Revenge of the Sushi...With Yarn!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I am SO excited because my entry for the Threadknits.com contest is FINALLY finished and submitted! The contest is open to knitters and crocheters and you have to make something based on a t-shirt design from Threadless.com (some of the coolest t-shirts around FYI). Here's the design I chose, "Revenge of the Sushi":

(Photo from Threadless.com)

The one thing that concerned me about this project was how I was going to get these little guys to actually hold each other up but in the end it hit me: Make a sushi mobile!


So what do you think?

There are so many amazing entries already submitted but I sure would love to have a shot at the prizes. lol But even if I don't win anything, this was a lot of fun to do and I've been wanting to enter some creative type contests and really push myself out of my comfort zone this year so here's one thing I can mark off my list! :D If you would like to see my entry along with the other entries, you can check out my entry on the Threadknits site! Wish me luck y'all! :D

Have a great day everyone and I'll see you soon for another Friday Night Fab Five! :D

Happy Blogday To Me! Happy Blogday To Me!

***If you're looking for my latest Bachelor recap, it's right below this post or you can click here.***
*****************************************************************************

Guess what today is?!

Oh snap, one year ago today I started this blog!

WHAT? A whole year ago?!

That's right, one year ago I started a little blog called "Katamommy Damacy" and out of that came the now infamous (okay, not so infamous maybe, lol) ~*Just Add Glitter and Stir*~!

So many memories...*sniff*...So many posts...*sob*...Oh, someone's come to wish me a Happy Blogoversary!

Oh Jake, you silly man - I'm blushing! And the answer is: you didn't. :P Now go turn on the hot tub and take off your shirt like a good little Bachelor...

Since I've already listed my favorite 2009 blog entries in this post, I won't put you through all that again but I would just like to thank you all for your comments, e-mails, awards/tags and general fabulous awesomeness. I've found new friends I never would have met otherwise, discovered new recipes and have learned more crafty things than I'll ever be able to make in one lifetime.

And here is your chance to win one of those crafty things, fresh off my crochet hook:

Would you like to win my little bear friend? It's easy! All you have to do is:

Follow this blog and then comment here with your favorite thing about me and then go to Etsy and then come back and tell me your favorite thing there that reminds you of me. Then follow me on Twitter and then tweet about how awesome I am and then post this giveaway on your blog with pictures of me and then talk about the greatness of me on Facebook and then come back here to put your right foot in and then put your right foot out and then put your right foot back in and then shake it all about.

Easy right?

Edit: Thanks Melissa for the Hokey Pokey! LOL ;) Okay, seriously it's totally easy, just leave a comment on this post. Easy peasy lemon squeezy as they say on "Charlie and Lola". Repeat: the above is a JOKE, all you have to do to be entered to win the bear is leave a comment on this post. Seriously. lol

"Please leave a comment so I can find a new home, it's a madhouse here!!!"

There are funnier, craftier, glitter-ier blogs out there and I appreciate you deciding to spend some time with me! Here's to another year of blogging goodness! Thank you all so much, without you there'd be no reason for me to be here! :D

In closing, here's Toot eating a spoon at the Waffle House. Trust me, this will be the most interesting, captivating video you will watch all year...



Remember: Just leave a comment on this post. I will do a random drawing and announce the winner during my Friday Night Fab Five! Thanks for all of your support! :D

Of Birds and Birthdays...

Today is a VERY special day because:

1. It is Callista's birthday! Woooooo hoooooo! I met Callista through her blog, Down the Rabbit Hole and have only known her a short while through posts and e-mails but I consider her a very great friend and want to wish her the best of birthdays today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALLISTA!

And 2. I'm finally getting around to showing you my fully completed amigurumi bird mobile! I got the pattern from the book Amigurumi Two! by Ana Paula Rimoli. The patterns are a little more advanced than her first book but there are so many cute things to make from this book.

