Cake & Other Sweets

As you may know, I'm admittedly not (yet) a quilter, but something strange is happening. Early this summer I was walking through Borders bookstore and spotted a cute little cake slice pincushion on the front of Quilts and More, so I bought the magazine.

Then, I went to a local fabric store and found myself looking for fusible interfacing...something I've definitely never done before. I left the store not only with the interfacing, but also with fabric, thread and ribbon. What's crazier is that the pincushion needed to be filled with crushed walnut shells so I went on a wild goose chase trying to find them and somehow ended up in the reptile aisle at Petco. Who knew reptiles liked crushed walnut shells (I happen to like walnuts, not reptiles). On top of all this, I actually made this pincushion!

(Please don't cringe too much at the construction, ok, all you expert crafter people out there? I was so happy that it was a triangle and will hold pins no matter what.) So now all I can think about is that red, scalloped cake plate PamKitty, Camille and Debra have been talking about on Twitter. Ya, I know, what is happening to me?! It all starts with a pincushion...what's next? Actual pins?

Speaking of other sweet things, the Fat Quarter Shop was so nice to interview me recently and I'm thrilled to be featured on their blog, the Jolly Jabber.

Holiday Card Coupon

In case you're looking for a holiday card that will coordinate with those fantastic "Poinsettia Party" paper plates you just bought at Target (heehee)...look no further! Many of my new holiday cards have recently been released on Cardstore.com. If you're not familiar with them, they're an online store where you can personalize greeting cards by adding your own text and photos. You can pick your own font, change the text color and size, and even make a color photo into sepia or black and white. Here are a few examples (click on cards to find them on Cardstore):

I order from Cardstore all the time — not just because I'm one of their artists, but because the printing quality is really nice and they use 100% post-consumer waste (PCW) paper by Mohawk. And, as if it couldn't get any better, there are no minimums on your order so you can buy just one card (or 100) and have them mailed directly to you or your recipients at the regular postage price. You can even pick your own stamp! I also like that everything is printed in the U.S. in FSC certified facilities. So if you do decide to order your holiday cards or invitations from Cardstore, please use the coupon code MERRY15 when you checkout to receive a 15% discount on your order!