Martha Stewart Knit and Loom Kit Review and Giveaway!

***This giveaway is now over - thank you so much to everyone who entered! I wish I had so many more to give away. Congratulations to my two winners, Pascale Evans and Beth Elderton - I hope you both enjoy your new knit & weave loom kits from Martha Stewart Crafts and Lion Brand Yarn!***

 

This is my second time writing about the Martha Stewart Knit and Loom kit, probably because it’s my favorite crafting tool that I own. To begin with, I'm just an insanely huge fan of anything Martha Stewart. She's my crafting idol. She's made a career doing what I do for fun, and I have so much respect  for that. 

I’ve had my loom kit for about 2 years now, and have pretty much used it nonstop since I received it. I've been using it a lot this winter, making blankets and a variety of scarves. I've convinced so many people to buy this kit - I even have a student who asked for one for Christmas after seeing me use mine!

When I first got this kit, I used it primarily for weaving. The first thing I made with it was my 4 x 5 heart blanket, which I posted about here.

 

Since I had just gotten the kit, the squares were taking me about 2 hours each to make. I wouldn't say this was a fast project, but the results were stunning. I should note that the blanket that has held up really well, 2 years later.

This year, I made a 3 x 3 blanket for my niece, Chelsea. With experience, I've gotten it down to about an hour a square, with a little more time needed for the cross stitching.

Really though. Is she not the cutest?

I'm currently working on blanket number 3 - I haven't decided how big it will be, or how I'll arrange the squares. The blankets are quite easy to make - I keep the loom on the largest size and weave up my square. Once I have several made, I use like colored yarn to sew them together (I usually don't even use a needle, I just push the yarn through the edges.) It holds together perfectly!

This year, I decided to actually try changing up my configuration to try loom knitting. Basically, the loom kit contains a bunch of little pieces that can be configured in a variety of ways. When you want to weave, you build the loom into a square, the size that you want your blanket squares to be. To knit, you just switch the loom around to a rectangle. Easy!

I didn't really know where to start with this, as I had never loom knit before, but luckily, Lion Brand has some great how to videos, which I followed diligently until I felt comfortable with the process.

I made a couple of infinity scarves for myself:

And of course, made a little cowl with flower for my niece as well!

Basically, I love this kit. I haven't even really scratched the surface of what it's able to do. There's an entire circular configuration that I haven't even attempted yet. What could the circle be for!? Probably hats.

I decided to do this review about a month ago, and figured it was worth a shot to ask Lion Brand if they would be able to provide me with a loom kit so that I could run a giveaway with my review (because, really, what good is a gushy review if there's nothing in it for the reader?) To my huge surprise, they wrote back right away, agreeing to send me some goodies. So without further ado...

Lion Brand was kind enough to send me TWO kits, with 4 balls of yarn each (huge thanks!) That means that there will be two winners for this contest! Each winner will receive:

-1 Martha Stewart Knit and Loom Kit
-2 balls of Lion Brand wool roving (blue and cream)
-2 balls of Lion Brand yarn (red and navy)

There are a couple of ways to enter:

• For one entry: Leave a comment and let me know what you would make if you won the Martha Stewart Knit and Loom Kit.

• For a second entry: Post a link to this giveaway on your blog, twitter, facebook, etc., then come back and post a link in a separate comment.

This giveaway is open to anyone in Canada and the United States. The approximate value of this giveaway is around $70 per prize (but can you really put a price on all of this weaving and knitting fun?) 

The giveaway will run from now until Thursday, February 14th at 8:00pm, when I will randomly select a winner using a random number generator. 

PLEASE CHECK BACK to see if you have won! I will comment to your comment, and also update this entry. Sometimes people don't get notified about comments to their comments, so please be sure to check back! Alternately, if you leave an email address in your comment, I will simply email you if you have won!

Review and Giveaway: Pick and Draw

Edit: This contest has ended! Congratulations to Danielle, who will be receiving her prize shortly!

Have you heard of Pick and Draw? I hadn’t, until someone on my blogroll posted about it, recommending that art teachers pick it up for their classroom. Curious, I ordered it, and at the same time, asked the creator if he could ship me an additional copy to give away to one of my readers. He kindly obliged (see below!) and I eagerly awaited my shipment, secretly hoping that I would love the game enough to necessitate the giveaway (spoiler alert - I did.)

Here’s a basic breakdown: Pick and draw is kind of half card game, half drawing game, that’s surprisingly useful in an art classroom. The deck is color coded into 5 categories - face, hair, eyes, nose, and mouth. Either the game facilitator, or the artist themselves, draws one card per category, one at a time. The card displays a feature, which the artist then has to copy onto their paper. The creative part comes in in their interpretation of the feature. A pair of eyes can look very different if drawn close together, far apart, huge, small, etc. You work through the features, one at a time, until you end up with a cartoony face that you can then color in. (Is this explanation making sense? If not, you can actually test out the game here: http://pickanddraw.com/how/)

I used this game a LOT the first week of school. I would use our ladybug document projector to show the cards one at a time, as students would draw. It was insane to see the difference between the drawings. I teach classes of up to 30 kids, and there was seriously no two drawings alike. It seemed to be particularly enjoyable for the students because they all came out of their first art class with something they were really proud of. In the 40 minute period, there was enough time for each kid to make two different drawings, then pick the one they like best and start coloring it. I honestly can’t say enough how great it was that first week. 

