We Have a Winner of the Freschetta Proud To Support Pink Giveaway

Thank you all for entering the Freschetta  Proud To Sponsor Pink giveaway and making it such a success.  The more entries, the more prizes and giveaways I hope to be able to have for you.

The winner was chosen by Random.org.  The winning comment was left by: 
Deb @ Dragonfly Treasure

Dragonfly Treasure said...

Fb'd

For those of you who don't already know how creative Deb is, let me just say "She is"!  I hope you stop in to congratulate her and get to know her.  She's a sweetie.  And she has some wonderful Etsy, ebay and website shops you'll want to peek at. 

I'm all about supporting small business' and handmade this year!

I've sent you an email Deb.  Please send me your address via email as soon as possible and I submitted it to Freschetta.

 

Thanks to Freschetta for sponsoring our giveaway and for supporting research for a cure for breast cancer!

Candy's Having a Cricut Giveaway!

My friend Candy @ Candy's Craft Corner is celebrating 100 followers!  Congratulations Candy!!

And you know what that means.  She's having a giveaway to celebrate.  Woo-Hoo!!!  She's giving the winner this awesome Robots Cricut cartridge.  So stop by and enter for your chance to win.

A Table Set For the Diva in Any Witch

I like to see what I can come up with at home, without going to the store or at the very least spending a lot of money.  And this table setting was just that.  A budget project anyone could do.

For the new generation of witches, black shoes just won't do.  So I've created something more to their liking.  

These party favors were simple to make.  I used what I had, which was a pack of really nice textured card stock, which is only $5 for a big pack at Walmart.  The packs have 30 12 x 12 pages in each one, with 10 different colors.  That makes the paper only 17 cents each!!!  Woo-Hoo!  Adding the glitter myself  is a cheap, fun and creative way to dress it up.

  

Plates to recall memories of the witches favorite poison apple movie.  Snow White of course!  And yes, I made candy apples and have so far eaten every one but these myself.  Bad Tracy, very bad!

Thin twigs bundled up, then wrapped with a homemade card.  Download vintage postcards and cut out with decorative scissors.  Rather than use my expensive printer ink, I take my downloads to our near by Staples and print a whole page of color copies for $1.00.  They even size them for me.  A little strip of muslin ties it around.  For the other, I just cut a piece of scrapbook paper with decorative scissors, made hole punches and wove a ribbon through and tied it in the back.

Designer shoes so shiny it looks as if the glitter is on the plate.  Pink for that witch who's just a little too cute.  Eat your heart out Jimmy Choo. 

Apple Green anyone?

What witch doesn't covet a purple and orange heel?  No fancy cellophane bags for the treats here?  No problem.  Use what you have, like I did.  I used little snack baggies tied with ribbon.  

Another good tip!  Head to the stores for the after season sales.  It saves to stock up on holiday patterned ribbon.  You'll be thanking yourself next year. 

I love this hurricane lantern that I won from Heidi @ Show Some Decor this summer.  This is from her Willow House collection.  Thanks Heidi, I'm enjoying it so much!!!  I filled it with apples because that's what I had on hand.  I would have loved to filled it with miniature orange and white pumpkins.  

The table runner is another no cost project since I already had the fabric and paint.  Simple as can be and even if you buy the fabric, you could do this for about $2.00 or less.

I made the 2 owl pedestal plates last month and they were cheap, cheap, cheap. Okay so an owl wouldn't say cheap, he'd say Hoo. ha-ha.  But that project was about $5.00.  And the little ceramic pumpkins were from the Dollar Tree last year?  What else but $1.00.

If you would like to see some of the projects post and even a template for the shoes, you'll find them here:
Raven Table Runner
Table Runner Tutorial
Owl Candlestick Plates
Witches Shoe Favor Tutorial - This was from Skip to my Lou
Paper Shoe Template
Paper Shoe Lining Template

I hope this encourages you to create something with what you have.

Be blessed in what surrounds you friends.

Hugs...Tracy :)

P.S.  I'll be announcing the winner of my Freschette giveaway this afternoon.  Keep watching for a new giveaway to start tonight or tomorrow.  

And don't forget about my

I'm linking up to these parties this week.

I Played with My Cricut !

I've been playing with my cricut.  Would you like to see the simple card I made.  Key word here...simple.

I used the Cindy Loo Cricut cartridge to make the card.  I have a lot of old unused greeting cards that I will cut the pictures are the wording and use on other cards that I make.  Like on this one, I just cut the words with patterned scissors and glued on. 

