400 and Counting

I can't believe it myself. I have now officially passed the 400 mark on my list of monkeys. Crazy, eh? I'm so excited that they've done so well. Thanks so much to those of you've who've adopted one of my kooky little monkeys.

To celebrate this milestone I'm going to be having a little giveaway. Don't get too excited though, I'm not making it as easy as leaving a comment. Being the proper businesswoman I am, I'm going to make you buy lucky monkey #400 in order to win. Here's how it will work...

- I will be listing several new monkeys in my shop between now and Friday. One of these will be #400.

-Whoever happens to purchase this lucky monkey will also receive a custom monkey of their choice (Gadget Monkey, Nano Monkey, Monkey Pencil Cup or Monkey Cup Cozy)

-The winner will also get their monkey for free! Yep, not only will you win a free custom monkey, but I will refund the purchase price of lucky #400 (shipping too). If you're the winner and you've purchased more than one monkey, I'll just refund the price of the winning monkey. Sorry, I'm not that generous.

- I'm not going to give any hints as to which monkey it is, only that it will be listed some time between the time of this post and Friday, October 17th at 10:00pm PST. I will say that custom monkeys don't count. #400 is a finished monkey.

-Once the lucky monkey is purchased, the contest is over and I will make the announcement here.

Get out your Christmas list and decide who's gettin' a monkey this year, and Good Luck!

UPDATE: Great news! Mabel, monkey #400, has been adopted. Hooray! Congratulations to the winner.

Fall In

It's time for Fall, hooray! This is definitely my favorite time of year. I changed my computer wallpaper over yesterday (check this out if you're a Peanuts fan like me) and thought I'd better get going on the Fall festivities around the house.

I dug through some boxes in the garage for some Halloween decorations. My friend Sue makes these Halloween snowmen. Isn't it great? She made my wedding cake topper too.

I'm all set to watch some holiday films while sewing. I love The Nightmare Before Christmas! I was in art school when that movie came out. I still remember how excited we all were to make our own stop motion animation films when we saw it. ha!

I've got my bag of candy corns and the Fall place mats are on the table.

And of course, I'm ready to use some of those earthy, warm colored fabrics again. I made a new handbag the other day with one of my earth toned fabrics and the Halloween bibs are a hit again this year at the market.

Are you getting ready?

Chicken Feed

Check out the cool stuff I got from the amazing Chickengirl this week! She's an incredible illustrator in children's publishing. I placed an order from her Etsy shop and she was kind enough to include a couple of really cool postcards (they're already on my sewing room wall). I love the chicken sticker on the package!

Don't you just love her silly style? Take a look at her blog too, she reveals all kinds of her design secrets there, haha.


Here are the cards I bought. I love the little drawing she did. Monkeys and chickens! Perfect. Jannie is super talented, you must stop by her Flickr, Etsy shop or blog & see her art. It'll definitely make you smile.


{Beware of shameless plug} Here's my little tribute to Jannie. I recently made 54 new tissue cozies and I couldn't help but think of her when I made this one, tee hee. :) So, now you know, it's not just monkeys for me, I dig chickens too.

Totelicious Pattern

Last night I finally listed a new sewing pattern in my Etsy shop, yay! The shopper tote has been a good seller for me so why not share my innermost secrets with the world? Uh, yeah. Anyhoo, now you can make one for yourself, or your grandma! You'll learn to sew French Seams in this one and I've included some options for different pockets & such. I'm pretty happy with it and very relieved to have it done. On to the next one...mini wallet or tissue cozy, I think.