BloGIVErsary!!

Guess what!  It's Signed With an Owl's 2nd Blogiversary!  (Well, honestly, it was a couple of days ago.  Fill in an expletive or two after "Oh...!") Last year I missed it too as I was in London when the blog turned one. Can you believe how fast time flies?!

Anyways, I want to say a really big thank you to all of you who have been reading and supporting me!  "THANK YOU!!!!"  All of your lovely comments and emails inspire me to keep on keepin' on!  I'm still amazed at how many friends I've made from all over the world since I started this blog.  You guys mean so much to me!

(Let's just say it wasn't that easy to get one decent picture haha!)

Before I get to something a little more exciting, I thought I'd share with you how I made this simple little felt banner!  I think it'd be great for a birthday, holiday or any other celebration.  

(Recognize this little guy?  I thought I'd make a felt version of the owl Nehill designed for the blog's banner!  I think he needs a name don't you?)

Alright, so I started by sketching out my letters on paper (nothing fancy and no stencils since I like a close to hand written look), cut them out, and then traced them with pencil onto my felt (two of each letter).

With the felt doubled and sewn together, the letters are much less flimsy (and way more adorable).  I think they'd be cute with a contrasting thread color too!

I sewed the letters (and the owl) together with just a basic running stitch with three strands of embroidery floss.  Normally I would have just used the full six strands, but I only had one little skein of the red I wanted to use.  I figured I could make it last twice as long by using half the strands!  I know, pretty clever (I just won't tell you how long it took me to come to that realization...).

Once all the letters were sewn, I threaded them onto embroidery floss (all six strands) by sewing through just the back layer of felt.  This made the letters easily adjustable.  I could slide them around until I liked the spacing.  And that's it!  Easy peasy!

Ok, on to the fun stuff!  So, you may have noticed the interesting capitalization in this post's title...  "BloGIVErsary!"  You know what that implies?!  A giveaway!  Since I'm getting ready for my local craft fair in July, I was thinking about some of my favorite projects from this past year...  What if I made some more little fox & trees and horses?  And what if I made a few extras to give away to you lovely people? 

You can see this fox in THIS past post.

This horse is from THIS post.

So, if you're interested in winning either of these little guys, just leave a comment!  But let's make things a little more interesting.  You have to give a name suggestion for the Signed With an Owl's little owl mascot! On June 15th I'll pull three names randomly, and the winners can pick their prize!  Sound good?

Again, thank you all so much for sticking with me this long, and thanks to all my recently new readers too!  I love you guys!!  Hope you all have a fantastic weekend my friends!