Candy Canes Galore!

Ta Da!!! More ornaments for my Not Your Average Ornaments series! These lovely candy canes are sewn up by yours truly. I then used glitter to add some much needed sparkle and sewed on a green satin ribbon for the final touch. I do have to say that they look rather nice all lined up like that. One of these will be in the next installment of my giveaways, so be sure to come back on Sunday December 6th 2009 to win one.

Many thanks to Rhianne from For the Easily Distracted for mentioning my giveaway on her blog!! And she also generously gave me a Gem Award, which I will give a post about my responses soon... but in the meantime do be sure to stop by her wonderful blog and read her witty posts and oggle over her top notch photography!!! :D

Giveaway!!!

In the spirit of giving, I am super excited to announce my first ever giveaway on my blog!

The giveaway will be for one of my gingerbread men from my Not Your Average Ornaments series. The giveaway will start on Sunday November 29, 2009 and will end on Saturday December 5, 2009.

This will be the first in a series of four giveaways for each of one of my ornaments, so be sure to come back on Sunday December 6, 2009 to see the winner of this giveaway and what the next giveaway will be. Here is how you can enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post saying your name and email address

2. Leave a comment on this post telling your favorite holiday tradition or memory

3. Become a follower to my blog, and leave a comment saying you are (if you already are a follower just say so)

4. Make a post about this giveaway and leave a comment saying you did

5. Tell me your favorite holiday movie or song

Make sure to leave separate comments for each one of these (if you do all of these ways you should have five comments) and be sure that you leave a way for me to contact you if you win.

Good Luck!

Callie

the magical bean

(P.S. I just posted the rest of the gingerbread men in the shop! Feel free to stop by.)

*** UPDATE as of 11/30/09: The winner will be chosen at random from the random number generator website : http://www.random.org/

I will ship anywhere in the world including overseas and APO addresses.****

Muppet Madness

I have to admit to loving the Muppet's. Yesterday my brother Michael and I watched Muppet's From Space and really enjoyed it. I love spending quality time with my wonderful brother. We were laughing and joking the whole time. It was so fun! That movie is one of my favorites because it showcases Gonzo (one of my favorite characters) and who his real family is. If you haven't watched the Muppet's before I would definitely recommend you do so!

My brother showed me this movie above and I couldn't stop smiling. Enjoy!

Not Your Average Ornaments

Hello!

Thanksgiving was so much fun with my family. As a whole it was very relaxing and the food was so good! In the mean time, I have been working like crazy on making many ornaments for an update in my etsy shop and still have more to do. I have finished my little gingerbread men and am rather happy with the results.

I am also making candy canes and green and red mushrooms.
I plan on doing a giveaway for one of these little men so I'll keep you posted when that is coming up. In between now and then I'll still be finishing them up and enjoying time with my family and finally being able to watch TV for the first time in a long time :D

XOXO

Callie

Giving Thanks

Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.-- Oprah Winfrey

On Thanksgiving I always like to come up with things I have been thankful for, some of those things are...

My wonderful family

Amazing Friends

My lovable pets

Kindness

Laughter

Hot Chocolate

Drawing

Knitting and Crocheting

Yarn :)

Generosity

Our time in Germany

Traveling

My blog and etsy

My followers

Time spent with family and friends

Movies that make me laugh

TCM (Turner Classic Movies) Channel

and so much more!

My sister Jessica of Jessica Leigh La Lou and I made this movie to celebrate Thanksgiving, so watch and enjoy!

Also the little ornaments you see in the movie I am in the process of making right now and will upload some pictures of them later. I can't wait!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

XOXO, Callie

Busy as a Bee

Drawn by my dad.

Drawn by my sister Kaitlyn


Drawn by my brother Michael

Drawn by me.

Drawn by my sister Jessica of Jessica leigh la lou.

Drawn by me.
Drawn by my mom.

