Ghastlies Blog Hop Pinboard

Update to the Ghastlies Blog Hop: I've created a board on Pinterest of all the projects. There are already 17 from today's 5 Ghastlie ladies! Follow the Ghastlies Pinboard here!

Don't forget to visit the 5-6 ladies daily to win great ghastlie prizes! There are links to this week's featured bloggers on the below post!

Ghastlies Blog Hop

Remember last year about this time when I became obsessed with the Ghastlies fabric? I'm still in love and apparently I'm not the only one!

Just in time for Halloween, I and 50 other Ghastlies loving ladies have put together some great ghastlie projects for a blog hop! The blog hop was coordinated by the one and only Madame Samm who has also arranged for some great giveaways - daily and grand prizes. Many of the ladies (including myself) will have a giveaway with our posts as well.

If you have this thing for Ghastlies

and they have tied you in a knot

and you wish you could get them out of your mind

than this may be a thought.

We heard her plea for a cure

Mdm Samm was pos/it/ively sure

that we could stitch the nights away

in hopes that we MAY----???

BUT....

The side effects are Ghastlie

there is no mistaking too.

If you don't run this very minute

YOU too will catch the FLU...

We suspected all along

this was her master plan.

She did not want to be alone,

with all YOU Ghastlie FANS...

If you have the Ghastlies fever too, here's where to find the cure this week:

Monday, October 24th
Mrs Kirie Ghastlie
Ms Carol Ghastlie 
Ms. Wendy Ghastlie
Ms. Carrie Ghastlie
Mrs Holly Ghastlie

Tuesday, October 25th
Mrs. Annie Ghastlie
Mrs Doris Ghastlie
Mrs Brandie Ghastlie
Ms. Alidiza Ghastlie
Mrs. Judy C Ghastlie

Wednesday, October 26th
Mrs. Barb Ghastlie
Miss Karen Ghastlie
Ms. Loralynn Ghastlie
Ms. Jen Ghastlie
Ms Penny Ghastlie
Mrs Rhonda Ghastlie

Thursday, October 27th
Mrs. Katherine Ghastlie 
Ms Sharon Ghastlie
Mrs. Gooden Ghastlie
Ms. Selina Ghastlie
Mrs. Melinda Ghastlie

Friday, October 28th
Miss Trudi Ghastlie
Ms. Deonn Ghastlie
Mrs. Marlene Ghastlie
Mrs Kim Ghastlie
Mrs Tammy Ghastlie

Next week there will be a whole new batch of participants. I'll be featured on Monday, October 31st. Happy Halloween!

As I mentioned earlier each day we will have a giveaway. Some of the other bloggers have made special projects to giveaway and we will have daily SPECIAL PRIZES from these sponsors....to sweeten the CAULDRON....

Some of our Sponsors:
Alexander Henry Fabrics - lot's and lot's of Ghastlie Fabric
Colonial Needle - sewing basket
Janes Fabrics - Kona fabrics in PINK - fat quarter bundle
Reliable Iron - orange Velocity 50
IHAN ( kelly ) - aurifil threads
Coeurdalenegifts - 2 sets of Halloween lights
Forth Worth Fabric Studio - gorgeous gift set of Ghasltie fabric
Creative Grid - 3 Rulers their top 3
Blue FIG - wheeled bag in PINK
Beam N Read and custom Ghastlie Buttons

Our 1st Prize Giveaway today will be this...

4 Yards of this GHASTLIE Collection from our sponsor Alexander Henry Fabrics

The winner will always be announced on Mdm Samm's Sew I Quilt blog. To win, follow directions of the daily bloggers and make comments on their blogs.

I've seen some sneak previews of the projects and prizes. You will not want to miss a post. Everything is so creative, wonderful and, of course, Ghastlie!

Simple custom wedding gift

I don't like to buy off wedding registries - especially for close friends and family. I know the bride and groom hand pick each item, but I like to put a little more thought and effort into a gift I'm giving. I prefer to make something custom for gifts as well.

I am a paper nerd. I love paper. I love how it feels in my hands, the saturated colors, the texture and pretty much everything about it. I love cutting and folding and working with paper in all manners. So, unsurprisingly, one of my favorite things about weddings is seeing the invitations. I've made custom gifts from invites before. One fun idea is to scan the invite, print it on a self-adhesive label and adhere it to a bottle of wine. Throw in two wine glasses and a corkscrew from the registry and a note for the couple to enjoy the wine on their first anniversary. But what if the couple aren't wine drinkers? Make the invite into pretty Christmas ornaments! It's super simple.

Cut the invite into narrow strips. Try to get each line of text onto a strip. You'll be able to read some of them later.

Curl the strips around a narrow pencil, taking care not to rub off the ink with your fingers. The heavier weight cardstock will hold the shape nicely.

Buy clear glass Christmas ornaments at a craft store and fill with the curled invite!

I love that you can still read some of the elements like the date, names and location. You can buy the bulbs individually or as a set. For this particular wedding, each piece of paper (and the envelope) were all different colors.

So I made one out of the accommodations card.

And one out of the envelope! I sent back the RSVP card, so I cheated and bought the right color of paper at a scrapbooking store to make a 4th ornament to complete the set. You can add fun things like glitter and charms too. I put gold, silver and bronze glitter into the balls.

It's quick, simple and very affordable. Throw in a couple of other Christmas related items or another handmade item and you'll have a memorable, custom wedding gift!

Drum roll please...

And the winner is...

STEPHANIE! Congratulations Stephanie! I will contact you by email with instructions on how to download the software.

Thank you to everyone who entered. You can still use the coupon code STMMMS54634 to get a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook Software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store. That's a free $20!

