Sew Graceful~Behind the Seams

Sew Graceful January 2010 Blog Contest--It's All About Love

With the holiday season drawing to a close, I started thinking about Valentine's Day.  I picked out some fabric and wool and started crafting a Valetine's themed item.  That's when I decided to turn the holiday of Love into a blog contest.  So here's the information/rules for my January 2010 blog contest:

• You must create a Valentine's Day themed project
• The project must include fabric
• In order to participate, you have to have purchased a minimum of $25 worth of products from my Sew Graceful website (www.sewgraceful.com) during the month of January 2010 and use at least one of those items either to create your project (e.g. yo-yo maker, pattern) or in your project (e.g. fabric, notions)
• Your project may not include any "objectionable" content.  If you have questions about what I mean about this...please e-mail me!
• Your project may be original or created from a pattern
• There must be at least 3 participants or this blog contest will be canceled
• Open to U.S. and international customers

• This blog contest will run from January 1 through January 31, 2010
• Please e-mail a picture of your completed project (640 x 640) along with a brief description of your project.  In your description, please tell me which item you purchased from my website that you used in creating your project.  If you created your project from a pattern, you must tell me the pattern you used in your description.  E-mail:   sewgraceful@earthlink.net
• I will upload pics and descriptions to my blog and website photo gallery
• Blog and website visitors can cast one vote each between February 1st and February 10th by e-mailing me
• The winners will be announced on my blog February 14th

AND NOW FOR THE PRIZES

1st Place:  $50 Sew Graceful virtual gift certificate

2nd Place:  $25 Sew Graceful virtual gift certificate

3rd place:  $10 Sew Graceful virtual gift certificate

If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me at sewgraceful@earthlink.net

Have Fun!  Be Creative!  Enjoy!

Join Me for the MMP 12 Days of Christmas Shop Hop

Happy Thanksgiving to you from all of the boutiques at Make Mine Pink!

We're so thankful to have so many wonderful friends, new and old alike. We count you among our most treasured blessings.

Tomorrow kicks off our Christmas shopping season at Make Mine Pink with the biggest event that we've ever had! Our 12 days of Christmas Shop Hop has never been this spectacular!
This year we have joined hands with 3 other online shopping venues to offer you even more fabulous shopping, specials and unbelievable prizes! Please stop by the Shop Hop Page and get a sneak peek at all the participating shops and amazing prizes being offered this year.

Our Shop Hop Guests:
Shabby Lane Shops
Shabby Cottage Shops
Victorian Heart Shoppe

This is our BIGGEST event ever! Look at the Grand Prize alone! It's valued at over 1,000.00!  It's is chock full of ultimate gifts! There's no purchase necessary to participate. Just come find all of the "You found it" images and be entered into a drawing to win!

I don't know about you, but I'd sure love to win this Ultimate Gift basket or any of the other fabulous prizes!

Please join us for the 12 Days of Christmas Shop Hop, starting tonight at midnight and running from November 27th through December 8th.  Mark your calendars!  This is one event you won't want to miss!

Are you addicted to making yo-yos?

Okay...I have to admit that a little while ago I couldn't figure out why anyone would want to sit and make round little circles of gathered fabric.  Then after you had all of those yo-yos you had to do something with them.  My mother grew up in the time period when yo-yos were popular.  She kept telling me that making yo-yos was fun..and besides it was a great way to use up those little scraps of fabric that everyone who had been through the depression saved.  Nothing that may be used or re-purposed was discarded. 

Last year I finally gave yo-yo making a try.  When you sell fabric, you always have scraps.  So I purchased the Clover Quick Yo-Yo Makers and gathered my scraps.  Now I'm addicted to making yo-yos.  It is fun and relaxing.  Even my daughter, who is in college, loves making yo-yos.  You can make yo-yos in while watching TV.  They are also so portable.  Just pack some scraps, the yo-yo maker(s), thread, and needle and you have a very portable project that you can start & stop easily.

So now that you have a ton of yo-yos in different sizes, what do you do with them?   You can make quilt tops, pillow tops, accents for hair accessories, purses, totes, & bags.  Use your imagination & you will be suprised at the number of ideas you can come up with! 

Plus there are some great patterns.  Indygo Junction has a number of patterns for making yo-yo animals--rabbits, elephants, bears, & puppy dogs.  These patterns were based on various sizes of the Clover Quick Yo-Yo Makers, but they do inlcude the patterns and instructions for making yo-yos if you don't have or want to purchase the yo-yo makers.

So if you haven't tried making yo-yos yet, try it!  It really is fun!  After all these years, mom is still right!  If you already make yo-yos...are you addicted to making them like we are? If you have made yo-yo projects, I'd love to show them off!  Just visit Sew Graceful and click the Contact link.  Send me a quick-e-mail about your yo-yo project and a picture of your project.  Each person who sends me a project description and picture will be entered to win a $10 gift certificate from Sew Graceful.  This little contest will run through the end of March 2009.