Giveaways Galore

I love free stuff. I'm not above grabbing stuff from people's rubbish piles (actually I'm not above begging my husband to go through rubbish piles). Now, don't get me wrong. Not their trash like in their trash bins, but their piles of stuff on the side of the road. I scored some beautiful branches to put in an urn that way, and we got Kiddo's first little table and chairs that way, too.

And you give me a coupon for free food and I'm SO there. I have a Sonic game card with some free stuff on it that's burning a hole in my pocket.

Here in the blog world there are so many free things floating around in the myriad of giveaways. I mean, I'm having one, for crying out loud. But there are so many more.

The one that promted me to post about this is Cheri's at It's So Very Cheri. She is hosting her own, a pretty apron that would look so cute in your kitchen. I don't wear aprons, but I know there are lots of you who would. Today is the last day to enter, so hurry on over.

Cheri also gave me a heads up about several others, so hop on over there and get yourself entered. The one I was most excited about was at Sa-Sea Boutique. If you like Lola B's you are gonna want to get in on this, 'cause she is giving away a TON of stuff from Lola B's Boutique, PLUS a $100 shopping spree. Yippee! Okay, gotta go enter myself now. Get on over there yourself!

How to Pronounce My Name

Over a year ago I posted about where my name came from, but because I've either read or heard people discussing how to pronounce it, I figured revisiting the subject would be appropriate, since I have several new friends. Yippee! I'm so happy y'all are here! I will try my best not to use exclamation points in all my sentences!

Let me start by saying that I have lived around Memphis, Tennessee all of my life. That would be smack in the middle of the South. I love living in the South. I love the hot summers, I love the mild winters, I love the food, I love the kudzu...wait, no, I don't love the kudzu. Anyway, I love almost everything about living in the South. Including the drawl. Especially the drawl.

Now, I'm not talking about sounding like a country hick. There's a part in Gettysburg where two captured Confederate soldiers are talking to C. Thomas Howell and one says, "We're fightin' for are rats!" Translation: "We're fighting for our rights!" No, not that drawl. That's not even a drawl. That's just wrong.

No, the drawl I'm talking about is that Old South, genteel drawl that Hollywood can never get right. Well, not many around here have that. I don't. Now, I do have a Southern Accent. Ask Kimba or Sarah Mae or anyone from up North who has actually spoken to me. Personally, I don't think it's as pronounced as it evidently is. When I spent two months in Australia, however, every new place I went I was asked to just say, "Hi" and have people just ooh and ah over my silly accent.

Sorry, I got off track. My point is, my Daddy and his siblings all have that lovely Southern drawl. Here's a quick lesson in how to speak Suthuhn: Never say your "R's"

Butter = buttuh
Tower = towah
Junior = juniah

"Ah" and "uh" can be used most of the time interchangeably, as long as it doesn't sound like you're trying to speak New Jersy-ese.

My cousins used to have a sentence they'd say that summed up my daddy's accent: Heathah, throw the buttuh out the winduh with the Whoppah Juniah." And then we'd all crack up.

That's the way he says my name. Instead of "Heather", it's "Heathah". And when I was little and got in trouble (you know in the South - maybe in the North, too, for that matter - when our kids get in trouble we have to say both their first and middle names), and since my middle name is Lee, it came out, "HeathahLee!" I put both names together because that's the way he said them. All one word.

I was explaining this to some friends from church one day (I have no idea how we got started on the subject), when one of them said, "You are SO gonna be Heathahlee from now on!" And it stuck.

So, there you have it. How to pronounce my name. I wanted to be something more than just "Heather" on here. I figured this was a pretty good use of my name with my own little twist on it.

Got any stories about your Blogger name?

BlogHer!

Remember in this post when I said I had one more big thing that wasn't quite ready but I'd tell you about it when it was? Well, BlogHer is it! See my right sidebar? (it's kind of hard to miss) I'm now part of the BlogHer ad team.

If you see an ad you like, PLEASE click on it. It helps us all. :)

And if you see something on here that you don't like, please let me know. Sound Man and I are in agreement that my ads should reflect my standards. I let BlogHer know what those were (they actually asked), so I really don't think there will be any problems with that. I've never seen any BlogHer ad on the blogs I follow that had anything offensive on them. That's one of the reasons I sent in my application.

