What I've been up to.

I've been busy, but not blogging.  Bad, I know, but hopefully this will catch you up!

I got a different vehicle and don't remember if I blogged about it before or not, so forgive me if I'm repeating myself.  There was a recall on my Isuzu Rodeo, which I loved, that they couldn't fix on my specific vechicle.  LONG story short, Isuzu bought it back from me for about $1000 less than I had paid for it 2 1/2 years previously.  I added more $$ to that and got THIS:

Yes, I'm driving a Prius these days!  I am very happy with it, and you can't beat the mileage!!  I might miss the 4WD this winter, and I do sometimes miss the cargo capacity of the Rodeo but you would be surprised how much you can cram into a Prius!  LOL!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also, because I don't have enough hobbies (insert eye-rolling emoticon here), I decided to take sewing lessons!  When I went to the basic class I dug out my old Brother sewing machine and took it with me.  At the class I couldn't get the stupid thing to go into reverse.  BAH.  Got it home, got it to reverse stitch, then it wouldn't go forward!  I really wanted to throw it across the room, but with my luck it would have hit the TV and Jim would never forgive me if I hurt that thing.  He did a little research on the internet and discovered that the "getting stuck in reverse" problem is common with the machine I had, so I went to Costco and got THIS:

Ain't it PURTY?  LOL!  It was on sale and I'm thrilled.  I took my second class on Tuesday and made a pretty pillow.  On December 1 I'm taking a class to make a valance for the back entry area window, then later in December I have a couple of classes to make a fleece jacket.  This one:

 

The lower right hand corner view.  Cute, right?! 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

We had a craft sale at the local high school on the Saturday before Halloween.  I sold some jewlery, Star sold some cards, but it wasn't a big money maker.  This used to be a good show for us, but the last couple of years have been harsh.  Stupid economy.  When I barely make enough to cover the cost of the booth it's time to hang it up.  Made me sad to say goodbye to the show, and to know I don't have any on the horizon, but it will allow me to focus on other hobbies for a while.  I'm not forsaking jewelry forever, just taking a bit of a break!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

And I'm getting my Christmas cards made.

 

 

That's about it for me.  What have YOU been up to?

I just finished a very good book...

I read Tess Gerritson's "The Surgeon (Jane Rizzoli & Maura Isles, #1)" Here's a copy of my review from GoodReads:

This book was the creative inspiration for the TV series Rizzoli and Isles, which I LOVE.  I had owned this book for 2 years without reading it, but when I found out that fact I had to dust it off (figuratively, since it's an e-book) and finally read it.

Had I NOT known about the Rizzoli and Isles connection, or had I read it before I saw the show, I might have given it 5 stars.  I did enjoy the book very much, but the differences between the show and the book distracted me.  For example, Dr. Isles is not in the book at all, and I missed her!  I love the relationship between Rizzoli and Isles on the TV show and kept looking for it in the book.  Also, the character of Rizzoli in the book is similar to the one on TV but there are a few glaring differences.  First of all, in the book she is described as plain and no one can accuse Angie Harmon of being plain!  On TV the character comes across as a tom-boy with a sometimes difficult relationship with her mother.  In the book she is cranky and bitter.

The story is FABULOUS.  It's like the prequel to the TV show and I love getting that background.

All told, the book is very much worth reading and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys the genre.  If you haven't seen the TV show, it's better yet!!

And the winner is...

Teresa Arsenault!  Congratulations, Teresa!! 

Enter a lower limit:
Enter an upper limit:
Random Number:

---

Contact me at SongbirdVB @ AOL.com (remove the spaces) and I will tell you how to claim your prize.  I know you will love the digis at the HappiScrappinStore!  It will be hard to choose just 5!

I hope everyone enjoyed our little hop, and good luck on winning the other prizes!!

Starla's Fairy Blog Hop!

Starla is doing a blog hop and my blog is stop number one. Why are we hopping?  She is celebrating her one year blogaversary, her recent birthday (the last one in her 20's!), and having achieved 100 followers.

If you want to do the hop and DIDN'T come from Starla's blog go there and read all about it, then come back here!! 
There are going to be prizes and drawings, including the one I'm giving away!  At the end of the hop a random comment from my blog will be chosen, that winner will receive FIVE digis from Leigh's store at HappiScrappin! 

Here's what Starla had to say about the prizes:

Now, before I get to the list for the blog hop, let’s talk about prizes, shall we? There are actually two parts to this celebration.  The first is the blog hop.  Every person that visits every stop in the hop and leaves a comment on each post gets entered into a drawing to win a $10 gift certificate to one of my favorite stamp companies.  One will receive a gift certificate to Tiddly Inks, and one will receive a gift certificate to Guylou’s Inimitability, and yet another one to Simply Betty Stamps.  Click on the links (on her site) to visit their stores and browse around!

The second part of the celebration is…..the challenge!  Since I just LOVE fairies, I’m hosting a fairy themed challenge!  All you need to do to enter is to create a fairy themed project and link it to Mr. Linky (on her site).  Only one entry per person, and please remember to link directly to your post and not to your blog.  You have until 11/12/11 at midnight CST to enter.  The candy pictured (on her site) is the grand prize for this challenge!  It has a little bit of everything, so I hope it looks yummy!

Each of us was asked to do a fairy themed project.  Since my crafting supplies are not accessible at the moment I am using one of my very favorite past projects.  I hope you like her!

The digi is from the store at AnitaBeStampin, isn't she pretty?  I colored her with Copic markers and layered a whole lot of papers to complete the card.

Don't forget to leave a comment to be eligible to win some of the fabulous prizes!!

Thanks for joining me on the hop.  Your next stop is the lovely Cely! 
Good luck!!

I'm still alive!

Sorry I've been AWOL!  Life got in the way, as it sometimes will.  My crafting supplies are not accessible at the moment so I don't have anything new to show you.  After my craft room gets organized y'all are going to be INUNDATED with my craftiness!      =D

Tomorrow is a special day!  Starla is having a blog hop and there will be prizes and everything!!  It's fairy themed and will be fun and inspiring.  The crafters who will be stops on the hop are hugely talented and I'm honored to be included in the list.  I'm sure the fact that I'm her mom didn't factor into it at all.  =D

Check back and do the hop!!