Crafty Carolinagirl

Fun Owl Cosy & Earrings

One of my favorite blogs, LucyKate crafts, has some of the cutest free tutorials. I have yet to try the Toadstool tutorial, but I did try the newest one, owl egg cosy. The tutorials are super easy and the finished crafts turn out super cute.

Over the weekend I finished my latest one:

Pinky the Owl!

This week little Pinky will be flying south, all the way to South Florida. I thought she could be used as a finger puppet instead of an egg cosy.

I was also hard at work making some items for my Material Girl 80s store. Here are a few of the finished products:

In and Out of Love earrings

Janey Glenn earrings

My "In and Out of Love" earrings were inspired by the Bon Jovi song, and my "Janey Glenn" earrings were inspired by the final dance scene in the movie Girls Just Want to Have Fun.

I am going to try and take the next couple of weeks to focus on finishing up the WIPs I have been putting off. I figure if I can get those out of the way, I can start thinking about my Christmas presents. Well you know, it is almost July!

Plus, I have several Pop Culture Icon Dolls that are in the beginning stages (my TV cast as well as a few characters from the movies). I'd love to get some of them put in my store as well. 

I have lots to keep me busy :)

An apron for me

A few weeks ago Val from Yarni Gras asked her readers to name her new dress form. A little side note: if any of my family or friends are reading this post and are having difficulties figuring out what to get me for my birthday, a dress form would be nice :) Now, back to the post. 

I thought that was such a cute idea, so I submitted my name, April the apron wearing dress form. Lo and behold Val chose my name. To thank me for the name, she sent me the cutest apron:

and the greatest bookmark ever, Hootie!

You know I love Hootie and the Blowfish, so this little Hootie is perfect for me. I guess I have to start reading something now just to use him. 

Thanks again Val! I can't wait to wear my new apron for the 4th of July!!!

Great way to start the weekend!!!

What a surprise it was to click on Etsy this morning and see one of my items on the front page! I missed seeing Penelope Hedgehog a few months ago, but I got a chance to see my Green Flowered Puffy Heart as the very first item:

The Etsy treasury owner that hand picked my item is Silvia66. She is from Italy and she makes absolutely gorgeous items. I especially love her Nocciola Cowl and TOSCA capelet. Next time you're on Etsy take a peek at her store. It is awesome!!!

Craftzine.com

Have you checked out Craftzine.com lately? No? Well, you are missing out on some awesome free tutorials/patterns.

Some of my favorites that I just HAVE to try, whenever I get a free moment are:

1. Roxycraft's Woody the Owl

2. Embroidered Whale Buttons

3. Crochet Coin Purse

4. Reusable Sandwich Wrap

5. Lucykate's How to Sew A Toadstool

And some wonderful recipes:

1. Bourbon Balls Yum!

2. Lemon Poppyseed Cake

3. Hot Pink Popcorn Balls

So, head on over for some yummy, crafty fun!

I Can Has Cheezeburger!

Have you been on I Can Has Cheezeburger yet? This is such a cute website! You can post pictures of your animals and then write funny captions on them. I submitted one of Drusilla laying in her favorite spot, the sun!

   

If you'd like, you can vote for Drusilla here.

It actually took her several different tries to get herself completely comfortable. . .

Now she's comfortable!!! 

1 Year Blogoversary!!!!

Last week was a little crazy and I completely missed my blogoversary. I guess celebrating it a few days late is still okay!

First, I want to thank all of you who have stopped by my blog this past year to see what I've been up to. It still amazes me that people actually read what I write! I also want to say a very special thank you to all of you who take the time to leave me a comment. I appreciate each and every comment and vow, this year, to respond to many, if not all of them. The most rewarding part to having this blog is getting to meet all of you, especially those of you who are international. I never would've had that chance except through this blog.

Crafty Carolinagirl has been a huge learning experience for me. Since it began, I have tried a lot different ideas, many of them complete failures. But, I think I finally have a grasp on what I want this blog to be all about. I really want this blog to be primarily about crafts and diy projects. Having said that, there will no longer be weekly posts and no more retro rewinds. I really enjoyed doing the retro rewinds, but I have found it too hard to keep up with a weekly post. I am contemplating doing a new version of it when my retro Etsy store, Material Girl 80s, opens in a few months, but I am not 100% sure about that.

I also don't know exactly how many posts I will write a week. Crafts by Alice is taking up an enormous amount of my time, and now with the second store opening in a few months it is going to be very difficult to blog as much as I would like. I do know that there will be at least one post a week. We'll see if I can do more than that as time goes on.

I also hope to do some tutorials and even some free patterns this year. I have a few tutorials in the works that will hopefully benefit some of you.

Lastly, and most importantly, the random number generator chose a winner for my giveaway. I would have had Drusilla pick the winner, but she ate the piece of paper last time! Anyway, the winner is. . . Colleen (Silly Panda).

Yea, Colleen!!!! I'll be emailing you for your mailing info.

Thanks to everyone who entered. I wish I could send all of you something! Stay tuned though, I am working on a free pattern and tutorial as a thank you to everyone. Cheers!!!

Blog Cleaning

I've been doing a little spring cleaning on my blog as well. Please bear with me as I add, delete, and move stuff around.

If you are looking for any blog links that used to be under "Blogs I Adore", please check under "More Blogs I Adore". They are probably there now!

Online Fun

I always loved paper dolls. I actually still have a set of my faux Holly Hobby ones in my closet. I guess the new thing to do is dress your "paper" dolls online.

If you have several hours to kill (I swore I would only look around the site, but stayed on for three hours), then check our Poupeegirl. It is so much fun, it's addictive. It did take me quite some time to figure it out, especially since half of it is in Japanese, I think. If you decide to give it a try and get stuck, shoot me an email. I might be able to help you out.

Anyway, if you want to see my girl she is on the sidebar. I can't figure out how to capture the picture, so if anyone figures it out, please let me know!

More items to giveaway

A few of my Mad Tea Party items are being included in a giveaway on Amanda's Mommymandy blog. I have included a pair of my Mad Tea Party tea bags and a set of Spring bonbons.

If you would like to be included in the drawing, just click here. The giveaway is running until April 13.

I Survived

Wow, it is good to be back in blogville! And, it is very good to be completely done with school. . .Woo hoo!!! Now, I can get back to crafting and blogging, my two favorite things :)

I am getting ready to celebrate my one year blogoversary (in exactly 24 days) and have been giving a lot of thought to my blog, especially what has worked and what hasn't worked. I really think that I want to have this blog focus solely on crafts, so over the next several weeks the look and feel of the blog might start to change. My hope is to have my new and improved blog pulled together by the time my blogoversary passes, around the end of April. Just a little FYI in case things start to look and feel a little different.

I have been away from the internet for so long that I have no idea what all of my favorite blogs are doing. I will be spending the next few days checking them all out and catching up on some needed craft time. I probably won't be blogging much this week, but on Friday I will post a picture of my blogoversary prizes included, so far, and the next item to be added to the giveaway.

In the meantime, here is a new item that I am working on for my store.

I am working on a few felt ornaments and this is my first one. This is my idea of what I picture a house in Wonderland looking like. Enjoy the week!