Calendar Challenge: May and June 2012

I'm late! I'm late! But I have a very good reason ... My laptop fooled me into thinking it was in the throes of death for several hours through the night and this morning.

Unfortunately, my entire brain and memory is on my laptop, and of course I hadn't backed up my files in a long time. (Maybe because my memory is on the laptop, so I can never remember to do it??) I looked up the problem on my husband's computer and tried everything everyone suggested, to no avail.

Thank the Lord, the last thing I tried worked. I've only had this laptop for a little over a year (since April), and I was not a happy camper at the prospect of a fried laptop. But now I'm back up and running, after backing up every file on my laptop that is remotely important to me. I'm just thankful I had the opportunity to do it!

Anyway, it's time for our monthly calendar challenge between my friend and I. Both of us forgot about it last month, and it was a terribly hectic time for both of us anyway. We agreed to post for both months in June to catch up.



Supplies: paper (The Paper Company); stickers (Creative Memories).

I've recently reorganized my craft room, and I came to the realization that I have more stickers than I could possibly use in a lifetime. So when I thought about what to do for the calendars, I immediately thought of the cute Creative Memories stickers I've been hoarding for years. I decided to use them.



Supplies: paper (The Paper Company); stickers (Creative Memories).

You might wonder what these hedge-trimming stickers have to do with the verse from Romans that I've printed on the calendar. Good question! I was trying to think of something manly to put on it (because of June and Father's Day), and this is what I came up with. Again, I'm using Creative Memories stickers that I've had for over ten years. It feels good to actually use them, and I still think they're cute.

Now you'll want to go see what my friend made for her calendars this month. Enjoy!

Thrifting Thursday on Wednesday: Pillowcases

I'm changing things up a bit this week and doing my "Thrifting Thursday" on a Wednesday. I have an end-of-the-month post scheduled for tomorrow.

Today I'm featuring the pillowcases I've collected in recent weeks. My pillowcase stack has grown higher than I can reasonably stack, so these are all listed in the shop.

First up is this Pillowcase Pairing of the same print (Roses & Daisies) in three different colorways. There are two blue cases and one each of the yellow and pink cases.

I was thrilled to find more of one of my favorite prints, this time including pillowcases! This set of two Chloe's Rose Garden pillowcases would make an adorable set of pillowcase dresses or a great start to a quilt top combination.

Here's a fun set called Brown & Orange Stitching. There are two cases in this set.

How about another landscape print? This adorable Groovy Landscape pillowcase looks like applique work, since the mountains have fabric prints on them. I wish I could have found a whole set of this print, but there was only one pillowcase. First come, first served! :)

I've had this Brown Crazy Quilt print in the shop before, but I'm listing it as a pillowcase this time. It's King-sized, so there's lots of fabric there!

I was thrilled to find this Yellow Magnolias pillowcase. I'm keeping one for myself, but I listed one for someone else. This would make a gorgeous pillowcase dress, but it would be equally beautiful as part of a quilt.

Here's another cheater-quilt-style pillowcase, this time done in greens. This Green Cheater Quilt listing includes two pillowcases.

I love this color combination! Here's a set of two Blue & Green Floral pillowcases to help you combine the two colors. They're nice, bright colors that really pop out at you.



I've listed my popular Vibrant Blue Roses in a set of pillowcases.

This Blue Bouquet 2 was featured in my shop earlier, but now it's a set of pillowcases. These would make adorable pillowcase dresses, but I'd be tempted to use them on a quilt.

But wait! That's not all I dug up in the thrift stores this past week. Check out a few non-vintage-sheet deals I grabbed ...

This large hollow candle was designed to fit a tealight inside so the outside design stays perfectly. It matches my friend's decor, so I picked it up for her. I think it might have been $0.25.

My brother-in-law is a typical man and nearly impossible to shop for. However, this gorgeous $5 clock featuring a buck and doe will be sure to make him happy.


Here's a closeup of the deer picture at the bottom of the clock. (The clock works perfectly, by the way.)

I'm linking to ...

Homemade Gift: Guest Book #8

Supplies: stamps (Inkadinkadoo Coffee House Alphabet); paper (Making Memories?, The Paper Company); recycled Thomas Kinkade image; composition notebook.

I was pleased to find a few church images in the Kinkade book I was upcycling. They're perfect for pastor's wives!

In case you haven't read about these guest books before, you can read more about my "encouragement project" here.

I'm linking to ... Upcycled Awesome,

Homemade Gift: Patchwork Quilt 8

I finished another quilt for my customer's wedding! This was a combination that I couldn't wait to try - pink and red, with the emphasis on red. I wasn't disappointed.

I don't have a lot of vintage sheets with red in them, but I supplemented with dark pinks and a non-vintage red gingham (I okayed it with the customer first).

I'm in love with this quilt, and I told my husband I'll probably be making another one like it sometime in the future.

I bound this one in white so it wouldn't distract from the strong colors of the quilt.

I'm linking to ... Upcycled Awesome,

Update: Cotton Candy Dreams FQ Giveaway

Last week's winner of the Cotton Candy Dreams fat quarter didn't respond, so I picked a new winner:

That would be:

I remember that she came up with the name I ultimately chose for the last naming party! :)

I've sent you an e-mail. Please respond by Friday (7/1/11). Thanks!

