Giveaways

So today is the last chance to enter the fabric giveaway. I will draw tonight and announce the winner tomorrow.

But you still have a few more days on the bead and the mncollins designs creations giveaways good luck!!!

I have enjoyed doing giveaways so I look forward to doing more in the future. 

Bead Porn from the Intergalactic Bead Show in Chesapeake

Gunmetal chain in two different link styles

Black square glass beads

Kazuri Beads made by women in Africa 

 Paper beads from Project Have Hope
made by women in Uganda

A cross my husband picked out for himself
(he thought it was masculine)

I thought I did pretty well at not buying a ton of stuff and getting some pieces that will add interest. Bead shows are dangerous...but so much fun!!

A Giveaway for a Good Cause

Lori Anderson is offering an amazing give away in support of Kimberly Willcox. Kimberly's studio was tragically destroyed in an electrical fire. And Lori along with other artists are trying to help. Check out Pretty Things for the details of the fire, how to help Kimberly, and how to enter the giveaway.

Giveaway # 3 - An mncollins designs creation

So two giveaways in one day...whoo hoo!! For this giveaway you have a choice...if you win you can pick a handmade purse or a handmade spiral focal piece. 

• You can enter one or all three of the giveaways.
• Please post a comment on the post for the giveaway you would like to enter. 
• For an extra entry blog (or tweet or Facebook) about this giveaway (please post another comment).
• For another extra entry follow my blog or let me know if you already do (please post another comment).
• You will have one week to enter for each drawing.
• To be fair...you can only win one of the giveaways.

Option # 1

This purse is made with a black batik fabric that has white star bursts. It is machine quilted, has hard plastic purse handles and a magnetic snap closure. It is lined with a red batik. It has four pockets inside.

Option #2

 A Dutch spiral focal piece in blues, greens and purple. It is made with seed beads, #8 sized beads and teardrop beads. It is a very solid piece that will hold up to normal wear. The beads are all colorfast. It is beautiful on a silver necklace or you could easily work it into other beaded jewelry.

Deadline to enter this giveaway is next Friday, September 3rd. Good luck!!

Giveaway # 2 - Beads

********Giveaway is Closed********

Ok so I had planned on getting this out yesterday but my camera and I are battling...and sadly I think it is winning. More specifically I think it is dying. But I digress...on to the fun stuff. The beads...

• You can enter one or all three of the giveaways.
• Please post a comment on the post for the giveaway you would like to enter. 
• For an extra entry blog (or tweet or Facebook) about this giveaway (please post another comment).
• For another extra entry follow my blog or let me know if you already do (please post another comment).
• You will have one week to enter for each drawing.
• To be fair...you can only win one of the giveaways.

It is a collection of lamp worked beads in greens and blues. There are 15 lamp worked beads total. The green ones have flowers and leaves on them and the blue ones have dots. They are fun and beautiful beads. I'm also including a turquoise focal bead and four red beads that my brother bought me in NY. I love them they are stunning beads. I think the lamp worked beads would be a beautiful spring bracelet or necklace. And the turquoise and red beads would make a stunning necklace.

Because of the delay in posting I'm extending the deadline on this giveaway.

The deadline for this giveaway is Thursday, September 2nd. Good luck!!

Bead Giveaway

I promise before I go to bed tonight the bead giveaway will be up. I'm having some issues with my camera....

Give Away # 1 - Fabric

***** Giveaway is closed *****

So this is my first step in giveaways. So I'm starting out small...and I'm doing three separate giveaways. One today, one tomorrow, and one on Thursday. Here are the rules details...

• You can enter one or all three of the giveaways.
• Please post a comment on the post for the giveaway you would like to enter. 
• For an extra entry blog (or tweet or Facebook) about this giveaway (please post another comment).
• For another extra entry follow my blog or let me know if you already do (please post another comment).
• You will have one week to enter for each drawing.
• To be fair...you can only win one of the giveaways.

So here is the first giveaway....

Two pieces of Halloween Fabric! 

I love this fabric but since I don't have kids and don't make costumes or other Halloween things I decided I'd share them with someone who could and would use them. (As I post this...I think they would make up into cute trick or treat bags...)

Each piece is approximately one yard of fabric. One is an orange fabric with multi-eyed spiders and spider webs. The other is a purple fabric with cats, pumpkins, and moons. Both are good quality quilting cotton. Neither have been pre-washed.

Deadline to enter this giveaway is 6:00 PM on Tuesday, August 31st.

Come back tomorrow for the bead giveaway!

Bikes, Blood, & Birthdays

You may be asking yourself what do these have in common....they were all involved in my weekend.

Friday - We rode the bike over to Bayside to watch Ghostrider on  their lawn. It was fun! We like that movie and watching it out in the open was a lot of fun and we had a nice evening for it. We did determine that drivers on the interstate (most of them) don't pay enough attention to bikers. They didn't realize we needed space too.

