Blogtoberfest Sweet By and By Giveaway Winner

Is it over already? Blogtoberfest 2012 finished and gone? Well not quite.  There's still some housekeeping and finishing off to do - like announcing the winner of the Sweet By and By necklace giveaway.

Frankly, I'm tempted to send everyone a necklace. But that's not really practical because I don't have enough! But thank you to everyone who entered and in fact a big thank you to everyone who commented on blogs during Blogtoberfest. It really helps! And boy were there times when I needed it!

SO the winner is..................Jen from Madeonthecouch! She chose "Winter"

Build the Guitar of your Dreams

We bought this kit to make your own electric guitar. We have a visitor who is rather handy. So we knew he would help.

We thought it would be easy - but the kit had no instructions and, eventually we worked out it was missing a wire!!!

Hopefully we'll manage to put it together in the next few days - and better still, get to play it!

Blogtoberfest Fatigue Syndrome

Does this count? A blog about blogtoberfest? I have blogtober-fatigue. I’m tired. We’re in the last stretch of the marathon and my legs are like jelly.  Or more precisely, my typing fingers and thinking brain are like jelly. Today I hate blogtoberfest.  Who invented it? Whose idea was it anyway? Where are they? I want to track them down and fall at their feet, burst into tears and blubber "It’s all too hard. I can't go on!"

 So this is the part in the marathon where you rely on clichés. You "dig deep”  because "your back’s against the wall", you’ve got to "take it the next level", "step up to the plate", "play hardball" because "the ball’s in your court". "Don’t pull any punches", take it "one blog at a time" and "give it 110%".

Blogging. Why? Why do we do it to ourselves? Answer? Community. It’s all about establishing communities and connections, isn’t it? (Which is why it has such a strong appeal to mothers who feel isolated through being stay at home parents.) It’s about finding interesting things – learning things, being inspired, moved, finding something different or just recognising ourselves. It's realising you are not alone. It's getting to know people. 

Last night I took the time to look through the list of blogtoberfest participants – I didn’t make it all the way of course but I had a look and found new blogs to follow. It made me think about what I like in a blog. Crochet, it seems, is rather high on my list! But other stuff too – images, topics. It’s easier to say what you don’t like about a blog, isn’t it? I won’t put out my gripes here because they are pretty idiosyncratic to my particular sensibilities and grumpiness! And I realise everyone is different in that regard. 

When I was clicking on links I accidentally clicked on my own! So I looked at my blog from an outsiders perspective - from a reader’s perspective.

So blogtoberfest12 has made me feel immersed in blogging and it’s made me want to make some changes and improvements. I’ve decided on a few things.

1 to have more consistency – maybe some regular themes for certain days.

2 to have more tutorials 

3. to tell you all more about myself (but not too much information)

What do you think? What do you look for in a blog? What has blogtoberfest done for you?

Announcing the blogtoberfest re-sew-cool giveaway winner!

 

Well I did this the old fashioned way – names in a hat and my five year old daughter  Wanda was the “barrel girl” and drew the winner…...and the winner is....hueisei from the Love it Sew it blog! She is a beautiful stitcher and quilter! Can’t wait to see a picture of the finished re-sew-cool gingerbread man and gingerbread house Christmas ornaments. They will be winging it all the way to Malaysia.

Yesterday I was at the Finders Keepers market at the Exhibition building – yes me and the rest of Melbourne! I helped out on the Gleaners Inc stall for the afternoon.  Markets are so fascinating. I find it endlessly interesting to people watch – babies dribbling on things unbeknownst to their mothers who are engrossed in shopping, many a bored boyfriend being dragged around and lots of mums and daughters.   

I sold a few of my neon hexie necklaces ....and that gave me some pocket money....which was timely because I went out last night to see a local band, The F100’s. 

It’s the first time we had been out to the local pub in years! Literally!! The F100’s played some toe tapping country in the front bar. As their bio says, they draw "from the honkytonk well of Lefty Frizell, George Jones, Merle Haggard & Buck Owen's Bakersfield stylings". Perfect! Nice shirts too.

It was a late night and then we walked/stumbled home.

Needless to say I am feeling it today. Ouch!

Don't forget the Sweet by and by giveaway is still going!

Linky post

A friend and I who email each other most days, recently realised our communication had deteriorated into a series of links. Interesting links. But still. Just links. I must write him a letter.

Sometimes you can be overwhelmed by all the interesting "stuff" out there. Twitter gives you a constant stream - no more of a fast flowing river with rapids - of information, causes and ideas. Then there are all you bloggers, mainstream (main river?) media, websites and tweets. This week I have read articles on everything from feminist parenting to the 10 most defining performances in genre television.
Am I interested in too many things? Yes. Probably.

So I'm going to share some links. Because bombarding you with more "stuff" will help me feel like I've offloaded some of the burden of the constant flow of information. And then I'm going to move away from the computer and not come back until tomorrow.

So. If you are feeling down about the future? 

read this: 21 kids super kids that will save the world.

This is 13-year old inventor Richard Turere - he used broken Led flashlights to create a lighting system that tricked lions into thinking humans are patrolling the area which keeps the lions away and protects his family and livestock.

Do you doodle? Why even the presidents of the United states doodle!

(but if your doodles say "missiles! missiles! missiles" as JFK's did during the Cuban crisis then you probably have a few problems.)

If you like reading books (that are made of paper), read this gorgeous letter from Harper Lee, author of "to Kill A Mockingbird". "
Some things should happen on soft pages, not cold metal".

