Bloggy-versary Giveaway!

-----GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED---

Last year I started blogging on THIS DAY!
Read the first post here!


Looking forward to the new year... 

 To celebrate I have decided to do another giveaway!!! This time it will be a little different. Instead of giving away a sock monkey YOU tell ME what you get! There's a choice of between a HiLLjO-made  amigurumi crochet animal of your choice; a standard-size sock monkey; or even a crochet accessory of your choice like a hat, socks, gloves or corset-style arm warmers!

Value of ths giveaway is $20USD and is open to International entries. Giveaway closes 12/26/11.

-----GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED---

Good Luck and Thanks for the Great Year!!!

YAY! I solds 2 sock monkeys!



HiLLjO.etsy.com

I have an etsy account mainly so that local people have an easy way to buy my products online and have them mailed to their homes in lieu of the run-around-to-pay-and-pickup. Plus it makes them available for people that just happen upon my sock monkeys and agree that they are a perfect gift for anyone. I usually don't make sales out of the blue off of etsy; I usually get a custom order, make it, post it and then the customer buys it off the site. So today when my fraternal twin monkeys were purchased I did a happy dance!!!

These two will be joining a family for Christmas as a gift! I can't wait to send them out on their merry ways today after work! I am glad, too, that I didn't have to split them up. They're twins, you know.

Bunnies has house keys... to our new home together.

Need some family crest animals?

Monday Monkey Madness

Ah, Monday again. A chance to make this week not suck like last week!

We are finishing the wedding thank you's tonight and sending them out this week. I can't believe we were married for a month already yesterday!

I signed up for Google's AdWords to help me sell more monkeys! If you were to search for sock monkeys on Google you might see my add pop up on the top where the sponsored results show!!! SO exciting. It links to my etsy shop where I just put a few new listings so the shop doesn't look so naked. I have a bar on the blog as well at the very bottom of the right side. It shows all the newer listings like the monkeys!

I went through our wedding photos last night for the first time in detail; boy do I have some stuff to show you guys!!! I'm going to do a multi-day feature of our wedding right here exclusively first! Do you guys have any ideas of blogs I should submit the wedding to for featuring? I love GWS but Jen never comments back! I've even had Eddye from Style Me Pretty comment back to me before thanking me for reading. I want to submit it somewhere it will be well-received all around. I don't know where that would be...

What are you all up to this week?!



Sock Monkey Giveaway!!! WINNER!

Finally! It's Friday!

I am SOOOO happy to announce the winner of the HiLLjO custom sock monkey!

You can pick any of the monkeys I have in my inventory ( I will send you a photo of current stock) or we can create one to your liking and start from scratch (with a pair of socks)!

You can also pick from several customization options if we start with socks:

• Embroidered OR button eyes (felt backing color choice available)
• Name/Personalization Embroidery
• Clothing/Accessories 

There are no holds barred here, and if you're anxiously scrolling looking for the name of the winner, here it is:

The Favour Shoppe

Congratulations!!! I'm so happy for you; now you'll have a Favour Shoppe Monkey!

However, that's not all there is to say!

Since I'm still busting at the seams from having this great opportunity to share love through handmade things, I have also chosen a runner-up to receive an Owl Hat like the ones in my etsy shop!

The winner of an Owl Hat is...

Amanda of Abbottx4!!!

Congratulations, both of you!

Everyone have a fantastic weekend!

Enjoy free domestic shipping on any custom order in my etsy shop!

Use coupon code FSCUST0M0RDER at checkout!

GIVEAWAY!!!

I am just so happy all the time anymore that I want to give away a sock monkey! The deets: The prize will be one original sock monkey (made of new socks, silly!) handmade by myself.


HiLLjO's Sock Monkey

To enter:
*You must leave a comment here or here about who you would give the monkey to or if you'd keep it!

Extra Entries
*Be a follower of Daisy to Sunflower or HiLLjO
*Go to my etsy shop and then come comment here on which owl hat for sale you like the best.
*Make a blog post about the giveway!!!

The giveaway will end  12:00 AM CST Thursday, July the 7th!!! Lucky 7-7-11!

Good Luck!

PS: I'm ammending the giveaway to include everyone around the world! I WILL SHIP INTERNATIONALLY!

Sock Bunnies : Completed!

Do I need to write a post to go along with these?

No. They are just that awesome. ƸӜƷ

Sock Bunny Rabbits

I make sock monkeys and Shawn and I both have one, but for the wedding guestbook table we wanted something that tied into our bunny theme. Sock bunnies seemed a pretty natural choice. They're also a nod to the homemade bunny dolls Shawn's Grandma used to make when she was still here. The faces/profiles were made in the same way and shape.
Shawn's bunny with full details is here.
Here are ours so far together sans eyeballs!

Check out the spectacular button I found that matches my engagement ring. Square with a round stone! More on these soon!

100 Days to Go! WOW!

Bunny Wedding
bluedogrose @storybird.com

Time is really flying now and I realized that if I own the supplies for a project, it must be completed. Now.

So onto the rushing DIY tide, everyone. It's going to be appearing so frequently you won't know what to do.
For today's DIY I want to share with you my plans for it first. At the venue, we are having a guest book table (duh) set up with our matted photo, a centerpiece, our big potted Saguaro and a couple of sock bunnies. That's right not sock monkeys, sock bunnies.

You see, I make sock monkeys and sell them on etsy and Shawn & I have our own; but for our bunny-themed wedding we need some sock bunnies, mmk? I don't share a pattern for my monkeys because of two reasons: 1) I make them different each time and 2) I share a lot, but some things are proprietary to even the HiLLjO.
There are a ton of free patterns out there like this one that work wonderfully.
For Shawn's bunny, I stuffed and sewed bunny feet instead of regular feet and I made long ears. I also pre-sewed the bunny profile before stuffing the main body sock. Here's a teaser of him without his eyes and outfit.

 Next up on the DIY Docket: Jr. Bridesmaids & Flower Girl accessories: Flip flops, hair accessories and flower baskets.