The winners have been drawn!  Here’s Elliott pulling them from the bowl!

Those of you whose names were drawn, send me your address and I’ll ship them to you.

To everyone who donated, thank you so much for your generosity! Every bit was so appreciated!

Today, I’m posting a slightly different kind of contest that I think you’ll love for several reasons:

A) It’s in our female blood to want to save the boobies. We like ‘em. They’re cool.

B) Every girl needs a super cushy handmade heating pad to pamper themselves with.

C) There will be four heating pads up for grabs, so your chances of finding one in your mailbox soon are pretty good!

So, here’s the deal. This raffle is supporting two of my friends that are participating in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure event. This means that to even participate, they have to raise $2300 toward the cause. Anything over that is just bonus points inching us closer to beating this mess that is…breast cancer.

So…meet Brandie and Chrystyna. These are two very strong, very amazing women that never cease to amaze me with their drive, their skill and their passion that drives them in everything they do. If you know them, you love them. If you don’t….well, just trust me. These are two seriously rockin’ chicks.

Annnnd….on to the raffle fun! You remember the heating pad tutorial I did not too long ago? Well, my lovely friend Joy of A Joyful Soul Fabrics very generously donated the Amy Butler flannel for me to whip up four heating pads to raffle off for this fundraiser. Can I get a round of applause?? K, thanks. She’s a seriously joyful Joy and I adore her.

So, to get your hands of one of these…

…perfect-for-cramps, perfect-for-achy-mommy-backs, perfect-for-gift-giving…

…luxurious…

…velvety-soft…

…heating pads filled weighty rice and heavenly lavender essential oils, here’s what you need to know:

Donate to Brandie and/or Chrystyna. Be sure to leave “The Green Wife” in the personal message area of the donation page so that I can confirm your donation/entries with the girls. Each $5 donation earns 1 raffle entry, so there’s a $5 minimum and anything over that is loved, appreciated and…gets you more entries!

Once you’ve made your donation(s), leave a comment here telling me that you’ve entered. Once I verify your donation with the girls, your name will be put in a drawing with the appropriate number of entries.

Please get your donations in before 10am Central Standard Time on Thursday, May 20, 2010. The winners will be announced and heating pads will be shipped soon after that. Now…go save the boobies!!!

Congratulations, Amy! The wallets are yours!
(I know the post shows 43 comments and I only entered 40. There were 3 ineligible ones, so please forgive me. )

If you’ve been visiting my site for awhile, you probably know how I love all things Slaughterhead. For those of you who are newer to my blog, take a look around the Slaughterhead site and you’ll understand why I love them.

Slaughterhead = Joey Slaughter and Jessica Head. Get it? Slaughter? Head? Slaughterhead?

Neato.

They’re a husband and wife team that crank out some seriously cool bags and wallets.

Super cool.

Super hip.

And now? Super green.

See, they’ve changed from using vinyl for the exteriors of their products to using PVC-free faux leather. It’s buttery soft and ultra-cool.

Also–everything they make is now lined with repurposed fabrics that are hip as hip can be.

Unique. Hip. Green. Yeah, you know you want some.

So, here we go! Jessica just sent me a His & Hers set that is too cool for school and I get to give it away to you guys! It’s not easy letting these puppies go. I really, really like ‘em. But I will. Because I love you.

OH! But first! First…I’m feeling waaay cool because not only did they send wallets for a giveaway, they’ve given you guys a very special discount code just for being Green Wife readers. I love ‘em. I do. The code: GRNWF gets you free shipping on anything you order now through May 18. Get it while the gettin’s good!

Check it out:

Awesomeness.

For him: the 5-pocket bifold wallet.

And for her: a one-of-a-kind zip wallet.

Jessica is the seamstress and those cool prints? Those are straight from Joey’s creative hand. Aren’t they great?? The people AND the wallets, I mean.

Oh…and? And? And…

And…I love that they came bundled in a scrap of what appears to be a vintage pillowcase. Love it.

Sooooo…to enter, simply leave a comment telling me what you’ll do if you win this wallet set. Keep them both for yourself? Gift them both? Split ‘em up?

Entries will be accepted until 12pm Central time on Thursday, May 13, 2010.

One entry per person, please.

If you’re like me, you sometimes get in a cooking rut.  It becomes boring, routine and a complete chore.  Well, nothing has brought me out of my kitchen blahs like the day I used my first Kuhn Rikon Nonstick knife.  Back at Christmas time, I received a yellow one as a gift from my neighbor.

The first time I used it, I felt as if the clouds parted and beams of sunshine shone down into my kitchen.  Preparing dinner became fun!  Cutting was fast and effortless!  It was a whole new world!

