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unexpected crafting and a giveaway

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That seems like an awful silly title for this time of year with all arms length list of gifts I have to make  but I have been doing some very unexpected crafting in the last three days.  If you have been around here for more than two years, you may remember the Etsy stores I used to have.  I used to have them because I shut them down after four great years of making dolls, slippers, rosaries and you name it for my wonderful customers (some of whom still write to me to see if I am still on vacation).  Oh it’s not that I did not want to do it anymore but instead that I found I never had time to make anything wonderful for my own babies.

Well, it seems the chickens have come home to roost because on Saturday, after sharing my Saint Nicholas day post to Facebook, something unexpected happened… someone asked me if I could make them a Sweater baby like the one I made for Livie, and I said yes!  I get requests like this all the time but this time I said yes.  Then I said yes again to another Sweater baby, oh I love making those.  For some reason it was like saying yes hit the restart button and that night sitting in my studio, I looked up into my craft closet and saw my lego organizer.  I pulled it down and opened it and the next thing I knew, I made one lego rosary, two, then four and by the end of the night I was sitting there with nine rosaries.  My babies already have some so who were these for?

Well, they are for you I guess!  After two years of not offering my crafts to anyone, I have decided that I might start to again and I will start here with these Lego rosaries.  I made hundreds of these in the past, do you remember?  I may resurrect my Little Saint Dolls in the future but right now I can offer these, if you want them that is.

Truth be told, I have been wondering how in the world I can generate some income.  I am used to having my farm income from eggs, bread, plants and farmers market sales.  Not having that makes having this blog a bit difficult because this blog does cost something to operate and I need to find a way to cover that.  Also, there used to be money for piano and guitar lessons and just extra money to take the kids here or there and well, that is gone now.  Oh I am not complaining, really!  I am just sharing my thoughts outloud (in a typing kind of way) here with you.

So, anyway to make this a bit fun, I decided to give one of these Lego rosaries away so that one of you can put it in your own babes Christmas stocking in the hopes that you will share this with your friends and I might get the word out that I am kind of open for business.  The kids call this yellow and black rosary the Bumble Bee and it will hopefully be in one of your homes in a few days.  I know that in the few years I stepped away from making these, there are a great many also making them.  But perhaps you want to buy one from one of the original people who started making them (that’s all I will say about that).  Each block is strung onto heavy, strong waxed cotton cord and the decades can be snapped together so that your little one can follow along the family rosary by snapping each block off as the prayers are completed.  The cost is $20 which includes shipping to you 🙂

I am begging a friend (who knows how to work the whole blog thing) to help me put a little store right here on my sidebar.  I don’t think I want to go back to Etsy.  I feel like I just need more control and that way if I have something to offer, I can just offer it here at home, kinda like the old days when people had their businesses right at home.  Would that be of interest to anyone?  Any better ideas of suggestions (I know you ladies are super smart).

Ok so, if you would like to buy a rosary and have it in time for Christmas, please pm me at farmishmomma@gmail.com by Sunday.  ‘You can see some examples of color combinations here at my Facebook page or you could tell me which colors you like.  The giveaway will end Saturday (yeah, I know you want to see if you can win it first hee hee) and the rules for the giveaway are:

Leave a comment and get one entry.  Share it on Facebook, Twitter or your own blog and get another entry (please let me know that you did and where you shared it).  Buy a rosary and you get (5) entries.  OK so that’s it.  I am off to post office, I haven’t done that in a long time 🙂

The winner is Lena:  These would be perfect for the lil’ men in my life.

Lena, Please get in touch me and thank you to all who entered.  I wish I could send each and every one of you a rosary for your little ones!!  To everyone who ordered this week, thank you so very much!

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loohoo wool dryer balls giveaway

Allow me to introduce you to today’s giveaway.  Introducing Loohoo Wool Dryer Balls.

From the Loohoo website,  “Loohoos are a reusable, energy-saving alternative to dryer sheets.  We proudly offer high-quality wool dryer balls that are made in Maine using domestic wool.  Together we can help protect our family’s health and the environment.”

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They are giving one lucky winner a wonderful set of Loohoo wool dryer balls.

When I got the opportunity to review today’s giveaway, I decided to do it because even though I know how to make my own dryer balls, not everyone does and those who do know how to make them might not have the time and they really work.  In the past 4 years that I have used my own dryer balls, I have saved a ton of money on my electric bill.  Why?  Because not only do they dry your clothing faster but you can forget the need for fabric softener as the wool balls beat the clothes soft in the dryer and get rid of static cling.  My dryer has a sensor that shuts it off when it senses that the clothing is dry.  Without dryer balls my loads usually take about 45 minutes to finish, with the dryer balls it cuts it down to 30 minutes.  The four loads I did with the Loohoo wool dryer balls went down by 5 minutes or more each time.  That makes me happy.

Aside from the money savings, have any of you ever inquired as to what is in fabric softener?  Horrors!  Dryer sheets are just as toxic, they make a film on your clothing and your lint trap and they can cause a fire from the film that accumulates.  Poppa loves fabric softener so I used to spend a fortune at Whole Foods on their softener and wool dryer balls replaced that need for us.

Funny, that she sent me yellow because I happen to be one of my favorite colors!  I love the muslin bag they come in and I want to show you what I noticed when I first opened the package!

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Do you notice how much bigger they are than mine?  Huge!  And not only that but my homemade ones are wrapped and felted, the Loohoos are wet felted and I didn’t expect it but my clothing is softer when it comes out and drying even faster.  I guess bigger surface area works better.  Now to be truthful, I don’t use my dryer all that much sometimes but there is one sure thing about Florida in the summer, as soon as you put one thing on the line, a torrential downpour will come out of no where.  Summer and winter I end up drying my clothing in the dryer a lot.

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So in the end, I thought I was helping you all out by sharing a great product and ended up being a customer myself!

Now, with all these giveaways going on I want to put this out there.  I have been very careful about choosing companies that only reflect the values and goals that I have chosen for my own family.  If it is not inline with living a natural life then you won’t find it here.  Sometimes, I am sent a product to try and give my opinion, sometimes I already use the product so I tell the company not to send me anything and just do the giveaway.  I have received a couple of products which I have not shared with you because after using them I chose not to.  Please be sure that I will only share products with you that I use would or do use with my own family.

To enter just leave a comment.  For more chances to win share this on Facebook, Tweet it, share it on your own blog and then come back and tell me how you shared it, you get an entry for each one that you do.  Good luck and the giveaway ends next Friday. The lucky winner will be announced right here in this post next Friday morning.  I have posted the winner to last Friday’s Knitting book giveaway at last Friday’s post.

Edit:  Thank you to all who entered!!  I hope you will all make a purchase if you didn’t win.  They post weekly specials here

The winner is:

Jacki said: These look like something right up our alley. My son has extremely sensitive skin so we currently use nothing. We can’t use anything at the market because his eczema will take a bad turn. Can’t wait to try these!

Jacki,  Please get in touch with me at farmishmomma@gmail.com and we will get your prize out to you!!

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