Rohans 1st Month

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Craft room

I have been diligently working on decorating the new house. I have officially finished one whole room! I have partially finished all the rest of the rooms, but my craft room is the only room 100% complete.

Here are the before pictures:

 

Here are the after pictures:

   

Nick painted the room blue for me, to help with the bright blue carpets. Then he made a large U-shaped desk for me. The desk consists of a place for my machines, two friends to come over and craft with me, and a computer area. There are some shelves for storage above the desk, as well as pegboard to hold all my crafty supplies. Nick also made a cutting table for me using some cabinet bases and plywood. This is the only project not 100% complete, but it is usable so it works. I just need to mount the plywood and cover it in fabric and plexi-glass. We took the closet doors off to make it easy access to my very organized fabric stash. I have over 200 yards of fabric neatly folded and organized my content. Soon I will organize it by color too. I hung a fun polka dot shower curtain to hide it from the sun and most of the dust. I went to Ikea and got some chairs, a stool, window curtain and some other various organization containers. I still have lots of empty containers that just serve as decor right now, but will eventually be full of things, I’m sure! I can’t wait to get to crafty again! So, I sew.

Our biggest project so far

Well apart from growing a baby, our biggest project is our new house. That is right Nick and I are now home owners. It has been a stressful year in the making.

We started July of 2008 by going to Quadrant Homes in Yelm and impulse buying a house. We met Jason a Real Estate agent who works with Quadrant. He showed us the only house that was comfortably in our price range. It was very cute inside, but there was no yard and no garage. We went home and cried. The next morning we called Jason back and asked to rescind the papers, because we didn’t want that house anymore. We told Jason that we liked him and when we were actually ready to buy a house we would call him to help us (as if he knew what he was going to be getting himself into).

September 2008, Nick and I decided we were ready to move, so we called Jason and we went house hunting. We looked at a number of houses. Found one that we like, put an offer on it, and the owners pretty much laughed at us. Then we found a house across the street from my work. It was a new construction and super cute. We loved it! We put an offer on that house and it got accepted, so we started the stresses of buying a house.

During the month of October we played the waiting game. The bank was taking forever to get paperwork done, and there was very little good news when we talked to anyone involved with the buying of this house. Finally less then a week before we were supposed to get keys, we got a call from the bank. Nick and I were expecting the call at this point we just didn’t want it. The loan would not go through because of Nick’s job (he isn’t paid traditionally). We cried and were on a scurry to find another place to rent for now.

We were able to find a place on Craigslist that we really liked. It had everything we were looking for in a house if we were going to buy. Wood floors throughout, 3 bedrooms and an office, 2 living rooms, and a  huge back deck to a huge backyard. We were able to move in right away, so we did.

In January 2009 the landlord told us that we would be able to purchase the house if we wanted, but he wanted us to put a price on it. We told him our budget and he said he could work with that. We knew that the loan wouldn’t go through, so we decided to wait until 2010 to buy the house.

March 2009 we called Jason again. We wanted to look at houses to see what other options we could have that may be a little cheaper then the rental. Since the last time we had looked at houses the President had established a stimulus package for first time home buyers. We could get $8000 back on our taxes if we bought a house by December 1, 2009. The money would be nice, so we wanted to see what we could find. Nick and I were now looking in a whole new area. The first time we were focusing on the Yelm area, now that we had moved to Lacey, we knew that is were we wanted to buy a house. The only problem was that Lacey homes are a lot more money. The only ones in our price range were old fixer uppers, or really small homes in new construction housing developments. We found one house that we both liked, but it needed a lot of work! The price was amazing so we put an offer on it. After a couple of days went by we found out that many other people thought the price was amazing as well and the house ended up selling to a cash investor. We took another house hunting break.

We called our landlord in June 2009 to see if the offer still stood for the house. He wanted a second opinion on what the house was worth. When we saw what that opinion said, we got really frustrated. He was now asking almost $20,000 more then our budget would allow.

We called Jason again!

This time we had looked at houses online and found one that was just put on the market. I asked Nick to drive by to take a look since it was a block away from our friends that he carpools with. He did, but there was only one house for sale on the street and it wasn’t the same house. I was confused. Nick and I both drove back over and looked at the houses on the street and found the one that was online. It didn’t have the sign up yet, so that is where the confusion was. We peeked in all the windows and fell in love with it. From experience we knew that if we loved the house from the outside (or inside for the matter) there was something wrong with it. We wanted to know what was wrong with such a cute house. Why was a house that was on an acre of property selling for so low?

