And the winner is...

*TinyStitches*
Congratulations, you have won this fabulous book!
E-mail us at tadacreations@gmail.com with your address and we'll ship it out this week.

The Dollies are coming...

...and this is only half of them!

Don't forget we'll be drawing a winner of Anna's book tomorrow night. Leave a comment here if you haven't already.

Wrap up

That first day, pulling up to the airport and then making my way inside with the girls to meet our friends, I was so excited and nervous. But then I heard Jessica calling my name (with what little voice she had left) from behind me. They were already outside waiting for us. I can't even tell you how fun it was to see them all in person for that first time. Everyone was so warm and just as lovely as I had expected them to be.

I have had the pleasure of getting to know Jessica and her heart through countless e-mails (and of course her delightful blog) over the past couple of years. And I was pretty sure her Mom was equally delightful. This was indeed true! We became fast friends. I loved getting a call on my drive home that last day, from her mom, because with all the commotion of getting the cars and car-seats unloaded at the curb and tickets checked-in, we hadn't had a chance to say good-bye. What a sweetheart!

So, that first night after they arrived, we helped them get settled into their hotel and then they came over for dinner. The girls had already become fast friends and of course enjoyed opening gifts. So funny that anytime travel is involved, so are gifts. That's probably pretty universal I think.

David loved the fun creole seasoning and there were goody bags for all the kids (the contents of which are all over the house by now). Jessica made the girls chalkboard mats and the brown one for Sam came all the way from Canton. They are awesome! She promises to have a tutorial on how to make them over on her blog soon so keep an eye out for those.

And I love, love, loved this sweet necklace she brought me. It's by Madison Reece on Etsy.



And, because they came all the way from Louisiana to Minnesota to see little 'ole me and my family, I made her something very special, a thank you for such a huge gesture. I'm pretty sure she loved it. ;)



If you remember this story, you'll know why this inscription was so important. I conspired with her mom to get the words correct to say "In loving memory of my great-grandfather" in Spanish. It was driving Jessica nuts not to know what this surprise was going to be, but I think the wait was worth every minute.

I even took the time to make the little pig on the left, a red stripe dress, like one of them from the fabric, and the one on the far right is wearing a boutique dress similar to this one. That's what I love about drawing your own iron-on transfer, you can customize it to your hearts content. I'm only wishing I had redrawn their faces to be like the pigs in the fabric design, but that part didn't occur to me until the apron was all done and there was no time to re-do it. Oh well, these sweet little faces definitely give it a vintage feel and they are adorable just the way they are. :)



You can read more about the trip here and here.

Thank you Jessica, Virginia, Grace and Hudson for coming to visit us in Minnesota. We hope we get the chance to see you again. ((HUGS))

Another contest {Retro Table Top Fan)

Hey y'all. My bother owns a local fan and lighting store called The Fan Man.

He is going to do a drawing for this cute table top retro fan (your choice of color) once his facebook fan page reaches 125.

Hop over here and "like" him and you are entered to win.



We have this fan in pink and just love it! In fact I just saw it in a "things we love" kind of article in Family Circle or maybe it was Better Homes and Gardens, I can't remember now. But, my point is that they had it listed at over $50 and Jason sells them for $40. Sweet! I think you need one too. ;)

Handmade Beginnings Giveaway {Signed Copy}

Well, if you hadn't guess it, Anna Maria Horner was the fabulous designer we had the pleasure of meeting last Saturday night.

Quilt Market was in Minneapolis this year, and although we didn't get to go (we don't buy fabric wholesale *sniff * sniff*) we still had the perk of going to Anna's book signing.

We got to ooo oand ahhh over all of her samples from the book too.



She was so sweet in person and Amy and I had a blast hanging out for the evening. I got a chuckle when I asked the ladies behind us to take our picture and we ended up exchanging camera settings...hehe.

Everyone, this is Amy...say "Hi".



Turns out though that I will forever be known as the "book-signing saboteur". Now that I've been to a couple of book-signings, I wasn't nearly as nervous as I was when I sat next to PW. This time I started chatting right out the gate. And of course I had to mention Market. Evidently it was at the same moment she was signing her name.

Poor Amy, I hope this doesn't devalue her book, but rather makes it even more awesome. Hehe... At least we got a good laugh out of it when we sat down to dinner and looked more closely at our books.



Back to the giveaway. We are so excited to offer up this signed copy of her newest book "Handmade Beginnings." It's adorable and I'm sure you'll love it. Here is the actual book you'll receive. She even signed her real name for you. ;)





You know the drill...to enter, just leave a comment here. Leave an additional comment for each additional entry you earn for 1) blogging about the giveaway, 2) for following this blog (see sidebar). If you are already following us through reader or the like, just say so in a separate comment.

We'll close comments 9pm this Friday night.

Good luck!