I'm a Winner!

Back when I lived in the US I was a sweeper.

A 'sweeper' being the term for someone who enters a lot of sweepstakes. Or in my case, online contests. There are so many online contests out there (especially for Americans, fewer for the rest of us), you could spend all day every day entering and have a hard time keeping up! I wasn't that hard core, but I did all right - I loved having random prizes arrive in the mail. Like a dozen roses, earrings, enormous quantities of Skittles, dvds, books, etc. My biggest win.... $5000 cash from Time Magazine.

Here's a hint to help weed out real prize win notifications from the scam ones.... if you really win a prize of substantial value, they will not tell you what the prize is until they have verified you're eligible for it. In the case of the $5k I had to prove I was of age first, I think.

I haven't entered as many contests since I moved back to Canada, but every now and then I do. I've had quite the streak of luck lately! I've received two lovely packages in the mail recently, prizes from online contests.

The first was a fabulous pair of earrings by Katrinna Louise (a fellow BC crafter) who has a shop full of pretty jewelry. Thanks Katrinna - I love the earrings!


The second package was a tin decorated for christmas with cute little gift tags and envelopes inside. This will definitely come in handy in a few months! Especially since I never have wrapping supplies on hand. This prize is from a monther/daughter run etsy shop called Le Pink Chandelier. They sell vintage and upcycled items. I particularly love the envelopes made from old maps. Thanks for my prize you guys!

The third prize is less craft related but is awesome - I got free passes to the Vancouver PNE (Pacific National Exhibition) - which I've never been to! I also got passes to Playland and a free dinner. So my boyfriend Peter and I are going to have a great weekend.... for free thanks to the Georgia Straight (a local newspaper).

I really like this winning thing. =)

Delica Glory

Our very popular delica rings have been featured over on this lovely Montreal blog. The writer of the blog is a creative spirit who is raising two beautiful children and running a jewelry business at the same time! I'm impressed.

Notepad Vice

You may recall a few months back I posted about making notepads out of the scrap paper from my office so it could be re-used before being recycled.... I've been doing this for a while now and decided that I needed a better system if I was going to continue.

So I went to the hardware store, got myself some wood, bolts, and wing nuts. I drew up a plan that would create a vice for a variety of notepad sizes. Just a simple device to hold the paper together while the glue dries. I made some measurements, drilled a few holes, and bob's your uncle, I had a notepad vice. No more stacking textbooks on top of my pads as they dry! I just put the paper in the vice, tighten it up, slather on a few coats of elmer's and it's good to go. The large bolts will allow me to do a big stack of notebooks at once too.

The next step is to get some real padding compound (already ordered it) - the stuff the pros use. The elmer's glue works, it's just very thin so it takes a few coats which is annoying. I'm already loving the process more now and think the end product is more professional looking. Can't wait to get my hands on the padding compound!