Saturday - We woke up and took care of  then I made breakfast. Then we took the bike back over to Bayside for their 12th anniversary. They had three ways to help the community...you could give hair to locks of love, you could donate food to the Food Bank, or you could give blood to the Red Cross. We decided to give blood...but J was too close to the last time he gave so he couldn't. I gave and had the worst experience with them finding a vein that I have ever had in my whole life. It took three people digging (literally) to find a vein. And then they commented it was slow...gee maybe because you stressed the vein. But I gave my pint. We ate some lunch and headed home.

A dear friend of ours was throwing a birthday party for her Mom so we went to that for a while Saturday afternoon. It was a lot of fun we saw people we hadn't seen in a while. And got to celebrate with her Mom. When I got home I realized I was quite sunburned on my back and shoulders.

Sunday - We had a relaxing morning. Then we went grocery shopping. Then we came home and fixed lunch. We spent the evening watching John Wayne movies...J loves them. I sewed a couple things. One of which didn't work according to plan. I'm not sure what happened so I'm going to have to revamp that one a bit. I don't know if I'll tear it apart and start over or if I'll just leave it and cut out new fabric. We'll see. I hate ripping things out.

So how was your weekend?

P.S. There will be three giveaways this week...a fabric one, a bead one, and a finished project one. I'll have pictures and entry options up tomorrow for the fabric one, Wednesday for the bead one, and Thursday for the finished project one. I haven't decided if I'll draw all together or if they'll be separate.

Bead and Sewing Porn is coming

I promise I will get some pictures up of the beads I bought at the bead show and the purses I'm working on. The weather hasn't been cooperative for me to get pictures. I'll try and get them taken this weekend.

Harley Davidson Drive-In

Tonight Bayside Harley Davidson in Portsmouth is having an outdoor ride-in movie night. I've never been to a drive-in so this will be the closest I've ever come. We're taking a blanket and a couple stadium seats (for back support) and we'll sit and watch the movie. We're looking forward to it. It should be a nice night for it. We'll ride the bike over, eat popcorn, and watch Ghost Rider. I'll let you know how it goes.

Starting Fresh

So I've been down this road before...I want to lose some weight and work toward a healthier me. I have a family history of heart conditions, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. And frankly I'm not getting any younger. I've tried a lot of different weight loss and lifestyle change programs by haven't found one that I felt fit and therefore I've failed to stick with it. 

A local church is offering a weight loss Bible Study called First Place 4 Health. I like it because it isn't just a diet program or an exercise program it approaches the mental, physical, spiritual and emotional sides of your life. I like the fact that it includes a Bible study portion. It begins at a local church in September and I'm looking forward to it. I've signed up for it and look forward to what I may gain from it.

Personal vs. Public

I enjoy writing my blog. I enjoy sharing my life with those who read it. I've had a rather personal thing hit my life this month and I've been trying to digest it enough to put it in words. It will come. And when it does I will share. In the meantime this is why I've been sort of quiet but I plan on breaking that this week. Then yesterday I woke up with a migraine. But thanks to better living through chemistry...I'm doing better today. So I promise to be more present this week. Here are a few highlights I may cover...

• My trip to the Intergalactic Bead Show
• My upcoming trip to a motorcycle Drive-in movie
• The purses I'm sewing
• The baby quilt I'm finishing
• A give-a-way
• My bead swap

Marriage

During our premarital counseling which interestingly enough happened between ceremony number one and ceremony number two so we were married. Our Pastor asked us an important question...he looked at me and said "Megan if you could change one thing about J what would it be?" I thought and thought and finally answered "to be honest I love everything about him personality wise and physically...but I would love for him to quit smoking." He then turned to J and asked the same question about me. J didn't hesitate at all he said "there's nothing I'd change about her I love her just the way she is." Our Pastor informed us that J was right. We have to love each other as we are right now without expectation that we will change. And we have to accept the fact that what we have now is what we will have in the future. We can't go into marriage expecting to change the person.

J and I have tried to live this out in our marriage. (We are not perfect we have our moments) But I think this advice paired with the following decisions we made going in have made a world of difference. My brother asked for marital advice recently and this is what we said...

We made the decision early on to live by these (some are cliched)

1. We will be equally yoked to each other with God. (both our ceremonies had a Pastor and we made a promise to each other and God)
2. Always say "I love you" and give each other a kiss before leaving each other for the day, the week, the year, and before going to sleep at night. (somewhere this became three kisses and now it is tradition)
3. Never go to bed angry. (so far this hasn't been an issue for us because we don't have big fights we have disagreements that are usually solved in 10-20 minutes)
4. Both of us will give 100 % (this was another piece of advice from the Pastor, he said it won't work all the time but if both of us are trying it will be better)
5. If you say something negative to the other person you have to say two things positive to build it back up. (we work like a gas tank in a car if you take away you have to refill)
6. Realize that some days you will be in a bad mood or he will be in a bad mood and deal with it. (on rare occasion both of us are in a bad mood we deal with that too)
7. In the middle of an argument over something stupid use the words lederhosen and/or Fahrvergnügen, you can't keep a straight face when these are said. (this has ended some silly arguments in our house on more than one occasion.
8. If I want J to do something I shouldn't hint, suggest, or assume...I need to direct. (J gave me this advice on our first or second date...if I want him to take the trash out say "honey please take the trash out" not "the trash can is full" or "the trash needs to go out" otherwise he will not realize it is being asked of him)
9. If you ask your spouse to do something don't micromanage it. (give them the task and let it go it doesn't matter that they did it differently than you, J had a problem with the way I loaded the dishwasher, I had a problem with his laundry methods now we're just happy the other person did it)
10. Love each other unconditionally. (this has been easy for us so far)