In true Abbie form, though, I managed to misplace the cover that goes over the blade.  Have I ever mentioned how completely scatterbrained I am??  Oh.  Well, I’m so very scatterbrained.  See, these fun little things come looking like this:

Remove the cover and you have a beautifully colorful blade.

My yellow one is forever naked, though, as I’m quite sure that I tossed my cover in the trash during post-dinner clean-up the first night I used it.  Yikes.

Since then, I’ve added to my knife drawer the periwinkle one above and these:

Trust me:  While they look wonderfully fun in their playful colors, they don’t play around!  They are super-duper sharp.  They’ll slide through a raw steak like it’s melted butter.  And veggies?  No challenge at all!

It makes chopping up a quick, delicious salad way more fun than any plain ol’ knife!  And just so you know what I’m eating as I type this up:

Seriously yummy.

Mmmm.

So…where were we?  Oh.  Yes.  Knives.

Because I feel the need to share this knife obsession with the world, I grabbed a green one to give away.  Why green?  Because green rules.

See?  It’s purdy.  And it wants to be your friend.

To enter:

Leave a comment telling me what you’re making for dinner tonight.

Extra entry:  leave a comment linking to where you’ve shared this giveaway on Twitter.

Extra entry:  leave a comment linking to where you’ve shared this on Facebook.

I will accept entries until 10am Central time on Thursday, April 15th and will announce the winner soon after.

Ready…set….go!

AND THE WINNER IS….84!!

(I know it says 90 comments, but one was me…so 89. )

Congratulations, Kel!  Email me and I’ll get it shipped out to you. Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy mine.

After a few emails and a couple of phone calls, I headed out yesterday to meet Joy of A Joyful Soul Fabrics.  I walked through her lovely home to discover her fabric room.  It’s what dreams are made of.  Walls lined with shelves.  Shelves filled with the most beautiful fabrics on the market.  I was in heaven.  I drove her crazy, I’m sure, as I pulled out 2 bolts here, 3 here, and changed my mind no less than 87 times.  Who wouldn’t have trouble narrowing it down to 3 fabrics when you’re surrounded by a dizzying amount of Amy Butler and Heather Bailey??  Right?

So I made my fabric selections for Elliott’s Easter dress (another post on another day) and while she cut, we decided that we should do a giveaway.  I loved her idea of giving away this Amy Butler Lavender Eye Pillow sewing kit.

It’s not just the pattern and the fabric, it’s got the lavender-scented fill, too!  It’s all you need to pamper yourself at the end of a trying day.  And what a fun, quick project it will be to sew up!

I love the fabrics included for the slipcover and carrying case.

Gorgeous!

So…to enter:

Leave a comment telling me about your favorite Amy Butler & Heather Bailey fabrics and what sewing projects you’ve got lined up at the moment.

If you Twitter, Facebook, blog about the giveaway, add an extra comment with a link to where you’ve shared it and that will get you an extra entry.

Entries will be accepted until Thursday, April 1st 2010 at 12pmCST and a winner will be selected soon after.

We have a winner!  Congratulations, Carolyn!  Send me an email and I’ll get it shipped to you.  Hope you enjoy!

And some of these Scentsy Bars:

I got to pick out three scents of my choice and being a newbie in the world of Scentsy, I read each description of each scent and settled on Pretty In Pink,  Twilight, and Hemingway.  I couldn’t wait to smell them when my package arrived…and then there was the choice of which scent I would use first.  Oh, the agony of such a decision!  I settled on Twilight, broke off a little square, plugged it in and man does my house smell amazing.  It’s a fresh, clean scent that also leaves a home smelling warm and welcoming.

I feel far more comfortable leaving a plug-in going than I do leaving a candle burning somewhere in the house with kids playing and a curious kitty getting into everything.  I love that once the wax has liquefied, you can simply pour it back into its little spot in the container and reuse it.  Then, just wipe out the warmer with a cloth and choose another scent for another day.  And the wax is food-quality wax…just in case you have a curious toddler in your home.  The very-low-wattage bulb barely uses any energy and while the website says that these plug-in warmers are intended for small rooms, I tried mine in the living room and the fragrance has spread through at least four rooms!  I love this.

Know what else I love?  Gwenda’s generosity.  She not only sent me my choice of a Plug-In Warmer and my choice of 3 Scentsy Bars, she’s going to send one of you the same!

These were runners up for me when I was trying to choose a warmer:

Cute, right?

