FIBER GIVEAWAY FREEBIE!!! LEAVE A COMMENT and you could WIN!! I have two box lots of various fibers and yarns to give away this month. Want 'em?? Leave a comment below how you use yarn in scrapbooking and everyone who leaves a comment on this blog entry is in the random drawing for a box of various yarn skeins and partial skeins of several colors. Colors will vary from photo above but you get the idea. So, just leave a COMMENT in the comment button/box at lower right of this blog entry and mention a ribbon or fiber tip or yarn fiber-use comment. You MIGHT WIN one of these goodie boxes absolutely free. Be sure to leave your email so I can contact you if your name is chosen. Thanks! And good luck! Rockester

Winter Carnival at Michigan Technological University in Houghton Michigan Look what fun they had this week! Snow volleyball Human dogsled races--glad I am not in that dogteam! Ice Bowling with human bowling balls on discs! Now that looks fun! Lovely queens and princesses! What would a winter carnival be without those? My fave part--the life sized ice sculptures! Especially pretty at night cause they are all lit. The theme was Frightful Creatures with Chilling Features.... and that is a real full sized house Godzilla is atacking, in case you were wondering! My son refereeing a broomball tournament. The all-nighter where the frats and groups make the bulk of their sculptures in one night! Another sculpture in progress at the all nighter. Judging is later on... If you live in upper Michigan it might be a fun thing to go see. The whole town seems to get involved and the structures stay frozen a LONG time up there. :) For more info http://www.mtu.edu/carnival/ :) Tell them John...

Some mornings are the strangest things for a non-morning person like me. For some reason I woke up wide awake at 4:55 am. Crazy. COnsidering I went to sleep at about 1 am. But I knew I had to get to a friend's house by 8:30 and I wanted to give myself a pedicure before that. In the middle of a MN winter, I need my feet to look beau-ti-ous today! You see, I am trying on many many shoes today at the Mall of America. Mother of the Groom shoes. LOL To go with my Mother of the Groom dress. My dear friend Deb J offered to take me up there today. She is picking up her daughter from the area and we will make a morning of it --and zip back home for her daughter's appointment. We plan to hit Nordstroms basement and several other spots. Has to be fancy but not prosumptious. Kitten heels not flats or high heels. Preferably silver tones or teal blues. Oh yes, and comfortable please. Think I will find some? SOoooooo. I got up and did all my little tasks. Hubby even asked me if I wanted to go...

A word or two if you are a crafter....please read on! :) This week Nancy wrote me a nice note about my previous blog post: Nancy Jacobs wrote: "Hi Rock, I really enjoyed reading your blog about your troubled room and seeing the pictures. Things like this are always inspiring! I noticed the baskets on your family history desk. Did you make them? Those are the types of baskets that I write patterns and teach classes for so I found them interesting and beautiful in your room. Great job! Nancy J." --------------------------- Hi to Nancy and all the Crafters out there... I did make two of them in that photo (on the history desk by my computer). But not the red, white and blue one. These are large ones for papers about 10x 13 total size. I also made a large step basket and I used to be in both a church craft group and a crafting coop sale for over a decade. We made baskets twice or three times a year in a variety of styles. I recently (just this fall) gathered them all up and put ...

Click to enlarge any photo. Here are the photos! Walk with me through the before and after pics of my various sections of the room. :) You won't believe how messy a room can get in one month (NOV/DEC) and how clean it can get in two weekends of really sorting and hard work (1/13/2008 and 1/20/2008) Above: AFTER: Inspiration board My inspiration board of photos of my family. It really is just a garage sale bulletin board hung long way on a door back and covered in pretty fabric. Use what you have to make your space special and creative--including those precious photos. Below: Before: cutting desk my cutting station desk with a few projects stacked on it. And then...after...The cutting station desk with a close up of my tool caddy. It is really a garage sale find--a Pampered Chef tool turn around. This wooden desk is in need of a coat of paint but I love that it is sturdy and STAYS where it should when I am using the Sizzix or the giant iron school guillotine paper cutter (garage s...