In case you haven't noticed, we have a new sponsor! The Vintage Pearl has all sorts of beautiful hand-stamped jewelry and you can seriously spend lots of time going gaga over all the items. What I love is that almost all of the items are entirely made of sterling silver, from the chains to the jump rings. Look at these gorgeous creations. Seriously...what girl would not look fabulous in any of these?



My husband recently gave me a necklace very similar to this one below. It has three small circles each stamped with the names of our three boys. It is so special to me; I love it!!


The Vintage Pearl also has a great blog that gives more insight into Erin (the owner) and her family.

Erin is so great that she is offering an amazing giveaway to one of our readers! Who wants to win a $50 gift certificate to The Vintage Pearl? I thought so. Here's what you need to do. Visit The Vintage Pearl or their blog and find your favorite item. Then come back here and tell us what it is. The giveaway will end on Monday, January 25th at 11:59 pm PST. Good luck!

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We're so excited to announce the details of our first-ever Little Birdie Secrets blog party in Western Washington!

Who: Everyone within driving distance of Lynnwood, WA--we want to meet as many of our readers as we can!

When: Thursday, February 4th, 6:00-8:00pm

Where: Lasting Memories Scrapbooks in Lynnwood (20 min. North of Seattle)

What: The evening's activities will include craft and blog talk with Stacy, Mandy, and Jessica, a fun Valentine's garland project, sweet treats, plus lots of giveaways from the Birdies and our sponsors!

Love Garland craft project - $5 (just to cover our costs!)

The party will go from from 6-8, so drop in whenever you can! We'll start the craft project at 6:30, but you can always finish it at home if you get there later or have to leave early. The garland kit is $5 (payable in advance only via the PayPal button on our sidebar) and includes all the pieces to complete your garland. We'll provide the tutorial LIVE and in person!

Everyone who promises to blog about the event when they get home will get a special thank-you gift that night, so don't forget your camera!

We would like to know how many people to plan for, so please RSVP by Tuesday, February 2nd to littlebirdieclasses@gmail.com. Include your name, city, and whether or not you want to get crafty with us. If you would like to participate in Love garland craft project, please also submit your payment of $5 to PayPal via our "Buy Now" button on the sidebar by February 2nd. You are welcome to purchase multiple kits, but we will not be able to ship them, so you must come to the party to pick them up (how's that for a bribe)!

For all our lovely readers who can't make it to our little soiree, we'll provide a tutorial after the party for the Love garland. We're may also decide to sell kits for the garland on Etsy if there is any interest, so leave us a comment if you can't come to the party but would be interested in buying a kit.

We love how blogging creates a virtual community amongst crafters, and we're looking forward to extending that sense of community to our real life neighbors! Hope to see you there!

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Our hearts and prayers go out to those who are in or have loved ones in Haiti. We know most of you have opened up your hearts and generously donated time, goods and/or funds to various charities and organizations that are helping with the relief effort. Every little bit helps.

Cindy from Skip to My Lou is partnering with Dailydigi and they are offering a free digital download of cupcake wrappers, cupcake toppers, valentine papers and digital files you can donate. All you have to do is email her with what contribution you've made to the relief effort.

Check out her post Here to get more information and to get a yummy recipe for Devil's Food Cupcakes with Cream Filling and Ganache Frosting.

Two readers also sent us links to other relief effort sites. Check them out:

Hope For Haiti
Soles 4 Souls

We know there are many more sites and organizations out there that are helping. We are so grateful that we all can pull together in times of need to help those that are suffering.

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The It's in the Bag giveaway has now ended and it's time to announce the winner! Thanks to all of you who entered. There were over 400 entries! The two winners of a diaper wallet of their choice from It's in the Bag are:

Cris from Rusty Chains blog

and

Elisa from The Hyman Family

Please contact us at littlebirdiesecrets@gmail.com so we can put you in touch with Kira to claim your prize! For the rest of you, we have yet another giveaway coming up this week, so be on the lookout.

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We are so excited to have our favorite Stampin' Up! demonstrator, Anne Beale Yancey, doing a guest post for us today. Take it away, Anne Beale...

A little HAPPY NEW YEAR card is a sweet way to warm the winter. For me, every New Year has always happened in cold snowy places, so I always think of January as wintery and snowy. My inspiration for this card is a bright red cardinal against a beautiful wintery backdrop. I didn’t have a specific image, I just remember seeing images here and there over the years and they’ve always left an impression on my mind.



Creating this little 3” X 3” card was so easy using my Stampin’ Up! Punches and Folders. The NEW Stampin’ Up! Extra Large 2 Step Bird Punch™ creates the little bird, wing and branch all in one punch! This punch is one of our newly redesigned punches, which locks flat for easy storage in small places. You can see all the other punches in our OCCASIONS MINI CATALOG.