To enter this giveaway:

I want you to look through the Plug-In Warmers and leave a comment linking to the ones that you love.  And check out these scents!  Makes you wish the internet was Scratch N’ Sniff, right?  If you’re a Scentsy veteran, share your favorite scents with us.  Please leave a single comment only, unless you share this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter or elsewhere.  In that case, leave a separate comment linking to each place you shared.  Contest will end at 12pm CST on Thursday, March 18 and the winner will be announced soon after.

Another way to get some Scentsy love from Gwenda: She said that if any of you sign up on her site to host a Scentsy party and raise a minimum of $150, you will have your choice of a Full Size Warmer or a Plug-In Warmer and 3 Scentsy Bars.

In the meantime, I’m thinking I might need this:

It’s gorgeous and needs to move in with me.  Meet Victoria, the Warmer of the Month.  And what’s the scent of the month, you ask?  Spring Clean!  You just can’t go wrong.  And this month they are both 10% off.  I’m in love.  Love, I tell you.  Love.  I’ve been missing out on Scentsy for far too long!

Now, get busy!  Go warmer shopping.  You might just be plugging one in before you know it!

———————————————————————————————————————

Thank you all for your entries!!  Wasn’t it fun to dig through and pick out some favorites?  Who knew I’d fall so in love with this stuff??

So…the winner is number 52!  Congraulations, Chanece! Email me with your choice of plug-in warmer and 3 scents!

And in related news:  Gwenda has decided that we should team up and do a Scentsy giveaway every month!!  Check back often for these awesome giveaways and many others!

Each week we gather in the evening after kids are tucked in bed and we knit.  We share our stories from the week, our frustrations in life, we discuss movies and tv shows, we knit, and we laugh.  A lot.

This week, we decided to try something a little bit different.  We thought that we would try our hands at dying our own yarn.  I used my crock pot and they brought over their big stock pots.  Using Wilton food coloring as our dye and a splash of vinegar, we set to work.  Unfortunately, both of my camera batteries were dead so my photo documentation of the evening is sorely missed.

The next morning, I hung my dripping wet yarn on the line and admired my handiwork.

I’m not normally a fan of such light colors, but I think that this colorway is just lovely if I do say so myself.  And in case you’re curious which Wilton colors I used to achieve this combo…I used black and a teeny bit of violet.  See, when I added the black color, it immediately separated into a gorgeous blue and purple blend, but the purple was a tad light for my taste.  I mixed up a little violet and poured it in 3 spots.  Turned out kinda nice, don’t you think?  I think I’ll name it….um….wow.  I’m not cut out to name yarns.  It makes me think of the sky just before a really good spring storm, though.  “Calm Before The Storm” or um….”Bruised Sky” or….yeah, I’m not so clever this morning. Forgive me.

Problem is, I’m uninspired in my knitting at the moment.  I’m still a very slow knitter and I seem to find less and less time on my hands as each day passes.  So, what I want to do with this yarn is pass it on to one of you guys.  Whether you knit or crochet or just want to use it for kid crafts, I want it to find a loving home.

You know what that means!  It’s time for a giveaway.

To enter: Leave a single comment telling me either what the yarn should be named or how you feel about spring storms.  See, I love them.  A lot.  I’ve always secretly wanted to be storm chaser.  But…back to the giveaway….

Leave your comment before 12 pm CST on Monday, March 15 and I’ll randomly select a winner soon after.

If you want an extra entry or two, link to this page on Twitter and/or Facebook and leave a separate comment linking to each one.

Thank you and good luck!

A little info on the yarn:  I know very little about dying yarn.  This was more experimental than anything, so I cannot promise perfection.  I can only promise that it’s yarn.  220 yards of100% Peruvian Wool dyed in a crock pot using Wilton food coloring and vinegar.  No scary chemicals.  Hand wash separately  in cool water and hang  to dry.

WINNER:  Congratulations, Leigh!  Email me and I’ll get the yarn to you.

As far as the name, you guys had some awesome suggestions!  I think I’ll go with Impending Storm for this batch, but might just use the other names for inspiration for other colors as I keep dying. Thank you all!

Think about your daily routine. Think about how many steps you take in a day. Around your house. Out to your car. Walking to your mailbox. Across the grocery store parking lot. Up the stairs. Across the lawn to your neighbor’s house. Down the sidewalk. Around school and through the office. Through the rain, rocks, mud, snow and stickers.

No big deal,right?

Now imagine doing that barefoot. Every day. All the time.

Walking barefoot for miles just for food and water.

Imagine being denied an education simply because you have no shoes on your feet.

Now imagine a man who started a shoe company specifically to give away shoes. His name is Blake and he started TOMS. For every pair of TOMS shoes purchased, TOMS provides one pair of shoes to a child in need. One for one.

