Southpaw Draw

Cause when you're left-handed you cut the strips with your groovy left-handed scissors. How does one being left handed get by without these, I ask?

I simply cannot.


And then, when you're husband is left-handed too, why you draw out the winner of our free bag designing session with the ole southpaw.

Left-handed husband is just like the left handed scissors: can't do without.

Yep, it has been Kenny's job to draw for each and everyone of you k.Mac winners. Orders squeaked in today at the last minute to use their giveaway gifts towards nothing but handmade uniqueness.

Handmade uniqueness.

I love that phrase.

I really enjoyed reading about each of the ways in which you are unique.

To quote a few of my favorite snippets:

- My uniqueness is shaped and molded by the hands of God.
- I sneeze when I walk out in the sun. My Chemistry teacher tells me it's genetic.
- I feel I am unique because my life is full of contradictions but has led me to a more fulfilled life.
- ...also, I am a great speller and very fast at math in my head.
- I am unique because I can get people to tell me things.
- I am unique because I am me. God made me who I am and I attempt to live up to all his goals for me.

Man, that last one.
Dead on money ball.

God's plan. His timing. The gifts He gives each and everyone of us is just amazing. I love the confidence in this:

I am unique because I am me. God made me who I am and I attempt to live up to all his goals for me.

Yeah, I typed it again. Right on, sister! I see your Amen, and raise you a Hallelujah! I am going to do the same.

Now for the winner.

The lucky lady to receive a little k.Mac blog bio love, a blog post documentary of her k.Mac designing session, and a medium in her choice of fabric collection and bag design is:


Congratulations, Becca!

Contact me at meghan@kmaccreations.com to get the design session underway! Lots of fabrics to see and choose from! Not to mention, there are 3 more bag designs yet to be seen by the blog eye!

Thanks to everyone for making March Madness a great month for k.Mac. Keep checking in as there will be new bag promos, impromptu giveaways, and of course, lots of Eli and Casey chronicles to read up on!

It's officially 1 minute until April Fool's Day! Cutting the giveaway deadline close, aren't I? A little suspense never hurt anyone!

.mac :)

Get Down On It...

It's time for the final March Madness Giveaway.

It was a hard choice of what theme song to pick for this post.

I feel good about my selection; one of my all time favorite dance songs,

BUT...

this ditty was a close 2nd for mere thematic purposes.

I tend to be thematic from time to time.

So, girls,

To enter: leave a comment on this post and answer this question:

What makes you unique?

I'll go first.

I am unique because of the energy I possess. I love the electricity and connections made being around people. I love to create things brand new and fresh-out-the-box. I love to accessorize and write.

Alright, your turn!

What's up for grabs?

I saved the best for last: A FREE k.Mac DESIGN SESSION!

The winner will receive a medium bag in their choice of design, personalization, and fabric collection!

YIPEE!!

You want to increase your chances of winning?

Post the above advertisement on a blog post to be entered in x 5!

Gotta post the pic and you gotta post why you are unique too.

Picky, I know.
But we ain't just whistlin' Dixie here, sisters.
This is a free design session!

Make sure to let me know you made a post so that I can enter you x 5!

FACEBOOKERS: same goes for you; get creative, girls.

I plan to do a "Celebration Post" of the winner complete with a little bio about her, a documentary of her design session, and even pictures of her with her new k.Mac design. She will be known forevermore as a k.Mac Blogland Celebrity after I am through with her!

So, I'm out and your in.

It's your turn.

Comment.
Post.
Get ready to win.

Winner will be announced Tuesday, March 31st!

Oooooh, I can't wait~
.mac :)

p.s. All previous winners remember, your % offs and free monograms expire 3.31.09! Get those orders in!

Nasty, Nasty Girl

I must confess.

I have worn my make-up 2 days in a row and haven't washed my face.

Yeah, I just touched up what was there from the previous day and rolled with it.

No, I didn't dare take a picture that would be too much evidence.

The first step is admitting the problem.

There, I feel better now that is off my chest.

Nasty, nasty girl,
.mac :)

Best Gift EVER

So I had a great birthday weekend. It was rich with family and good times outside.

Relaxing.
Soaking up the sun.
Watching the boys play, play, play.

Just how I like it. I thought I would share with you a little collection of birthday memories for me. And of course, I have saved the best for last as I was, without a doubt, given the best birthday gift ever this year.


Dad and the boys taking a wagon ride at Nana and Papaw's house.

The boys hotrod'n there too!

After church on Sunday, Mollye bear and all of my gang showed up for some more fun! Check her out. She has is now sitting up!

We then headed off to our nearby paradise for a picnic lunch and play.