The falling snow was created by running the cardstock through my Stampin’ Up! Big Shot™ using our Stampin’ Up! Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Folder™. Using a brayer rolled in Whisper White Craft Ink™, I gently rolled over the raised polka dots to make them white. The snow mounds are Whisper White Cardstock™ punched out with the Wide Oval Punch™. After applying the ovals to the card front, I cut off any excess cardstock along the edges of the card. Of course it’s not really “snowy” without a little Stampin’ Up! Dazzling Diamonds Glitter™ applied using a 2-Way Glue Pen™. Our little Red Gingham Ribbon™ was the perfect little touch to finish my sweet little HAPPY NEW YEAR card.



Visit MUKIBUG to order supplies for this project.

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The Pacific Northwest is a hot-spot for crafting. What else are we going to do when we're stuck inside 9 months out of the year? We sew, quilt, make cards, scrapbook, make jewelry and home decor. . .you get the idea. We know we have a lot of local Western Washington readers who love to craft, so we thought it was time that local crafters unite!

Save the date, because we're hosting our first-ever Little Birdie Secrets Blog Party on Thursday, February 4th! Join us, Stacy, Mandy, and Jessica, at Lasting Memories Scrapbooks in Lynnwood, WA for yummy treats, a fun craft project, blogging advice, prizes, and more!

More info will be coming soon, so watch the blog and tell your friends! Can't wait to meet you all!

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We're blogging over at Make and Takes today, so go check out our rice heat therapy bag tutorial!

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Even though the Three Birdies often work together to come up with projects and posts for this blog, from time to time one of us will do something that totally inspires the other two! Case in point: the Ribbon Jar post. After Stacy came up with her darling jar, Jessica and I both went to work on our own stashes. I even made a storage jar for some buttons I was giving as a gift to a friend. So even though we already shared this idea, I couldn't help sharing the pics of what that post inspired. Think of it as Ribbon Jar: Part 2. Enjoy!

Jess took Stacy's post as a major challenge to clean up her ribbon box. Holy ribbon, Batman!


Look how cute her little clothespins look so far! Adorable.


I raided my canning jar collection and organized my ribbon by color, tying a sample on the outside of the jar (mostly for the cuteness factor). I also included a small jar for Christmas ribbons since I got a few from my Secret Santa this year (thank you very much!). Here are a few examples. . .



I am in looooove with this vintage Mason jar. I found it at an antique store--the friend I gave it to loves antiques and scrapbooking. Perfect combo, n'est pas? Someday when I have my own real craft room I want a whole shelf of these, each with a different color of buttons. Dreamy. . .



Need other ribbon storage ideas? Check out this post. Watch for more craft organization tips soon--we know you're all making the same resolutions we are!

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Kira from It's in the Bag has been generous enough to sponsor a great giveaway for our readers and we are thrilled! She makes all sorts of handmade purses, bags and accessories. What a talented lady. My favorite are the diaper wallets. How am I on my third kid and have still never had one of these? They are such a better option than "the wadded up diaper, filled with gold fish that you pull from the bottom of the diaper bag" as Kira so aptly puts it. Maybe someday I will finally attempt to make one for myself....or just buy one from It's in the Bag.

Look at all these great wallets she has to offer. I love the stars one, being that I have three boys.


Lucky for you readers, Kira is offering a diaper wallet to two of you! You even get to pick which pattern you want. All you have to do is head over to It's in the Bag and find your favorite item. Then come back here and let us know what it is and also why you need a new diaper wallet. Simple, right? Then get to it! This giveaway will close Thursday, January 14th at 11:59 pm PST. Good luck!

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Ever walk past fabric and have it jump out, knock you down and insist you take it home? Yea, it happens to me all the time. Especially this super cute, er, I mean scary flannel fabric. These little guys on the fabric demanded that they come home and be made into a cozy t.v. blanket. I just couldn't say no. You should have seen the looks on their faces! So, now the fabric is home and I am working away on an applique quilt inspired by this fabric. Here's a sneak peek of what is done so far. This round little man is Earl.

This is Victor. He's a little sassy, but I have to admit he's my favorite.

Wally is a sweetie. A little clingy at times but an overall good guy.

Last, but not least we have legs. He's the dancer in the family.

I am pretty excited with how this quilt is turning out. The appliques were a lot of work so I think I am going to keep the rest of the quilt super simple. I can't wait to show you all the finished product.

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I know you have all been patiently waiting to find out who the lucky winner of the Thoris Designs Giveaway is. Well, the time has finally come.

The lucky winner who may choose any item worth up to $35 OR may apply $35 to any item in the shop is...

Staci J

of Keeping up with the Johnson's blog

Congrats! Please email us and we will put you in touch with Dejah of Thoris Designs.

For all of you who didn't win, we have a new giveaway coming in a few days, so stay tuned!

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Winter is in full swing in a lot of places so we thought we would share a tutorial that will help keep your hands cozy warm as you scrape off the ice from your cars.

Supplies:
Ice Scraper-I found this for a dollar at Fred Meyer
Two pieces of fleece measuring. 9 inches by 18 inches
Sewing machine and Thread, Scissors


First cut your pieces so they are 9 inches by 18 inches. I used regular fleece and super cozy fleece.

