Mrs. Tonya Ghastlie

I am so happy to have found so many other Ghastlies loving women in the blogosphere. I had a blast last week checking out everyone's ghastlie creations and entering to win prizes. YAY! Now it's finally my turn to share!

My very first Ghastlies project means so much to me for several reasons. When I found this fabric line, I was not a quilter - and had no desire to become one. I loved the fabric so much, I bought it anyway. At the time, the only use I could think of was a quilt. (I know now that is NOT the case at all!) But I am actually glad that I didn't think to make other things with it - because now I am a quilter and I love it and it's all because of the Ghastlies!

So this is my very first quilt - made start to finish completely by me with no idea what I was doing the entire way through! Now, why do I love quilting? Many, many reason, but the number one reason is it makes me feel close to my grandma. She passed away nearly a decade ago - much, much too young - but she was a beautiful person and wonderful quilter.

I owe a big "Thank You!" to the Ghastlies for making me a very happy quilter.

On to the projects:

Queen sized Ghastlies quilt. 

Scrappy Ghastlies pillow.

Two sided Ghastlies bookmarks.

Reversible Ghastlies mug cozies. 

Ghastlies fridge magnets. 

Ghastlies Dinner serving tray. 

Ghastlies half apron.

I have one more Ghastlie project I'd like to show you, but it's not mine. My friend Staci over at One Girl made a dress from the white Sebastian print. And a cape! They are amazing! Check them out!

And now the best part: The Giveaway! What can you win? Ghastlies goodies of course!

The winner will receive the Ghastlies half apron, plus a Ghastlies mug cozie and bookmark. To win, subscribe to or follow my blog using the links at the top left or in the right sidebar. Then leave a comment telling me what your favorite Ghastlies project has been (mine or from other Ghastlie ladies' in the blog hop. You can see all the projects so far on my Ghastlies Pinboard) That's it! I will leave the giveaway open through Friday, November 4th and announce the winner on Monday, November 7th. Don't forget to leave your email or some way for me to contact you if you win.

I will also randomly choose one commenter to submit to Madame Samm to win today's grand prize. That winner will be announced here later this week. (UPDATE: Mrs. Pickles won the daily prize. MY giveaway is still open through Friday, November 4th!)

And don't forget to visit the other Ghastlie women who are posting today:
Mrs. Tiramisue Ghastlie
Mrs. Angela Ghastlie
Mrs. Pauline Ghastlie
Mrs. Karin Ghastlie
Mrs. Barb Ghastlie

Have a Ghastlie Halloween!

Ghastlies Blog Hop - Week 2

Welcome to week two of the Ghastlies Blog Hop! 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 the Ghastlies fever too, here's where to find the cure this week:

Monday, October 31st
Mrs. Tonya Ghastlie (That's me!)
Mrs. Tiramisue Ghastlie
Mrs. Angela Ghastlie
Mrs. Pauline Ghastlie
Mrs. Karin Ghastlie
Mrs. Barb Ghastlie

Tuesday, November 1st
Miss Daisy Ghastlie
Mrs. Dana Ghastlie
Mrs. Elaine Ghastlie 
Mrs. Gramma Sheri Ghastlie
Ms. Suz Ghastlie

Wednesday, November 2nd
Mrs. Jane Ghastlie
Mrs. Laura Ghastlie 
Mrs. Mary Ghastlie
Mrs. Michelle Ghastlie
Mrs. Dawn Ghastlie 
Mrs. Mary Ghastlie

Thursday, November 3rd
Mrs. Sharon Ghastlie
Mrs. Corrie Ghastlie
Mrs. Cheryl Ghastlie
Mrs. Linda Ghastlie
Mrs. Pickles Ghastlie

Friday, November 4th
Mrs. Nan Ghastlie
Mrs. Gmama Jane Ghastlie
Mrs. Joan Ghastlie
Mrs. Nancy Ghastlie
Ms. Susan Ghastlie
Madame Ghastlie

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

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 hope you enjoyed week one of our Ghastlies Blog Hop and I'm happy you're back for week two! My featured post and giveaway is tomorrow! Don't forget to come back and enter to win - there is double prize potential!

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.