Kenny and Casey walking the beach.

Chuckin' rocks...

Finding just the right rock for skipping...

Pa and Eli taking it all in.

Kenny, Casey face, and me attempting a pic on our own...

Then it was back to the house for cake!

Without a doubt, my guest of honor was present. My Gramma was in from Maryland to celebrate my brithday with me. I was so happy to have her here. I was her first grandchild. I kinda like being her #1.

So, are you ready?

Ready to see the best gift ever?

Here goes.

Upon headng to the park, Eli was fumbling through his backpack talking with us about what he learned at church. He was searching to show me his craft of the day.

Eli: "Mom, God made people. I learned that today. He made soil plants and animals last week and grass too. This week He made people. God gave families to people. He wants us to live with our families and love them. [Continues shuffling through his backpack.]"

[Papers shuffling]

Me: [while staring out the window] "That's great, Eli. God did make people. We are made to do just that. Love one another as family and as friends."

Eli: "Here it is, mom. My craft! I made our family. I have daddy, Casey, you, and me."

Me: [fiddling with re-organizing the front seat clutter and NOT being the attentive mom I should be] Neat, E-man.

And then with a louder more authoritative tone, Eli exclaims: "Mom, LOOK! I want to show you what I did!"

Feeling immediately guilty for not showing him my undivided attention, I swivel in my seat, throw my hand over the head rest and my eyes meet this wrapped in his hands outstretched to me:

Our family.
Made by Eli.

He instantly began "telling the story" of our family to me once he found my eyes in focus.

Eli: "This is me, mom. Member, my red coat that Casey now wears in the winter? I used to wear it and I looked like this cept I didn't have a puppy."

Eli: "Here's daddy. This is what he looks like when he goes to church. Daddy used to have this kind of hair but now he doesn't."

Eli: "And this is Casey. He's not a baby anymore, but I couldn't make him big like me either. He is smaller than me. I am almost 4 and he is 2. I couldn't find the right picture for him, and I had to make him smaller."

Eli: "And this is you, mom. I think I did good on you."

"I think I did good on you, mom."

Are you kidding me?

FLOORED.

And then I melted. Completely turned to mush.

What the eyes of a child does see.

Lest Eli understand the meaning of hair extensions as my hair would never contort into such whimsical cuteness on its own accord no matter how much product and man power it took.

Complexion: crystal clear

Not even close, E-man.

With loads of gracious thank yous, smiles, and back seat high fives, that sweet boy absolutley gave me the best gift ever.

A lady cut out of a magazine and glued on construction paper.

And our "cut out family" through the eyes of Eli, was perfect in every way.

Eli's version of me at 33.

And the real me at 33.

At 33, I'll take either one!


.mac :)

3.22.76

On Sunday, it will be 33 years ago that this picture was taken.
me and my mom
on my birthday

33 years later, here I am.

Blessed with a wonderful husband,

2 beautifully healthy and wonderfully unique little boys,

And the chance to create.

Years build.
Stack one and one on top.
THIS YEAR
I am blissfully grateful...
that my texture doesn't stop.


WINNER:
$33.00 (a great # might I add) off your k.Mac purchase: Cee Cee! She sent me a comment via email and posted some k.Mac love on Facebook to get her in x 3!

Next week's giveaway is our last one in March!
It's a doozy! Be on the look out for details.
I'm off to celebrate 33 years with a weekend full of my boys.

Happy spring!
.mac :)

Texture

Indebted I am to your gracious gifts.
Gleefully glad to breathe it all in.

Tulips
Sunny yellow; bright as bells.
gathered and bundled
On the mantle, the stories your blooms tell.

Geo Trax
stacked and piled
ready
no destination known

Add a noggin full of plans and dreams,
And off your twisting form is shown

Texture
How I need you?
Desperate, I am.
Wearing pants with rippled ridges
Fashion Fauxpaux Before Easter Committed
I pair textures not akin.
With ridges, I choose you, linen.
Loose, lax, and lovin' on my skin.

Locks dirty,
Not clean.
A crumpled concoction...
of a LONG ago washing.

Texture
You astound me.
You're everywhere I see.

The curvy swerves of flowers,
Patience.
As each year I wait for thee.
Transformations
Of what's old that now becomes new.

A Great Gram and her Grand Munchkins
Life's continuance.
God's promise.
A bloodline fresh and new.

New
~Our Mollye~
my niece
beautifully innocent
brilliantly blue
A birth and a blessing,
Our family's texture accrues.


Friends who become family.
Celebrating their little one's turn of a year.
Raising boys together with smiles and sometimes frowns,
Cups of sugar borrowed; backyard camp outs,
Texture...just a few doors down.

