A HomeSpun Christmas Day Seven---the Winner of The Joyful Cottage Giveaway AND a New Giveaway sponosored by SO Sartina!!!

Well, the weather outside is frightful but the fire is so delightful,

and since we've no place to go,

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

Here on the MN prairies we had one crazy day of a blizzard. Over 8" of snow in our area, and winds of up to 45 mph make things a little awe-inspiring out here, and I was thankful my family was home, safe and sound, eating Christmas cookies and watching the Grinch.

And what a wonderful weekend it was here as well for the Welcoming House! My dear friend Ginny from The Joyful Cottage was really blessed by your responses to the giveaway, and I think we broke some serious records with all the participation! Yay!!! Remember, Ginny is trying to build up a new business so she can get to stay home and work completely from home with her precious daughter Noelle, so please PLEASE bookmark her and send orders her way. We are praying for a business boom here for such a lovely lady!

Announcing the winner of The Joyful Cottage Giveaway,
will Mary Larsen please step forward!  

YOU WON!!!!!!

HOOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will be passing on your email address and name to Ginny this morning as soon as this posts, so the two of you can connect and talk about your beautiful handmade apron that Ginny is blessing you with!

Now, lets talk about this amazing week ahead.

This is THE week folks.

We are talking SIX giveaways, all in a row, 

one each day, through Saturday.

Every single one of them is a smart, home-based business with a mom standing behind it working on helping her family out with her income. SO---please, remember to share, and talk about this week on The Welcoming House to everyone you know.

Ready for some serious cuteness? Take a look at this picture.

and this one...

or how about this one?

My friend Kristina Stiffler is one of the mastermind creators over at So Sartina on Etsy.com, and let me tell you from experience, this lady (and her twin sister, Sara) are super-crafty, super-chic, and have a nose for the cutest, prettiest, and snazziest things around.

Their Etsy store offers a tremendous amount of variety, and they co-create to come up with an amazing amount of fun stuff that caters to all different types of tastes!

I was blessed to re-unite with Kristina on Facebook after years, and once I saw what she and Sara were up to, I wasnt that surprised. They were always the crafty ones who could do things many of us never heard of (or thought to do). I am pretty sure she doesnt remember it, but actually the first time I met her, she and her mom (and sisters) were recovering a chair in their house when I stopped by for something. Silly how things stick with you, but at the time, I thought that was the most amazing thing I had ever heard of, and had no idea that people really did that...well, ever!

Here is my interview with this new/old friend, and I hope you enjoy it (and looking at her products) as much as I do each time I am over there.

 How long have you had your business?

Two years

  Has your inventory changed over the years? 

I started making netbook bags, but added dolls and earbud cases
and then necklaces.

 I just like making too many things to stick to a narrow niche! 

I prefer to think of myself as an online boutique,
then I can make what strikes my fancy. 

 Why did you start your business in the first place?

Because we needed another home business in the family. *grin* 

My husband was self employed for the first 10+ years of our marriage,
so I guess I got jealous...
or maybe I just needed an excuse to buy craft supplies and fabric. 

Whichever the motivation, I talked to my twin sister, Sara,
my crafting conspirator, and she agreed to help.
{So}Sartina is a merging of our first names, which we would normally consider a little hokey,
but in this case we made an exception when in our research we found 

"Sartina" is Italian for "seamstress."
 Perfect!

 What does having a small home-based business allow you to do

 that otherwise you would not be able to do?

Everything I do is based out of my home.
I homeschool our three kids ages 9-13.

 I am also a licensed part-time daycare provider.
I love being home, baking, gardening. 

It's crazy sometimes, but I'll take this variety of hectic over another kind, any day. 

Why are you participating in this giveaway?

Because I love what I make and I make what I love and I want to share! 

What are you offering for the giveaway? 

 One hug-able, loveable doll of your choice

 What is your favorite thing about your craft?

For some reason, I really love making dolls.
 Maybe it's because each takes on a personality. 

I love mixing and matching fabrics and colors and the dolls let me do that

 in a different way than other projects.

~~~*~~~~~*~~~

I also wanted to let you know that Kristina is one crazy busy lady! Not only does she run the boutique over on Etsy.com, but she also blogs over at http://www.ktinajoy.blogspot.com/, AND runs the FaceBook page about So Sartina as well as doing her daycare and homeschooling her three adorable kids! Whew! And you thought I was busy! :)

Now, if you dont have little girls, or nieces, or grand-daughters, never fear! So Sartina makes the most ADORABLE monkey and other dolls that are perfect for little guys who love those snugglies just as much as little girls do! Here is a picture of one:

If you DO have a little girl in mind who just might love one of these dolls, let me tell you, MY LITTLES were gifted one of these dolls each for Christmas last year. As pink and purple were their colors, (they are identical twins, it just makes life easier around here), I asked Kristina to craft dolls that fit their personalities. My babies have LOVED their babies for a whole year--played, napped, fed, whacked one another with them, tucked them into bed, etc etc etc, and those dolls have stood up to some serious terrible twosome toy stress. Their hand painted faces are still adorable, and their little bodies have stood up to the HE washer time and again with little change. SO nice to have a wonderful product you can trust not to fall apart in today's world, right?

So Sartina's products are worth every penny you spend!

their babies from a year ago. :)

Okay, so giveaway time. This is open for two days, until midnight Tuesday, just like all the other giveaways will be this week. You must be a required blog member or FB page member to participate, and that will be one of the questions you have to answer. On this giveaway, you will get an extra five entries for sharing this giveaway once! We really want to see more people participating and getting involved in these giveaways, because the products are fabulous.

Are you ready? Set............GO!

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