I'm still tweaking it a bit, making sure I have the right template and all that jazz, so if you see changes that's what I'm doing. Just be patient with me.

I am so excited all theses things are happening. I feel like the blog is growing, and that's what I've wanted for a long time. Thanks for reading!

Tomorrow, I'll give you a little tutoring on how in the world to pronounce my name (mainly for you - dare I say it? Yankees! hee hee hee). :)

Drop Cloth Bedskirt

Edited to add on 7/2/09: The giveaway mentioned is over, but you are welcome to head over to my Etsy shop anyway! :) I'm adding this to Kimba's DIY Day party!
Before I go any further, let me remind you to head over to Like a Warm Cup of Coffee where Sarah Mae is hosting a giveaway of one of my tassels! Go on! THEN you can come back here.

A couple of years ago (or maybe not quite that long ago), our friends Jeff and Lisa gave us a king size bed. They were getting a new bed and we had wanted a king size for a long time. So, for the price of manual labor moving beds all over the universe (okay, around the corner), we got a bed we wanted. No, it wasn't new, but have you priced new king size beds lately? Sheesh.

With the bed came the bedding. The set they gave us with the bed came with the motherload: Comforter, pillow shams, bedskirt, and curtains (like, a bajillion curtains). The only problem was they didn't go with my bedroom. I knew I needed to update the comforter, but I wasn't going to go out and buy the first thing I saw. That is, until I saw this at Target. I was shopping with Kat one day and when we came upon it, I'm sure I heard the Doxology. I wanted that quilt reeeeeeally bad. So, with Mother's Day coming up, I hinted strongly to Sound Man that it would look bee-yoo-tee-ful in our bedroom. Long story short about that, he came through. He's a good man.

The only problem with this is that the set only comes in a quilt and shams. No bedskirt. I really need a bedskirt (or dust ruffle for some of you) to hide the massive dust bunnies boxes I have under the bed. So, what to do?

I had bought a 9x12 drop cloth at Home Depot for about $20 a few weeks ago to cover one of my tables at the A'Fair, knowing I could use it for something else later. After seeing a couple of posts from Susie Harris and Kimba I knew I could come up with something. Enter bedskirt dilemma. Perfect!

First, I washed and dried the thing. It had gotten dirty at the A'Fair, plus it had a funny smell that some things have when they're new. Plus, I wanted a washed, sort of messy look. I'm a washed and messy kind of girl. Then, I draped it over my bed:Then, I made sure that I had the hem on the floor where I wanted it, pulled a couple more inches and tucked those between the mattress and box spring:And took my very precise, very professional Sharpie and just stuck it in the tucked part and drew a line down the whole mattress:I was a Home Ec. Major. Dr. Diamond would heave if she saw this. I don't give a flippin' flop.

Next, I cut a very precise line where the sharpie line was:Or not.

Then I got my trusty glue gun out. You know what Nester says, "IDHTBPTBB!". What did I do? I glue gunned (is that even a word?) the fabric right to the box spring!I just pulled and tugged until I had it at the right level on the floor. Then glued that sucker down. At the end of the bed, I had more fabric than I needed, but I didn't want to cut it since I was feeling lazy (it was, after all, almost midnight...Sound Man and Kiddo were off camping), so I just made kind of a pleat:Then precisely and professionally cut another length for the foot of the bed. I had planned on making the seam the very middle of the bedskirt, but messed up and it was several inches off. Like, 24 of them. So, I made another pleat:All the while shoving and gluing and tugging until I liked it. Notice I didn't say, "Until it was perfect." Because it ain't. But look at it now:I think the picture is a little dark, but trust me, it looks great. Please do not look at the roll of tp on my bedside table. We were out of Kleenex, give a sistah a break.

And look how much material I have left over to make curtains!This project was so easy. The hardest part was trying to move the bed where I could get to the box spring easier. Did you know that king size beds weigh 20,000 lbs more than queen size? It's a proven fact. Ask my back.
I plan on gluing some brown grosgrain ribbon to the bedskirt, just to give it a little more presence. Then I can use that ribbon to hang the curtains. When I get it finished you know I'll show you!
Don't forget to enter the giveaway!