If you want to get lost in the wonderful weird world of knitting and crochet creations that blow your mind go here to http://knithacker.com/  Pages and pages of crazy yarn work. I seem to get stuck on the knitted food. there is something so weird about woolen meat! You can submit your own creations too. I might submit my brain!

Over at Jill in a Box was this great blogtoberfest post on available -ism which gets you to thinking....

And if you  don't want to think so much any more and just look at some amazing beaded high fashion from Balmain's Autumn/Winter 2012 collection, then go here.
And what gets me about this stuff is that a group of exceptionally skilled crafts women behind the scenes have done all this work - but the designer gets the limelight.


ps. This is a great article about the plight of asylum seekers coming to Australia by Waleed Aly

okay. Move away from the computer....

Sweet By and By Giveaway!

"summer" felt dot necklace

 We are half way through Blogtoberfest 2012! 


Here's another giveaway to help get us through the second half: 

A Sweet By and By dot necklace.

They are handmade from little wooden circles covered with recycled jumper felt.

 
Leave a comment below and tell me which one you would like:

Winter

Spring

 

Autumn

Oh and it ends on the 31st of October!

Good luck!

Shadow Fun Blogtoberfest day 10

It was Pepper's idea. (She is 5 years old). At night, the children have a torch. They just love torches. We were playing with them last night when Pepper came up with the idea of making shadow stories.

So today we played with shadows.

With a big bright lamp and some paper

tacked to the wall.....

         We drew around objects.......

and each other........

coloured in the pictures.......

and had shadow stories.....

Blogtoberfest Giveaway!

CALLING ALL THE CHRISTMAS CRAFT CRAZIES!

WINNER WILL RECEIVE TWO RE-SEW-COOL 

Christmas Ornament Kits of their choice!

Each kit makes TWO ornaments - one to keep, one to give away.

Each kit is hand packed full of vintage and recycled materials.

Each kit comes with a pattern AND fully illustrated instructions.

All you will need to make the ornament: scissors, cotton and a needle.*

The sister outlaws range of ornament designs are:

Rocking Horse

Turtle Dove

 Gingerbread Man

 Gingerbread House

Santa's Reindeer

 

To view the kits in more detail go here

 

To enter the give away simply make a comment below letting me know the two designs you choose!

GIVEAWAY ENDS ON THE 20th of October

*if you don't sew you can use glue!

Are we there yet?

Sugar skull gingerbread we made today...

Now that we are almost at the end of blogtoberfest 2011, I have been reflecting on my thoughts back at the beginning, when we set out on this journey.

In the first blog I asked myself a few things.

Will blogtoberfest inspire my blog posts?

Well, yes it did. I spent more time looking at other blogs, found inspiration from comments that came in and had the incentive to actually hit that "publish" button.

Will it raise my posts to new heights of insight? 

Well...this was tongue in cheek but the truth is, no! Too much rushing around to get the blog done! Blogs were a little under cooked and certainly lacking in insight!

Will blogtoberfest put me on a slippery slope, sifting through the dregs of my everyday until I'm blogging about my cup of tea?

I think it has a little. Many of the posts during blogtoberfest, I wouldn't normally deem as blog worthy. But I don't think I drowned in too much boringness (at least I hope I didn't!)







As a reluctant blogger in the first place, I thought a bit of intense blogtoberfest action might cure me of my aversion for clicking the "posting" tab and, like an athlete in training, exercise that posting muscle.

 And yes - I do feel more comfortable in blogger mode.


But really, the appeal of Blogtoberfest is being part of the gang. Of community and connection.

And yep - this was the best bit. I found new blogs and bloggers and they found me. I enjoyed exploring, reading, looking, commenting. And I often asked "Are we there yet?" And now we're almost there....at the end of the journey...but I know we'll all still stay in touch.
posted by Julianne sister outlaw

Blogtoberfest giveaway!

Inspired by yesterday's Christmas kit packing, the sister outlaws are having a blogtoberfest Christmas ornament kit giveaway!

Just leave a comment to be in the running for 1. Christmas candle ornament kit

and 2.  plum pudding ornament kit.

 

All the re-sew-cool

Christmas kits make 2 ornaments - so you can stitch with a friend or make two and give one away. It is Christmas afterall!

And for those not keen on sewing, remember -  if it can be sewn, it can be glued!

Just leave a comment on this post during blogtoberfest to be in the running! We have 5 to give away! Yay! Giveaway ends on the 31st of October.

posted by Julianne Sister outlaw

Blogtoberfest

As soon as I signed up I thought, "What have I got myself into??"  Yes - Blogtoberfest. A blog everyday . And already, on day two, I am one day behind!

Will blogtoberfest inspire my blog posts? Will it raise my posts to new heights of insight? Or will it put me on a slippery slope, sifting through the dregs of my everyday until I'm blogging about my cup of tea?

As a reluctant blogger in the first place I thought a bit of intense blogtoberfest action might cure me of my aversion for cicking the "posting" tab and, like an athlete in training, I'll exercise that posting muscle until it's as natural as breathing.

But really, the appeal of Blogtoberfest is being part of the gang. Of community and connection. Participating in the recent hot water bottle fundraiser organised by lovely Curlypops resulted in new friends and a better understanding of where this blog belongs in the vast sea of internet information. I no longer felt as though I was writing to no one or lost in space (Is there anyone out there?Urgh! The existential angst!) but part of a community of like minded crafty creative interesting people!

So, blogtoberfesters! I'm looking forward to getting to know you and to you getting to know me.

Now. Is it a relevant post to post about posting?? Bit like this photo - a landscape mural of the landscape.

image courtesy of Baby let me follow you down

posted by Julianne Sister outlaw