Brilliant, right?

Now, what if each of us took one day of our lives to go barefoot in order to spread the message?

And what if a really great company like Threadless had a shirt design challenge for A Day Without Shoes? Wouldn’t that help raise awareness? Talk about a conversation starter.

So, what I’m asking you guys to do is:

• Spread the word by telling two friends about TOMS today. Then ask them to tell two friends.
• Plan to participate in One Day Without Shoes.
• Dig deep in your creative mind and enter the Threadless design contest.
• Get some TOMS shoes for your family and, in turn, shoe another family.

And what am I going to do for you?

I am going to give away a $50 E-gift card to one lucky Green Wife reader.

To enter:

Leave one comment sharing a link–or links– to your favorite pair(s) of TOMS.

Leave a comment linking me to where you’ve shared this giveaway on Facebook.

Leave a comment linking me to where you’re shared this giveaway on Twitter.

Rules: No more than 3 entries per person and only one of each type of entry listed above per person. I will stop accepting entries at 12pm Central time on Friday, February 19, 2010 and will announce a randomly chosen winner shortly after.
————-

**WINNER** Im so sorry for the delay! I’m at WordCamp Miami and I’m getting caught up in all the awesome presentations! So…on to the winner…

Congratulations, ToyousJoyous! Email me at Abbie@thegreenwife.com and we’ll get you all set up with your gift card!

Thank you all for entering and I hope you all participate in One Day Without Shoes on April 8!

I’ve recently discovered paperculture.com and I feel the need to pass on some PC love to my readers.  Paper Culture is an eco-friendly stationary company that offers extremely cute, modern cards for all occasions.

Check out this green info from their site:

• 100% Post Consumer Recycled Cards: most cards are printed on “virgin” fiber. Even those that are “recycled” usually contain low percentages of Post Consumer content. Our cards are all printed on 100% Post Consumer Recycled paper.
• Carbon Neutral: As a company, Paper Culture offsets its carbon footprint as a CarbonFree™ Partner of CarbonFund.org.
• FSC Certified: Our paper for both our cards and envelopes is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Paper Culture is also an FSC certified retailer (FSC-SECR-0203 ©1996 FSC)
• Wind Power Generated: well, this one is pretty simple – the paper was produced using wind power.

Good stuff, right?

Now…look at this gorgeous Valentine!  Who wouldn’t love receiving that one?  Or sending it??

And you know what’s extra cool?  Right now, if you order Valentine’s Day cards from Paper Culture, 100% of the proceeds go to Haiti Relief. Super, super cool.

The have tons of adorable designs for other occasions, too.  Like birth announcements…

Baby showers…

Kid birthdays…

Moving announcements…

And tons more.

So go dig around on their site.  You’ll fall in love.

And because I know you’ll fall in love, I want one of you lucky readers to have a $25 gift certificate to spend on whatever design you’d like!*  Uh-huh.  I knew you’d like that!

To enter, leave one comment telling me what type of card you would order if you were to win.  If you have a favorite design, feel free to share that with us as well.  To get additional entries in the contest, link me in a separate comment to where you have Tweeted or Facebooked about the contest. I will stop accepting entries tomorrow, Thursday February 4th at 3pm CST and announce the winner soon after.  Good luck!

*Gift certificate expires 5/31/2010 and is good for first time customers.  It is not to be used with other offers or promotions and not applicable to shipping, tax or stamps.

**WINNER**

And our winner is #5! Congratulations, Michelle!  Send me your email address and we’ll get you taken care of.

During my last two visits to New York City, I visited two stores owned by two sisters. Located in ultra-cool SoHo, these two stores are where I would spend every waking moment if I lived nearby.

The first store is Purl SoHo. It’s a wonderfully small little place that seems to always be filled with knitters on the hunt for the ultimate in luxury yarns. The walls are lined in bins stuffed full of yarn in glorious colors and magnificent textures. It’s easy to get lost in a whirlwind of project inspiration and the staff is very knowledgeable, friendly and helpful.

The second store, just a few doors down the street, is Purl Patchwork. It’s a store for quilters and other crafters with a passion for unique and wonderful fabrics. The staff there is just as wonderful as the girls down the street.

What makes these two stores doubly special is that they are owned and operated by a pair of sisters, Jennifer and Joelle Hoverson. These creative masterminds have done an amazing job of providing a lovely and inspirational atmosphere in both of their stores as well as on their websites. I did a little Googling and discovered that they’ve both been featured on Martha Stewart’s sites. And with good reason. Joelle’s apartment in Brooklyn was featured for it’s gorgeous design and decor. Jennifer was featured for her use of lovely fabrics at her wedding. You know these girls are good if they have Martha’s stamp of approval.