So what is your advice?

Bloggy Award

Elisabeth from Beads for Busy Gals has given me an award! I'm excited. Thank you Elisabeth!!

Here are the rules:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award

2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Pass the award along to 15 other bloggers who you recently discovered and think are fabulous
4. Contact the bloggers you chose and let them know about the award!

Seven Things About Me:

1. I'm married to my true love and the most amazing man I know.
2. I'm blessed to have a loving family and a great group of friends.
3. When my husband and I first started dating his friends were a little concerned about a rowdy sailor and a church girl. And so they jokingly referred to me as churchy. (That's where my title comes from)
4. I have a strange addiction to Coke Cola. I love it. I'm trying to cut back.
5. I love sewing and beading. I have yet to combine them.
6. I have one brother, one brother-in-law, and seven sisters-in-laws. It is a bit crazy at Christmas time.
7. I love riding on the back of a Harley Davidson motorcycle!

 Fifteen Other Bloggers...this is tough...it is hard to narrow it down. So here are 15 randomly chosen and in no particular order blogs I read and love. Enjoy!!

1.  noodlehead ~ Anna has amazing tutorials and fun family stories
2. just a titch ~ Amy tells about her life both the good and the bad
3. The Crimson Owl ~ Stephanie tells of her adventures in life and her creations
4. Heart & Home ~ Ashleigh shares her journey as a military wife
5. Sherbet Blossom ~ Hannah tells of her life, her family, and shares her amazing talents
6. Bead up ~ Christyn creates beautiful and unique jewelry
7. p.s. i quilt ~ Rachel shares about her kids and her current pregnancy as well as sharing her stunning quilts
8. Handbag Obsessed ~ Gwen shares of her love of nail polish and handbags as well as family stories that make you smile
9. Baily Girl Five ~ Molly shares stories about her life, her quilting, and her loyal companion Jada (a Rottweiler) 
10. Hil's Blog - finding joy ~ Hil designs beautiful blog designs (including the one I'm using) she also shares anecdotes about her family
11. just another day in {our midwest} paradise ~ D.A.R. humorously tells stories of her dogs, her husband, and her life as a lawyer and military wife
12. Just Another Weigh ~ Jodi tells of her struggles and successes with weight loss (although that has been put on hold for pregnancy...she tells it like it is in a humorous way
13. Knit By God's Hand ~ Rebecca Jo discusses her faith journey, her favorite tv shows, her love of all things Belle, and her life
14. Preppy in Pink ~ Patricia (my nail polish swap partner) discusses her love of fashion and her life but be warned she puts some really cute clothes out on her blog and you may be drawn in...:-)
15. The Randomness of Meghan ~ Meg shares cool things to buy mixed with her own stories in life
    

Bamboo Batting

I recently used Fairfield Batting Nature Fil Bamboo batting in a baby quilt. I love it. It is similar to cotton batting in feel and it is very warm. It is light feeling which I like for a baby quilt. And it sews beautifully. It was great to work with and I will definitely use it again. Bonus it is good for the environment too. I bought it at Joann's but I'm sure you can find it many places.

Not just One but Two Fun Filled Give-Aways!!

I'm working on a few give-aways myself but I haven't figured it out yet. Probably a little destashing of fabric and beads and another something. But not to despair because you have other opportunities for fun cool bead give-aways...

Elisabeth over at Beads for Busy Gals is Paying it Forward and giving away this fun collection of goodies. It looks like a nice mixture of colors and beads. The glass heart grabs my attention. So head on over and get yourself entered. And you should look around her blog and her etsy site too because she makes really beautiful jewelry.

Want to make these lovely earrings? Well Lori over at Pretty Things (also the genius behind Lori Anderson Designs) is also having a fun give-away of Lucite beads to make her Secret Garden earrings. Check out Bead Style magazine for the tutorial. To sign up for this give-away head over to Pretty Things and leave a comment. Simple enough.

 Both of these would be a nice addition to any collection!

Wear sunscreen...

Some of you may remember this poem by Mary Schmich of the Chicago Tribune...today the part I highlighted in bold is especially fitting. I won't get into the details today...but I will in time. In the meantime...this poem has some very good wisdom...

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '98: Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blind side you at 4 PM on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.

Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.