And the winner is...

Thank you so much to all of you who stopped by and entered my giveaway. And a big, friendly WELCOME to all of you who are new followers, its always nice to make new blogger friends ^.^ (if you have a blog I will be over soon to come and visit.)

Okay so I won't keep you waiting any longer. The winner is...

...pause for effect...

(number 12 of 39)...

Margarita from Australia.

CONGRATULATIONS!!

...cue fireworks...

I'm really sorry that all of you couldn't win, but I promise I will have another giveaway in the near future.

I hope you all have a super day. 

And Margarita, you've got mail.

^.^

Monday inspirations.

Today's question is; can you ever blog too much about cookies - the answer is definitely NO! 

I have a few favourite cookie maker/ decoraters. And I love the fact that they are willing to share tips and secrets with us. One of these favourites is Sweet Sugar Belle. If you have never heard about her, prepare to be educated. 

Here is a small sample of her amazing creations. Do yourself a favor and go visit her :)

1. A tutorial on how to make a paper cookie stencil (with super cute ties as the example)

2.  Green eggs and Ham cookies (these are my favourite)

3. Easy 3-D pirate ship cookies

4. Lego man cookie tutorial 

For the past few days I have been thinking about visual journaling. I'm not good at drawing but the idea is intriguing. I happened to find a blog called michelle my belle - and she seems to have perfected the art of visual journaling. Take a look. I think they are all INCREDIBLE!!

Happy Monday.

^.^

Let's get organized...

 As I start this post I am giggling (and I think my mom would have a good chuckle too). Something you need to know about me sooner rather than later is that I am NOT very organized. I usually put stuff away in 'a-place-I-will-definitely-find-it'. Needless to say, I never find the stuff or will find it again when we move. One thing that always piles up in various areas of our house are our bills and receipts. Because my husband and I both get them I'm never sure what can go in the trash and what can't - so I make small piles in random places. So when I saw this tutorial in a Korean book that I have (its called 펠트소품 DIY - phonetically its peltuh sohpoom) I was quite excited. 

I made some minor changes to details, here and there. So here goes: 

Monday Inspirations

I haven't ever given Martha Stewart any credit on my blog before so I figure today is as good a day as any. Here are a few cute felt projects for you to look at. (the links are below the pics)

1. How to make stuffed animals from kids drawings. 
I LOVE THEM!!! They all make me smile ^.^
2. Tissue cases.
3. Monster mittens.
4. Felt slippers

Thanks Martha.


So I don't have much to say about the following peanut butter related links because if I open my mouth saliva is going to spill over onto my keyboard...

1.  Flourless chunky monkey chip cookies from Natural Noshing.
2. Homemade butter finger candy from not without salt.
3. Peanut butter caramel corn from dainty CHEF.
4. Molten peanut butter caramel brownie cakes (OH MY WORD the name alone has my salivary glands on over drive!!!) from Christina Marsigliese

I hope you weren't planning on starting a diet this week...
Happy Monday everyone.
^.^

Take your sewing anywhere ^.^ (GIVEAWAY)

Sorry the giveaway is over!

A few months ago (around the end of Feb 2011) I decided to start giving my blog some serious attention. And since then its been nice to see that you have too. Over the last few months it has totally amazed me as I looked at my stats and saw that  thousands of you have been stopping by to take a look at what I have been doing or blogging about.  THANK YOU for brightening my days:) 

So as a token of my appreciation I have made a felt sewing kit to give away. Its great to have for those of us that travel or attend sewing groups/classes. Or if someone has just started sewing and you want to get them something to start them off.

Here it is:

And the inside: 

It helps you keep and organize your ribbons/thread/buttons/scissors/fabric marker/measuring tape/ruler/pins and such.

Its a DIAPER BAG!!

An American friend, that I have made over here in Korea, is having a baby. She is very brave so  to show my support I made her a (my first) diaper bag - its my biggest project to date and although its not perfect - I am proud of it. 

AND the best part is that if I can do it you can too. 

I've attached the links/tutorials that I used - I would have done my own tutorial BUT because it was my first try I didn't know if it was going to be a tutorial on disasters or not.

So without further delay...... I present to you: 

THE BAG!

(I made and attached a felted owl to suit the fabric)

Monday Inspirations

I was at a baby shower yesterday, so this morning I took a look at one of my favourite websites. Prudent baby. They never disappoint. And I thought I'd share the love with those of you that could use it :) 

Here are 20 projects that they found/made, via Babble, that you can make for your baby/nursery.

AND

25 dress tutorials for babies and toddlers.

Shout with me: "THANK YOU PRUDENT BABY you are the BEEEEEST!!"

Maybe they will hear us if we shout together,  Horton-hears-a-Who style.

And I know that my beloved homeland is going through winter at the moment but its HOT here, and the aircon isn't working in our office - just looking at this makes me feel a bit better :) (The links are below the pics.)

1. Watermelon vodka tonic from Biscuits and such.

2. Ice cold Arnold Palmer from Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen.

3. Strawberry-banana pineapple Smoothie from Mama Grubbs Grub.

4.Ginger limeade cocktail with fresh peaches from Babble family kitchen.

5. Mimosa pops from Zoku

6. Homemade strawberry lemonade from my baking addiction.

I hope you have a wonderful Monday.

^.^

The Cup

So sorry to keep you waiting here is the finished cup that I promised you last week. 

Unfortunately my first attempt was a fail - see for yourselves...

My teacup.

The writing on the inside.

(its Afrikaans)

 The plate.

 The finished product.

And "What's the fail?" you ask...

Remember I told you I broke the handle and the lady said she could fix it...

 Umm, well...

She said she was sorry and that I could do another one for free - so here is the lesson that I learnt: If the lady says don't hold the handle while painting the cup - SHE MEANS IT :)

But I won't be discouraged because when making pancakes the first one is always bound to be a flop - but from there on you can only get better.

Check in again next week to FINALLY see the sewing project I was working on AND... (pause for the drum roll...) I will be having a giveaway to say thank you to all you lovely folk for stopping by:)

See you next week!!

^.^

Monday Inspirations

Today's inspirations are not baking or sewing related - but I LOVE them!!

This one was posted a while back but Poppytalk  still brightened up my day today with this cute idea (partially because I'm obsessed with polka dots): 

Tutorial

AND this next one (by back to her roots)  is because its STINKIN hot in Korea at the moment... 

Sweet saturday: Red white and blueberry yogurt pops

Happy Monday!!

^.^