Stylish Blogger Award

I'm so excited!  I won my first blogging award.  Kait over at Mrs. DIY and the tennis guy awarded me the Stylish Blogger Award.  Kait is a cute twenty-something who blogs about life as a newlywed, and crafting.  Two things I can truly identify with (although I think I am no longer "technically" a newlywed anymore).  She takes lots of pictures of her friends, family, crafts, and pets.  Go check it out.  Thanks Kait!

Here are the rules for accepting the award:

1. Thank and link back to the blogger who awarded you with the award.
2. Share seven things about yourself.
3. Award eight recently discovered stylish bloggers.
4. Contact the bloggers and inform them of their award.

I tend to go a little overboard with everything I do, so I decided to give a brief description of each blog/blogger through which I will give you a little bit of information about me.  Although there are many reasons for choosing each blog, I will just focus on one for each.

One reason I chose Tammy and Annie at Peppermint Plum is because they are two sisters living in separate states.  My sister, Brooke,  currently lives in Utah, and I live in Colorado.  I know these are not worlds apart, but for everyday life, they might as well be planets apart.  Tammy and Annie blog about crafts and recipes, and challenge us to guess which sister is naturally crafty, and which sister is not.  As many of my readers know from my Fabric Flowers Headband post, I am naturally crafty, but my sister is not.  Tammy and Annie have lots of cute ideas that anybody can make; head over there and see what they are making today!

One reason I chose Kelly at Living Craftily Ever After is because of her amazing tutu bow holder.  Brooke and I have had long, straight, blond hair for almost our entire lives (Brooke went to the dark side a couple years ago).  My hair reached my waist for most of my childhood.  Because we have such a great, crafty mom, we always had a million bows.  We had our own cute bow holders, but I know I would have squealed for joy at this one.  Go check out her darling bow holders, and her other beautiful crafts.

Allie at Miss Lovie, and I have several things in common.  Allie teaches first grade, and I teach high school, but that isn't why I chose her.  She has this beautiful necklace tutorial that I like to just look at because it is so pretty; the necklace is not solely pearls, but that is what attracts me to the necklace.  I have always loved pearls, and this Christmas, Adam surprised me with my own set of pearls.  I had never told him that I wanted pearls, and he considered it a "concept" gift.  For the past few Christmases, my father has given my mom "concept" gifts.  They are usually something that she has not ever mentioned wanting, and is an experiment that my dad hopes will be successful.  He usually succeeds.  Some of the successes are the roomba and the ipad.  Although I would love to wear my pearls every day, Adam insists that I cannot wear them when I wear jeans and a t-shirt.  Any thoughts?  If you would like to know how to make a pearl necklace with a little flair, head over the Allie's blog.

My main reason for choosing The Spangler at The Quick Unpick is because of my love of all things girly.  She posts tutorials for the cutest dresses for her two darling girls.  If you have a daughter, or a niece, or just like anything girly, head over there and see what she is working on now.  When I was a little girl, I asked my mother to make me a Scarlett O-Hara dress.  When she asked my why, I told her that I wanted suitors.  She then asked me what a suitor was, and I told her "men who love you."  So she made me my very own Scarlett dress.  If you read my "about me" page, you already know that my mom later taught me to make dresses for myself, which led to three beautiful prom dresses.

Growing up, my best friend Sarah and I would get together regularly to craft or sew--often making something for our American Girl dolls.  Although Sarah and I don't get together to craft (mostly now we just get together to chat, or for her to style/color/cut my hair), I love that the girls over at The Crafty Gals have been able to continue their craft days into adulthood.  They post about crafts, recipes, and decor.  Head over and say hi!  They are new to the blogging world like me, and love getting comments and new followers.

Jessica at Me Sew Crazy and I are similar in that we both teach ourselves how to do things.  Jessica taught herself to sew beginning with one pattern and moving on from there.  She also posts cute dresses (are you noticing a trend?) and girly stuff.  Jessica has turned her crafting into a small business--go take a look.  I have tried time and time again to start my own business with my passions.  A few years ago, after I taught myself to knit, I began a business called The Rouge Kneedle.  This didn't really take off, because it took me nearly five hours to knit a scarf that the stores were selling locally for $15.  Then, I wanted to start making cakes as a side business, but guess what?  In Colorado, you can't have a culinary business out of your home unless you go through some intense remodelling, and licensing.  Scrap that idea.  Finally, I landed on the blog.  I figure I will post everything I am passionate about.  If I can someday get sponsors helping me cover the cost of my addiction habit hobby, then great! 

Are you hungry yet?  Want to go on a picnik?  Jen over at Making it My Own introduced me to Picnik with her great tutorial about her waffles party.  Jen is one of the sweetest people I know, and she is always so genuine in her blog.  She posts crafting tutorials, as well as general inspiration for life.  I really love her "be" theme this year.  I am now slightly obsessed with Picnik, and I am getting more into adjusting the photos myself instead of using the autofix features.  Now all I need to do is take a photography class, so I can take better pictures.  If only Jen still lived in Colorado, I could take her husband's class.  They are both truly talented people.

This won't be news to any of you, but I LOVE flowers.  I love getting fresh flowers.  I love making flowers out of different mediums.  I love seeing flowers in the wild.  I love seeing all the different ways people incorporate flowers into different settings.  You already know I love all things girly, so it will be no surprise that I love Fabric Bows and More.  On this blog, you can find all sorts of different flowers, bows, etc.  She started the blog because she looked for a blog where anyone could find lots of tutorials on how to make different bows (instead of spending big bucks on buying them), but couldn't find one.  She started this blog to fill the void.  After you make the tutu bow holder at Living Craftily Ever After, you will want bows to fill it.

Oh my.  This is the most I have written for a single blog yet.  I'm exhausted.  Maybe I should take a nap--I do love napping, although I never get to nap anymore with teaching and coaching.  What blogs do you love?