My Etsy Grand Opening!

I can't believe how much great stuff is gonna be in this post. Okay, it's great to me. You may not think it quite so, but I can't help about being excited!

First of all, just like the title says, I'm officially "cutting the ribbon" on my Etsy shop! WOO HOO! You know all those tassels had to find a home somewhere. While I don't have all of them listed, I do have a third of them on there. Check out my oh-so-official Etsy sidebar! I'm telling you, I am so proud of it. Not just for myself, but my precious Sound Man as well. He staged, photographed, and edited all my pictures. By edited I mean added my beautiful logo. I lurve that logo. He is so talented, and my tassels look like they were staged by a professional.

Not only am I opening my shop, but I'm also giving one of these tassels a new home. To whom, you might ask? Well, it might be YOU! My wonderful bloggy friend, Sarah Mae is graciously hosting a giveaway at her Saturday Score post. She is highlighting my tassels! I'm so excited!

Edited to add: I just found out that Cinderella Moments has featured one of my double tassels on her By Hand. By ME spotlight. Thanks so much!

Not only did my husband do my tassel pictures, but he also made me THIS!

My very own blog button! I know, I know...everyone has one now, but I wanted one, too. So, if you'd like one, grab the code from the right sidebar. I hope you do.

And one more thing. Sarah Mae didn't know what she was getting into when she started having to tutor me in blogese. I hope this works...I know I have several followers, but if you'd like to have posts from Butterfly Genes come straight to your reader, subscribe here. If, for some reason, that doesn't work, please let me know.

I had one other exciting thing that I had hoped would be ready, but some miscommunication threw that plan in the ditch. For now, anyway. I'll get it up and running soon.

Let's see...did I miss anything? Etsy, Sarah Mae, Button, Subscription...I think that's all...for now...

I have plans on how I want to start revamping Butterfly Genes. More of a streamlined, organized blog. So, in the coming days, I'll lay out what my plans are...probably as they are evolving.

Thanks for reading. I hope you subscribe!

Now, head over to Like a Warm Cup of Coffee to get your name in the hat for something from my shop!

Coming Soon...

I am a spaz. I know that. I can hardly connect two sentences together to make a coherent statement. I have sorely neglected my blog over the last few weeks. Months, more like it. Getting ready for the A'Fair had me "flat out like a lizard drinking" as they say in Tasmania. I'm not exactly sure what that means literally, but basically I was reeeeally busy. And my mind has been busy since then. I have some surprises for y'all coming up this weekend.

I am so excited about what is going on around my little blog. Not that I think I'm suddenly going to become the next Susie Harris or Nester or Kimba, but I hope to actually take my blog to another level. I do enjoy it so much. I hope you enjoy reading the crazy things I write. Stay tuned for some sweet things this weekend. Sound Man and I have been up until midnight most nights getting ready for what's to come. You might not think it's a big deal, but for us it is. I hope to even have a little sumpn' sumpn' for y'all. I'll keep you posted. HA! I made a funny! Get it? Posted? And I POST things on the blog? Poste...nevermind.

So, what did you do on Memorial Day?

While I have some surprises up my sleeve for later in the week, I wanted to "unwrap" what our family did yesterday.

Nothing.

Blessed, relaxing, absolutely...nothing.

We haven't done that in a loooooooong time. No where to go, nothing to have to do. Sigh....it really was nice.

I won't tell you the ungodly hour we slept until, but suffice it to say that Kiddo beat us up by a while. Long enough for him to concoct a plan for the day. He came in our room and announced that he was in charge of breakfast, lunch, and dinner that day, and informed us of what we'd be eating. And while we had to burst his bubble about dinner (we had planned on hamburgers on the grill, after all), we moved some stuff around and enjoyed his plans for the most part.

For breakfast, cinnamon rolls and a banana, with a glass of milk on the side. For dinner (I'll get to lunch in a sec), to go along with our burgers, cheese fries a la Outback, with fries, cheese, and bacon bits piled on top. He had a great idea that Sound Man and I would probably never have thought of!