Our schedule didn’t match up to Jason’s very well this time, it took almost a week to meet up to look at this house. Which to us felt like eternity! We walked around the outside of the house and finally made Jason open the front door for us. It didn’t smell… Why not? All the houses we liked smelled like smoke or pets. The inside of the house made us love the house even more. This house had everything and it was in our price range! We made an offer. The house was a foreclosed house so we were playing games with the bank that owned it. They wanted nothing less then what the asking price was and we didn’t want to pay full price to a bank. We finally settled on a price and scheduled for an inspection.

During the inspection, not a whole lot went well. The inspector walked around and found various things wrong with the house. First the front siding had rotted away (we knew this already), then he climbed on the roof to find that a new roof was needed before winter. Did I mention this is a bank owned house? Bank owned homes are typically sold AS IS, no repairs! I cried right there, we found out what was wrong with the house. We asked the bank to fix the front siding and the roof. We figured they would say no, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask. The bank wanted a second opinion. That opinion must have said the same thing about the roof, because they accepted to fix both the front siding and the roof for us. We were on our way to a new house.

During all this house hunting time we had talked to a friend of ours who happened to be a loan officer. He said that he could get us a home loan even though Nick was paid differently the most. So we decided to use him for this house. About a week into the paperwork, we were started to experience a little de ja vu. The underwriters for the loan didn’t like the way Nick was paid. We got frustrated and I cried a lot. Nick managed to get a letter from his boss explaining the situation and how it would change. Then we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, when I had lost all hope in this house we got a call saying the loan would go through and the papers were being sent to Escrow.

Really? This is one step further then we had ever gotten! We were so excited, we cried!

However, Escrow took their precious time working on our file. The papers were supposed to be done by Friday afternoon and we could sign then. Were they? Of course not, this is our luck. We had to wait until Monday. Do you know how long weekends are when you are waiting for something this big? They are like an eternity!

On Monday we finally got the call. The papers would be ready by 3 pm for us to sign, and she would call us before then so we could bring the check. At 2:45 we called her because we still didn’t know how much to bring. We told her that we would be a little late because she failed to call us. We got there, signed a few papers and found out that she didn’t do the paperwork right and we had to bring in another chunk of money. We didn’t really have that money planned in our budget so we were pretty upset. While sitting there signing papers and waiting for her to take her precious time I watched the UPS and the FedEx man take all the mail. Our papers were supposed to be with that mail. Delayed again.

The day before we were supposed to get our keys (the day we were told we would get our keys) we found out that there might be an extension needed. The final underwriting was taking longer then usual. When that finally went through we were told that the bank still hadn’t sent their papers back. Delayed again.

On Thursday, August 13, 2009 we got the call. The call that Nick and I had been waiting for, for over a year. We were finally home owners! We cried! We established a time to meet with Jason to get our keys, he was going to be late, so we had to wait. Then he called us and said he was going to be later, so we had to wait. Finally we met up at our new home and just enjoyed sitting in the empty house with our Real Estate agent turned friend who had been through a lot with us.

Nick and I love our new house and remind each other every day that we are finally home owners and we can do what we want with the house. We can paint, hang shelves, change fixtures, we can even take down doors. And that is what we did. We are still working on it, because with me being pregnant, there is not a lot Nick will let me do. I can’t lift heavy things, I can’t paint. The only thing I can do is ask Nick nicely to do things for me. He has been the best with getting things done as quickly as his tired body will let him. He currently works 7 days a week, so there is very little time for him to much for me and our new house, but slowly it is coming along.

I will post pictures in another post, that will explain the details of our projects. I love owning my own home!

Updated list of things to do

Here is my list from June 30 of things I want to finish by November. I have crossed out the things I finished and the stuff I added to make in bold. I have been working really hard to only work on what is on the list, but sometimes get distracted with other fun projects. I only plan on making the starred items when and if I move, so that I have fun a coordinated kitchen and a fun coordinated craft room.

