Jenny Garland

The People Spoke! Here's Kristi's Summer Pleated Clutch in Your Fabric!

78% of you voted on fabric choice number one for Kristi's Summer Pleated Clutch. Here is the end result:

You can buy Kristi's Summer Pleated Clutch for $26 right here in my Etsy shop!! I'm excited to announce that 15% of proceeds from each sale will be donated to A Glimmer of Hope Foundation. Check out their website because what they do is absolutely inspiring. A Glimmer of Hope provides humanitarian aid to Ethiopia in the form of:

* Water and Sanitation
* Education
* Health Care
* Income Creation
* Micro-Finance
* Micro-Irrigation
* Veterinary Clinics

Congratulations, Kristi and happy shopping!!!!!

Time to Choose Fabric!

It's time to vote for which fabric combo you like best for Kristi's Pleated Clutch . I'll use the winning combo to make the clutch and offer it for sale on Etsy. Voting is open until Saturday, June 13 at noon CST. Thanks for partcipating!!

Here's the clutch:

We Have Ourselves a Winner for the Crafter's Challenge!!

Can you believe we had nearly 300 votes for the Crafter's Challenge?! Woo hoo! Thanks again to contestants Alison, Intaly, Jessica, Kathryn, and Kristi for submitting fantastic designs.

I'm so excited to announce the winner .... Kristi Kelly!!!  Her summer pleated clutch was voted your favorite summer accessory and will be available for purchase in the upcoming weeks. Kristi also receives  $100 for winning the contest! Way to go, Kristi :) Be sure to stop by Kristi's etsy shop! This week, I'll make another poll for you to select which fabrics Kristi's pleated clutch should be made with!! Stay tuned...

Wow - Ya'll are Busy Bee Voters!!

Wow! Last Sunday night while I was making the voting poll for the Crafter's Challenge, I told my husband I would be so happy if 50 people voted this week. I'm thrilled to have more than 250 votes logged so far!! There's still time to vote if you haven't yet - pop on over here until Friday at 11:59pm CST to choose your favorite summer accessory.

What have you guys been up to this week?

Jaime and I decided on a whim to take our kiddos for a quick beach trip to Galveston. I had never been before and it was lots of fun! We left Monday night and got back this evening. The kids had a blast. It was so much fun to watch them splash in the water and run up and down the shore line. I think the ocean is so good for the soul. Okay, and a decent tan isn't a bad byproduct either!

 

Sara Paige did great too! I put up a tent for her and the sound of the ocean lulled her to sleep in less than five minutes. Too bad you can't can that ocean and bring it home, huh?

There was still a lot of damage from last September's Hurricane Ike. Look at this hotel we saw on the main beach. If you peek at the top left corner, you can see a big hole!! And the driveway collapsed with the storm.

Now it's time to shake the sand out of my beach towels and start some laundry. Back to reality!


Hugs,

Let the Voting Begin!! Choose the Best Design

Thank you SO much to everyone who participated in our very first Crafter's Challenge! The point of the challenge was for contestants to create an original summer accessory pattern. Vote for your favorite design (one vote per person, please) June 1st- June 5th. The winner will be announced Monday, June 8th and she will receive $100!!!

Check out these links for fun information about each contestant and more project pictures:

Alison Treadaway | Intaly Karlheim | Jessica Fediw | Kathryn Sprowl | Kristi Kelly

Crafter's Challenge Submission Deadline - Met!

Thank you all for the submissions, they are soooo cute! I will feature the entries and put up a voting poll on Monday, so be sure to come back and vote for your favorite summer design :) I can't wait till you all can see these! Squeal!!!!!

Have a great weekend,

There's still time!

There's still time to participate in the Crafter's Challenge, peeps! The deadline is this Friday at 12pm CST. The entries thus far are super cute! I'd love to get a few more before the cut off time :) Voting will take place next week!

... On another note, the other night I spent hours sewing a project only to realize in the final stages that I cut the pattern out wrong. ERGH!! A pattern piece was folded behind itself and I wasn't paying close enough attention to catch it. So annoying. I realized said mistake at midnight and knew I had to stop sewing that night because I would just make it worse. Yesterday I did manage to fix my error, but only after a lot of huffing and puffing and what might have been excessive profanity.

More Info About the Crafter's Challenge!

Hola, guys! There have been some questions about the Crafter's Challenge. Let me help clarify and if you have more questions, please let me know!

* The prize is $100 cash. I will mail a money order to you within 48 hours after the competition ends.

* I have created a submission form that can fill out directly on my blog when you're ready. On the submission form, there is a place to upload the following:

        1. A Word document or pdf describing how you made your pattern (tutorial).

        2. Pictures of your project.

* I'm going to keep all photos private until the deadline, Fri May 29 at 12pm CST. This will help people from copying ideas and add to the suspense!

* Over the weekend (May 30-31), I will create a montage of all the applicants' photos. I will post the photos (not patterns) to my blog on Monday, June 1.

* I will embed a voting poll on my blog so you can vote for the best overall design. Voting will take place between Monday June 1 and Friday June 5. Anyone can vote (you do not need to have submitted a project). One vote per person, please.

* After the winner (person with the most votes for best overall design) is declared, you can vote on ideal fabric choices for her design. I will offer three combinations to select from. The fabric combo that receives the most votes will be the fabric I will produce the winner's design from. I will sell the winner's design in limited quantities so you can purchase your favorite summer accessory! 

* So, that's the winner's portion. After the winner is declared and fabric is decided upon, we will start the "critiquing round." If you just want to submit your design but do not want it critiqued by others, that is perfectly fine! For those who want constructive feedback, I will repost your pictures in a new post. The community can offer feedback regarding what they like and how they would improve the appearance of your product. The community does not actually MAKE your project, as the pattern will not be available to them. They may offer suggestions about the appearance of pockets, size, construction, utility, etc. 

* There is no prize for critiquing, except the knowledge that you are helping other crafters improve their skills!

I hope this makes things a little more clear! I'm trying to make it as easy as possible :) Let me know how I can further help.