"Little Fixes" Winner! And My Inner "Moody Artist"...

Congratulations to commenter #3: Kara Meloy!! yay! I'll be in touch to get your address. 

Thanks everyone for entering!! We'll be having lots more giveaways in the future, so don't worry if you didn't win!

And now I have to confess something to you guys. I have just been...a stink pants. That's just all there is to it. For the past few months, I have hated even the thought of my book. I didn't want to think about it, I didn't want to see it, I didn't want people talking about it.
I don't really know why.
I think it might have been a "moody artist" thing? You know, that tendency to create something and then want to destroy it or at the very least never lay eyes on it again. The frustration of feeling like my work is imperfect and there's nothing I can do about it. Or maybe it was just plain old fear of rejection. But all I could see were perceived flaws.

Thankfully! I (with a little help from my husband) have talked myself out of that craziness. I realized how ungrateful I was being and how unhealthy my perfectionistic mindset was! So I slapped myself in the face (not really, that hurts) and then sat down, flipped through the book, and made a list of all the things I love about it! :O) Here's my list:

• It's a memory book for Paige and her friends. I laughed out loud at one comment on a previous post about how all the kids were "white". I guess maybe some people might think that I went through some sort of kid interview process with certain ethnicities or "looks" in mind. In reality? I just used all the kids from church. Yep! You're looking at Paige's group of homies, right here. These are the kids I see every week, several times a week. And I LOVE them. Their parents are my brothers and sisters, they are my nieces and nephews. I love seeing their goofy, bright, energetic faces on every page. :)

• And I love the kid quotes that are included on all the lifestyle shots of the kids. Kids say the sweetest and funniest things! I could listen to them all day.

• This page. I just really love this random page. :O) I love the colors!

•  The patterns in the back. I made all of these from scratch and I'm so proud of myself! I don't have any fancy software, either, I just fiddled around in a cheap little app called "Pixelmator" until I figured it out. Yay, me!

•  And finally? It's useful! I really kind of like that about my book. Not that I have any problem at all with "just for fun" sewing books (all sewing books are good sewing books!!) but it makes me happy to think that it might help someone out who doesn't have a ton of money to throw away on new clothes for their children all of the time. Or help someone exercise their creativity and rethink things a little! Yay!

I love that it's a testimony to God's generous, prayer-answering nature. I love that I believed I could do it, so I did. I love that someday I'll be walking through Barnes and Noble and I'll see my little name. Cool.

And I love you guys for cheering me on and making it possible! I love you!! 

"Hug, hug, kiss, kiss, hug, hug, big kiss, little hug, kiss, kiss, little kiss."

-Disney