Hello Kitty T-Shirt Giveaway

Welovefine recently asked if I would like to host a giveaway and I thought that was a great idea.  One, I haven't posted a giveaway in awhile. And two, I like Hello Kitty and I'm pretty sure many of you like Hello Kitty as well. Win win. 

Above are a few of my favorite Hello Kitty T-Shirts (all adult sizes) from the welovefine site.  I especially like the Mexican inspired folk art Hello Kitty tees.  You'll find a large selection of Hello Kitty t-shirts along with other brand names such as Marvel, Muppets, and Jem on welovefine.

How to Enter. . .

Click here to visit welovefine and tell me which $25 Hello Kitty Shirt you would choose if you won.   One entry per household. Please leave an email address so I can contact you if you win. The last day to enter the contest is Sunday, May 13 2012. I'll announce the winner Monday, May 14th on this post. If I do not hear back from the winner after two weeks, I will choose a new winner. Open to US residents only.  Good luck.

Contest Closed

Congratulations to Jennifer E who is the winner of the Hello Kitty T-shirt Giveaway!

Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway.

Mother's Day Embroidery Brooch

If you've been following this blog, then these brooches might look familiar to you.  They were inspired by this post I wrote a while back. Only this time I decided to skip a step making them easy to whip up for a last minute Mother's Day Gift.  Instead of creating the embroidery myself, I salvaged pieces from worn out tea towels.  So really, all you're doing is sewing a tiny pillow.  Here's the how-to:

Supplies:
Tea towel already embroidered - look for these at the thrift store.  Since you'll be cutting it up, it doesn't matter if it's stained.  You should pay no more than a couple dollars for the piece.

Matching Embroidery Thread

Sewing Needle

Scissors

Pollyfill

Pin Back that you can sew on

1.  Cut out embroidery piece.  Place on another piece of solid fabric from your tea towel.  Pin together and cut out in the shape you choose.  Make sure to leave extra room for stitching.  You can always trim back the edges after.

2.  Using a back stitch, sew all around the image leaving about a one inch opening.

3.  Lightly stuff with pollyfill and continue to stitch all the way around the embroidered piece.  Knot and sew in loose threads.  Trim edges if necessary.  If you're concerned your fabric will fray, add the tiniest amount of glue to the edges.

4.  Sew on your pin back.  Test out the pin back to make sure it works well.  Usually these kind of pins come in packs of 50 and I've found there are always a couple duds in the pack.

Experiment with different shapes.  The heart in the back came from the corner of a hankie.  There was no one image to outline so I cut it into a heart shape.  I also used a running stitch for the heart.

  Get creative with your pins.  Use them to decorate bags, hats, sweaters, hair ties, or even presents. 

Our Adventures in Free Comic Book Day

 

This year was the first time our family attended Free Comic Book Day.  It has been going on for eleven years now and is always held on the first Saturday of May.  Comic stores, participating retail stores and even some libraries give out free comics on this day.  I'm sharing this so you don't miss out next year.  Mark your calendars now, seriously.

I heard about Free Comic Day online and decided it was worth checking out.  Other than that, I really didn't know what to expect.  When we got there, we were told we could each pick out three comics.  We stood in line for maybe five to ten minutes before we got to the tables.  They had the comics all grouped by ratings, G, PG, etcetera.  As a parent, I really appreciated this. The kids picked out which comics they wanted, easy.  After we got our comics, we also got to pick out some pins and stickers  and we were done. 

Below are photos of the comics that my children picked out.  If you haven't been in a comic store for a while, I think you might be surprised with the selections. 

This is a two story comic with The Smurfs on one side and Tinker Bell on the opposite.

Here are two of the comics my son picked out, Sonic The Hedgehog and Voltron.  Anyone one remember the TV cartoon Voltron?

These two comics came with multiple comic stories in them.  Owly and Friends also featured "Johhny Boo Does Something" and "Sprout Pigs Out".  Mouse Guard is a hard cover book featuring four different comics.  Remember the movie Labyrinth with David Bowie?  There's a comic about Hoggle and the worm from Labyrinth in Mouse Guard.

 

Did any of you attend Free Comic Book Day?  What did you get?

Carp Kite Drawing Song for Boy's Day

Learn how to draw a carp kite with this cute Ekaki Uta (Drawing Song).  It's another easy but fun way to celebrate the Japanese holiday Boy's Day (May 5th).  Don't worry that it's not in English, you or your children will still be able to follow the directions.  My children really like these videos.  In fact, when I was composing this post, I found my son behind me hoping I was going to play the video.  Along with the carp kite, there are lots of other drawing song videos to choose from.  The ninja is our personal favorite.  What's yours?

Origami Fish Envelopes

While most bloggers are sharing craft projects for Teacher Appreciation Day, May Day, Mother's Day and maybe even Cinco De Mayo, I'm here to share the obscure and uncelebrated holiday, Boy's Day with you.  It's kind of funny, every year I share crafts to celebrate the Japanese holiday and yet I know most, if not all of you don't celebrate it.  Still, here I am another year with a Boy's Day craft.  And I even have another craft lined up for Friday, ha!

All joking aside, these fish origami envelopes are perfect for Boy's Day.   Fill them with candy or even better, money.  You can find the how-to at Origami Club.  At the site you'll find step by step directions and an animation for the origami fishes.

Not celebrating Boy's Day?  Use this origami fish for a chopstick cover instead.  

I made the fish with double-sided paper I found at Daiso.  I thought I would share since it's hard to find two color sided origami paper.  And at $1.50 for 60 sheets you can't go wrong.