life, craft, kids, crap…

Daily Archives: December 13, 2010

I loooooove Sew, Mama, Sew’s Giveaway Day! And it’s here. So, call your favorite babysitter, tell your boss you’re sick and can’t work, and sit down with your favorite beverage and a box of cookies — you’ve got hundreds of giveaways to go through today! Woo-hoo!

I am delighted to participate…. so excited that I’m actually doing 3 giveaways. I’m putting each one in a separate post so you can enter the ones you’re interested in and skip any you’re not.Β  (Yes! You can enter all 3!) And, no jumping through hoops — just a single comment on each post will do nicely.

I hope you’ll stick around a bit and browse through the past 4 1/2 years of posts. Whole lot of crafts, crap, kids, and living adventures to read about…

For now, let’s get to the first giveaway!

My newest Etsy shop, Ruby’s Retro City, features vintage fabric, notions, and fun vintage housewares. I have yards and yards of vintage fabric — more than I could sew with in a lifetime! So, I decided it was time to share. I run the shop with Ruby Sue Roux — someone I met in a thrift store who lives in her own retro time period and is obsessed with shoes, cat’s eye glasses, and vintage decor. She is particularly drawn to anything featuring poodles or copious amounts of glitter. She is also rather boy-crazy, but has not been successful in that department yet. I can say all of this about her because she never gets on the computer except to write a little introduction to each listing. I find them to be silly, strange, wild, and purely Ruby.

So, what are we giving away? Well, I’m super excited about the vintage gingham fat quarter pack! I’ve got many colors and sizes of gingham fabric. As a quilter I love having little bits of each color to put with projects. So, I made the customizable pack to meet the needs of other quilters and craft sewers. (Sewists? People who sew?)

For each pack, you get to pick 5 fat quarters out of my list of available gingham goodies. (And, at only $8 for the pack, that equals out to be $1.60 per fat quarter!) So, for my first giveaway, you get to pick your own vintage gingham fat quarter pack. Put them together for a great, soft baby quilt or add them to projects that need a classic basic… super versatile!

(Gee, mab, how many pictures of the same stack of fabric can you put in here?)

Here’s what you need to do to enter:

1) Leave a comment and answer the following question: If you could live in any time period in history, what would it be? (If I have to read a bunch of comments, I want them to be more than ‘pick me!’ — so let’s go with this question. Because that’s what I want to do.)

Super easy, eh?

Now for the rules:

You don’t have to visit my Etsy shop, but I would be happy if you do. πŸ™‚ And, until December 17th, use the coupon code GAD2010 to get 15% off all purchases! (Yes, even the Katie Jump Rope and Flea Market Fancy Home Dec Knock-Offs!)

This giveaway is open internationally!

Only enter once. Because that’s the nice way to do it.

You have until Friday, December 17th at midnight central time to enter.

I’ll announce the winner on Saturday, December 18th. The winner will be chosen by Random.org.

Now, head on down to the next two posts to see what other giveaways I’ve got going on today! Then, check out Sew, Mama, Sew’s main Giveaway Day listings. But grab that beverage first….


Who else loves fabric? For Giveaway II, I’ve got some fabric cuts for you….

On the left is a pretty sky blue lacework print. It’s by David Textiles, but I don’t know the name of the print. I think it looks like snowflakes. This is a 22″ x 22″ piece of fabric. Next is the Lemon print from Alexander Henry. Then there’s a print from Amy Butler’s Lotus line. Last is Sunspots from Amy Butler’s Love line. It’s a bit of random, but they’re all fun and fabulous! The last 3 are all Fat Quarters (about 18″ x 22″). This is over a yard of fabric!

But let’s add something else…

(Ignore that terrible lighting! I couldn’t take pics until both kids were in bed.)

I’m also adding a wristlet keychain made with Heather Bailey’s Ivory Sway from the Pop Garden collection. (Love that fabric!) Some people call these key fobs. I personally HATE the word fob. So, I call them wristlet keychains. πŸ™‚ If you win, you can call it whatever you’d like.

Here’s what you need to do to enter:

1) Leave a comment and answer the following question: If you were a color, what would you be? (If I have to read a bunch of comments, I want them to be more than ‘pick me!’ — so let’s go with this question. Because that’s what I want to do.)

Super easy, eh?

Now for the rules:

You don’t have to visit my Etsy shop, but I would be happy if you do. πŸ™‚ And, until December 17th, use the coupon code GAD2010 to get 15% off all purchases! (Yes, even the Katie Jump Rope and Flea Market Fancy Home Dec Knock-Offs!)

This giveaway is open internationally!

Only enter once. Because that’s the nice way to do it.

You have until Friday, December 17th at midnight central time to enter.

I’ll announce the winner on Saturday, December 18th. The winner will be chosen by Random.org.

Now, head on down to the nextΒ  post to see the last giveaway I’ve got going on today! Then, check out Sew, Mama, Sew’s main Giveaway Day listings. I go through every one and enter a bajillion of them. It usually leads to a serious case of Numb Butt. But you do what you gotta do….


Lately I’ve found myself seriously overusing the word fabulous. This is funny because I’m not exactly a fabulous person. I don’t wear glittery things, I don’t have fancy sunglasses, I don’t wear heels or clothes that require ironing. I think if I ever make it on What Not to Wear, Clinton Kelley will call me the antithesis of fabulous.

But these new fun flowers make anyone fabulous.

Oh, snap!

Those of you who have already been reading The mab Blab will remember that I first made these flowers for the craft fair here on the campus where we live. I love them. I wear one all the time. And, I want you to wear one, too.

So, here’s giveaway #3…..

Here’s a lovely red flower with green ribbon leaves — great to add some holiday fun to your outfit, but it’s not overtly holiday or Christmas. You can wear it all year round. It has a pinback to attach to your shirt or jacket lapel.

Here’s what you need to do to enter:

1) Leave a comment and tell me a gift idea for a guy. (I have several guys to buy for and I’m at a loss! I need creative ideas! Otherwise Uncle Filbert will be getting a red rose pin. And that’s not his style.)

Super easy, eh?

Now for the rules:

You don’t have to visit my Etsy shop, but I would be happy if you do. πŸ™‚ And, until December 17th, use the coupon code GAD2010 to get 15% off all purchases! (Yes, even the Katie Jump Rope and Flea Market Fancy Home Dec Knock-Offs!)

This giveaway is open internationally!

Only enter once. Because that’s the nice way to do it.

You have until Friday, December 17th at midnight central time to enter.

I’ll announce the winner on Saturday, December 18th. The winner will be chosen by Random.org.

Now you’re finished with my 3 giveaways. I hope I made it easy and fun for you! Now, head over to the Sew, Mama, Sew’s main Giveaway Day listings. But don’t enter any of them. That will decrease my chances of winning. πŸ™‚