Homemade Gift: File Folder Notebooks

As I was cleaning out my craft room for the "big redo" last week, I pulled out several packs of these gorgeous file folders Dollar Tree used to carry. I've been hoarding them since they're so pretty (and no longer available). I also had a pile of spiral notebooks left from last year's back-to-school sales. Since those sales will be coming again shortly, I decided to go ahead and use up my stash of notebooks and make them really, really pretty.

This is probably my favorite use for decorative file folders, but that might have something to do with the fact that I love paper. I have since I was a kid. I always had two or three notebooks going at once, and my kids are following in my footsteps.



Several of the folders had a design on the front and a decorative "filler" design on the back. For those, I replaced both covers and used an entire file folder for each notebook.



Here's another one - same basic print, different colors.



And here's another one, done in roses.



... And another rose one.



Several of them had the same design on both the front and back of the file folder, so I got extra mileage out of those. I only replaced the front covers of these notebooks.



Here's another one with a decorative front and regular backing.

As you might have guessed, I still have some file folders leftover. I'm going to check my school room to see if I have any more spiral notebooks. If not, I'll just cover some as I get them in this year's back-to-school sales.

As I made these, I knew I couldn't use 20+ spiral notebooks myself, no matter how much I love them. So I'm thinking of taking them along to Ministerial next year, as a little gift to each of the minister's wives. I've done that for the past two or three years, and it's always been well-received.

If you're wondering how to replace the covers of a spiral notebook, you can check my post here.

Enjoy!

I'm linking to ...

Thrifting Thursday

In case you missed it yesterday, Sophia's Sundries (my Etsy shop) is now on Facebook. Check out the button in my sidebar. I'll be sharing advance notice of new fabrics there, as well as getting feedback about new ideas now and then. I'd love for you to join me!

One of my followers had asked for a blog button to put on her blog, so I went ahead and designed one of those for my blog as well as for my Etsy shop. Feel free to grab one (or both) of those from the sidebar. You may want to pay attention to which one you're grabbing, since they have the same background. I made them to coordinate with my newly-designed shop header.

Today I'm finishing up sharing about my incredible thrifting trip at the end of last month. Today's features are mostly oranges, yellows and browns.

I found a pillowcase of this print a little while ago, but I used it on a quilt before I got a chance to sell it in the shop. I was pretty happy to find two more flat sheets of this Yellow Floral & Stripes. There's now plenty to go around! :)

I was equally thrilled to find two sheets of this Yellow Gingham. Vintage gingham is something I don't come across very often, so I was thrilled to find this set.

How pretty are these Rainbow Roses? I love them! The roses are on the small side (not quite as small as Yellow Bitty Roses), so they're perfect for quilting. Not only that, they're in gorgeous pastel shades that will coordinate with just about any color you're working with.

This Flowers Aplenty fabric caught my eye pretty fast as I was looking down the rows of sheets. I love the bright, bold orange and yellow flowers highlighted by the bright greens and blues. It's another great print to bring a bunch of colors together. These flowers are a little bigger (averaging 1-3/4" each), but not enormous. They could easily be used in quilt blocks.

I love cross-stitch, but I don't have the patience for it. This Faux Cross Stitch fabric is perfect for people like me. :) This could be used for quilting, or it would make lovely practice for someone learning cross-stitch. It's like a pre-printed project!

These Diamond Bitty Blossoms are a great quilt filler print, bringing together yellows and pinks, with a touch of greenery.

I'm not a huge fan of brown and orange together, but I've learned that prints like this brown pinstripe have a huge impact when you combine them with other fabrics in the same colors. I only found one pillowcase of this print, and I'm saving it for a quilt project for an Etsy customer. (Sorry!)

Last, but not least, is Harvest Pinstripes. I love these colors! The yellow and green remind me of lemon lime, and then they added an orange and brown into the mix. Perfect!

Now for an extra feature this week, I'm offering an "I want it all" fat quarter bundle of all seven new prints for $10.49 plus $2.75 shipping. I'm trying out bundles in an effort to save my customers money. I save money on listing fees and postage with bundles, so I can pass that savings along. If I see there's an interest in these bundles, I'll continue offering them. You can find this week's bundle in the shop here.

I really hope I'm not shooting myself in the foot with the postage because my post office is pretty erratic about when they require my packages to be Parcel Post and when it's First Class, but I'm going to give it a whirl this week and see how it goes. Since the package weighs less than 13 ounces, it should be fine to go as a First Class package. (Does anyone else have that problem with your post office?)

I'm linking to ...

Giveaway Winner: Cotton Candy Dreams

We have a winner in the fat quarter giveaway!

Random.org picked comment #23 which was:


I've sent you an e-mail!

Then I went through the names and picked the one I loved from the moment she posted it:



Apparently it looks a lot like a Monet, since several people mentioned his name. But I love cotton candy, and this really does remind me of it.

Thanks so much for helping me name this print! You can now find it in my shop, if you're interested.