Though I have been crafting every single day, I feel like I’m scattered and running around the house. Our realtor has stopped by a couple of times over the last week (hence the wordless wednesday picture - LOL) and the house is spotless. Seriously, I don’t worry too much over ’stuff’ being out - and so the house being spotless is kind of weird.

My craft room on the other hand - I failed the November Challenge. But that’s okay - it looks better today then it did yesterday and will look even better tomorrow. I had a great start but once we started getting the house ready to show, I stopped.

I do have most of my Christmas gifts finished! I’m going to get started wrapping them just to get them out of the way. They are in my Christmas gifts box, but with wanting to get started on packing as well - there is just a lot to do!

We are leaving in two weeks. Less then two weeks actually. Chris is back on shift work so we are thinking when he gets off at night, we’ll jump in the car and leave. I’m nervous. And excited.

And I keep on crocheting. I’m on my second pair of fingerless gloves and now Alice wants a pair and she wants me to make a sweater for one of her dolls. I’ve made a list and just keep checking things off!

Check out the Crafter Cast blog and find out how you can win chocolate just by interviewing me!

Just two days until the Indie Craft Experience!

I’ve always been so sad about not being able to go to the cool craft fairs - not that I don’t think the church events always put on are nice, but I wanted to be able to see the stuff I see online. The awesome crafts that are featured on etsy and on blogs and such.
I was bouncing around my craft blog list and saw a button for the ICE over at The Small Object Steno Pad - and decided we were going. Sure Atlanta is five hours away but when am I going to be this close again? Okay I’m sure I will be but one craft fair in two years just is not enough!

It will be one long day, but so totally worth it.

A friend of mine taught me to crochet one day. It was a quick and easy lesson and I caught on right away. I went online and found NexStitch.com with fast loading videos and easy to follow along instructions. That fixed it for a couple of stitches that I just needed to see vs. being told about over the phone.

Then I bought The Happy Hooker. I LOVE that book! The first half is the basics - easy to read and understand instructions and also illustrations. The second half is full of patterns. Lots of cute funky ones like crocheted belts and skirts and completely cute ones like the pattern I used for a blanket Alice’s dolls ended up owning.

I’m bringing this up to remind myself! I promise I’m going to start the blanket I’ve been talking about this week, I am determined to do so because it takes time and I love the idea of doing an all handmade Christmas.

I got out my fleece for the tie blanket - I’ll have pictures on that tomorrow as I did get the fabric ready to go, which takes just a few minutes and then actually making the blanket doesn’t take very long either.

It is time to announce the winners! I didn’t realize what I was getting myself into since I asked you all to pick which of the three items you were most interested in - that meant I had to separate the comments into three categories. Whew, that took much longer then I thought.

And drum roll please - the winners are . . .

Stickers ~ Nature Mama from  Nature Notes From Above

Paper ~ Sarah and here is her myspace page

Accessories ~ Sarah from Sassy Frazz

(Nature Mama, is your name Sarah too? )

I’ve emailed and am just waiting to hear back and I will get the items out this week. The giveaway was too fun! I still have scrapbooking items left so I’ll probably be doing this again. I think that’s the only craft I haven’t been able to really get into, otherwise I stamp, make cards, sew, quilt, make jewelry, play with clay, and the list could go on and on.

Head on over to the winners pages and give them a shout out of congratulations!

I was reminded of the blankets that can fold into a pillow after reading this post at Mommies Magazine about stuffed animals that are the stuffed animal, a pillow and a blanket. That is too cool! But in keeping with my buying handmade this year, I went to etsy to search for the blanket/pillow combo. Alice and Jake both have blankets like it and they love them. Maybe I can get one for a nephew - having such a large family always leaves me wondering what to get them for Christmas!

Alice’s pattern is Finding Nemo and Jake’s is a football material. I still need ideas for one nephew that is six and another that is three. Maybe the blanket would work for the three year old because the one year old is getting a blanket I’m going to crochet. I have a lot of fleece material though and I bet I could make a quillow (what the combo is usually called). If you are interested in buying one, check out the listings on etsy.

My craft room is in a constant state of needing to be organized. I try to keep the like with the like - the sewing together and by the sewing machine, the bookcase shelves well kept, the kids craft items on the same shelf in the closet. But it is still a mess.

I will say this is the messiest room in my house. It seems to be the catch all room - see the stacks of books? That is from the bookcase in the loft. We cleaned it off so it would be easier to move when we painted…two weeks ago. The loft is put back together but the books haven’t been. It’s been easy to work around them, they’ve actually been restacked twice, but of course they should be back on the bookcase.

The dresser was meant to hold homeschool items but they were shifted to the bookcase in the craft room. I’m honestly not sure what is in there now. And the chair was my Grandpa’s years and years ago, the arm (we think) is at my brother’s or my Mom’s house - Mom said I should throw it away but I don’t want to. Of course it should be used if I’m not going to get rid of it!

Since getting the laptop, no one sits at the desk longer then to print something. We really want a wireless printer, that would eliminate the need to even sit at the desk. But it is a nice desk.

I want to have different sections in the room - a sewing section, homeschool section, etc. I’ve thought about taking the top of the desk off and using the desk as a cutting station or a work station, but haven’t done so. I definitely need to get organized as we may be moving in the next few months. I know it’s smart to start now rather then to rush at the end!

Today starts the 30 Day Organizational Challenge and I signed up for this room. Thirty days is plenty of time to put like with the like, find basket and bins if necessary, purge and get the room put together in a good way. I don’t mind if I end up getting done and moving a couple of months later, I can always use the same ideas later.

PS You entered the giveaway right? I’ll be drawing names the same time as the rest of the participants, which I think is Saturday.