Hello everyone!
Well I've been busier than a bee, so I asked my family to help me out with this post. Of course I had to get in on it too! I have so many school wise projects to do...:( Hope everyone's life is going great!! :D
xoxo
Callie

Jeb the Sock Monkey

Hello everyone!

Meet Jeb!

He is a rather large crocheted sock monkey for my sister Jessica's birthday gift. It was quite an undertaking since I rather procrastinated how long it would really take me to make. I actually ended up down to the wire on this one, and ran out of yarn to make the tail, so technically Jeb is an ape. However Jessica claims him to be a monkey so he is!

I am rather happy with him and although I started out with a pattern I ended up just winging it because the pattern made me rather angry...but that's okay since I like the way he turned out anyways! :D The 'J' on his chest was supposed to be for Jessica's initial but as soon as she saw it she said "Jeb!!!" and thus he was named. :)

Have a wonderful Monday,

XOXO

Callie

Lavender Laziness

1. Another day is gonna come..., 2. Renata, 3. Untitled, 4. Purple Clouds, 5. Sterling Roses, 6. Cutie puppy, 7. Interlude: Restants d'été, 8. Little baby bear - Noriko with deer horn headband, 9. Fall in Love, 10. "A Kyoto Ectoplasm Girl" Kokeshi doll, 11. Untitled, 12. so sweet*, 13. Cute Smile, 14. ...by the seashore, 15. Como me llamo? Come mi chiamo?Grazie!! Explore 48!!, 16. See How I Fly, Like Lucy in The Sky, 17. 'My Santa Rita Pricklypear' WC by Margarethe Brummermann, 18. Untitled, 19. Plum, 20. Rosa Menina, 21. Oi!, 22. Girl., 23. The path, 24. Midget between Flowers, 25. Amigurumi bears - girl and boy, 26. On the High Seas, 27. Untitled, 28. Flowerball, 29. Adrian n Milk, 30. lady lavender, 31. Reichstag, 32. back to saddle back..., 33. ♫♪, 34. otherside, 35. Feelin' the same way, 36. silly forest

I have been rather lazy with my blog the past few weeks hence the title. In contrast my life has been super busy, thus my little blog has been sorely neglected... :( I have been busy at work at a Christmas update and have been sewing all day! I can't wait to show you which I promise I will tomorrow!! I hope everyone else's week/weekend hasn't been too hectic. :D

Bye for now,

xoxo Callie

Illustration Inspiration

The Clock

...clock goes ticking all the day.

...k tock, tick tock!

...no other words to say

...tock! Tick tock!

It ticks all night; it ticks all day.

And when I sleep, or when I play,

The clock goes on the selfsame way--

Tick tock! Tick tock!

The Land of Counterpane

When I was sick and lay a bed,

I had two pillows at my head,

And all my toys beside me lay

To keep me happy all the day.

And sometimes for an hour or so

I watched my laden soldiers go,

With different uniforms and drills

Among my bedclothes, through the hills.

And sometimes sent my ships in fleets

All up and down among the sheets;

Or bought my trees and houses out,

And planted cities all about.

I was the giant great and still

That sits upon the pillow-hill,

And sees before him, dale and plain,

The pleasant Land of Counterpane.

My Dog

He's just a little puppy dog

With funny sprawling feet;

And oh, his tail does wag so hard
When I come down the street!

Rain

The rain is raining all around,

It falls on field and tree,
It rains on the umbrella here,
And on the ships at sea.

These pictures are the rest of what was in the Owl and Pussycat book I got. The pages for this story were strangely placed in between the rest of the book. The first story,The Clock, is unfortunately ripped slightly at the edge and so part of the first verse is gone :(...

On another note,I've been having problems with uploading images onto blogger hence the lack of posting. It seems to be taking an extra long time than usual but at least it is working now.

*knock on wood* :D

I spent this weekend/ rest of the week catching up on things I have been putting off, which was nice since I feel like I finally have accomplished something. I have much to show and can't wait!!