If you're new to crochet or know a stitch or two but would like to get into amigurumi, I wholeheartedly suggest getting Ana's first book Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet. She has good illustrations and explanations of stitches and I've found her patterns to be the easiest to understand if you're just starting out.

Anyhoo, here's my finished mobile and I apologize for the pictures. I made this for Chris' aunt's birthday and didn't take pictures of it until I got ready to pack it up in the middle of the night to ship to her the next day. By the way: really enjoy these pictures because I will NEVER make this project again, it took F-O-R-E-V-E-R! lol Lots of pieces, sewing together and what not...

So yes, this thing is huge and it took forever, lol. But I am quite pleased with the result and I hope his aunt likes it! :D

Have a great day everyone!

Friday Night Fab Five

First off, just so y'all won't think I haven't been getting my creativity on lately, a sneak peek on what I've been working on that is taking me F-O-R-E-V-E-R to complete:



Hello everyone and welcome to another Friday Night Fab Five where I list 5 things that I think are fabulous this week. This week is all about the random and I am the Queen of Random!

Without further ado:

1. Assets by Sara Blakely



Sara Blakely is the creator of Spanx and Assets is her more affordable line sold in Target stores. If you are looking for a body shaper you can wear outside of the wedding or fancy party, get this one! It's comfortable and doesn't give you that thigh bulge. I really love how it smooths everything out and my hubby noticed a difference before I even told him I had it on!

2. Coffee Mate Pumpkin Spice Creamer



The coming of Fall means many things to many people but for me it means that the fancy seasonal creamers will be hitting stores and hitting my coffee, woo hoo! I love anything pumpkin and I could drink this creamer right out of the bottle...but I don't. I swear...

3. My New Autumn String Lights

I have this shelf in my kitchen that has these metal string lights with butterflies and dragonflies on them. I added some ivy and then the shelf above has birdhouses and whatnots. During Christmas, I take all of this down and decorate with my little 70's plastic village houses, lights and ornaments. Here it is normally:



But what about Autumn?! And then, once again, Target came through for me and provided something I wasn't aware I was looking for until I saw it:



How perfect are these to go under my little shelf?! (You may not be able to tell from the picture but the cut out is a leaf) So I got these lights and some Autumn leaf garland and I'm going to redo this shelf for Fall, woo hoo! come to think of it, I'm a big advocate of twinkle fairy lights in your house year round period. If you're looking for a cheap way to add some sparkle and magic to your rooms, add some fairy lights! Trust me...

4. My New Hat



My husband can blame Jessica for this one. I was innocently reading this post on her blog when I was attacked by the cutest little Fall hat you ever did see! So of course the only logical thing to do was to rush over to Etsy and buy it. I couldn't let anyone else have, could I?

5. Happy Mail

I have been so lucky to receive some fabulous happy mail in the past couple of days! The first was a prize I had won from Y and she added some extra fun stuff, awesome! Thanks Y!



Then I got some awesome pictures from Julie! She had a bunch of family pics, specifically school pics that she thought I might have fun using in my artsy things and she was right...these school pics and fun postcards will be glued onto something ASAP. Thanks Julie!



And then my fantastic Callista! First she posted about my birthday on her blog and then she sent me the most fun birthday surprises! A beautiful ring and matching hair pin (which she MADE!), some teas to try out (she knows I am so helpless when it comes to tea!), a handmade birthday and Halloween card, a fun little magnet AND a 1950's vintage apron her great aunt made to wear at cocktail parties! Wowowowowowow, instant love! Thanks Callista! (And that apron will be making a reappearance once I stop being lazy and take pics of me wearing my vintage dresses! :)



Speaking of happy mail, I am seriously considering hosting a Secret Santa swap here on the blog. I know that a lot of us visit the same blogs and I thought that exchanging things and surprising someone with some happy mail would be a lot of fun! I'm thinking of doing one that's crafty and one that's not so that everyone will feel welcomed to participate...plus with the ideas I have, it wouldn't cost anything but postage...hmm.....must think more....