And now, for lunch, I give you...Kiddo's Gourmet Sandwiches: (sorry I didn't take any pictures)

(btw, this is directly from my Kiddo's instructions, written the way he wrote them)

Ingredients
2 pc. Whole Wheat bread
(about) 1 TBSP.Mayonnaise
3 slices lunch meat
1/2 cup Parmesan, Colby, Monterey Jack, and cheddar mixed cheeses
Lettuce (optional)
Toast bread.
Put all ingredients
together in
between
slices
of
bread.

So there you go. A nine-year old's version of a gourmet sandwich. And let me say, they were really good! Especially since Momma didn't have to make lunch!

He made us so proud yesterday, wanting to serve his parents. I hope he gets those ideas more often, not just because I want him to serve me, but because I want him to learn to serve others. To feel the joy that comes from giving to someone else just because. As an only child, it's hard for him to "get it" because we have no other children he has to share with. So, when he wakes us up with these kinds of surprises, he delights his parents in more ways than one!

See what others are unwrapping at Emily's blog, Chatting at the Sky.

Happy Memorial Day!

Over the past few days,
seeing the men and women stand
in recognition of their service,
watching videos of past wars,
I have realized all over again
that the freedom I enjoy
as an American
was, and still is, hard-fought.

Freedom is never free.

While we are enjoying our families today, let's
Pray for our soldiers, and thank a veteran for our freedom.

All those tassels....

Well, I did it. I made it to 100 tassels. Oh, they were so pretty. And 92 of them still are. Yep, I sold 8. Eight. That would be 8. Out of 100.

I guess I had my expectations set too high. No, I KNOW I had my expectations set too high. But while not selling more of my tassels was disappointing, I saw God work. I'll start from the beginning.

Sound Man and I stayed up working until 2:45 in the morning getting ready for the next day. I said I wanted to have 100 ready, and by midnight I had 98. So, by golly, I had two more to do. And did them I did. (Wait...what?) Anyway, so after getting about 2 hours of sleep, we were up the next morning, headed down to Hernando, MS for the A'Fair. As we were driving down, I kept looking to the west to see the clouds forming. Man, they were ugly. As in, U.G.L.Y. As in, "you ain't got no alibi" ugly. As in, I'm starting to panic. As in, hyperventilating. Well, I hadn't gotten quite that bad, but I was a hair's breadth away from it. I did want to throw up. I did want to turn around and forget the whole thing. But I stuck with it. Partly because my husband kept saying, "Would you STOP looking around at the clouds?"So, we got down to the square (I had a REALLY great spot, by the way) and started to set up. Our friends Jeff and Lisa came and helped ALL DAY (I couldn't believe they were there at 6:30 in the morning!) and while we were setting up, this U.G.L.I.E.R. cloud came up. As in, it looked like the kind that come up before it tornadoes. I'm not kidding. The lady organizing all of us told us that whatever happened, we could run in the courthouse and be safe. But you know what happened? Nothing. The cloud moved over us and it started to clear up. That is, until it started raining. It rained pretty hard for about 15 minutes, scaring me to death. We got everything under the canopy, thinking it was waterproof. It wasn't. My tables started getting water all over them. I started to cry, but Sound Man wouldn't let me. Thankfully, I hadn't gotten my tassels out yet. But after 15 or so minutes, it was over. And that was it. Flood warnings had been posted for the whole area for the whole day, but it rained less than 30 minutes. Can I tell you how good God is?

So, even though my tassels didn't sell, I sent out a lot of business cards (oh, that's a whole other post in and of itself!), and got good responses from the people who did come in and look. All of them said they were "pretty", "cute", "beautiful" but I think they just didn't know what to do with them, even though I had cards and a sign that explained what you DO with a tassel.

I learned so much. I learned that I CAN set out and do something scary and out of my comfort zone. I learned that I CAN meet a goal even though I procrastinate until it looks like I've forced myself into failure. I learned that I have a husband who is proud of me and believes in me, even when I don't believe in myself. I learned that I have friends who will stick by me, no matter what. Not just Jeff and Lisa, but all but two of the tassels that sold were to friends. God love 'em.