• 12 x 12 Calendar
• Scrabble tile pendants (probably won’t do this)
• Placemats and napkins
• Large white and pink tote (cut)
• Butterfly tote (cut)
• Bright Hawaiian tote (cut)
• Purple singlet shopping tote (cut)
• Hawaiian singlet shopping tote (cut)
• Birds of Paradise lunch tote (cut)
• Sunflower lunch tote (cut)
• Apple apron (cut)
• Nursing cover
• Diaper bag
• Clothing separators
• Baby shoes
• Baby Onesies
• Bibs
• Travel sleep mat and case
• Changing pad
• Diaper & wipe travel bag
• Burp cloths
• Bento Box Quilt
• Baby hooded towels
• Crib sheets
• 6 pairs of PJ sets (probably won’t do this)
• Baby Dress (probably won’t do this)
• Toddler Shirts and pants (probably won’t do this)
• Handprint quilt
• Photo magnets
• Magnetic Paper dolls (probably won’t do this)
• Sewing Machine tote *
• Sewing Machine Cover *
• Serger cover *
• Sewing Chair cover *
• Sewing Machine organizer *
• Mixer cover *
• Toaster cover *
• Bread Machine Cover *
• Rainbow Quilt (cut)
• Black & Pink Quilt (cut)
• Woven Placemats
• Polka dot apron (ASG)
• Pink Butterfly purse
• Apron (tbd)
• Tote bag (tbd)
• Kelahna’s Tutus x 2
• Kelahna’s Pillowcase Shirt
• Kelahna’s ruched skirt
• Diapers (10)
• Tortilla Warmer

Finally cool

It is finally cool enough to leave the air conditioned room, so I have gotten some sewing done.

My Sister-in-Law and I went shopping and saw some super cute pillow case shirts that were $35 each! To top that there were also some tutus that were $40 each. There is nothing to either of these so there is no reason to pay that much when I could make them for her for way cheaper. I really do support the creative people out there trying to sell there stuff, but even on Etsy they don’t charge that much for either of those projects.

The only problem is my SIL and I have very different tastes in fabrics and colors, so I told her she had to buy the fabric and I would make the projects. We went to Wal-mart and picked out a couple colors of tulle and some cute prints of fabric to make 2 tutus, a pillowcase shirt and a ruched skirt for my niece.

Here is what I have accomplished so far with what was purchased:

Front:

Back:

Rock Star Style: 

The Pillowcase shirt. I made this as a sample with left over fabric from the skirt she wants (which I haven’t done yet, just cut it out), the real shirt will be brown with pink polka dots:

 

The ruched skirt (this is also a sample, the real skirt will be out of the black and white fabric):

Front:

Back:

I did also get inspired to work on some of the quilts that I have just sitting around all cut. My SIL and family came over for dinner on Sunday and walked into my craft room for the very first time since I have moved here in November. She was disgusted by the amount of fabric I have and the amount of projects I have started that are just sitting collecting dust. She is starting to get back into sewing and made me feel sad that I had gotten so bad. I know that I am not nearly as bad as some  people, but I really want to be at a point where I decide on a project, go get fabric, cut it, and sew it all at once. I don’t want to have such a large stash of “I don’t know what to do with” fabric. And I certainly don’t want a ton of works in progress sitting around.  I started with this monkey flannel rag quilt that I have had cut for well over 2 years:

   

And I started on my rainbow quilt that I blogged about here. This is 1/3 of the top part finished. The little strip on the side is going to be the binding. It is coming together so nicely I can’t wait until it is finished:

I am off to my ASG meeting, it is all about sewing machine feet. Then tomorrow I have another sewing day with a Home Depot job interview thrown in. So, I sew.

Busy Me

I have been super busy with sewing lately. Well I can’t really say that I have only been working on sewing, because I have really only spent about 10 hours in the last two weeks sewing, I have just managed to get a lot done in that time period.

I made a total of 18 burp cloths. These are super easy to make. They only require some scrap flannel and the pre-folded diapers. I bought the Gerber 3 ply diapers because I wanted them thick and white otherwise I would have just bought the organic diapers from Simple Cloth.

• Wash and dry the diapers 3-5 times on hot before using.
• Measure the thick section of the diaper length and width and add 1/2” to the width (mine was 14”x16”)
• Cut your flannel pieces to that measurement
• Iron the seam allowance on width sides for easier sewing
• Sew the flannel down so that the pretty part is all showing (there is no turning involved here)
• Finally serged the ends of the diapers to even everything and protect it all from fraying (the ends are typically serged already, your just making sure your flannel doesn’t unravel)

See wasn’t that super easy (if not, let me know and I will make a real tutorial, but you can always Google it and find lots of great burp cloth tutes out there). These were fun because I was able to use up lots of scraps of flannel from all the jammies I make myself.