Here’s an example of two drawings done by different students, before they had begun coloring. They eventually added necks and shoulders, so that they weren’t just floating heads.

 (these are just terrible photos.. I wish I could go back to September and force myself to use my real camera while taking these, instead of my iPhone.)

Honestly, it’s a great product – it served it’s purpose for me, but also would be great during the year, especially to leave with a supply teacher. Totally worth my $10. Which leads me to...

So here’s the fun part – I have a copy of Pick and Draw to give away to one of my readers! There are a couple of ways to enter. Start by following my blog (so that I will know how to contact you!) and then:

• For one entry: In a comment, post a link to an online art lesson/picture/website/resource that you love! If you aren’t into art lessons, just post a comment to say hello!

• For a second entry: post a link to this giveaway on your blog, twitter, facebook, etc., then come back and post a link in a separate comment,.

This giveaway is open to anyone in Canada and the United States. The approximate value of this giveaway is around $10 (but can you really put a price on a great art activities?) The giveaway will run from now until Thursday, January 17th at 8:00pm, when I will randomly select a winner using a random number generator. The winner will be contacted, and I will mail you your goodies shortly thereafter! 

Good luck, guys!

A different kind of entry

You can accomplish both in one shot - just vote for me to win a car!

I am trying to win a car, while at the same time, give away $1,000 ($500 to someone who votes for me + a $500 donation to the Education Foundation, a great organization that provides support to children in my school board.) The $500 cash prize and donation are contingent upon me winning the car. If I win, you win! My odds are really good, so far there are only eight entries! (this means your odds of winning $500 are really good too!)

To vote, you must go here and vote for my video (watch it too - it's cute!)

http://bit.ly/NwshqG

If I win the contest, I will give a $500 cash prize (money transfer) to one of the people who votes for me. The odds are REALLY good for one of you to win this! You can vote EVERY day and enter to win my $500 prize EVERY day!

This sweepstakes is open to both Canada and the USA.

Every time you vote, MAKE SURE to leave a comment on the facebook page (there's a spot to leave comments right underneath the vote button) saying "Voted!" or something similar. After the contest ends, if I have won, I will use a random number generator to choose a winner. The comment at the top of the cue will count as comment #1, and I will work down sequentially. I will arrange the comments in order of the date they were left, starting with the oldest at the top.

To top it all off, the company running the contest is ALSO giving away an iPad to someone who votes. Even more things to win!

Please vote for me, and if you would like to be added to my daily vote reminder list, please comment below with your email address and I will add you! 

Thanks for your support, everyone! I know this is a weird update, but I figure I have a great community of support that I can reach out to here.
The contest ends July 23rd.
 Art update coming tonight!!

Giveaway - Pantone goodies!

Wow!! I am at over 100 followers! I always said to myself that when I got to 100 followers, I waned to do another giveaway. I was delighted to share my 7 year pen back in February. This time around I've chosen a couple of different goodies. The prize for this giveaway is:

 

One Turquoise Pantone Reporter Style Notebook - this is a cute little notebook, with 192 pages (tinted with contrasting colors). I love these for jotting down last minute ideas.

One Pantone Pink Pencil Tube - this is a cute little tube that has 6 graphite drawing pencils, and 6 colored wax pencils.The tube is great for keeping them all together, tossing in your bag, etc.

There are a few ways to enter. Start by following my blog (so that I will know how to contact you!) and then:

• For one entry: In a comment, post a link to an online art lesson/picture/website/resource that you love! If you aren’t into art lessons, just post a comment to say hello.
  
  
• For a second entry: In a separate comment, post a link to this giveaway on your blog, twitter, facebook, etc., then come back and post a link.

If you aren’t a follower, just make sure you leave some kind of way to contact you. This giveaway is open to anyone in Canada and the United States. The approximate value of this giveaway is around $20 (but can you really put a price on great art supplies?) The giveaway will run from now until Sunday, May 29th at 8:00pm, when I will randomly select a winner using a random number generator. The winner will be contacted, and I will mail you your goodies shortly thereafter! 

Thanks again to all of my followers!

Giveaway - Seven Year Pen

This Christmas, one of my students gave me a Seven Year Pen. If you haven’t used one of these yet, you must. This pen is so smooth, and it really has changed how I feel about marking and grading. Now I look forward to writing comments on rubrics! I swear, everyone needs one of these pens. 

I had ordered myself some additional pens online, but I found out today that they sell them at the Chapters near my house. While I was there getting myself a new pen, I decided it would be a good time to run a giveaway. This upcoming Thursday, I will draw one person to win a Seven Year Pen! Keep in mind; I’m not only giving away a pen. I am giving you seven years of fun. It’s pretty hard to put a price on that (but more accurately, the price would be around $10.)

That's the pen I chose for the giveaway. There are a few ways to enter. Start by following my blog (so that I will know how to contact you!) and then:

• For one entry: In a comment, post a link to an online art lesson/picture/website/resource that you love! If you aren’t into art lessons, just post a comment to say hello.
  
  
• For a second entry: Post a link to this giveaway on your blog, twitter, facebook, etc., then come back and post a link.

If you aren’t a follower, just make sure you leave some kind of way to contact you. This giveaway is open to anyone in Canada and the United States. It will run from now until Thursday at 8:00pm, when I will randomly select a winner using a random number generator. The winner will be contacted, and I will mail you your incredible Seven Year Pen shortly thereafter!