giveaway: free custom print from lilo prints

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED.
THANK YOU FOR ENTERING.

lilo prints is an up & coming etsy shop owned by the hard working mama of twin boys, lindsay. she blogs at undomestic chica and she just happens to be one of my blog's sponsors for the months of january & february. in an effort to get the word out about lilo prints & help launch her business, lindsay has generously offered one of my readers a print of their choice.

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lilo prints offers a variety of fun & whimsical sayings as well as clever options to announce a birth or memorialize a special date or moment.

the prints are all 8"x10" for easy framing and lindsay works with her customers to guarantee their satisfaction. don't like the color or font? just tell lindsay and she'll collaborate with you to come up with a one of a kind design suited to your taste. in addition, the giclée prints are printed on high-quality, eco-friendly, acid-free fine art paper and are printed with professional archival pigment ink.

do you need a print for your gallery wall? is your office lacking some zest? could your child's room use a fun saying? go check out lilo prints' selection & enter to win a print of your very own.

how to enter:

visit lilo prints & let me know your favorite print. don't have a favorite, but want something custom? that's cool, too. {this is mandatory, y'all!}

for additional entries...

*like lilo prints on facebook

*follow lindsay's blog, undomestic chica

*follow lindsay on the twit

*follow me on the twit

*tweet about this giveaway {please leave proof of your tweet}

*follow my blog, stuttering shell

*blog about this giveaway

giveaway winner will be announced on friday, january 20th!

knit goods.

at the rate i'm going, it will be summer before i ever {re}launch my etsy shop.  it seems like every time i sit down to concentrate on it something else comes up.  here lately, that 'something else' has either been grad school work or sick kiddos.  

but, i do have ten scarves ready.  the scarf pictured is one i'm currently working on.  i'm slightly obsessed with the seed stitch at the moment.  i'm also obsessed with the color - goldfish - which is such a great coral color perfect for spring!

if you are interested in a scarf, please let me know.
email me at michellechissler {at} gmail {dot} com and put SCARF in the subject line.

$25 is my asking price {it includes shipping}.  i have different colors & sizes available.  

hopefully, i'll have something online showcasing my {small} inventory by the end of the weekend.  

p.s. i'm also toying around with the idea of including glasswear, too, like handpainted ornaments, wine glasses & margarita glasses.  i also make hair lollies.  but, i'm worried that i will have too much of a hodge-podge for one shop.  we'll see what happens...

needles.

many, many years ago my mother tried to teach me to knit.  it was a lesson that required much patience.  looking back, i'm very lucky that i was not strangled with yarn or blinded by knitting needles.

last november, i asked my mother to teach me how to knit...again.  she obliged.  but, maybe she only said yes because she was visiting for the weekend & knew her teaching time would be limited.  so, she taught me...in about twenty minutes.  my first attempt at knitting {again} was not pretty.  by the time my mother visited again {my parents live 2.5 hours away & visit us frequently}, she took great joy in taking apart the wannabe scarf i was so proud of.  somehow, i had managed to add double the amount of stitches that i originally casted on.  did i also mention that there were about eight holes in the scarf, too, thanks to dropped stitches?  whoa.

so, i started over.  this time we had more time.  my mom sat with me to make sure i was knitting correctly.  she was there to help me pick up dropped stitches, fix my mistakes and cheer me on.  by the end of her visit, i had made my very first scarf.  the day after she left, i had already knitted a second scarf.


i was on a roll.

during my first successful week as a novice knitter, i taught myself how to bind off my stitches & how to perfect the garter stitch {a.k.a. the knit stitch}.  i was experimenting with different sized needles & different textures of yarn.

just a few weeks into my knitting frenzy, i taught myself how to purl & how to knit with two different colors of  yarn.  my personal style of knitting is not what might be considered standard.  i'm not a fast knitter, but i'm certainly an entertaining one.  adam & the kids like to sit and watch me knit.  either they are entranced by the "swish, swish" of my metal knitting needles or they take sick pleasure in watching me undo projects i had once worked so diligently on.

so far, i've made ten scarves and i currently have four more scarves "in the works."  well, i call them scarves.  perhaps they are more like neck warmers.  infinity scarf, circle scarf...whatever.  my next project will be arm warmers. before the kids & i went on our mini vacation, all i did was knit.  i haven't done much knitting since, but i'm gradually getting back into it because it really is relaxing {and i have a shit ton of yarn to use}.  oh, one other thing:  i have been encouraged to sell my scarves.  

what do you think?  

i have some lofty knitting goals for myself {like knitting on the round, learning more stitches, making a dog sweater}, but the idea of trying to sell my knit creations makes me nervous.  we'll see what happens.  if this whole knitting thing turns out to be THE opportunity for me, then wonderful.  if not, well, now you know what everyone will be receiving for christmas for many years to come!

GIVEAWAY - Keep Calm & Blog On

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ENTERED!

i'm decorating my new desk & crafting area, so i turned to etsy for some inspiration. my mantra here lately has been "keep calm & carry on." i know you've all seen the prints. they are too cute & too wonderful...not only is the message inspirational, but the color choices...oh, the color choices!

anyways, while browsing on etsy last weekend, i came across the keep calm shop. they print the traditional "keep calm & carry on" posters, but they also have a wide variety of fun & whimsical "keep calm" inspired posters as well. i made a list of what i liked & what i wanted to purchase, but i didn't see anything about blogging so i asked.

ask and ye shall receive!

the fabulous people at the keep calm shop created this:

{source}

so what does this mean for you? well, i'm glad you asked.

i'm giving one of my blog readers the chance to own a "keep calm & blog on" poster!

the lucky winner will be able to choose from a wide variety of eye-popping colors & you can choose either a 5"x7", 8"x10" or 13"x19" poster {the poster will not be framed}. the choice is yours. all you have to do, if you are chosen as the winner, is tell me the color, size & where you'd like the poster mailed to...i'll take care of the rest!

how you can enter to win:

• leave me a comment telling me what your inspirational mantra is

for extra entries you can:

• visit the keep calm shop & tell me which other poster(s) you like
• grab my blog button & post it on your blog's sidebar
• blog about this giveaway - either a post or mentioning it on your blog's sidebar
• tweet about this giveaway

this giveaway will be open until 11:59 pm EST on thursday, february 18th.

i will announce the winner on friday, february 19th.

the fine print:

• i was not compensated in any way to endorse the keep calm shop
• all fees associated with this giveaway - poster, shipping, etc. - will be paid for by me out of my own lint-filled pocket
• the winner will be chosen using random.org
• international bloggers are welcome to enter
• did i miss anything??

finally!

it is soooooo late {i'm gonna need a lot of coffee in a few short hours!} but i just had to share the news with y'all...

my etsy shop is up & running!

Etsy Buy Handmade maliasma

it is still very much a work in progress and, right now, my listings are pretty much a hodge-podge of things, but i want feedback. give it to me. tell me what you want to see. what you don't want to see. i still have a couple more items to list. i just haven't gotten around to it because i really, really, really need to go to bed {i have to get up for work in less than 5 hours...yikes!}.