Anyways, how was your weekend?

knit one purl one

Last night nestled next to other like minded women learning to knit; I felt a sort of kinship and strange happiness trying. I had learned about five years ago how to knit from my mom, who sadly only knows how to do the knit stitch. I never got to learn to purl or do anything else besides cast on knit and cast off.

This resulted in the making of so many scarfs that I wonder how I did it all. I made them like crazy and knit with yarns that probably weren't too beginner friendly but bought simply because they were soft and lovely to behold.

I finally decided to take a class and learn the rest of the basics and so I did!!! It was fun, and I remembered most of it. I even learned how to continental knit as opposed to the english I had been doing before. It was refreshing and relaxing and I dreamed of knitted garments all night. :)

Soon I will get to the place where knitting is as comfortable as crocheting is!!!

These are some of the projects that I found last night as I went searching for more patterns and drooled over and over agian at virtually everything on knitty.

Happy Birthday Jessica Leigh La Lou!!!

1. Happy Bokeh Birthday to me!!, 2. Happy 1st Birthday Latte !!!, 3. Week 36/52: Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest XD, 4. Happy Birthday!, 5. happy birthday .:¦ [Ŝħ₥Ŏ5 ДḼ3ž] ¦:., 6. del.icio.us millionth user + birthday bash, 7. Happy Birthday Christopher, 8. SINGING HAPPY BIRTHDAY, 9. When is YOUR birthday?, 10. Happy Birthday!!, 11. Birthday Girl with a Red Charlotte, 12. ۩♥Happy Birthday To ME۩♥, 13. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOTO ^_^, 14. Happy Birthday Angie!!, 15. Happy Birthday to Sue, Happy Birthday to Sue, and I'm not forgetting Solar Scot, Happy Birthday to youuuu (both), 16. Happy Birthday =), 17. Happy Birthday to you, 18. HAPPY BIRTHDAY jessie and cakespy!!!, 19. 365 - 93 - happy birthday alison, 20. Birthday (Explored), 21. Happy Birthday ♥, 22. Happy 50th Birthday Disneyland!, 23. ..{ Happy Birthday ‘‘ 7a9aby ’’ ..♥.., 24. Happy Birthday Vicky !!!, 25. Happy Birthday ♥

Have a Happy Pappy Birthday Jessica my little sister!!

Love you sis. Hope you have a marvelous stupendous birthday!

Jack Sparrow

I found this picture I drew at the beginning of the semester and wondered why I hadn't shown it to you before. I did it one day when my class was cancelled and I sat in the library drawing. This is what happened. I am going to color it in I think... but wanted to show you the black and white version first.
I showed it to my little brother and he laughed at me and said two words: Jack Sparrow. I think it suits him. Don't you?!

Drawn in black pen.

The Owl and The Pussycat

The Owl And the Pussy Cat

The Owl and the Pussy Cat went to sea

In a beautiful pea-green boat;

They took some honey, and plenty of money

Wrapped up in a five-pound note.

The Owl looked up to the stars above

And sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are, you are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!"

Pussy said to the Owl,"You elegant fowl,

How charmingly sweet you sing!
Oh, let us be married; too long
we have tarried:

But what shall we do for a ring?"

They sailed away for a year and a day,

To the land where the bong-tree grows,
And there in the wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose, his nose
With a ring at the end of his nose.

"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell one shilling
Your ring?" Said Piggy, "I will."
So they took it away, and were married
next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.

They dined on mince and slices of quince
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand
They danced by the light of the moon, the moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.


I found this lovely book which was falling apart in a favorite little shop of mine while browsing with my mom. I immediately fell in love with the sweet images and story! I love how much expression is in the owl's face, and the look on the moon in the last page. Apparently after some research it was written by Edward Lear. Enjoy!

Beautiful Bows

I have been thinking alot about how much I like bows... I used to have a vintage satin bow that I wore in my hair but I haven't been able to find it. After seeing all these bows I realize how much I miss my old one and ahem*need* a new one! :)

I even found a tutorial on maedchenmitherz that shows how to knit one up!

Click on the pictures to see where I found them!