Lay your fleece pieces right sides together (if there is a right side-with the green piece it didn't matter what side I used. The cozy fleece had a right and wrong side)

Sew down both 9 inch sides.

You should have a tube like this.

Turn your fleece with the right side out so your seams are inside and not showing.

Next, measure the width of your scraper where you want it to go through the cozy. Mine was 2 inches.

Now, you can make a buttonhole using this measurement. In my case, it was 2 inches. This is not necessary. If you are using fleece, you can just cut a 2 inch slit. However, it may not stand up to a lot of wear and tear and may eventually stretch out or rip into a bigger slit. If you are using cotton or any other fabric, I suggest not skipping this step.

I also recommend using a marking tool to mark the center of your fabric so your buttonhole is in the middle. Do not eyeball this part. Mark where your buttonhole should be.

When your buttonhole is done, fold your fabric right sides together again. The outside fabric should be folded in and you should see the fabric you want as the liner.

Sew down both sides.

Turn inside out.

Insert your ice scraper through your buttonhole.

Now you are set and will hopefully avoid any frozen fingers as you de-ice your car.

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We recently told you that Stacy was contacted by Microsoft to be featured in one of their "Real Life Stories" commercials for their Office 2010 campaign. Hello, of course she said yes! So one day in November an 8-person camera crew took over her house and spent 12 hours following her around and filming her. Being the sweet friend that she is, she invited Jess and I over to be a part of the filming, and we all made the final cut! In fact, the entire commercial is about this very blog! It was such a fun experience, and we were so pleased with the result. It really captures our adventures in blogging, and Stacy did such a great job explaining just why we do what we do. So without further ado, here it is. And don't worry--we'll remember all our readers when we become BIG stars. ;)


(Cue dramatic award music here) We want to especially thank our Microsoft production liaison Kris (we told you about his band last month--he's awesome!) and the entire production crew who were so patient and professional, Stacy's mom Barbara for keeping all the kids quiet with nothing more than french fries in a tiny bathroom during filming, Marta from Creative Yarn whose crochet pictures are featured from one of our past posts, Tamara from Lasting Memories who created the recipe tin featured, and our dear friends Melynie and Kayleen, who really did all the work on the bulk chocolate order. We couldn't have done it without you!

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Meet Anne Beale Yancey. Isn't she a cutie? She's incredibly talented and seriously hilarious. We happen to love her, and we think you'll love her, too. She is one of our fabulous sponsors and she has some exciting news. It's Sale-A-Bration time!

As a Stampin' Up! Independent Demonstrator, she is more than an independent sales representative: she is a TEACHER, creative COACH, ADVISOR, and FRIEND. We're so glad to call her ours!

AB is our local Stampin' Up demonstrator, but even if you're not a Seattle local, you can still benefit from AB's creativity and great specials! She has a very cool blog and online ordering, so you can take advantage of Sale-A-Bration, our favorite time of year!

So if you don't know about SAB, it's when Stampin' Up! offers a free exclusive stamp set or other product for every $50 you purchase (click here to see the catty--is anyone else drooling over that new punch?). But this year it gets better. There is also a long list of stamps from the regular catalog you can get if you don't just loooove the special SAB sets. Are you kidding me?

Whether you've never heard of Stampin' Up! or you're a long-time customer, we want you to check out Anne Beale's blog, Mukibug. She offers tons of great ideas and tutorials, like the one for this gorgeous covered composition book.


If you are a local, you've got to join us at AB's monthly stamp camps, where you get to sit in her beautiful craft room and make 5 awesome projects that have been designed and prepped for you. Plus, if you spend $50 you get your stamp camp free! Combine that with SAB and holy-freakin'-cow--it is a DEAL!

Her official web site can be found at http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/aby where you can order products, view projects, and see a calendar with all her events. When you place an order on her web site, you will get the best price, the best shipping rates, and even free products when you qualify for Stampin' Rewards.

We're proud to have Anne Beale as our sponsor. But we also really love her and the Stampin' Up! line. If we didn't, we wouldn't be telling you about her. And that's the honest truth. :)

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Last year I saw this great tutorial on how to make candy cane hearts for Valentine's Day. I was so excited about it and thought it would be a quick and easy thing for my kids to make and take to school. Well, I waited just a bit too long and when I went to the stores to look for the candy canes I came up with nothing, nada, zilch. I was bummed. They were completely sold out and there wasn't a candy cane to be found.

Well, this year I remembered to grab a few boxes of mini candy canes found in the clearance aisle for 60 cents during my after Christmas sale shopping trip. I made a bunch of these this morning and was pleased with how easy (and super fast) they came together. I thought I would post about it today in case you too want to make some for Valentine's Day. This way you can all take advantage of the holiday clearance candy canes while they are still in the stores and save them until you are ready to make them. Don't wait too long or they may not be around in February. Trust me, I speak from experience.

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