You know I love crafty stuff. I’m not great at it myself. But I love it. And I usually love to bask in the presence of actual crafty people. During Blissdom, I tried to hang out with the Crafty/DIY tribe. Mainly to help me out on Impress Your Kids. But also, because I think they are famous. So as a thank you to all the crafty peeps who let me tag along, here are the

TOP TEN CRAFTY FUN PEOPLE I MET AT BLISSDOM {AND THEIR SUPER CUTE WARES}

1. Mique from Thirty Handmade Days

Where I met her: I’ve been stalking her blog for months. I think I shrieked when I discovered that she was actually, you know, herself.

Why you should love her: She is adorable. She wasn’t afraid when I acted like I had been stalking her all weekend. She made me (well, anyone she came in contact with) purple polka dot earrings. *swoon*

2. Hilary from The Other Mama and Mint Julep Monograms

Where I met her…I can’t remember where we met. But now I can’t imagine not knowing her. She’s one of my bbb, to be sure.

Why you should love her: She made me a purple luggage tag with my blog name on it! She is hilarious. She coined the term, “Gaggity, Gag, Gag”.

3. Melissa from The Pleated PolkaDot (and shop!)

Where we met: We literally ran into each other at the (in)courage party. After snooping around her blog I have discovered a kindred spirit!

Why you should love her: Because she is adorable. She has a sweet blog and really, look at that purse!

4. Cha Cha from Cha Cha’s Treasures and Sit Relax and Read

Where we met: Cha Cha found me when I (for the first and only time) tweeted my exact location during Atlanta’s big ice storm. Apparently, we live 5 minutes from each other.

Why you should love her: Her name is Cha Cha for goodness sakes!

5. Kelly from Team Sparkle

Where we met: At a Crafty/DIY roundtable when she handed out like 5 business cards to her many blogging endeavors.

Why you should love her: SHE MAKES SPARKLY RUNNING SKIRTS. And her hair is awesome.

6. Bag Full of Posies

Where we met: I actually think we just sat next to each other at lunch one day. And she and the rest of the famous etsy shop owners were talking about some amazing business-y stuff. But I grabbed her card because her bag was SO CUTE.

Why you should love her: HER BAG IS SO CUTE.

7. Marie from Make and Takes

{my make and take}

Where I met her: I knew her before Blissdom. We actually met in California at N*stle. (Shhh….don’t tell!)

Why you should love her: Her business card at Blissdom was a bag of beads, a little bell and a pipe cleaner. Get it? A make and take? 

8. Red Letter Words

Where I met her: Actually. I didn’t meet her. I just needed a 10th and asked the awesomeness that is Jill of Diaper Diaries if she had met any cool crafty peeps at Blissdom. She said Deb from Red Letter Words was there! EEK! I can’t believe I missed her!

Why you should love her: Scripture art. I mean, COOL Scripture art. How can you NOT love her?

9. Megan at Half Pint House

Where I met her: I honestly have no memory of meeting her. And I’m bummed about it. And will probably be embarrassed when she comments and says, “We sat next to each other and laughed for 2 hours, remember?!”

Why you should love her: When I went through her blog, I said, “ME, TOO!” about 12 times.

10. Lori Mahon from Overture Media {not crafty, per se but fun!}

Where I met her: Kat from Inspired to Action hooked us up via Twitter during Blissdom. We met in front of Kellogg’s booth and immediately hit it off.

Why you should love her: She is a publicist for Christian Music Artists. And she likes TobyMac. And Sandi Patty. So there.

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Link up your Top Ten list and join in the Top Ten {Tuesday} fun! All you have to do is WRITE a top ten list, PASTE it  below, LINK back to me in your post & then start LOVIN’ on the rest of the participants with facebook likes, stumbles, comments and tweets! For better and more succinct guidelines see my Top Ten {Tuesday} page!

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why this post is awesome: I love promoting other people’s work.

Crafty Fun People I Met at Blissdom: Top Ten {Tuesday} is a post from: ohamanda.com

My friend Christine from Dates to Diapers is challenging herself to make a craft every day this week with her kids. (And this is quite a feat considering she has six kids and she homeschools and runs a hugely popular blog!) To help her out, I’m guest posting about a fun winter craft Lydia and I did this week. Your kids will love it. We have the dyed fingers to prove it!

Check it out and if you don’t already read Chrsitine’s blog make sure you click and get to know her. She’s fantastic!

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Wintery Crafts is a post from: ohamanda.com

In keeping with my one-word New Year’s Resolution, I want to do MORE for our Compassion kids, Alizeta and Rasmane. (Have I told you about Rasmane? Oh, he’s so cute. After Asa was born, we decided to support a little boy, too. We chose Rasmane because he goes to the same “church” as Alizeta. So, hopefully, one day, when the kids are big enough, we can go to Burkina Faso and meet them! How cool would that be after years of supporting and getting to know them?!)

So, Lydia and I made gifts for Alizeta and Rasmane this week. And because I’m super creative, I stole this idea straight from No Time For Flash Cards. But here’s my mini-tutorial, just for the record…

Supplies:

leftover glittery craft foam (or regular craft foam works, too.)
glue
string
adorable picture of children

Directions:
1. Cut a piece of regular craft foam (or cardboard/cardstock would work here, too) to the size of desired frame. This will be the back.

2. Place photo in the middle.

(so I can’t cut straight…)

3. Cut glittery craft foam into same size as backing. This will be the frame. Then cut another hole in the middle…big enough to see the picture.

(yes, she has a runny nose…)

4. If your craft foam is sticky on the back, simply peel off the plastic layer and place on top of picture and backing. If not, glue in place. (I cut the frame small enough that it stuck right to the picture and the backing. So, I didn’t even glue the photo down.)

5. Use leftover foam pieces cut into shapes to decorate.

6. Attach string to back for hanging.

Cute, right? I’m pretty sure Alizeta and Rasmane are going to like them! I would! Who doesn’t like glitter?! Plus, when sending something to your Compassion kids, it can only be 1/4″ thick, so I think once I smash these a little, they’ll be the perfect gift!

Lydia loves to talk about Rasmane and Alizeta. I pray little things like this craft will keep them in her mind and keep her heart tender towards others.

This is my contribution to Impress Your Kids’ New Impressions Carnival! If you have something fun to do with your kids this new year, please link up and show off!

New Impressions (a Craft Foam Picture Frame mini Tutorial) is a post from: ohamanda.com