My Memories Giveaway!

Due to unforeseen circumstances winner will be announced tomorrow Tuesday, Sept. 20th. Enjoy the bonus day to enter the giveaway.

I love everything that comes with scrapbooking: the pretty paper in beautiful coordinating color combinations, the fun little punches and gadgets, using the hundreds of pictures of friends and families that I love taking. Laying out perfect pages made me really happy.

I used to scrapbook. Then two things happened. First, I became a poor college student. I didn't have the money to continue what can be an expensive hobby. Second, I became a graphic designer. You'd think that would contribute to a positive scrapbooking experience, but it doesn't. It made me think, as I sat cutting and glueing for hours on end, "I can do this faster, cheaper and better on the computer using design programs." So I quit scrapbooking and never looked back.

I now see the error of my ways. I should have invented the My Memories Suite - a digital scrapbooking program. Alas, I did not. Lucky for you, someone smarter than me did invent it - and they did a darn fine job of it too.

My Memories lets you build pages and even entire books, all digitally. Then you can print them as pages or bound books. You can also export as interactive slideshows, movies and DVDs (you can add music and narration!), photo albums, calendars or greeting cards. Brilliant! What's even more brilliant? I've got a free copy to giveaway to one of you! We'll get to the part about how you win after I tell you a bit more about this program.

One of the great features is the pre-made templates. I used a page from a baby girl themed book to make this. It took me under 10 minutes.

Did I also mention that this was the very first page I made? Or that I didn't read any of the instructions or "how to" materials beforehand? Yeah, this program is that easy and intuitive.

Besides tons of pre-loaded patterns, designs, elements and layouts, you can purchase pre-designed pages and books or buy elements and coordinating packages to layout your own pages. Everything is very affordable - much cheaper than buying the paper at a craft store. Best part? Unlike traditional paper and supplies, you can reuse these elements and pages over and over.

I can see using this program for much more than scrapbooking too. It would work great to layout a pretty flier or poster, make a portfolio of photography or design invitations and gift tags. It even has potential to make attractive marketing and informational documents for work! The possibilities are endless.

Now for the most important part: How do you win?

Visit My Memories webpage and take a look around. Come back here and leave a comment on what page you'd make first or what's your favorite downloadable kit.
Make sure you include a way for me to contact you if you win!

Want more chances to win? Leave a separate comment for each of these you do:

1. Start following this blog. (Either click "follow" in the upper left of this page or use the follow button in the right sidebar - way towards the bottom)

2. Follow My Memories' blog

3. Like My Memories on Facebook

4. Follow My Memories on Twitter

WAIT! We're not done! There's more! (Did that sound like an infomercial? If so, please reread it more like a kid on Christmas morning instead of Vince from Sham Wow. Thank you.)

I have a coupon code: STMMMS54634 will get you a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook Software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store. That's a free $20!

Here are a few more examples that I made:

Now, go check out the My Memories website the come back and sign up for a chance to win! Winner will be announced on Monday, September 19th.

Full disclosure: I was given a copy of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook Software for free to review for my readers. However, these opinions are my own and I was not compensated for a positive review.

Hello. My name is Tonya and I am an addict.

It's not drugs or alcohol or even chocolate. It's Pinterest. I cannot stop.

Wait. You don't know what Pinterest is? I don't know whether or not to gush about it and encourage you to sign up, or yell "Run! Run away and don't read on!" So proceed at your own risk and know that Pinterest is wonderful but it will steal hours and hours of your life.

In their own words, "Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests."

It's a personalized, virtual bulletin board with beautiful pictures of food, clothing, home decor and anything else your little heart desires. You can categorize everything onto different boards. The best part is that it all links back to the original source, i.e. the webpage with the recipe, tutorial, online store, etc. I love that I can look at all my recipes at once.

I have been LOVING Pinterest for fashion and sewing ideas too. However this seems to have lead to a bad habit of clothing and shoe shopping online. Which makes my PayPal account sad but me squeal in delight when brown paper packages show up on the doorstep.

So what else besides recipe and fashion am I pinning? My 301 (yikes!) pins are on 20 boards including sewing inspirations, crocheting, tattoos and henna, travel, home decor, color combinations, graphic design, Halloween, gift ideas and products I want. Check them all out on my Pinterest page.

It also has a fun element where you can follow boards and people so your homepage has a cornucopia of ideas handpicked by like minded people you've chosen to follow. Pinterest will send you an email (if you want it to) to let you know when people repin your pins. I get a silly amount of pleasure when I get one of these with a huge list.

It's an ego boost. "They like me. They really like me!" Or at least my pins... But whatever. I enjoy it! Joining Pinterest is by invitation only, so if you're interested, let me know and I'll email you an invite. But remember - don't say I didn't warn you about the hours, days and weeks of your life that will suddenly go missing.

Halloween Treasures

It's the first of September! How did the summer go so fast? I love fall, but I really, really hate that it leads to winter so I am always reluctant to be too excited to pull out the boots and sweaters. Maybe that's part of what I love about Halloween. Something to focus on looking forward rather than dwelling on summer ending. Apparently everyone else is ready for autumn and thinking about Halloween too because I'm in FIVE Halloween themed Etsy treasuries already. My favorite is Spooktacular. It's a great selection of haunting and beautiful items.

See the treasury on Etsy

My wine bottle labels are also featured it these:
Halloween is Coming!
It's Almost Halloween!
Season of the Witch
Countdown to Halloween

I really enjoy seeing what other items people pair up with my products. I'm pleased and happy to be in the company of such talented artists and interesting items!