But the most important thing I learned was this: God is still faithful, even when we don't understand what He's doing. He kept the rain away, but He didn't bring in the throngs of buyers. Why would he answer one prayer and seemingly ignore the other? I still can't say, but I know that He is faithful. I have learned that over the years, and He keeps reinforcing it. Even during circumstances I think shouldn't be.

Now, having said all of that, I want to show some of my sweet tassels. These are the ones I love the most. Well, some of them. I love most of them. The Ole Miss really took a lot for me to make. Ahem. (I didn't even bother to make any Tennessee tassels...I would have been disowned for sure)

Anyway, back to my pretties. Here are my faves. At least some of them...

My favorite. Oh, how pretty she is. Pretty pink and brown toile, pretty pink fringe...
And one of my sweet puppy dogs.

A fun rooster with toile ribbon and black fringe.

Another favorite bunny. She's tiny...much tinier than this picture shows.

My favorite black rooster with gorgeous ribbon. You can't really see it, but the ribbon underneath is black with beautiful red scrollwork all over. Bee-yoo-tee-fulllll.

Another bunny. He was my favorite until I found those flop-eared bunnies, poor guy.

And here's this thingie. I'm not even sure what to call it. It's a frame with a toile background with a black and white gingham checked button in the middle. So, what do you call that? It's cute, anyway. I had wanted to make a lot more, but just ran out of time. Lessons for next year.

And my favorite of my double tassels. No, I take that back. My second favorite. For some reason we didn't get a picture of my favorite. Anyway, WHY would someone not want to take these cute little chickens home? Cute, cute, CUTE! Oh, well.

Will I participate next year? Probably. Sound Man wants to. I think he was delirious when he said that. You know, lack of sleep. But I picked up an application for next year, nonetheless. I learned many lessons, from having a variety of things to choose from, to pricing, to displaying. Lots to help with next year.

But will it be another year before you see these tassels again? Oh, I'm thinking not....

Just wait till my NEXT post!

Wanna hear me sing?

You've heard (or read, I guess) me go on and on and on about being an alto and singing in the worship team at church. Well, Sarah Mae at Like a Warm Cup of Coffee convinced me to start her blogaversary (or blogiversary, or blgoghenosywy, whatever) party off with a "Happy" song.

Party? What party? Well, Sarah decided to do her blogaversary up right. And how. She has so many prizes she's giving away I stopped reading them...there are seriously that many. I just know I'm going to comment and comment and comment and...well, you get my drift.

If you'd like to win, just head on over to her place and get in on the fun! Just click the button above and head on over!

The Countdown

It's begun...a week from today I will be loading up and heading to Hernando, MS, for a craft fair. My goal this whole time has been 100 tassels, several bookmarks (that I haven't even told you about), and some of my little tissue paper decorations as fillers. I have to admit, I'm nervous. Excited, yes, but nervous.

Can I get all of this done? I have 68 tassels made. Oh, I wish I could show you all of them. They are so pretty. I'm not just tooting my own horn. The thought that I could acutally create something as pretty as these things amazes me. Look at this penquin!

Trust me, he is SO much cuter in person! The whole time I worked on him I kept thinking, "Oh, man, this is gonna be so cute!" And I was right! He's going to be so hard to let go.

In fact, a lot of them are like that. How can I sell my babies? Huh, you stick some cash in my face and watch how fast I can say, "Buh-bye!"

I'm nervous about all the other "little" things that have to be done before then, too. My display is not finished yet, I haven't made up price tags, I haven't gotten the bags I'll put the buyer's stuff in, haven't done a lot of things. I have a lot to get done in a week. If Sound Man and I make it without getting a divorce, we can make it through anything. I'm just kidding. He puts up with so much of my yuck it's unbelieveable.

So, this next week my blogging and commenting may be sporadic at best. Just know that I'm here in spirit, and will be back after the 16th with bells on. What does that even mean?

5-9-09

Last year on this day, I posted about what would have been my Grandaddy's 99th birthday. Today he would have celebrated his 100th birthday. Happy Birthday, Grandaddy. I love you more.

We have a Winner!

Drumroll, please.......

Okay, wait, I have to say, this was so fun for me but at the same time it was hard! I wanted all of y'all to win! I'm so thankful for the ones who've read my blog from the beginning (Kat, who also has a blog, and my beautiful sister, Carlyn, who doesn't have a blog, but should...I've told her that a hundred times), all the way to new readers whom I hope to become "friends" with. You all are what makes writing this blog fun. Thank you!