 

I also made a crib sheet to go with the awesome jungle bumper and dust ruffle I found at Value Village. I found this great fabric at Joann’s that matched all the colors in the bumper, but it was $7/yard. I am normally not picky about prices for fabric, but I needed two yards and $14 for a crib sheet is ridiculous. I decided to use my 40% off coupon to help with the price. When I got home I realized the lady at the cutting counter only rung me up for 1 yard of fabric rather then the 2 yards I had gotten, so I guess this sheet only cost me $4. I was going to call and let them know, but from working at Home Depot I know that they would just say ‘thanks for letting us know, but there is nothing we can do’. So I just accepted my stellar deal. The sheet was easy to make, but still a little annoying, because the tutorial I used wasn’t super accurate. I finagled it and made it work though. I probably won’t be making anymore sheets, because they really aren’t that cost effective, I just got lucky.

 

 

 

I broke out my WIP basket and decided that I wanted to make everything in it before starting any new projects. Here was the first of that endeavor, a brown corduroy market tote with butterfly fabric lining. I made it with brown polka dot ribbon for the size adjusters. Nick said this was my ‘grandma Mary Poppins’ bag because it is so big and the fabric reminds him of an upholstery bag.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next project in my basket was this Hawaiian print and denim bag for a friend. She had tons of fabric to make various things with, but she doesn’t know how to sew, so she gave it to me to make things for her. She didn’t really like this bright fabric so I decided to ‘hide’ it as a lining to a very simple tote bag. This bag would be great for groceries or a trip to the lake. 

I also needed to finish the Tortilla Warmer that I had started at an ASG meeting back in April. My mom and I were sharing a sewing machine so rather then finishing mine I let my mom work on hers mostly and I would finish mine when I got home. Well I just finished it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another 3 projects in my basket were these singlet shopping bags. One of them is for a friend, but the other two have been cut for well over a year just waiting for me to tackle the handles. The handles on these are very cumbersome to make and I dread doing. Well I figured out a really quick way to make them (as long as you don’t mind a little serged edge showing. The original has a gusseted bottom, but I didn’t like that because you can’t put as many groceries in the bag, so I excluded that. Apart from the Hawaiian print for my friend the fabric is from $0.50 bandanas that I had found at the store. I love it when I can make things, and they are actually cheaper and better then what you can get at the store.

The final project I finished from my basket is this super easy tote bag with a log cabin square in the center. I had intended to send this off with a swap package, but ran out of patience with the colors. I can only handle so much of the same fabrics. 

In addition to all of this stuff I finished, I completed 4 baby washcloths, 1 bib, and 3 swaddling blankets. I didn’t take any pictures because there is nothing spectacular about them and I put them away before getting around to it. I still have 3 projects in my WIP basket to work on, and I want to finish those this week so I can complete a total of 100 projects for the year so far. It is so hot here right now that I don’t want to really do anything, but sit in front of my AC unit in my bedroom, so we will see what all I get done this week. So, I sew.

Some projects I have done

  I have done a lot of crafting in the past couple of days. I finished some stuff from my list and some extras.

Here is the 12 x 12 calendar. I can change the paper in the background to match the season or monthly holiday. I am using some window markers that I bought a long time ago to write the days and the month onto the plastic calendar cover page.

 

I also made these children’s closet organizer hangers. I found some wood pieces at the craft store and had Nick cut the holes into them for me. I then painted them and mod podged paper to them. I printed out the ages onto clear address labels and stuck them on. I found these animals at the craft store and thought it would work perfectly with the jungle theme I have going on in the baby’s room. The sad thing is Nick put the holes a little to low and they don’t fit on the closet rod, so Nick said he would work on lowering the rod for me to use them.

I sewed up 5 baby bath towels in various colors and sizes. I just cut various size squares of terry cloth and flannel for the hood, then serged it all together. I think I might add bias tape to the green ones later, but I don’t feel like doing that right now, they are just for me so perfection is not required.

I cut up some towels that I had sitting in my craft room to make 16 reusable baby wipes/washcloths. They are really simple, just 8 x 8 squares of towel, serged together. I didn’t want to go fancy on these since there purpose is to wipe poo from baby’s bottom.

I also cut and ironed 18 burp cloths. I just need to sew them onto the pre folded diapers. I am waiting for those to get washed about 4 times first so they are all shrunk down to size.

