Looking for a Aunt who ordered some pillows...

Ok, totally random and wierd post I know...
I'm looking for someone who ordered three pillows from me...
A very sweet Auntie who has three nieces named Taylor, Morgan, and Brooke...
I have her pillows ready and no address to send them to.
I've searched ALL my emails, etsy convos, paypal transactions...and I can't find her.

I'm hoping that the sweet aunt reads my blog (?) and will see this.

So if you are the awesome aunt who ordered these pillows please contact me asap:
chrissie@chrissiegraceart.com

Happy Hump Day!  :)

A little tutorial for you...

This certainly isn't a new concept, but I thought I'd do a little tute for you in case you've never seen it.

I have slowly been working more colors and textures into our home, and I wanted to add a little color to one of the rooms by using some of my favorite fabrics.  I covered some old mattes with the fabric and then re-framed them.

Step 1:  Find a frame with a matte inside.  I had two of these from Ikea laying around.

Step 2:  Using some of your favorite fabric, cut about an extra inch all the way the matte.

Step 3:  Turn the fabric over and use hot glue to pull the fabric taut against all the edges.  For the corners just fold them over too and hot glue them down.

Step 4:  Cut a big X in the center of the matte.

Step 5:  Pull the pieces of the X in and hot glue them down.  If the fabric overlaps, trim the edges off.

 Step 6:  Ta-da!  Pop it back in the frame behind the glass and add your photo :)

This would be really cute with Christmas fabric and a holiday photo...
It would make a sweet gift too!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

We had to run to the mall yesterday to get Ava some new shoes, so I thought we'd make our annual Santa visit while we were there.
He was awesome.
There was no one else in line...and he spent a good 20 minutes with them!  This is an awesome age for Christmas this year...7, 5, and 3...It is all so magical to them and they talked and talked!
Ava says she gave him six hugs! (I think it was even more:)

Children are God's best gift. -Psalm 127:3

Ashton wrote him this on the way home...:)

I also got suckered into bringing this guy home...The kids have named him Alfie.
Look what he did last night!  That rascal stole my lipstick and left the kids a message in a mirror.

Fun times, blessed memories...

So very thankful to be able to share this time with them...

And since Logan is 11 this year and "knows" (as he says), he is my little sidekick...helping me think of fun things for Alfie to do...

Of course we never forget why celebrate this season of Advent and Christmas...it is all magical!

So, are you in the Christmas spirit yet? ;)

Finishing Up the Blog Hop with a Give-away!

It's the last day of our Sew to Swap Blog Hop and I have a give-away for you...:)
A copy of the book and a doll quilt that I made that was featured in the book...

Some free-motion drawing with thread...

Some hand quilting...

and some of my favorite munki-munki bike fabric...

Just leave a comment and I'll choose a winner on Friday! :)



I hope you enjoyed the blog hop!
The contributors are all amazing, right?
Don't forget about this deal:

Get Sew to Swap now for just $14.99 ($10 off the retail price!). Visit the Martha Pullen Online Store and use promo code SEW2SWAP to get your exclusive discount.

{Offer expires Nov 30, 2011 at 11:59pm EST.}

Have a very happy Monday and I'll see you tomorrow!

Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday

In honor of Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, I'm keeping the BLACKFRIDAY code open in my etsy shop all the way until Tuesday morning. 
25% off still :)

Have a blessed weekend!

Black Friday Sale!

It's time for my 25% off sale for Black Friday!
Use code BLACKFRIDAY when you check out.
Of course I am a little biased, but I think these all make great Christmas gifts ;)

25% off all checkbooks...

25% off all list makers...

25% off all pillows (excluding custom name pillows)...

 25% off all prints...

and a few "be YOU tiful" signs left...

The sale begins tonite and will last until 11:59 Friday night.

I hope you have had a blessed lovely Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

"The LORD is my strength and my shield;

my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.

My heart leaps for joy,

and with my song I praise him."

