!
This design worked up perfectly! I'm so excited to send it back to Kimmie and I can't wait to see it in her finished wall quilt!

Another Batch of ATC's

I have to stop falling into the papercraft trap! I seriously need to get some sewing done! I just keep cranking out ATC's! This is going to be my last batch for the whole week! I have to get the last thing done for my personal swap and start on the next IYP! All fretting aside, look what I made! I also grabbed a couple blank ATC's and my black pens and took them along to lunch today. Auntie had a blast making a zentagle! I put it up on flickr for her to offer for trade. I'm slowly converting the entire world into Craftsters!

Puppy Cakes!

Puppy Cakes!
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

Saturday my little sister turns 9! I volunteered to make her cupcakes to take to school and share. I got the Hello Cupcake book for Christmas and she loved the puppies in it, but of course she wanted the cupcakes to look like her dog! She has the brother to my dog (Mini American Eskimo). We combined a couple different dog patterns and came up with these cuties! Mom and I always improvise when we make cakes and it usually turns out better than the actual directions! We also made her a butterfly to have at her family party. If you'd like to see that flit on over to flickr! Happy Birthday Justice!

More ATC's!

So I've been a bit papercraft crazy the last few days! My first batch of ATC's went over so well I made another batch tonight!

More wax collage, packing tape transfers, and other fun stuff!
If you'd like to see the full cards go on over to flickr!
Tomorrow after doing a bunch of stuff for other people I plan on going back to sewing for a bit! I want to finish up something special for Woodland_Faerie!

5 New ATC's!

Last night while waiting for the Hubby to get home from work I made 5 more ATC's! Lots of fun! I did 3 more with wax, 1 with packing tape transfer, and 1 collage with a vellum overlay!

Here is a collage of pics I made, but if you'd like to see a full shot of each card head on over to my flickr folder called ATC's for trade. I hope I can trade these 5 off to new homes soon! Anyone interested in trading me can flickr mail me or leave a comment on this post. I can't wait to start my collection!

My Very 1st ATC!

My Very 1st ATC!
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

After dabbling in papercrafts for a bit I've decided to give ATC's a whirl. I've made lots of inchies so I thought this would be fun. I'm so proud of my first ATC! I had bought blanks forever ago and they have sat untouched in a drawer. Untouched no more, I say! This is a blast! I used the wax collage technique. I layered papers, images, and text tinted with chalk pastels under layers of wax. I also added a bit of glitter just because. I used ink pads as well. It was so much fun I think I'll make many more! I have a collection of 2 ATC's from different artists and now I want to start swapping them to build up my collection! I would highly reccomend anyone to try making an ATC and see if they don't get hooked!

Snow Dog!

Snow Dog!
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

I took Merlin out in the snow today! We have had a ton of snow and Aaron spent most of the day doing snow removal. We managed to make it to the post office to send off my hoop up and swap embroidery squares, but the roads were terrible! Nothing better to do than take the dog out into the back yard and watch him run in the snow! Something about a white dog in the snow just makes me happy! He loves chasing snow balls too. We've also been working on new tricks today. He's really getting the hang of the stay and come thing, FINALLY! If you'd like to see 1 more pic of Merlin in the snow check out flickr.

My Starting Block

Gnome for Hoop Up
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

I'm doing the Hoop Up & Send swap on flickr. It is my first flickr swap and has been fun already. I'll be sending out my plain fabric squares this week to the stitchers in my group. One condition of the swap was you had to do a block first to set the tone of what your theme would be. I decided I needed some gnome goodness! I found this pattern on an etsy shop and thought it would be perfect! I just love him stitched up and I'm so glad I'm keeping him! I don't keep my own stitching very often! Stay tuned for posts about the blocks I get from the other stitchers!

Quilt FairyGodmother Pins

Quilt FairyGodmother Pins
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

I made these for my quilty friends for christmas. Such a fun project. I printed out the godmothers and wings onto fabric using a fun new technique. I colored them by hand with colored pencil and then fused them to the background. Added words stamped with my letter stamps, sequins too. Then I put the pins together with a bit of batting and quilted around the godmothers for some dimension. They were a big hit!

On to 2010!

I had a fun and not so fun evening last night! We did our traditional New Year's fondue at my Grandma's and then played games and visited until it was the big moment. Then out comes the confetti and we make a huge mess! After that it is clean up time! While cleaning up we found evidence that Merlin (my little fluffy man) had eaten about a half a bag of semi sweet chocolate chips! Uhg! The hubby had already taken the dog and went home so I called him and asked how he was. Hubby said he was fine and sleeping. When I got home a bit later after the vacuuming was finished I found 2 huge spots of chocolate vomit on the floor in the dining room! Stupid light beige carpet! I was up shampooing into the night! I also had to make a run to the store for some charco tabs to give to the little dog to calm his upset stomach. He's fine today, but I was a nervous wreck last night! No crafting today as I was beat from staying up making sure he was fine. I'm off to have our annual New Year's Day ham at Grandma's now! I hope everyone rang in the new year with joy and laughter. I wish you all peace, health, happiness, and lots of great crafts in the new year!