Anyway, I have been working on a few projects lately, mostly small and handworky. I am going to try to blog more frequently, and since I have a backlog of things to show you I’ll probably be back again this week.

More often than not I make things for HMB, but before our 3-week trip back East to visit family in August, I made a little something for myself. I find that I don’t really need to carry around a diaper bag full of gear for a toddler for walks or trips to the park (I never liked carrying one anyway–they are always so huge and unwieldy!), but I can’t leave my valuables in the stroller to dash after little miss busy when she’s on the loose. The solution? A slim shoulder bag for just the essentials– wallet, phone, keys, sunscreen stick, lip gloss and tiny organic hand sanitizer.

I had a lot of fun making it- I used some Echino fabric I had been hoarding, and two super-fun zippers in purple and bright orange.

The outer zipper pocket is for the stuff HMB would love to get into, like my lip gloss. The webbing strap is long enough that I can sling the bag across my chest and forget about it until I need it.

I miss sewing for myself! I’m looking forward to being my normal size again someday (2012?) so I can sew something other than pajamas and accessories! In the meantime, HMB is getting lots of little pants and appliqued tops, which I’ll show you in another post… to come soon, I promise, lovely blog friends!

I can’t believe it is almost December. Where the heck did 2008 go?! Ok, back to catching up on my NaNo wordcount while HMB is taking a nap. This kid doesn’t like to sleep so I have to make the most of every second!

I’ve been a big fan of Jamie’s since I met her before Maker Faire 2007. She is an incredibly talented person who caps it all off by being super productive as well! Not only does she make beautiful hand-dyed roving and divine yarns, she’s the mastermind behind Bizarre Bazaar San Francisco and Indie Craft Gossip, not to mention an incredibly nice person. I’m looking forward to supporting her creativity and incentive by shopping at Urban Fauna Studio, and I hope to see you there too!

I was so honored to be a contributor, and it is such fun to see the amazing photos they took of my version of Susan’s Duo Earrings

I had so much fun making them, and all of the other projects in the book are so inspiring too!

The beauty of the book is that all of the different takes on each project show you how to use whatever materials you have to make something wonderful. To celebrate the release of the book on March 25th, I made yet another version of the duo earring that I’d like to give away! I’m almost all out of beachy charms, so these ones are made with antique glass leaf and flower pendants that I got in Venice many years ago

Just leave a comment on this post and I’ll pick a winner on the book’s release date, March 25th. In the meantime, you can preorder the book at Taunton, Amazon or your favorite bookstore! And if you’re in the Portland, OR area, be sure to mark your calendar for Susan’s reading at downtown Powell’s on April 7th at 7:30pm!

Without further ado, I’d like to announce that the winner of the Bead Simple Giveaway is Cindy! Cindy, I don’t think you have a blog (you didn’t enter one in your comment), but I’ve e-mailed you to get your mailing address. If you happen to check back here today, congratulations! And please e-mail me your address at belleepoquewhimsy [!at!] gmail [!dot!] com (omitting the brackets etc).

And because you are all so fun for playing, I also pulled a runner up who will get some other little goodies– congratulations Stacey! I’ve e-mailed you for an address too, but if you see this first, please drop me a line and tell me where to mail your goodies.

Thank you all so much for entering! In my opinion you are ALL winners, who, not too long from now will have Susan’s book in your hands and get to enjoy pages and pages of stylish bead inspiration.

p.s. To make the clean-out of my studio more fun, I’ll be doing a few more giveaways in the coming weeks(fabric, paper, etc) so stay tuned.

Now that we’ve established that you need this book (really, you do), I’m going to attempt to make it even sweeter. I’ve been doing a major de-stash of my crafty space, and I have a passel of beads to pass on to a fellow crafter. Pop over to Amazon or Taunton and pre-order Bead Simple, then come back here and comment, and one week from today I shall randomly pick a name from the comments and send her (or him!) this grab-bag assortment of beads, all packed into a priority mail box (’cause these babies are heavy!):

You don’t get my glass jar of lavender or my cake stand, just the assortment of beads (which will arrive in the boxes and cylinders you see them in). They are mostly seed beads, but there are some findings and other surprises in there too. I might even tuck a bit of other handmade goodness into the box if there’s room.

To make it even more exciting, Susan has generously offered to send the winner a beautiful Bead Simple Vintagesque Necklace Kit

AND some fantastic vintage lucite beads too!

So, let’s re-cap: you preorder the amazing Bead Simple, you comment here by February 6th, and you get the chance to win all the loot you see above. And really, you win no matter what, ’cause you’ll be one of the first people to enjoy Susan’s awesome book as soon as it is released! Yay!

*Misc Details: In case you’re wondering, I am not currently an Amazon affiliate and do not receive a penny if you click over there from here and order the book- it is just a convenient place to send you! I will not ask to see your e-receipt for the pre-order if you win, but please do play fair and order the book before entering. And I’m sorry to say I can only send within the U.S. Because of how heavy the beads are I’m afraid the shipping would be egregious to send them elsewhere! Any questions? Leave ‘em in the comments and I’ll update this post with the answers.

And now for the publicity!
1. The wonderful Susan, wrote up a very kind review and mini-interview about my book on the Adorn blog. My very nice publisher has sent Adorn copies to give away to five commenters, so if you’d like to be in the running for one, pop over there and comment. If you’re coming from there, welcome and thanks for visiting! Thanks also to the CRAFT blog for mentioning the post too!

2. I will be teaching a sewing demo at Bazaar Bizarre San Francisco this Saturday!
Saturday, December 15
12:30-1:30
Click here for more information and to reserve a spot (no stress about that, though–as there aren’t materials involved, really as long as you can fit in the room you can come). I hope to see you there!

p.s. If you can’t make it, I’ll be posting a pattern and tutorial here early next week so don’t worry.

At Cotton Spice’s Last Minute Gift Countdown a brand new design by a different crafter will be featured every day. Mine will be up on November 14th. I don’t want to spoil the surprise but I can tell you it is super quick (no need to bust out the sewing machine) and costs less than $10 to make.

At Sew, Mama, Sew they have compiled Handmade Holidays: 30 Days of Gifts to Sew featuring a different item, or category of items, each day and providing links to favorite tutorials for those items. I’m very honored that they’ve chosen to link to my Bias Tape Bag tutorial. I think on November 17th for the purse category (but it could possibly be in the tote category tomorrow– we’ll see!).

Even more than being excited and flattered to be included, I’m thrilled about the masses of inspiration provided by the fabulous tutorials they’ve compiled. Surely I can find something to make for every person on my list. The next mission is finding the time and organizational energy to make them all! Especially because November also means NaNoWriMo, and this year marks the third time I’ll be participating in the writing madness! Which also explains the lack of spanking new crafty images in this post, though I promise that will not become a habit.

The tiny models, as styled by Jenny, were adorable (go Serena!), and Natalie was poised and fabulous on camera. I am so proud to have been a part of this project. Thank you to Natalie, Jenny and CRAFT for including me!