Annika

Annika, originally uploaded by sweetimaginations.

Sweet Imaginations makes the cutest little clothespin dolls I have ever seen! Now that we know our new baby is a girl I have dreams of getting my two little girls some of her cute little dolls for their room.

New Patterns at Roxycraft!

365 - Day 101, originally uploaded by roxycraft.

Roxycraft has released a new crochet pattern for this cute little owl. She also just annouced on her blog today that she is going to be making her adorable crochet creations into sewing patterns and - be still my heart - embroidery patterns!! I called her as soon as I read that and begged to be her embroidery pattern tester, which I cannot wait for! We'll be sure to let you know as soon as they become available.

Vintage Embroidery Pattern Giveaway

She has several vintage embroidery patterns up for grabs! Take a look at other fun stuff she has on her blog while you are there.

Via Heather Hale's Designs

More Giveaways!

I think giveaway Monday is turning into giveaway anyday. Thanks so much to you guys who email me telling me about your giveaways. I think that is going to be the only way to ensure I get the word out. SO if you are hosting a sawp or a giveaway email me at thehandmadeparade@gmail.com and I'll get the word out for ya!


Debbie and Jessie of Pink Petunia and Sweet Jessie (respectively) are both holding Pay It Forward Giveaways on their blogs.

Lauren of Speckled Nest is having a giveaway for these adorable earrings. Comment away and they can be yours!


PS. Be sure to email me about your swaps, too!

Monday Giveaway! (On Tuesday...)

Carrie over at Carrie Girl is having a WONDERFUL vintage giveaway on her blog! She is leaving the comments open on the post until Friday April 7.

Good Luck!

Monday Giveaways!

Here is a very short list of the giveaways I managed to find over the weekend. I think I'll really need the help of my readers to make this the awesome feature that I would love it to be. So, if you are hosting a swap or a giveaway please email me with your info and I'll include it in next Mondays round up.

Hope you win!!


Oh Fransson! - 50 charm squares

House Wren Studio - Felt Mouse

Heather Hale Designs - Vintage Trim Box

Weekly Round Ups!

So I had this little idea of each week doing a little round up of bloggers who are doing giveaways on their blogs or hosting swaps. I always wonder who is doing all the fun stuff but don't always have the time to search out for it. So, in the future if you are hosting a swap or a giveaway on your blog shoot me an email (handmade_parade@yahoo.com) with a link to your site and I'll add it to my weekly list. I'm going to do it every Monday. You know, to start your week with something fun!

So, If you know of a giveaway or a swap, shoot me an email with a link to the blog entry and on Monday I'll post the round up. I expect it will be a bit slow going at first, but hopefully it will grow into a fun feature you all will really love!

And the winner is...............!

The Lunchbox and Placemat Set by Elizabeth of Oh, Fransson! How stinkin' cute is that? She has even made several which are hopefully going to be in her Etsy shop soon. She must have known she had a hit on her hands - we sure did! Speaking of "We", thanks so much to all our judges! Jessie, Jen, Becki, Missy, and Kristen (I can't tell you how flattered I am that Kristen took the time to judge-with a brand spanking new baby to boot!). Thanks again, girls, really! And Congrats to Elizabeth!

Now Elizabeth, email me with your particulars and your $50 gift certificate will be in your hot little hands soon!

Updated: There will be a flickr group devoted to all this wonderful pillowcase talent! Check it out!

Wednesday will be the big day!

Or evening rather. Check back here on Wednesday evening 7 pm West Coast Time to see who our winner of the Pillowcase Challenge is. We had so many fantastic entires that is will be very hard to decide! Thank goodness I have a great team of judges to help me out.

Sorry to have kept you waiting on the outcome. I have been a bit slower at everything these days because of my pregnancy. I am not very far along (13 weeks) but running around after my four year old and two year old is leaving me ragged!

See you Wednesday!

Contest Clarification

Hey guys! I have had a few questions asked about the Pillowcase Challenge so I will try to answer them here. If you have more questions feel free to post them in the comments section and I will update this post with answers as they come in. And feel free to take a button!

1. Hey girls! How many entries can you submit?
Ang
I say, the more the merrier! If you have more than one great idea and would like to submit more than one entry, that is fine. As a judge I would recommend that the entires be unique from one another (don't submit two of the same type of item).

2. One more question--can you use something in addition to the pillowcase? Like more fabric/notions?
You may use notions (buttons, zippers, embroidery floss, tags, ric rac, ribbon, seambinding...). The challenge here is to make something entirely out of a vintage pillowcase. You do not need to use the whole pillowcase, but your whole item should be made up of the pillowcase.

3. I was also wondering about additional materials. Is it okay to use additional fabric besides the pillowcase?
As long as it came off of your vintage pillowcase, it can be used! Time to stretch your creative muscles here! (psst! I have a few vintage pillowcases that have more than one fabric pattern in them, so those are totally fair game!)

4. I am unclear as to what you mean by "vintage". To me vintage fabrics are 40's and 50's but you might mean 80' and 90's. Or perhaps you just me a thrifted pillow case as opposed to a newer one. Also can you use other materials, such as zippers, rick rack etc, do they have to be thrifted or vintage as well.

I think of things from the 40s-70s - big range, I know! Thrifted is probably more important, since it's hard to tell the dates on vintage fabrics. Any notions you use can be new, but certainly if you have vintage, that is fine, too!


Remember, ask me anything! If you aren't sure about something shoot me an email or ask in the comments section and I will let you know.

Thanks!