So…you may have picked up on the ‘double’ theme throughout this post: 2 NYC visits, 2 stores, 2 sisters, etc….

So……you may want to know that I’m giving away 2 items today!

It turns out that Joelle has published two books: Last-Minute Knitted Gifts and Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts and it turns out that these awesome ladies have provided me a copy of each book to give away to two lucky Green Wife readers (one book each)!

The books include patterns for such love projects as this throw…

(I’m pretty sure I could spend a lifetime curled up with that throw by that fire.)

…and this elephant!!!

I want to kiss his forehead and rub his ears.

And this scarf…

And…

And…

Just gorgeous.

The giveaway will run through 5pm Tuesday (Jan 12). To enter, post a single comment telling me which book you would be more interested in receiving if you win. Annnnd, since I’ve recently started a Green Wife Twitter account, I’ll add in a second way to enter this time. Follow me on Twitter, mention that you followed in your comment (along with your Twitter name) and you will get a second chance to win!

**We had a sudden change of plans today, so I’m updating from my phone. Rather than using random.org, I wrote your names on scraps of hotel notepad and tore them. Hey, I didn’t have scissors, k??

I drew Lyndsey and Shanyn! Congratulations, girls! Email me your addresses at Abbie(at)thegreenwife.com and the lovely Purl ladies will get your books shipped to you. I can’t wait to hear what lovely things you create with these patterns!

Nevermind the wine in the plastic hotel cup.

Elliott’s third birthday is quickly approaching and for her party, she has requested an owl theme.  After scouring the internet and local party supply stores, I came up empty handed.  It seems that owls just haven’t made it into the world of mass-produces party goods.  What does that mean for this mom?  It means I’ve got to get my booty in gear and rack every crafty brain cell I have to pull this party off in style!

Party favors were my immediate concern because I knew there would be a good number of them to make.  Time to get busy!  I didn’t want to spend a fortune, so I went through my mental inventory of craft supplies I already have on hand and came up with felt.  I can do felt!  Since we will have both boys and girls attending her party, I wanted to do something for each gender.  So…the girls will be getting owl hair clips and the boys will be getting owl finger puppets!  Sounds great, but….where to begin??  I couldn’t find a template online, so with the guidance of my friend The Fabric Floozie, I created my own and will share it with you guys along with the step-by-step process of putting these owls together. (For more owl party ideas, look here.)

First, download and print the template here.

Second, gather your supplies:

• Felt
• Scissors
• Hot glue or fabric glue
• Needle
• Embroidery thread
• Alligator hair clip
• 3/8″ ribbon

Then, cut your owl pieces out of felt in your desired colors.  I’m doing quite a few, so I put all my pieces in little piles.

I began by tacking each of the pieces onto the body with a dab of glue.  I used just a dab of hot glue, but any fabric-friendly glue will do the trick.  I did this because I’m fumble-fingers and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to hold the tiny pieces in place long enough to stitch them on.

First, the wings.

Then the eye piece.

The little beak…

And some eyeballs.

The owls looked a bit untidy after I pieced them together, so I used some very pointy, very sharp scissors to trim and neaten up the edges.

Once you get your little guy just how you want it, get your embroidery thread and split it into 2 3-strand sections.

Start stitching around the edges of the wings and eye piece.

When you’re done sewing, your little owl should look something like this:

For the girl guests,  I lined an alligator clip with coordinating ribbon and attached the owl with hot glue.  For more details on this, check out my trusty hair clip tutorial.

I fixed the owl lengthwise rather and across the clip so that no matter which side a little girl’s hair is parted on, the owl will be upright.

I’d wear it.

Now, obviously the boys aren’t going to be into hair clips, so I took the two felt finger puppet pieces (see template) and stitched them together.  Then I attached a prepared owl with….you guessed it!  Hot glue.

I think he needs some little orange feet.  When I go to the store next, I’ll grab some orange embroidery floss and stitch some on.

Note:  Please use caution in giving this to small children as they could potentially become a choking hazard.  Be safe, be fun!

GIVEAWAY!  I made an extra hair clip and an extra finger puppet and I want to give them as a set to one of my readers.

To enter:  Leave a comment (only one, please!) telling me what themes you’ve done for children’s parties.  I love hearing how creative moms can be!  Enter by 5pm tomorrow (Saturday, January 2, 2010) to be eligible to win!

The winner is comment #11.  Congratulations, Amy!  Please contact me within 7 days to claim your prize.