Some goals, a tutorial, and a OWOH giveaway!!!

Okay, just a warning.. this is going to be a long post! I will make each title bold so you can skip some if they don't interest you.. or hey, be a trooper and read them all! :)

Goal #1, partially completed
Organize all 3 craft totes -- 1/3 now completed! I organized my scrapbooking tote, which was the hardest one. I put ALL of the loose photos in a leftover priority mail box that I had laying around. I got rid of a LOT of stuff, and just put everything into categories. I used the film envelopes for holding stickers.

#4, Complete 100 swaps, now 19/100
I finished some more swaps this weekend, so I'm now 19 for 100 on swaps! w00t!!

#16, Add 20 items to ETSY
So I added one item to etsy this weekend. I just don't have the energy to add more than one at a time. Anyone wanna do it for me?? lol

#19 -- COMPLETED!!!
Organize craft desk.. completed! WOO HOO! This was so fun, seriously. Now this is taking real guts to post before pictures, try not to cringe too much!





And here are the after:







After looking at plastic organization things at Wal-Mart, I decided I'd make my own. I used leftover priority mail shipping boxes and stacked them together. I cut out one side, so it was open. I am using it to stack my scrapbooking papers and just various things inside. I used the bottom of a Velveeta box to hold all of my notecards and recipe cards to send out in swaps. I used a tin from some candy for paint samples (more on that later). I used the bottom half of a plastic juice bottle to hold all of my stamps. Oh, and I decorated the top of the paper organizer with some leftover scrapbook paper. :)

#73
I sent some reflexology information via a private swap this weekend. It was a $5 profile surprise, so I just included those as an extra.. the lady was a knitter so I sent some 100% cotton yarn, some inchies, some glitter gel pens, and a few other things.

#75
I hosted my first swap!! That means 1/5 completed on that goal.

#100
Last but not least, the kids and I made paint sample books!! The guy at the paint store looked at me like I was crazy when I took a bunch of different colors. Oh well. :) We had LOTS of fun with them. I tied them off with leftover tulle scraps, but you could use ribbon or yarn.





I made Gracelynn a sight words book, and made Jenelle a cursive letters book. I made Sapphire a colors book, as well as a letters book -- I wrote the colors on matching paint samples.. and I wrote the capital AND lowercase of each letter of the alphabet in the other book. That was SUPER fun.

Making crayons
We also made crayons today. We have been busy! We took ALL of our broken crayons and put them into a container. We spent some time peeling the crayon wrappers off.



And some more time... (this is one of the VERY few activities that kept them involved for more than 20 minutes.. they didn't want to stop!)



Getting distracted, "swimming" on the floor.. look at that outfit! LMAO!



After we were done peeling, and swimming, we broke the crayons into litttttle bitty pieces and placed them into a mini muffin pan.



We baked them in a 265 degree (F) oven for about 12 or 13 minutes. We let them cool for a half hour, and they popped right out. We didn't use anything to line the muffin pan. Some places suggested lining with foil, but we took a chance without it and everything turned out fine. We never use the pan without liners for baking, so we are safe. :)



They have been sitting at the table for about 40 minutes coloring on paper bags. I swear nothing has ever kept them entertained so long! It's amazing, I love it!! Make these with your kids, it's a life saver! :)


Sorry this was so long!! We did SO much this weekend!! (Did I mention I babysat while we were doing all of this?? Yeah, 6 kids in our apartment, 5 of them 4 and under.. WEEEE!!) I hope yours was a great one as well!

Oh, and I almost forgot! The giveaway! :) We are participating in



We are #252 on the page! :) Stop by to check out all the other AWESOME giveaways!

We are giving away a set of our home-made oatmeal soap bars (great for sensitive skin, no harsh chemicals or dyes). This is open to INTERNATIONAL bloggers as well (a first for us). (We do net sell these on our website, it's just a project I enjoyed doing so I'd like to do more.)

All you have to do is leave a comment, and I will generate a winner by a random number generator. The contest ends February 12th at 11:59 CST, and the winner will be ANNOUNCED on February 15th, 2010.



After some consideration, I have decided to add a custom tutu to the giveaway!!!

This picture is of a rainbow tutu but the winner can customize his/her own. Up to size 7/8 in little girls. Please allow a few days for tutu to be made AFTER winner is chosen!



Get ideas for your custom tutu HERE. Let me know in the comments which tutu (size and colors) you would like if you win. If you do not leave the size/colors in the comments, I will assume you are entering to win the soaps. Thanks!! :)