Midweek Miscellany

Just some random things on this middle-of-the-week Wednesday in this middle-of the-month November. (Yikes, that means the holidays are getting closer and closer!)

If you are looking for a great advent calendar

or if you already own one but would like a Christian-based advent "kit" of things to add to the pockets

check out this post and then rush over to Fairytale Pumpkin. But don't wait too long--they are flying off the shelf. Including one that is coming to live at my house.

I finally got these Block Swap 2 blocks in the mail today. Brittany had us make blocks for a Halloween quilt. Fortunately she wasn't planning on having it ready to go for this year. At least I don't think she was! Ooops...

Brittany sent the fabric pieces for the left block and requested disappearing 9-patch. But because I have this funny witch's underwear fabric, I couldn't resist making an extra block.

Near the border it says" witches undies scarey screamy, have a happy halloweenie."

And I added a lovely chalkboard to my sewing room. I took an old way-too-ornate gold frame and sprayed it with this.

You see where it says "all-surface paint"? I thought it would cover the black velvety inner border of the frame a little bit better, but it just ended up being kind of a charcoal grey. No problem, since the walls in my awesome new sewing room are grey. It's all good.

Slapped some Valspar chalkboard paint on a piece of masonite, and ended up with this.

Oh, and those names on the board? Just a reminder to get their pincushions in the mail. Have a happy Wednesday.

Orange Wednesday--Fairytale Pumpkin edition

In my previous post I laid out my week in color.Thanks for all the very interesting comments, by the way. Believe it or not, a quilt design based on those colors is kind of percolating. I'm not sure what will come of it. My Color Rock Star coach, Brandi, started the whole idea. So we'll see what happens. (Is there anyone else out there who wants to take that class just because of the name? Side note to Brandi: I think you should make a button for people who take the class that says, I'm a Color Rock Star!)

Anyhoo, according to the colors in my head, today is orange. Now here is an interesting dilemma. I love orange. Not such a big fan of Wednesday. It probably has something to do with the fact that this is the day where I have the greatest volume of medical transcription and it seems like I am sitting at this computer for an interminable amount of time. I realize, of course, that my day would be considerably shorter if I didn't have such a short attention span and feel the need to cruise through blogs rather than typing about torn ligaments in the knee and torn rotator cuffs in the shoulder.

But I digress.

Today is an orange day.

Interestingly enough, that ties into a really great giveaway from Fairytale Pumpkin.

I'm a big fan of finding quilting inspiration from various places. Like color inspiration from magazines.

Turns out, I'm not alone. Christa found her latest design inspiration from Sunset magazine:

And then she went on to design a great journaling template, usable for so many different things. Pictures of your kids' first day at school, some quilting designs you want to document, a trip you took this summer.

And here's the great thing about this orangey goodness. As if it wasn't enough that her logo is so creative (and orange!) and that fact that she figured out to make her own button (which totally impressed me), Fairytale Pumpkin is having a giveaway! I know! I couldn't believe it either!

So now you too can have an Orange Wednesday!

I highly recommend it. If you, like me, aren't a particularly huge fan of Wednesday, at least not until your work is done, then the best thing you can do is add some color to your day and head on over to Fairytale Pumpkin.

Meet and Greet: Fairytale Pumpkin Giveaway

Today I'm really pleased to introduce Christa Wiens of Fairytale Pumpkin. I'll get the disclaimer out of the way by saying that Christa is my very favorite daughter-in-law, and the incredibly adorable kids you will see in some of the photos at Fairytale Pumpkin are my grandchildren, Charlotte and Levi.

Christa has just started a new blog and has opened an etsy shop offering digital scrapbooking.

Christa, welcome. Can you tell us something about you and your family?
You mean besides my wonderful in-laws? Well, I have been married to your son, Aaron, for 10 years this week (woo-hoo!). We met in the 7th grade, so we've known each other longer than we haven't known each other. We have three kids, two of whom your readers have probably already seen. Charlotte is 3 and Levi is 2, and they are the source of endless entertainment and photos. Our oldest son, Caleb, would have been 5 this spring, but he died of SIDS in 2005. Aaron is an optometrist, and after teaching elementary school for 6 years, I am now a stay-at-home mom.

Fairytale Pumpkin is such a fun and interesting name. How did you choose it?
This past October, my good friend had this super-cool, picture-perfect pumpkin sitting on her fireplace hearth. She told me where she got it, and so naturally I copied her by buying one and putting it in front of my fireplace. And then I made my kids take fall pictures with it. I was a little obsessed. When I found out it was called a fairytale pumpkin, I thought it was such a perfect name, and it just stuck with me.

Digital scrapbooking sounds like the "modern" version of traditional scrapbooking. Can you briefly explain digital scrapbooking?
You pretty much did. If you are familiar with traditional scrapbooking, digital is not really all that different. There is background paper, photos, journaling, and other design elements, like frames, titles and embellishments. The only difference is that it is all designed on a computer and the finished product prints in one layer, like a picture, with all the elements included.