Have a great weekend everyone!

Family Pictures: Album Three and a Winner!

Wow, y'all are too sweet! Thank you so much for all of the fabulous birthday wishes for Toot! I cannot wait to show these to her when she is older, these will definitely be a part of her scrapbook! :D The party was a total success and her first taste of cupcake was a major experience that she loved. I think if she could have licked the tray she so would have, Toot was enamored!

I've got some more family pictures to share with you but before I do that, we have some business to attend to yes? The winner of my amigurumi cupcake:



At the time I put the numbers in Random.org, there were 39 total comments, one of which had been deleted so I only counted 38 all together. I guess it pays to be early to the party because the winner is...*drum roll*...


Sorry the picture turned out so small! Yikes! lol

Which is...DJ! Congrats dearest! Please e-mail me at katamommy at gmail dot com with your address and I will mail out your prize. :)

I'll be sure to share some birthday pictures soon (when I'm done being lazy) until then, please enjoy some more family pictures from long ago! If you need to catch up on the story (and pics), you can find the first album HERE and the second album is HERE.

I believe the third album is from the 1920-1930's. There are some random pictures stuck in this album that look "newer" as you'll see. I found this album so fun for a couple of reasons: a lot of good shots of cars, some fabulous close ups and the dogs in these pictures was obviously very loved because they are in quite a few pictures.

And as always: I'm sure it goes without saying that these pictures are not to be posted anywhere or used in any way without express permission from me. Period. I can be contacted at katamommy at gmail.com. I promise I don't bite! :D

Enjoy!































Have a great day everyone! I hope to get caught up on my blog reading ASAP! :)

Happy Happy Birthday Baby...

Welcome to the First Annual Toot Birthday Spectacular!!!

One year already? Holy crap!

You know, when Chris and I got married I could not WAIT to have kids. Then I saw the money two paychecks was bringing in and all I could think was, "ca-CHING!" Paying off debt, eating out a couple times a week, bring it on! It occurred to me that I didn't need to be in a hurry to have kids. I just needed to relax and enjoy this time...

One week later I found out I was pregnant.

So not everything turns out like you planned but what a year this has been and I wouldn't change a thing! (Except maybe the 15 hours of labors and two and a half hours of pushing...that part sucked.)

So to mark this milestone of Toot, please indulge me as I take a look back...



This picture was taken the day she was born. I know most people give their kids nicknames to use online but "Toot" was her nickname from the get go. She apparently swallowed a lot of amniotic fluid on the way out and burped and farted her whole first day in the world. Since then she has had quite an unfortunate gas issue (although we think it's hilarious) and the name Toot has stuck. That being said, we plan on telling her it was because she liked trains. I think that may embarrass her less...

I decided to take her picture with each new month so I would have a time line of sorts. I'm not sure what I'll do with all of the pictures...hopefully something crafty. :D I'm open to ideas so please share if you have some! :)




















Okay, so not all "marking the milestone" efforts were successful. :P




And here we are today:



I am continually amazed at the person she has become and cannot wait to see where life takes my Toot. She has such a spark about her and sometimes I look at her and am incredulous that she is mine. We are so proud of her and excited to help her usher in the next year of her life! With that in mind...

The table is set, the gifts and cake are awaiting the birthday girl!



Here is a close up of the amigurumi cake I made. I found the pattern in this book. Instead of adding the fruit, I sewed on seed bead "sprinkles". :)



And Toot would like to give you a gift too for helping celebrate her very 1st birthday:



This sweet little amigurumi cupcake will be on it's way to one lucky person:



All you have to do is leave a comment in this post and I will randomly draw a winner Monday morning. This is open to everyone so those readers outside of the U.S. have a chance to win too! :D

Well, we're off to have some cake and open some presents! Thanks to all of you for celebrating Toot's big day! I appreciate you all so much!

Have a great weekend!