This weekend I will be by myself so I will work on the cloth diapers that I have fabric for and hopefully finish those. I really want to make some bibs, booties, and washcloths from all my scraps that I have accumulated. I want to use up some of my yardage though too, so I need to find projects to do that with. So, I Sew.

Cloth Diapers

I went down to the local cloth diaper store Simple Cloth and registered for a ton of great products from her. I also want to try and make some of my own diapers. I did the calculations and here is what I have:

The info I used was that a child uses 70 diapers per week for about 2.5 years (130 weeks). Also here are some great comparison websites:

http://verybaby.com/dollars ( I used this the most)

http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/5-diap/45-diaper-cost.htm

• Lifetime cost of Diaper Service – 130 (weeks) x $18.00 = $2340 + 12 (covers) x $13.00 each = $2496
• Lifetime cost of Disposables – 9100 (lifetime amount of diapers) x $0.25 (average cost of one diaper) = $2275
• Lifetime cost of Home Laundering Pre-fold Diapers – $0.15 (average detergent per load) + $0.95 (average electricity usage per load) + $0.20 (average water cost per load) x 260 (3 loads of laundry per week) = $338 + 12 (covers) x $13.00 each + $180 (cost of pre-folds) = $830
• Lifetime cost of Home Laundering Ready Made Pocket Diapers (The ones I prefer of most like disposables) - $338 (diapering lifetime home laundering cost) + 24 (one size pocket diaper) x $18.00 each = $770
• Lifetime cost of Home Laundering Home Made Pre-fold Diapers - $338 (diapering lifetime home laundering cost) + 12 (covers) x $7.00 (fabric and notions needed) + $180 (cost of pre-folds) = $602
• Lifetime cost of Home Laundering Home Made Pocket Diapers - $338 (diapering lifetime home laundering cost) + 24 (one size pocket diaper) x $10.00 (fabric and notions needed) = $578

I figure that Nick and I will have 2 kids, so the price doubles for Diaper Service and Disposables. For all the other options most of the diapers can be reused (I have heard you do have to invest to buy about 12 new Pocket Diapers with your second child), but the covers and pre-folds all can be reused.

Based on my calculations (which are rough, but good estimates) I can save about $4250 over the life of two children if I make the Pocket Diapers myself. Of course we will probably mix and match different types of diapers and home made and store bought, but for that kind of savings we can do that. Nick and I are also thinking of the “green” savings will have by cloth diapering and that is 18,200 less diapers in the landfill (which never deteriorate).

Since seeing these numbers I have already bought the pattern and the first batch of supplies needed to make my first 3 Pocket Diapers from Kayla’s Cloth Kit. Her site has great kits that include everything you need to make 3 one size fits all Pocket Diapers. You can customize what colors and materials you want, also if you need the pattern or just the notions. While working on this post I got the pdf pattern link in my e-mail, so now I can make some mock ups before the precious fabric arrives. One thing that I like about Kayla’s Cloth Kit is that she allows you buy the license to sell the diapers. You just make one and send it to her and if it is up to her standards she will allow you sell unlimited amounts of her diaper for just the cost of her labels and the license fee. What a great way to make a little extra cash.

I can’t wait to get the fabric and start making my own. So, I Sew

I got a few things done.

The other day I cleaned up my craft room so it was easy for me to use again. Then I went shopping for some basic onesies to decorate. I ended up with 7 completed onesies and I am quite proud of most of them.

The first three I painted using some stencils and the other four I did iron appliqué. I chose not to sew these appliqués for pure ease of making them. The baby doesn’t get to wear them that much anyway.

Yesterday I went to Simple Cloth in downtown Olympia. They sell everything you could possibly need to cloth diaper you baby. I got so much information from the owner. I now know exactly what I want to do use and how many I need. She was giving me prices of a cloth diaper investment and I was a little surprised, but realized how much I could save from not using disposables, also they can be reused from child to child. The investment would only be once for a lifetime. I think I could even make them cheaper, but I might have to do some research. I haven’t really found a pattern that I like for diaper covers yet, so we will see.

My Crafting To Do List:

So with the baby coming in November I want to get as much crafting done before then. I have made a list of things I want to complete within the next couple of months. The list is long, but a lot of the stuff is quick and easy (I hope).