So I email my pictures to you. Then what happens?
Along with your pictures, you can also tell me if you have any preferences, like background color or specific elements you've seen in another layout (you specifically asked for the clipboards for Andrea's layout), and you can email me any journaling you'd like to have included. I will then put all the pieces together and design a unique, one-of-a-kind layout for you. I will email you a low-resolution jpeg file to review and make changes. Once you approve, I will email you a high-resolution jpeg which you may print or have printed. Alternatively, I can print it for you and ship it. It can then be easily slipped into an album, put in a frame, or anything else you like.

I don't have a printer capable of 12x12 printing. What are my printing options?
The pages print very nicely in 8x8 as well, or you can have them printed for you in either 12x12 or 8x8. There are a number of online services that will do this, such as http://www.scrapbookingpictures.com/, http://www.scrappingsimply.com/, and others. Costco now prints 12x12 and 8x8 sizes, and that is where I have all mine done. The quality is great and they are the cheapest around, with no shipping costs. If you have a book designed, you can also upload it to a website like shutterfly and have it printed and bound.

I'm a quilter. How would digital scrapbooking be of benefit to me?
As the daugher-in-law of an avid (and extremely gifted) quilter, I can say that I would love to one day have a scrapbook of all the quilts my mom-in-law made, along with pictures and stories of the people she made them for. I have done some quilting myself, and I know how personal each quilt is. I think it would be so valuable to have a record of that.

Our friend, Jessica, also comes to mind here. She just had an enormous quilt made for her, with a different friend making each block. To document this wonderful gift, she had each person take a photo of themselves making the block and they included a note to her. She put these into a scrapbook so each personal story would be remembered.

There is also a new, or maybe renewed, move toward documenting the process of quilting.

That is so true, Christa. Here's the thing. I used to be an avid scrapbooker. There are so many similarities between scrapbooking and quilting. Gorgeous paper, both solid and prints, scissors, embellishments. But once I started quilting, it became my obsession. Fabric takes up space. Scrapbooking supplies take up space. And I simply didn't have enough space for both of them. I think Christa makes a good point that there is much interest in documenting the actual process of making a quilt, from the initial design process to putting that last stitch in the binding.

Kate Conklin and Andrea Harris shared their pictures and stories with Christa so she could make layouts of the process they went through, from their initial sketches, or in Andrea's case, her son Ethan's sketch, to the finished quilt.

Kate recently designed "Sierra's Forest" (which incidentally is available as a downloadble pattern on her website) using Saffron Craig's newest fabric line, Forest Elementals. It's so interesting to see how Kate designed this quilt from beginning to end.

Andrea's story is one that made her heart melt, as it did mine when I read it on her blog. Her son, Ethan, designed a quilt using her colored pencils. She then turned the design into an actual quilt, and eventually it became a pattern available on Moda Bake Shop.

Are there other things you will be adding to your shop in the future?

I currently have weekly calendars available in my etsy shop.

These are custom-designed weekly calendars with interchangeable pictures. I created these out of my own need for a way to help my toddler anticipate her week, and, truthfully, to not have to answer the question, "Mommy, what are we doing tomorrow?" 100 times a day. I am also planning to create a daily calendar with a similar design. As a teacher, I think these would be really valuable for kids with special needs. I have done some invitation designs as well, and will likely be adding some of those to my shop. And I am open to suggestions! If someone wants something they don't see, I am more than happy to see whether or not I can design it. 

I had Christa design a layout with some of my selvage pincushions that have recently been in giveaways. She was able to incorporate my new etsy logo colors and stitching.

Here's what I'm thinking. A giveaway would be a great way to introduce both digital scrapbooking to quilters and definitely take advantage of the talent behind Fairytale Pumpkin. What are we giving away?

A two-page layout that will showcase your quilts, or anything else you desire. You email your pictures to Christa and she'll create something really special for you.

The Rules:

Leave a comment here for each entry. That's pretty easy, right? (but if you leave a comment saying you did all six--it will only count as one entry.)

1. Leave a comment here.

2. Sign up to be a follower on Fairytale Pumpkin. Christa updates her blog with her latest layouts. And besides, you'll have a chance to follow those adorable kids, Charlotte and Levi (NOTE: blatant grandmother bragging...)

3. Check out the layouts on Fairytale Pumpkin, come back and let me know what your favorite layout is (it would be great if you leave a comment on her blog as well--it won't count as an entry but I'm sure she would love to have you say hi.).

4. Follow Fairytale Pumpkin on Facebook.

5. Follow Fairytale Pumpkin on Twitter.

6. Blog about this giveaway on your blog...and come back and let me know.

That's six (6!!) easy chances to win a two-page digital layout. You have until 10 pm pdt on Saturday the 12th to enter. So let the commenting begin!