Welcome Lily!

A sweet little bundle of joy entered the world on Sunday, 6 September. My real life and bloggy friend, Melody, had her second baby, a girl - Lily Venice.

Happy Birth Day Lily, congratulations to the whole family, and all my love and prayers to Melody. Vist her at www.biglittlesister.blogspot.com to see the very cute photos!

What a Twit..(ter)

Now I am feeling VERY technologically challenged (this from the person who used to set up all my boss's crazy techno-gadgets and actually get them to work).

I searched Twitter and can't even find myself!! (story of my life!). BUT here is my Twitter homepage: http://twitter.com/SashaSews

I promise that if you click on that link, you will find me tweeting away. I hope. Unless I am asleep. Although, sleep is becoming a bit of a fantasy for me, thanks to Naomi.

So come and tweet with me - I have some followers, but I suspect most of them are Eastern-European spammers. But if they want to listen to me tweet, then who am I to complain?? I have booted off the x-rated ones though.

Christmas In July Sale

I hope all my US readers enjoyed 4th of July!

Here is something else to celebrate in July -- CHRISTMAS! Yep, that's right. Christmas in July!

Etsy is having a site-wide sale, for Christmas In July. Thousands of stores, and thousands of items discounted. Each store decides its own discounts, and the items are not just Christmas themed.

For example (hint hint), I have taken 15% off the price of all items in my store, AND I am offering free shipping on orders over $40. That means that all my purses, totes, coffee cozies and sweet kids' aprons are under $21.00!

The best way to browse all of the discounted items, is to go to the Etsy home page, and do a search for "CIJ" or "ChristmasInJuly" (no spaces), also add the terms for anything you specifically want to look at - eg "CIJ purple purse".

This is a great way to get your gift shopping done early, stock up on little gifts for the rest of the year, or just to treat yourself to something delicious, and that you know has been made with love.

Oh, and I will be posting about the prize for the July give-away tomorrow.... it is utterly delicious, so make sure you come back tomorrow, to enter!

More twittering

OK, so I am slightly technically challenged. Not sure why, but perhaps try searching for Sasha Fowler (**gasp** - my real name revealed!), if you want to hear me Tweet?? And my avatar is a cute picture of a pink handbag, so you will know me from all the millions of other Sasha Fowlers out there...

Do you Tweet?

I have heard a lot about Twitter, but never thought I would have the time to check it out. But I have. And I really like it. It is kind of fun to see what my cyber-friends are up to, through the day.

So if you Twitter, come searching for me - my user name is SashaSews. I would love to link up with you all -- the time difference makes things a bit strange, but I do like the short and sweet catch-up aspect.

AND ... Twitterers (I think I may have just discovered a new word!) just might hear about EXCLUSIVE stuff happening over at Sasha Sews! Ha ha ha. More of that shameless self-promotion again!

I received a lovely comment from a purchaser of one of my bags, the other day ... "I got the purse, and its adorable and beautifully made." Thanks for the feedback, Olivia - I am glad you liked it.

An Award!

Thank you to Aimee at Aimee's Land for giving me this award, which is very sweet!

Here is the description -

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind of bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated.Please give more attention to these writers."

I am passing this award on to

Kara at Eskimo Kisses and Air Hugs;

Amy at Butterflies and Buffalo Wings; and

Nikki at Nikki's Notes.

Banner of Blessings

For all of you vintage hearts out there, you are in for a treat.... Check out Banner of Blessings, for free... yes, you heard me, free blog and Etsy banners. They are gorgeous vignettes, all taken by Polly, who runs the site. I like this one, but had so much trouble choosing that I may just use them all in rotation, over the coming months!

Nervous Nineties....

Well, here it is... my ninetieth post. And it is about.... being my ninetieth post. Yep, inspiration has been at a low ebb for the past few days.

So I thought I would pep you all up by announcing that I will be doing a give-away for my 100th post... when it finally gets here. Which may take a couple of weeks, unless inspiration hits fast!!

I like to give away delicious handmade scented soaps, 'cause everyone loves them, right?!?!

A place to curl up.

They say a picture says a thousand words.... I have always wanted to have a window seat, to snuggle up with a blanket, soup and a book, on wet days, and watch the raindrops slide down the window panes, and soak the pretty cottage garden outside.

Thanks to DesignerSpaces.com for supplying the photo that shows exactly what I was thinking of!

Fiddling...

I am mucking around with my template. Ultimately, I want to commission Nap Warden at NW Designs to make me a lovely new template. In the meantime, I have been looking at the free ones from Pyzam.

There are certainly thousands to choose from, but the only differences between them all is the background wallpaper. And I have lost my links etc from the sidebar.

Back to the drawing board!

Bloggy tips

Although I have been blogging for a few months now, I am still a rank novice at it. I think I lack focus -- am I blogging about being a first-time mum? about crafty vintage-type things? or just about being... me?

But here is a good list of tips that have got me thinking about my blogging, and ways to perhaps improve it.... and any feedback or other tips would be much appreciated!