Create Dreams Be You

Saw this at Forever 21 and thought for a little shirt, it spoke volumes...Create: your life is waiting, Dreams: make them come true, Be: who you are, You: can make a difference. 

That paired with my horoscope today and I think I'm finally getting it: If you're struggling with the question of where to go from here, you may feel you're at a turning point, and that some big decision is necessary.  You've tried different ideas for getting ahead, but you may still be perplexed about what direction to take.  You won't have to make that choice, Leo, because the meaning of your life is becoming clearer.  No matter how much you wrestle with your choices, you'll find that a choice is being made for you.  Soon, you'll clearly see where to go next.  Good fortune is unfolding, and you'll be directed toward it if you don't get too caught up in finding an alternate route.

And lastly, a recent fortune cookie: There are times when silence speaks the loudest.

All very contradictory perhaps, but to me it makes sense.  And today I'm working at definitely one of the grandest birthday parties ever and will get to meet the incredible cake genius Sylvia Weinstock!  So, I'm ready: bring it.

Now finalllly to the winner of the 100th post giveaway: Ashley from Domestic Fashionista!  I love her posts about all the beautiful things she makes, cookes and bakes for her home and husband and she gives fabulous parties too!  She even hosted an online Valentine's Day Link Up Party so check out all the participants' awesome creations.  Thanks for entering, Ashley, you inspire me!

Now on to the birthday party...!

Share Your (card-making) Love

After surviving cooking and baking for my 1st party since 2007 I had one more good deed to do.  Please join Etsy's Special Delivery project and make some valentines for City-Meals-on-Wheels!

You have one more day to join up: cards must be received by this Wednesday, so that means they must be mailed by tomorrow.  

You can also join the Flickr group here.

And for more cards, there's one more week to join my 100th Post Giveaway.  

Have a lovely Valentine's Day Prep week!

100th Post Giveaway! (& my newest follower)

This is my 100th Post on Craftiness NOW!  

To celebrate I'm doing my 2nd giveaway: 12 greeting cards of all seasons made with Martha Stewart craft punches 

in hearts, flowers, leaves and snowflakes.  

My 1st giveaway was knit sushi for kitties, and speaking of kitties...meet Mila!

She's now the official blog mascot.  Strangely enough I just redecorated my bedroom in grey and then she came along and matches it quite well.

But back to the giveaway: the 3 heart cards say:

1) happy valentine's day (inside: to my one and only)

2) you & me (inside: meant to be) 

3) love to love you

The 3 snowflake cards say:

1) happy holidays

2) merry christmas to you

3) happy first snow to you (inside: and many more)

And...oh...uh oh, kitten card bowling, excuse me a minute...

Apparently if she's the center of attention she'll allow the photo session to continue.

Although she's thinking about knocking them all over again...I think...

Ahem...anyway, the 3 flower cards say:

1) miss you

2) happy birthday (inside: to you!)

3) happy day to you (inside: from me)

And the 3 leaf cards say:

1) i'm falling in love (inside: with you)

2) give thanks (inside: today & always)

3) thank you (inside: for all that you do)

And each card is stamped on the back with my new logo!  

Don't eat it, Mila...

OK, there's a better shot -- the stamp is from RubberStamps.net, highly recommended!

After the busy photo shoot she fell asleep, so now I can explain the giveaway:

1 entry will be given for each of the following:

- leave a comment with a favorite or unusual holiday you celebrate

- leave a (separate) comment with a crafty event coming up

- leave a(nother) comment with a great craft supply source

- be a blog follower

- follow me on Twitter

- like the Craftiness NOW Facebook page

The winner will be chosen at midnight 

on Monday, February 14th, Valentine's Day!  

Good luck and thanks for making Mila feel at home here :-)

Sushi 4 Kitties Giveaway!

Yay, my 1st Giveaway!  This kappamaki (cucumber sushi roll) is made of yarn: a knitting pattern by Christen Haden, author of Yummi 'Gurumi and Creepy Cute Crochet.  Her pattern is my very 1st Etsy purchase: the PDF has 16 sushi pieces (including knit wasabi, ginger and decorative grass) and I can't wait to make them all.  But I had to make this one for a quick welcome gift....

[photo by Jenny G.]

for my friend Jenny's newly adopted kitty, what a beauty!  The last time I made gifts for kitties was some Christmas catnip mice and I figured something fishy would be appropriate, especially when I saw this ad: kind of looks like this kitty, right?

I've mentioned that I've always loved the sea, so I've been reading The Story of Sushi by Trevor Corson (loved his 1st book: The Secret Life of Lobsters) and as I started looking for craft projects Christen's Etsy page really stood out.  She e-mailed the pattern quickly and the directions are super easy to follow.  Plus, it's a great way to use up some yarn!

If I make all the pieces I'll be using all of these colors, so I'm excited to make more soon. 

You'll need double-pointed needles, a stitch marker, row counter, yarn needle and of course I like my crafty, little scissors.

Each piece is a combination of a few layers, all the better to stuff catnip in!

And then there was packaging: one of my favorite parts...

I didn't have time to knit up the condiments this time, so I used the real thing, added some chopsticks too.


So, to enter the giveaway, all you have to do is:
1) be a follower (thank you!)
2) leave a comment, any ol' comment will do
3) and specify if you'd like your sushi with, or without catnip


And on Labor Day, I'll pick one name randomly (U.S. residents only, please, just for shipping purposes) and you'll receive the next sushi piece I make, packaged similarly to the one I gave Jenny today.  

Good luck!