Fabric sorting.
Sifting through the scraps and collections of old,
Patterns, palettes, and preparations,
Making room for the new k.Mac story to be told.

A cake.
It's liquid chocolate smooth.
Whipped crystally goodness,
We dive into the richness and yummy goo.

A warm-up?
Perhaps prematurely baked?
Nah, it's just more texture,
To our family's dinner plate.

Years build.
Stack one and one on top.

This year.
I am blissfully grateful...
that my texture doesn't stop.

.mac :)

p.s. What texture(s) in your life are you appreciating the most right now?



p.p.s Find the # hidden in the k.Mac giveaway logo. What does that number stand for?

p.p.p.s Answer the above questions to enter this week's giveaway Winners will be announced this Friday afternoon, March 20th.

p.p.p.p.s. Your name x 3 if you link this post to your blog or facebook page!

Cause Life Ain't About Blending In...

Blending.

There are times for this.

Like when you need to fill more than the capacity will allow on an elevator.
Stirring the lumps of cheese into the macaroni.
A good synthesizer beat into the hip-hops of a rap song.
While waiting for the bride to throw the bouquet.
When arriving late to a meeting at work.
Hiding the vegetables secretly in the casserole.
Trying to touch up paint on walls.


These are all times when the word blending is critical.


But this is a word I would not use to describe our life here on earth.

Notsomuch.

I have never tended to blend.

I was the little girl in 6th grade who vowed to wear her hair a new way every single day for the entire year. And pretty much succeeded in doing so. I went to great lengths with my creativity, but I got the job done, ladies.

While on the topic of 6th grade, I was also the girl who when given the choice of wearing her headgear for an entire year just at night or wearing it for 6 months day and night...

Well, let's just say I chose NOT to blend in.

It's a wonder I even had any friends or boys that liked me that pitiful sixth grade year.

BUT, I was determined. Determined and unbelievably perceptive at an early age. Realizing that accessories [such as hair bobbles and bows] really do matter and "Hurry up with this steal caged contraption...there ain't no such thing as natural beauty as my buck teeth tell me so."

Not one, but BOTH of my parents suffered from "THE BUCK."

Double whammie.

So, this life thing. It's something I love.

I absolutely get jacked up in finding the differences in my boys. Be it, their looks, their interests, or their personalities. I love to see how all the apples fell out of the barrel to create them exactly the way they are to be.

And Eli and Casey are so very different in every way. Eli is my carbon copy and Casey is lovingly referred to around these parts as "mini Kenny."

Personality is just the coolest thing. I have always marveled at the way God gives each of us exactly what we need to thrive in our own skin.

In our own skin. Thriving. I like that.

There are no 2 people the same.

The unbelievably gorgeous spring signature colors you shared with me are prime examples of our individuality and ability to express through what we choose.

We are, without a doubt, life's forever fingerprint.

So what kind of marks are you making on your glass window?

Cause life ain't about blending in.

Nope.

Life is about thriving in your own skin with the absolutely wonderful gifts that God has chosen just for you. It's about COMPLIMENTING your gifts and talents with the things you do and with what surrounds you.

BLEND COMPLIMENT with YOUR surroundings.

Complimenting yourself takes confidence.
Confidence in who you are and what you love.

Like choosing to wear fun socks with Capri pants in the dead of winter while those around you are staring from every angle.

I truly felt cute in my outfit. Exit stage left style on-lookers.

Be it your personality, your style, your faith, or your interests...

Don't blend them. Live them.

k.Mac is about just this: COMPLIMENTING who you are; not giving you opportunities to blend in with the Dooney & Bourke's, Vera Bradley's, and Louis Vuitton's of the world.

Don't get me wrong, these handbags are premier. They are quality. I own a couple myself.

But they are stock. Pre-determined. Made by the millions.

It wasn't until 3 years ago, when I began carrying my own handbag designs that I began to receive compliments on what I chose to carry.

People will stop and ask me where I got my bag. I even had one lady holler (and I can say that cause its regional talk here in Tennessee) across the parking lot at me as I walking to the car, "I love that bag! Where did you get it?"

To quote a loyal customer:

"I get so many compliments on my k.Mac bag! People stop me all the time wanting to know where I got it. I tell them www.kmaccreations.com and smile!"

Casey-TN

And these "compliments" suit me just fine.

Life is a one shot deal.
One chance to leave our fingerprints.

With every purse party I do, my goal is that ladies will leave feeling inspired to "smudge up their windows" a bit whether they purchase a custom design or not.

It's my passion: encouraging others to celebrate the uniqueness God has given them.