Be gentle, I'm still not used to using my cricut and I'm just getting the basics.  I love cricut, it does so much.  At first I was a little intimidated by it, but I've picked up on a lot of things by myself.  I would love to take a class.  I've seen so many cool things created with them.

 

On this next card I didn't use cricut but went old school  This is my ode' to my grandmother.  Just kidding, but it does remind me of her.  I suppose it's the patch work part.

After folding a piece of card stock in half, I covered the front in a patch work style.  I then drew a little cupcake on it and using embroidery thread stitched on some beads.  I used the some pink verigated yarn for the icing and the trim.  And what's a card without a little stickles bling.

 On the inside, I used another scrap of paper cut with patterned scissors and stamped some mini cupcakes out of a piece of scrap and glued them along the edge.  Alphabet stickers spell out the message. 

I hope ya'll are finding joy in something you like doing.

Hugs....Tracy :)

Holiday House Prepping Step One

I thought I take a minute to show you the before of our front door.  It's not finished yet.  This is the before while in the middle of sanding it down.  Since then I've put the first coat of varnish on.  I'll continue to sand and varnish at least 3 coats to get the finish I want or until I get so sick of it I can't stand it anymore.

You know it really does feel good to be getting another project started that's on my long list of things to.  Sometimes we, (okay me) get all tied up in the totality of it all.  We get overwhelmed and think I'll never get all of it done.  But it really is just one project at a time.  No, I don't have all the money to get the projects I want done right now.  Yes, it seems like there is more to do than I will ever be able to finish.  It's like the old saying you can't see the forest for the trees.  But just break it down to one tree at a time, i.e. one project at the time, you won't feel so defeated before you begin.

In the past 2 months I've gotten these projects done.  You can click on them to see the actual post.

• Painted the living room {with the help of my honey}
• Painted the dining room and kitchen {Ditto for Neil's help}
• Painted the half bath 
• Neil started kitchen tiling project
• Completed my first upholstery project including sanding and staining
• Made 4 fabric storage boxes
• Made a cupcake candelabra
• Made 2 fall pillows
• Fall table runner
• Jack-O-Lantern Door Hanging
• Halloween Pedestal Plates
• 3 framed prints for the entry way
• 3 hanging tissue paper balls for my Mother-in-laws nursing room
• 1 framed Mother print for MIL's room
• Clothes Pin Bag for my Sister's birthday

So I guess even when you think you're not getting anything done,  well you might just be wrong.

The Holidays Are Coming Fast - Is Your House Ready?

Where did this year go?  

It's the first week of October and I'm wondering how that happened.  Already I'm thinking about how many holiday get together's and how many visitors come with the season.  I love the holidays that come back to back at this time of year but it can be stressful too.  I really thought I'd be further along with my To Do List than I am.  So now  it's time to get in high gear.  I found myself sanding my front door today getting it ready to varnish.  I mean, that is the first thing that you see when you visit.

Thank goodness the photo's above and below are not what you'll see at our house.

No these aren't pictures of my house, I got these from the HGTV website.  Though if you saw me in the middle of a craft project it might come close.  

Even though our houses might not be this bad, I'm sure that they could use a little sprucing up.  Forget spring cleaning, all the company visits now.  Trying to do it all at once, the week before the guest come, while your baking, shopping and Lord knows what else can cause anybody to have a break down.  

So lets try to avoid that this year, okay?!  With us all sharing tips and along with the best products to make our work easier, we should all make it through, fairly unscathed.
 
I've been thinking about an upcoming blog party I want to have.  It will be all about....

Prepping Your House for the Holidays. 

And throughout this holiday season I am planning posts starting with the basics of cleaning all the way to the dressing your home for your parties.  

How can you help?  I'd love to hear about your tips and tricks to make the cleaning easier.  Maybe you know how to make the baking easier or is organizing your specialty?  Well, I'd love to hear tips for all of that and I know you would too.

Do you have a product that you would like to advertise?  This is the place to do it.  I'm also looking for artist and creative people that want to get the word out about their shops and homemade items like cards and ornaments.    I'm planning reviews and giveaways throughout this who season with national companies and I want to also highlight cottage business' too.  You'll have your item spotlighted here on Cotton Pickin Cute, as well as links to your shop or blog and a button on my side bar.  That's a lot of advertising and it can really boost your exposure!  So if you are interested in being a sponsor you can contact me here for more information.

I'm also looking for a blog designer that would like to be featured here in exchange for some blog work.

Check back everyday for some holiday talk here ya'll!

P.S.  Don't forget to enter my giveaway here!!!