Elizabeth Smillie

wall words

December 5, 2010 Elizabeth Smillie

Have you seen some of the amazing things that people have been doing with vinyl stickers on their walls? I’ve been loving them and have so many ideas of ways that I could use them too. But, if you’ve been reading a while, you know that I am really really ~~cheap~~ frugal, and would much rather make a knock off than pay for something.

I have been wanting to put a word or phrase in the little empty space in the middle of this picture grouping for a while and finally did it the other day.

I gathered:

a pencil,
soft erasure,
watercolor paints (the really cheap dollar store kind that come with a plastic brush),
cup of water and white saucer,
and a moist rag,

all of which I already hand on hand – so this project cost absolutely nothing!

My first step, after determining what I wanted to write (and making sure that Emma was napping so she wouldn’t see me writing on the wall), was to pencil in the lettering.
I’m not quite confident enough to just take a paint brush to the wall, even though I would have been able to wipe it clean and start fresh if if didn’t turn out just right so the pencil allowed me to adjust the spacing and height of the letters a bit, and stand back and look before I comitted to using the paint. At this point you can erase the letters completely if you decide that it’s not the look that you’re going for.

The second step was to mix the paint. I used a sepia toned brown that I made by mixing a bit of black and brown in the white saucer. Once I was happy with the color I moved on to the third step which was start painting!
My hand shook a little at the beginning, but I used the damp cloth to ease out any squiggles and just kept moving.
I kept adjusting and adding paint here and there to darken it as I went, and then after a bit stood back to look. It turned out great!

I really love the way it looks, and especially love that it was free! Also, A Little Nick Nack is hostessing a giveaway of some of my things – you might like head on over and enter :)

I’m linking this over on some of these fun blogs – head over and check out what others are posting!

My Advent Blessings (so far)

December 3, 2010 Elizabeth Smillie

I really didn’t mean to take a week off from the blog. Really. But life gets busy. Amazing how that happens. :)

Since I posted last:

we had a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving with John’s family
I got most of the Christmas shopping done on Black Friday
we got (most of) the Christmas decorations up, including the tree
I got my hair cut – 11″ taken off and donated to Locks of Love
and a bunch of other stuff that I really can’t recall at the moment

the new hair :)

In the last few days I’ve also had a bunch of blessings! There has been at least one each day, and it’s been kind of like my own special Advent celebration. All of them have been unexpected and made me feel so loved.

a fresh wreath arrived on our doorstep (thanks Mom!)
we were given a turkey
my haircut was free! (I guess that’s normal when you donate your hair, but I had no idea when I walked in and was fully expecting to pay for it)
I found a dozen white roses on clearance for $2. They were already a few days old (hence the clearance) but I really love how they are open and blowsy looking :)
got this in the mail (okay, I kind of did know about it since I had ordered it, but I forgot about it completely! it was so nice to open the mail box and find it there!)

source

And it snowed this morning.

I’m really loving this Advent season so far. I used to think it was fun when I was little, but it’s even more fun when you’re an adult! Looking forward to what the rest of December – and my Heavenly Father – holds in store.

November 25, 2010 Elizabeth Smillie

sale!

November 24, 2010 Elizabeth Smillie

Hancock Fabrics has a bunch of their buttons on a really good clearance sale – 80% off! So I picked some up.

I really love these wooden ladybugs. :)

And these bears.
I have some ideas on what I’m going to use them for, but we’ll see. They’ll be darling, though!

Also, I’m having having a sale in my Etsy shop! Today through Cyber Monday, November 29, you can get 15% off when you use the code THANKSGIVINGSALE2010. And, in case you’re wondering, this is on top of the $5 back when you buy any combination of a cookbook and apron.

We Have A Winner :)

November 23, 2010 Elizabeth Smillie

<p>&amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; The numbers generated by this widget come from RANDOM.ORG’s true random number generator.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;gt;</p>
I plugged all of the information into random.org and we have a winner of the CSN Stores giftcard!
For some reason I can’t get the image to show just which number the random generator chose, but it was #3:

Jill & Dana said…: We are making knit gifts and bailey handprint picture frames to give to family.; November 15, 2010 12:11 PM; Congratulations Jill!

Ian’s Hat and Sweater

November 18, 2010 Elizabeth Smillie

A few days back I mentioned that I finished making the hat and sweater that I had started for the Kids’ Clothes Week Challenge. So, here’s the promised post (albeit a few days later than I had planned :)).

I made both the sweater and the hat using Caron Country Merino Blend in “Silver Service” on size 6 needles. The patterns for both are from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erika Knight.
Although Ian is only five 5 months old, he is a, ahem, large baby (routinely weighing and measuring in the 98th-100th percentile), so I made the Classic Cashmere Sweater in the 6-9 month size and did the math to increase the Baby’s Beanie Hat to a 12 month size. They both fit!