 

Psalm 28:7

I hope your Thanksgiving is a blessed day.
I am thankful for all of you...my bloggy friends.  :)

Crystal from Little Bit Funky

Crystal from Little Bit Funky is rounding off our Sew to Swap Blog Hop.
Crystal runs a successful etsy shop, where she is constantly re-inventing the wheel and coming up with new products.  She quilts, she sews, she bakes, she embroiders, she paints, she hot glues:), and she specializes in lots of custom orders too.

Check out some of her creative ways...

Oh yeah!  I have to mention the hoho's.
Crystal has created the most adorable little monsters named after her youngest son...who they call hoho.
They are perfectly imperfect and purposefully wonky and wonderful.

She makes them in various forms (I ordered a robot hoho for a special Christmas present this year), and you can also have her customize them with fabrics that are sentimental to you.
Cute-huh?

Something extra cool:
Today on Crystal's part of the blog hop, she is raising money for Charity:Water, using one of the quilts from the book.


For every $10 donation you will be entered to win this adorable quilt from the book.

I love this!
Please head over to Crystal's blog for more details :)

'Round Here

I've been so busy with the blog hop that I haven't had much time for any regular ol'blogging.
This is what we've been up to:

Ava started tennis lessons a few weeks ago.
Loves it :)
I love to watch her learn.  Wouldn't mind taking some lessons myself!

Logan's science fair project is full steam ahead.
Candy Chromatography.

Ashton has gotten into a huge writing kick!
Writes all the time.
Mostly fiction...pages and pages of funny kind of 2nd grade sci fi?

Turkey art...
Lots and lots of turkey art :)

Jackson found the big kid lego box. 
He's moved on from the duplon box.
Usually can be seen sitting with one of his creations.
(Yes, a haircut for him is in order!)

Hoping for a little time to make some ornaments this weekend.
Inpsired by this on pinterest.

I mentioned sometime last week that I've been experiencing a lot of anxiety after having a couple of panic attacks.
I didn't want to talk a lot about it because I didn't want to give any power to it, but I thought I would share with you this book of prayers by Marianne Williamson.
I know people don't like to talk about anxiety and/or depression...it's kind of a taboo subject.
But I'm going through a little bout of anxiety and this book of prayers has been my security blanket.

I feel a little bit like Santa with my list in the background.
Checking off custom pillow orders...I'm getting there!   :)

...and one last thing.
I've been preparing my little shop for a big Black Friday sale.
I'm not one to do the Black Friday thing, I've never done it actually, because I like to shop early without a lot of crowds.
But!  I'll be having a Black Friday sale in my shop as Thanksgiving turns into Friday...midnight!


I hope you're having a good week, counting your blessings...
Are you ready for Thanksgiving?

It's Ryan Walsh!

I'd like to introduce you to another talented man who contributed to Sew to Swap...
His name is Ryan and he blogs over at I'm Just a Guy Who Quilts.
Ryan is a super nice guy who is really involved in quilting swaps.
Ryan interviews fabric designers, authors, and manufacturers about the latest and greatest fabric hitting the market,  so his blog is always full of what's trendy in the modern quilting world.  He also hosts giveaways, product and book reviews, and shares lots of tutorials.

I am jealous of his accuracy...
Check out his geometric shapes and how he matches his seams perfectly!

This is a tutorial from Ryan  I've been wanting to try for a long time...the Eye Spy Monster Pillow:

Ryan is currently working on a project with Quilt Magazine & Simple Quilts in conjunction with David Butler of Parson Gray for the upcoming line Curious Nature from Free Spirit.  I can't wait to see what that's all about!


He's also a social media butterfly:
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/RyanWalshQuilts
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ryan-Walsh-Quilts/125889814126321
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/ryanwalshquilts/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryanwalshquilts/


It's Ryan's turn today on the Sew to Swap blog hop...
Make sure you run over there and see what he's got going on!  :)  Word on the street is that he's giving a copy of Sew to Swap away, PLUS a bunch of yummy fabric scraps!