BBA February Challenge and Our Team Giveaway

Happy Valentine's Day!

Whether or not you are in a committed relationship, I hope that you are loved today.

The Challenge

The February BBA Challenge is to create a love themed item.  You can read more about it here.  If you've been reading this blog for longer a week and/or have checked in with my Etsy shop any time during the past month, you know that I've created a lot of love themed items the past couple months.  My love of hearts took over, and I went crazy for Valentine's Day.

My Valentine's Day shop section is still going strong through tonight so you can check out what's new over there.  I won't recap about any of those items for you.  Instead, for the challenge, I'm going to share some of my newest card designs that I haven't listed yet.

When I started brainstorming card ideas at the end of 2011, I decided that I wanted to design a line of The Office cards.  I don't discuss The Office on here very much, but it's been one of my favorite TV shows for the last 4 years.  I could easily write a whole post about why I love this show, but for now suffice it to say that one of my favorite things about it is the characters and the dialogue.

I have mentioned a few times that I recently started sewing with paper.  I saw a few ideas for this on Pinterest and was immediately hooked.  I learned machine sewing basics many years ago.  Thankfully it's kind of like riding a bicycle so it is coming back to me.  As I become more comfortable with the machine, the sewing goes more quickly.

Anyway, I really love this 3D heart effect.  It is so easy to replicate this concept with any number of shapes.  I will be experimenting more with it in the future.  You'll have to trust me that the background is a beautiful deep purple.  I know that it looks almost black here.  Also, I used some of my new stamps from norajane.

I made a bunch of these (as well as a very similar anniversary version) and will be giving Jake one of them today.  If you know why this card is a fitting choice for him, you get a reward.  Not really.  Just bragging rights.

Thus far I've mostly focused on larger cards, but I'd like to develop more mini sets.  I know that my stitch work here is far from perfect, but I still love this concept and will keep practicing with it.  I think that it would be fun to offer designs that are similar to this for all different occasions.

Someday maybe I'll get inspired to learn how to do something with my sewing machine that's a little more practical.  I can only seem to take interest in sewing projects that are purely for aesthetics.

What have you been working on lately that has challenged you?

The Giveaway

Continuing with the BBA, if you have not already entered the February BBA Giveaway, please get over to the blog and enter!  Nancy and I decided that it would be fun to do a group giveaway and offer lots of smaller prizes.  Seven of our teammates decided to join us.

One lucky person will win all of the items pictured there.  The heart thumb tack set in the upper right hand corner is from me.  We want to encourage everyone to visit all of the participating shops so you can get a lot of extra entries for this giveaway by leaving comments with your favorite items from all of the different shops.

And finally, while I'm on the subject of the BBA, founding the team this fall is what inspired me to write this article.

New Article:

How to Form a New Team on Etsy: The Basics, Components to Consider, and More

Looking for older articles?  Click here!

I included this post in Erika's It's a Wrap Link Party - 2/20/2012.

new toys and goodies

My EtsyBlogger friends know that my mom brought me a sewing machine over Labor Day weekend.  One of her friends was moving across the country and wasn't taking it with him.  She got it for him for free and gave it to me, as she already has one.  I didn't have a particular purpose for that desk at this point so the sewing machine is perfect there.  Of course I had to take a picture of it.

Some of you may be wondering around my sewing skills, as I haven't posted a lot of sewing projects of my own here.  I do know basic sewing machine skills, but it's been years since I've practiced them.  I honestly don't even know what I'd like to make with it at this point, but how I could I say no to a free machine?  I'm open to suggestions for projects.

The guy very nicely included a lot of his sewing supplies and extra buttons.

While my mom was here, we went to El Rey.  I'd driven past it a handful of times but hadn't wandered in yet.  We got a few things for our taco dinner that night, and I got a few very inexpensive staples.  Each item here was only $3.50.  Yep, that is enough cinnamon to keep me set for at least the next 5 years.  I need to start making my own cinnamon rolls or something.  I'm looking forward to the sticks for cider and cocoa this winter.

Also on the subject of new goodies, this past week, I took advantage of the Labor Day Sale at Michael's.  Among other things, I got some new bead strands, which were almost 40% off.

I'm always hunting for new leaves so the green ones were a nice find.  I got the amethyst chips on the right for future rock garden bracelets.  The two middle strands were a random inspiration.  As I was thinking about the rock gardens and looking at the neutral rounds, I thought, why not a winter rock garden?  As I've been hunting for an anniversary ring lately, I've been drawn to this ring in one of my new favorite shops.  So the quartz chips fit in with that, too.  As you know, I've always got a lot of different projects going on, but that will be perfect for later this fall so I will do my best to fit it in then.

And yes, those beads are lying on a new piece of felt!  I bought three new felt squares while I was there for my light box.  I've mentioned wanting to experiment with a colored square and several people have urged me to try a lighter gray and/or white background.  So here they are.  I'll have more on that later this week so stay tuned.