Help A Good Cause and Maybe Even Yourself

Fantastic blog Cool Mom Picks has teamed up with Etsy to help raise funds for the Children's Heart Foundation this Valentine's season.

Here's where you come in: Visit the Cool Mom Picks Valentine's Design Contest post to learn about this great contest.

To enter, you'll have to design a Valentine's Day card that is all line art so that it can be printed out and colored by children to give to their friends. Size and quality rules are all neatly listed in the post and everyone that enters will get their shop hearted by Cool Mom Picks. How great is that?

The winning cards will be sold in the Etsy shop as PDF downloadable files for parents to purchase and print for their kids.

This is a great way to donate your time to a charity that does a lot of great work for children in the USA and also to help yourself. Feel good, do good, get good stuff! It really doesn't get much better than that.


[my entry]

Perfect for Valentine's Day: Cozy Cowl in Antique Rose Lambs Wool

I do a lot of my supply shopping on Ebay and on one of my last yarn expeditions I came across a great shop selling a discontinued yarn in tiny batches. After my first order arrived and was even better than expected, I went back and ordered the yarn in three additional colors. Those haven't arrived yet, but the gorgeous, antique rose was my first choice and I knitted it up into a beautiful button-up cowl.

The yarn is 30% lambs wool and 70% acrylic, making it super soft and warm but easy to care for. It's not as bulky as the ever-popular Lion Brand Thick & Chunky Wool-Ease, but it's even more cozy and soft. I wish this yarn hadn't been discontinued, because I would buy it in bulk!

Take a look at the beautiful cowl I was able to knit from this amazing yarn.



I found the wooden buttons at a local vintage shop that benefits the Helping Hands Charity organization. They were all dried out and dull, but a thorough application of Old English returned them to better-than-new condition and brought out the fantastic carving and grain detail of the wood.



The brooch was crochet from a lambs wool and acrylic blend yarn in charcoal gray before being embellished with a small, pink and ivory cameo button, upcycled faux pearl beads and gold-toned chains (also found at the Helping Hands store). I then affixed the entire rose to a piece of heart-shaped black, stiffened felt (made from post-consumer recycled bottles), and a hinged pin-back so you can affix the brooch to the cowl as you please, or anything else, like a jacket, purse, or sweater.

This cowl is so cozy, soft, and classy I really wanted to keep it for myself. It would make a perfect gift for the special lady in your life, whether she's your mom, sister, girlfriend, best friend, or wife. This cowl will take you through the entire year. Pair it with your coat and gloves during the cold months or use it as a capelet while out on the town during the spring and summer months to protect against the evening chill.

I hope you'll go check it out on my Etsy shop.