Mother's Day Giveaway!! {Closed}

************This giveaway is CLOSED************

Are you ready for an AWESOME giveaway?! I am seriously {giddy} about this one!!

Mother's Day is just around the corner....and if you're still needing something special to give to your Mother (or to yourself {wink}), this giveaway is for you!!

Let me introduce you to Sparkle Spot! Their mission is to "...create beautiful jewelry that is super stylish, affordable and fun to wear, for women and girls of all ages!"



They have ready made items for sale in their Zibbet shop, or if you'd prefer something custom made, they'd be more than willing to help you out! Here's just a sampling of what they offer.

Adorable watch bands (they have watch faces for sale too!)


I love, love, love these necklaces!!


They've even got stuff for the little ladies in your life!!

In honor of Mother's Day, Sparkle Spot is giving one very lucky person an item of their choice.....yes....you heard that right!!

Here are the rules for entering this giveaway:

**Giveaway will close on Sunday May 2nd at midnight (MST), and the winner will be announced on Monday, May 3rd!**

***Edited to add: Please leave a separate comment for each entry!!***

Entry #1: Mandatory!! Visit Sparkle Spot's Blog, then come back here and leave me a comment telling me what you'd pick if you won.

Entry #2: Become a follower of Sparkle Spot, then come back here and leave me a comment letting me know you are a Sparkle Spot follower.

Entry #3: Add Sparkle Spot as a favorite in Zibbet, then leave me a comment telling me you did.

Entry #4: Become a follower of my blog and leave me a comment telling me you're one! (if you're already a follower, just tell me so!)

If you do all of these, you'll have 4 chances to win!! And if you don't win, you can still get a great deal! Anything you buy from Sparkle Spot up until Mother's Day will be 25% off with coupon code "ILOVEMOM" at checkout!!

See...I told you this was a fun giveaway!! Good luck to you all....I'm already jealous of whoever wins!!

Sew Cute Tuesday {4.27.10}

Boy, am I glad to be feeling better!! After nearly a week of being sick and stuck in bed, it feels great to be back!! Thank you for the nice comments, and for being so understanding!!

I'm excited to see what's in store for 'Sew Cute Tuesday' this week!! I'm hoping that since I had to cancel last week, there'll be double the amount of links this week {fingers crossed!}. Here's a few projects that I loved from our "Sew Cute Tuesday" waaaay back on April 13th:

Seven-Thirty-Three showed us how to make this adorable tool belt! I'm thinking this would make a great Christmas gift for some little guys in my life!!


I'm amazed at this beautiful 'Turning Twenty' quilt!! Check it out at Monkey See - Monkey Do.


This adorable Ruffled Infant Hat from Crafted By Mama makes me wish I had an infant around to make one for!! Love it!!


And Oopsey Daisy made this cute Ruffled I-Pod Snuggie! What can I say...I'm a sucker for ruffles!!


Feel free to grab a "Featured" button on my sidebar, ladies!!

Now let's get this linky party started!! Two things to remember:

1. Please link sewing projects only!! (can be sewn by hand or machine!)
2. Linky Tools will remain open until Friday evening so there's plenty of time to link your projects!


<center><a href="http://thecreativeitchboutique.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" t="CreativeItchFeaturedSewCuteButto-2.png" alt="Photobucket" src="http://i347.photobucket.com/albums/p461/stanmist/Creative%20Itch/th_CreativeItchFeaturedSewCuteButto-2.png" target="_blank" /></a></center>



Rules for linking:
**link to specific blog post, not blog home page!
**link sewing projects only! (can be hand or machine sewn).
**visit a few of the links and leave some comment love!
**Linky Tools will remain open until Friday, April 30th so you have plenty of time to add your projects!

stay tuned...

Misty's sister here...

Misty is sick and needs time to recover. She wanted me to let you know that there will be no 'Sew Cute Tuesday' this week. She plans to be back next week.

Hope you feel better soon, Sister! :)
~Melinda

{Mother's Day} Candy Boxes

Remember THESE boxes that I made for Valentine's Day? I thought they'd be perfect for Mother's Day as well.

I made them the same way as the heart ones, but just used different shapes...in this case, squares and circles.

For the flowers, I combined two tutorials....using THIS tutorial for the big flower, and THIS tutorial for the small flower in the middle.

I love how they turned out and can't wait to give them to my Mom and MIL for Mother's Day (filled with their favorite treats, of course!)!!

Sloppy Joe DiMaggio's

We don't have cable, and the only thing I miss about it is the FOOD NETWORK channel. I could sit and watch it all day!! THIS YUMMY RECIPE came from Rachael Ray and has become a staple in our home. My family loves it so much that I make it atleast twice a month...even my picky eater devours it!

Sorry...I know the picture isn't that great! I had to grab my 2-year-old's half eaten plate because I forgot to get a picture. I tried to be sneaky and put the fries around his bite marks....but it didn't work out so well!

Speaking of the fries....I learned this tip from Rachael Ray too. Before you bake your frozen french fries, drizzle them with EVOO (extra virgin olive oil), then sprinkle the Montreal Steak Seasoning over them. Yumm-o!!

Winner!!

Thanks to all who entered my giveaway!! Let's see who the winner is....

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

8
Timestamp: 2010-04-15 14:51:09 UTC

#8 is Alison!!

Congratulations, Alison!! Please email me with your mailing address and I'll get your bow tie sent to you (creativeitchblog@gmail.com).

And to those of you who didn't win....stay tuned!! I've got another giveaway planned for when I hit 300 followers!

Sew Cute Tuesday {4.13.10}

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Don't forget to enter my Bowtie Giveaway!!
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Welcome to "Sew Cute Tuesday"!! I loved looking through all the links from last week! You guys are so creative!! Here's a few projects that caught my eye:

A Few of My Favorite Things gives a tutorial for making a cute Grocery Bag Holder!