A few things about the sweater pattern – the sleeves are made to be rolled up, so are an inch to inch and a half longer than regular sleeves. If you would prefer to have regular sleeves you would need to do the math to figure out how many rows to leave off.
The sweater pattern includes a few rows of garter stitch at the bottom hem to prevent rolling, and it really works! I’ve put the sweater through the wash 3 or 4 times since I finished knitting it on Halloween, and it still looks like new. No need to iron down the hem. :)

I love how the gray looks on him. So classic, so boyish, so him.

Remember to check out the sale at the shop and enter the giveaway for the CSN Store giftcard!

I’m linking this post at some of these blogs – there are some really wonderful holiday ideas being posted. :)

Holiday shopping?

November 15, 2010 Elizabeth Smillie

Strawberry and Chocolate Floral Apron

I’m sure I’m not the only one who is trying to stretch their budget when it comes to gift buying this year, so I’m having a sale over in the shop to help!

Vintage Good Housekeeping Cookbook

When you buy any apron and cookbook in the same transaction, you’ll get $5 back.
That’s $5 that you could use on a gift for someone else.
Or to get a Chai Latte.
Or to buy the ingredients for peppermint bark.
Or to send an Operation Christmas Child box. Yep. :)

Mommy + Me Apron Set

Remember to enter the giveaway for the CSN Store giftcard!

free money? yes, please!

November 14, 2010 Elizabeth Smillie

*Giveaway Closed (I’ll announce the winner on Tuesday)*

I’m not sure about you, but I’ve been in the Christmas gift planning mode for … a while now (okay, yes, I’ve been planning since Sept.).

I’ve been running ideas through my head with different gift options for our loved ones, trying to figure out the best gift for each person and how to give the most love for the least amount of money. Should I make them something? Shop sales? Hmmm.

I’ve rewritten my mental list soooo many times already (come to think of it, it might actually help to write it down. Then I’d know if I’ve come up with the same idea twice … or three times).

Anyway, all that to say, I’d love to have a little free money. Or, while we’re at it, a lot of free money.

There’s very little chance that any will come my way, but it might come yours! Oh yeah? Yeah.

But first, have you heard of CSN Stores? I heard about it a while ago through my various internet wanderings, and it is quite amazing.

CSN Stores is made up of over 200 online stores, selling everything from children’s backpacks (I’ve been thinking about getting one for Emma – how cute would it be for her to carry it as the diaper bag?!) to cookware to home furnishings to, well, you name it.

That all brings us to this piece of news – the folks at CSN Stores are very generously sponsoring a giveaway here!!!

They are offering the lucky winner a FREE $25 gift code, valid at any of their online stores!!! How nice is that?!

Giveaway guidelines:

-The giveaway is only open to my U.S. and Canadian readers since CSN Stores ships only to the US and Canada. International shipping charges may apply for Canadian addresses.

-You can have as many chances to win as you’d like (see below).

-Giveaway closes on Monday, November 22nd and the winner will be chosen randomly. I can’t enter since I’m hosting it. (bummer. but that means you have a better chance!)

For Chance #1: Just be a follower of the blog. It is kind of the point of the giveaway in the first place :) Leave a comment letting me know that you follow along. If you’ve been reading in silence for a long time, this is your chance to finally say hi!

For Chance #2: Leave a comment telling me what your Christmas list includes. Are you making most of the things? Shopping sales? Buying their favorite perfume? I need ideas!

For Chance #3 (and more): Share the news! Let others know about the giveaway by blogging and/or posting on your favorite social media. Let as many people know about as you can! Because we could all use a bit of free money, right? Each time you post about the giveaway come back here and leave a comment for an additional entry. :)

I’ll announce the winner on the 23rd and am looking forward to reading your comments!

Today in the wonderful world of Etsy …

November 11, 2010 Elizabeth Smillie

The shop has been doing well the past few weeks and the little bit of added income has been really nice, especially with Christmas coming up.
Today I’m branching out just a little though, testing and putting my virtual toe into the water.
Today I’m trying out something new, something fun, something that I hope does very, very well.
Today some of the things from my shop are in the Etsy Weddings Showcase.

Etsy showcases are always fun to browse through – kind of like a virtual craft fair :) – and I decided to buy a space and give it a shot!
So, I’m excited about it. We’ll see what happens!

How about you? Do you have an online shop for the works of your hands? Have you found an effective way to promote it?

A little bit random

November 8, 2010 Elizabeth Smillie

Did you know that Blogger has a statistics feature that allows you to, well, see your blogs statistics? It’s pretty cool. There are some days where there have been a few hundred people stopping by. Pretty cool.

And, did you know that when I don’t post anything here for a few days, I get a lot less people stopping by? Who’d have thought. I mean really, who wouldn’t want to read the same posts over and over? ;)

So, for those of you who like to read new things, here’s a new, albeit slightly random, post.

Lately I’ve been working hard on finishing up some of the projects that I’ve been meaning to get to, getting Etsy orders out (thank you again to the lovely people who have been placing those orders!) and keeping the apartment warm with baking (our apartment manager is finally getting the heat going this week).