And with this blog, I have the opportunity to virtually and cyber-spacely spread this message too.

So, I'm takin' it. And, I am throwing in cuh-razy fun giveaways to boot!
Cause I think life should be about leaving your mark and having a dang good time doing it!


So Chartreuse Moose (cause you know I meant "moose" not "mouse" in the giveaway post, right?) Mouse vs. Moose is what happens when you post at 1:00 in the morning after a night of sewing!


THIS IS CHARTREUSE MOOSE!

And boy, am I in LOVE with this fabric collection. It's grounded with the rich brown, but has the snazzy POW of the chartreuse green. Pair these with a crisp white, and BAM...you got yourselves a power combo ladies!

So as what to choose to giveaway? Decisions decisions.

Cause you know I can't give just ONE prize. It's just not my nature. I mean we are in a k.Mac cyber space PEP RALLY/SLUMBER PARTY here.

Well, this week we are mixing things up a bit.

Somebody is going home with this:




And somebody is winning 50% off a small Tic Tac Tote with monogram

And somebodys are winning 20% off of any k.Mac design!

And EVERYONE is getting the opportunity to meet and the chance to take home this:

Meet k.Mac's Roadster in Chartreuse MOOSE!

She is the sweet thang (TN resident perks) that has been sittin' up there in my blog title all perty like. I chose the Roadster for her name as in my mind and while sketching her on paper, she took on the persona of the type of bag one would grab and stuff full of the essentials only to toss onto the passenger seat of a convertible for a whirlwind trip. Relaxed. Flirty. Festive.

This design is receiving a warm welcome from k.Mac customers. The Roadster has been on the market locally for "officially" about 2 weeks and I have already received 3 custom design orders for this girl.

Let's talk shop shall we?

She is a loosy goosy bag. She gives the vibe of "laid back, but ain't I cute doing it?" She's the accordion of couture designs...stretching out for the room you may need or scrunching up like a flirty wink for the minimalist you may be. This is our medium Roadster.


She is also deceptively designed for those in need of security and organization:

Center console divider with magnetic snap for all your "special and important items"


And, zipper closure to make sure none of your goodies should escape when you turn the corner too fast and your purse dumps into the floorboard of your car [convertible that is]...not that that EVER happens to me though.


Her cuteness comes from the side grommeted gathers. And what better for a pop of texture, I chose a slightly irredescent spring taffeta to make it's home here.

Bows cause who doesn't want to be cute? If they are bit over the top for your taste, you can always turn them into fold over sashes or you can opt for thin fabric straps to weave through and tie like so:


Two-tone wide straps to off set the color play and design of this bag.


And lastly, a detachable handmade flower for that feminine touch. This accessory comes with the design.

With the flower:


Without the flower:


And who says monograms have to be the focal point?

I don't. I think personalization is divine, and great anytime whether it be large or small. The busyness of the Roadster design lends the monogram to be more of a tiny touch of "you." Kinda like the "L" on this girl's shirt. You see my monogram here for visual display purposes, but of course, I will replace my monogram with the happy owner's monogram. I work wonders with a black Sharpie. Just kidding! Yours will be just like mine, but only your initials!

So, viola! The k.Mac Roadster!


And she is up for grabs! I was going to allow first dibs on her to go to the winner of the Pretty Ditty, but then thought: "NAAAAAAHHHH!" Let's keep the party popping! So, first one to contact me at meghan@kmaccreations.com to say, "I want it! I want it!" gets it whether that be the winner of the wallet, the tote, the 20% offs, one reading that didn't win this time, or someone who stumbled upon this blog for the first time.

Kinda like the wedding dress episode on the show from my good ole college era....

Alright.

Winners are:
20% offANY k.Mac custom order lucky ladies:

Amy and Shannon
This discount expires March 31, 2009.


Winner of a k.Mac Pretty Ditty in Chartreuse Moose: A Line Walker

And lastly, the 50% off winner of a small Tic Tac Tote with monogram: Nonny

Offer expires March 31, 2009!

Congratulations lucky k.Mac ladies!!! A sweet and heartfelt thank you goes out to all of you who participated with great comments and links of k.Mac love!

And I wonder where this sweet Roadster in Chartreuse Moose is going to end up?

We'll see!

On your mark, get set, go! [insert whistle blowing here!]


Doesn't this set just say, "Welcome, Spring!?"

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on a stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

Matthew 5: 14-16 (New International Version)

Thrive in your own skin. Let your light shine.


Be it your personality, your style, your faith, or your interests...

Don't blend them. Live them.

.mac :)

Next week's giveaway is in honor of my Volunteer state and my signature color: CORAL!

Stay tuned!