Alrighty, then, where were we? Since I've seen a ton of other important people use Random.org for their giveaway numbers, I thought even though I had a small number it would keep me from writing names down and cutting them out and putting them in a hat. It's way too late for me to be thinking about all that mess. So, I put my tiny number in and it gave me a randomly selected number....6. Who was number 6?

Jen - Balancing Beauty and Bedlam!

Congratulations, Jen! Email me and I'll get your shipping info. I'll be sending your little birdie out this week! For those of you who didn't win but would like to see more of my "stuff," I will have something special going in in the next couple of weeks. Check back for the low down.

Thank you all who left comments. I appreciate you!

Birdie Giveaway!

It's not too late to enter to win this pretty birdie tassel! But you must go to the giveaway post to enter. Hurry! Go now! As in, NOW!

Remember, you have to go to this post to enter. If you leave a comment on this post, you won't be entered. But, if you leave one on THIS post, you will be entered. This one, not this one. Got it? 'Cause if you don't got it, you won't get it. Get it?

A Giveaway, a Craft Fair, And a Man...Not necessarily in that order

You know in yesterday's post I said that Sound Man was gonna kill me for committing to finishing that step-stool right now? Well, the reason why is that I have a craft fair May 16th that I am busily trying to get ready for, and really don't need any more distractions. He is so wonderful, though, because he is helping me in so many ways, even making one of the things I'm selling at the fair. It's even Kat's favorite. Traitor. He's also making my display, because I know that if I tried to it would not be pretty. For realz.

He is giving me the day off of school, even taking Kiddo to work after lunch so that I have uninterrupted time gathering the things I need to pull this thing off. I am so thankful to have such a supportive husband.

You didn't know you were gonna get a "My Husband Rocks" in this here post, did you? Well, he does, so I had to share.

So, what is all the commotion about? Why am I frantically working my hands to the bone (or burn as it may be)? I am busy as a bee creating not 20, not 50, but 100...

Tassels! Most of you guessed it when I teased you with the giveaway a few days ago. Yep, my plan is to make a hundred of these puppies (and birds, and roosters, and bunnies...). I'm five away from being half-way there. Whew. And my hands have the glue-gun burns to prove it.

So, in honor of my blogday (get it, birthday, blogday...nevermind) that I totally missed on April 14th, I am holding a giveaway! Now, I'm not expecting traffic like Kimba or Nester or Susie Harris gets, but I do hope this gets some of you lurkers (a.k.a. the ones who've told me, "Oh, I read your blog all the time, I just never comment.") out of the woodwork and let me know you're there. How can I show my appreciation for reading if I don't know you're reading?

Sorry, I got off subject, which is not uncommon for me to do, but I need to get back to the subject at hand. I lurve this tassel. If I can find another brown bird like this, I'm so gonna make this same exact one for me. Seriously.

He's brown with brown, bright blue, and the-fringe-that-I-love-so-much fringe. I love him. Oh, and by the way, I realize that he has the same fringe as the tassel that Nester made for the Everything Etsy giveaway, and it is purely coincidental. This was one of the first tassels I made, several weeks ago. Great minds think alike, huh?

Paisley ribbon, a pretty button...he's so much prettier in person.

Sorry the pictures are not that wonderful...it's very overcast today and my house has sporadic natural light anyway (huh?), so I had to take these with just the room lights.

So, if you'd like to win him (or her...she probably is a she with her pretty ribbons and frills), just leave me a comment. Now, for all you lurkers, you have to leave me a comment to win. Even if you don't have a Blogger account. You can click the "Anonymous" and it will let you leave a comment. Just make sure you tell me who you are, or I won't know who to give it to if I pick you. I will leave this open until Tuesday, May 5th, and I'll draw a name randomly on May 6th. I'll leave a reminder up so that you know to come here to comment.

When you leave a comment, let me know what you like about this blog. Tell me if you'd like to see more of something, or less of something. I promise not to get my feelings hurt. Too much. Hee hee.

Now, let the commenting commence!