I'm loving the Burlap Curtains and Bedskirt from Black Kats Design!!

It's Sew Stinkin' Cute made this adorable Hello Kitty Sling!

And MacKenzie's Crafty Mom showed off her Easter Bunny "Peep" Outfit!


Feel free to grab a "Featured Button" on my sidebar, ladies!

Now let's get this linky party started!! Two things to remember:

1. Please link sewing projects only!! (can be sewn by hand or machine!)
2. Linky Tools will remain open until Friday evening so there's plenty of time to link your projects! (I'm trying out the new Thumbnail version from Linky Tools....you'll have to let me know what you think!


<center><a href="http://thecreativeitchboutique.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" t="CreativeItchFeaturedSewCuteButto-2.png" alt="Photobucket" src="http://i347.photobucket.com/albums/p461/stanmist/Creative%20Itch/th_CreativeItchFeaturedSewCuteButto-2.png" target="_blank" /></a></center>



Rules for linking:
**link to specific blog post, not blog home page!
**link sewing projects only! (can be hand or machine sewn)
**visit a few of the links and leave some comment love!
**Linky Tools will remain open until Friday, April 16th so you have plenty of time to add your projects!

Bow Tie {Giveaway}!!

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This giveaway is now CLOSED!!
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Have you seen THESE cute bow ties from A Lemon Squeezy Home? So adorable!! I made this one using their super easy tutorial.

I planned on doing a giveaway once I reached 200 followers. That happened a while ago, but I never got around to the giveaway. So to make up for it, I'm giving this cute bow tie away!! I tried getting my little guy to put his church shirt on so we could get some pictures of him with it on, but he wouldn't cooperate!! (FYI: This bow tie was made using the same measurements in Lemon Squeezy Home's tutorial. It fits my 2-year-old perfectly! I'm guessing it's a size 3T-4T since that's what my boy wears.)

Want it? Here's what you need to do to enter...

Entry #1. Leave me a comment.

Entry #2. Become a follower and leave me a comment telling me you're one. If you're already a follower, just leave me a comment telling me so.

This giveaway will close on Wednesday, April 14th at midnight (MST). I'll announce the winner on Thursday morning (April 15th). **If I don't hear from the winner by Monday, April 19th, I'll choose another winner.

Good luck!! Oh, and I noticed I'm close to reaching 300 followers!! I've planned ahead and have a giveaway ready to go for when that happens!!

I'm participating in these parties:

Sundae Scoop @Chocolate Sundaes

Motivate Me Monday @Keeping It Simple

Making the World Cuter Monday @Making the World Cuter

Made By You Monday @Skip to my Lou

Just Something I Whipped Up @The Girl Creative

Market Yourself Monday @Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Motivate Me Monday @Life with the Lebedas

You're So Crafty @Miss Crafty Pants

Look At Me, I'm So Crafty @Fun To Craft

Homemade Twix Bars

I've had THIS recipe from Tastebuds in my folder for a while and finally got around to making them. Twice. The first time I made them as directed, but the crust was a bit too thick for me. I made them again a few days later, but this time I doubled the recipe and used a 9x13 cake pan. Perfect!! I'll definitely be making these again!

Milk Jug 72-Hour Kits

I'm so happy to be able to finally cross this project off of my "To Do List"!! For Family Home Evening on Monday we put together our 72-hour kits and talked about emergency preparedness. With all the natural disasters happening around the world, we figured it was time for us to get prepared!!
The directions for these 72-hour kits can be found HERE from Food Storage Made Easy. We're looking forward to having more Family Home Evenings focused on emergency preparedness!

Sew Cute Tuesday {4.06.10}

Happy Tuesday, everyone!! I'm loving all of the fun projects linked up each week!! Here's a few that caught my eye....

This Woven Throw Pillow from Whimsikel is just gorgeous!!

I really need to make myself some of Keepin the Castle's Puppet Style Oven Mitts!!

Sewing in the Suburbs made an adorable Pleated Little Girls Tanktop from a men's t-shirt!

And I loved this DIY Monster Hot/Cold Pack from seven-thirty-three....too cute!!

Feel free to grab a "Featured" button on my sidebar!!

Now let's get this linky party started!! Two things to remember:

1. Please link sewing projects only!! (can be sewn by hand or machine!)
2. MckLinky will remain open until Friday evening so there's plenty of time to link your projects!

<center><a href="http://thecreativeitchboutique.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" t="CreativeItchFeaturedSewCuteButto-2.png" alt="Photobucket" src="http://i347.photobucket.com/albums/p461/stanmist/Creative%20Itch/th_CreativeItchFeaturedSewCuteButto-2.png" target="_blank" /></a></center>



Rules for linking:
**link to specific blog post, not blog home page!
**link sewing projects only! (can be hand or machine sewn)
**visit a few of the links and leave some comment love!
**MckLinky will remain open until Friday, April 9th so you have plenty of time to add your projects!

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

I found this recipe in an old ward cookbook when I was in middle school. (holy cow...that was forever ago!). I remember making them with 3 of my friends when we were in High School, and one of their Mom's told us we could make money off of them. They are that good!! I've tried lots of other chocolate chip cookie recipes over the years, but none of them compare to this one.

Here's the recipe:

*1 lb. butter or margarine, softened
*1 1/2 c. sugar
*2 c. brown sugar
*3 eggs
*2 tsp. vanilla
*6 c. flour
*1 1/2 tsp salt
*1 1/2 tsp baking soda
*6 c. chocolate chips
*2 c. nuts (optional)

Beat butter and sugars together. Add eggs and beat well. Add vanilla. Mix dry ingredients together then add to mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Place on greased cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.