• 12 x 12 Calendar
• Scrabble tile pendants
• Placemats and napkins
• Large white and pink tote (cut)
• Butterfly tote (cut)
• Bright Hawaiian tote (cut)
• Purple singlet shopping tote (cut)
• Hawaiian singlet shopping tote (cut)
• Birds of Paradise lunch tote (cut)
• Sunflower lunch tote (cut)
• Apple apron (cut)
• Nursing cover
• Diaper bag
• Clothing separators
• Baby shoes
• Baby Onesies
• Bibs
• Travel sleep mat and case
• Changing pad
• Diaper & wipe bag
• Burp cloths
• Bento Box Quilt
• Baby hooded towels
• Crib sheets
• 6 pairs of PJ sets
• Baby Dress
• Toddler Shirts and pants
• Handprint quilt
• Photo magnets
• Magnetic Paper dolls

I’m Back

So I know that it has been awhile, but I am back. I have been really busy lately with two jobs and not feeling very well. Now both jobs are done and I am feeling better, I am ready to craft and blog all about it.

I have some very exciting news for anyone who hasn’t heard yet…..

I am having a baby boy in mid November. This is why I haven’t felt the greatest, but now I am in the clear for a little while. Nick and I are so excited, neither of us can wait. We have compared this to waiting for a Christmas present that you know your getting for 10 months. We will not discuss names with anybody or tell anyone the exact due date, as we want those for just us. Don’t worry everyone will know when the baby is born right after it happens.

I have lots of ideas of stuff to make for myself and for baby, so I figure I better get started. Here is my list of things I want to make or try to make:

• Diaper bag
• nursing cover
• baby towels
• burp cloths
• portable sleep mat
• wipe bag
• receiving blankets
• bibs
• blankets/quilts
• dirty diaper bag
• diaper covers (we plan on doing a cloth diaper service)
• toys
• clothes

However, I have a whole list of things I want to make for Christmas this year, but Nick and I are in debate about it. He thinks that we shouldn’t buy do anything for all 9 of our nieces and nephews as neither of us ever received anything from our aunts and uncles for Christmas. I think I could easily make them all something small and call it good. So why don’t I ask you:

Should we give gifts to each individual or should we just do a family gift?

Comment and let me know what you think.

March Monthly To Do

I didn’t do this in February, but here it is for March.

• Pick 15 projects
1. Placemats
2. Napkins
3. Table Runner
4. Rainbow Quilt
5. Black and White Quilt
6. 2 Lunch totes
7. 2 Singlet bags
8. Market Tote (log cabin)
9. Fabric Purse
10. Fabric Wallet
11. Apple Apron
12. 2 Tote Bags
13. Tortilla Warmer
• Cut and prepare fabric for those projects
• Get a job

I made it!

I got this pattern and fabric at Sew Expo!. I have covet this farmer’s Market fabric for about 6 months now and I saw it at the expo and just had to have it. The vendor we were at had it made into a table runner which I just loved. Needless to say I bought the pre cut fabric and the pattern to make it. It is a quilt as you go style runner and it wasn’t too hard to work on. This is the biggest piece of quilt as you go I have ever worked on and that was a little challenging, but I finished. I even hand sewed the binding on. I have never hand sewn a binding, being scared of the time it would take and thinking it would look ugly. I really wanted to practice and just do this project ‘right’, so I got out my needle and for 2.5 hours I sat on the couch and worked on it. I found that hand sewing is very relaxing; although my hand kind of hurt afterwards. I definitely will be properly sewing the binding on from now on! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have my 3 people for the pay it forward craft challenge. I have been reading your ladies blogs, and you all are very interesting people and I am excited to craft something for you. I will be contacting you within the next week to get mailing address’ (not saying I will be sending in the next week, but I want to be prepared).

Pay it Forward Craft Exchange

I have been reading about the Pay it Forward Craft Exchange for the past couple of days. Most of the blogs I have been reading are from 2007 and already completed so I thought I could start a new chain myself.

According to the rules, you have 365 days to send out your homemade gifts. Rest assured, that if you win, I will not wait 365 days to send you your gift.

1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me.

2. If you are one of the first three to make a comment, you are a winner! And you then agree to post this challenge on your own blog, meaning that you will pay it forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your 3 friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember it’s the spirit and the thought that count!

4. When you receive your gift, blog about it! If you are not one of the first three to comment on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! It's all about paying it forward.

Please make sure you leave me a valid e-mail address in your comment or e-mail me at deannalynnmiller at gmail dot com once you comment so I can get addresses. If you are not one of the first 3 to comment, comment anyway if you post this on your blog, so I can check it out! I am always in search of new, fun blogs to read.

Finished in February