Happy Mother's Day!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

xoxo,

Now On Sale - The May Cookie Jar

The May Cookie Jar - handmade goodies put together by moms, for moms (and organized by Holly, at The Mama Dramalogues) is now for sale, proceeds going to the most popular charity voted on the sidebar of The Cookie Jar (please click to help us choose a charity!!)

Here are the items in the May Jar - and if you would like to be included in future cookie jars, please head on over and contact Holly!

Glass Pearl Earrings
Classic white glass pearl beads topped with smaller, delicate silver plated filigree beads. Made with hypoallergenic ear wires. These earrings measure 1 1/4" from the top of the earwire to the bottom of the bead.
Jenny M Jewels
*****

Dapper Dan Neck Tie
Neck ties are made from 100% cotton designer fabrics. They are the perfect weight to hang well and will go with anything, the bold, fun prints makes them ultra mod with an edgy urban street style. Size 6-12 months.
Candy Stick Lane
*****

Embellished Handmade Card
Handmade card using scrapbook elements such as trims, buttons and cutouts. Fun saying on the front and blank on the inside to add your own personal message.
Scrappin Madness
*****

Fabric Rose Headband
Fun fabric rose attached to a metal headband, and because the rosette is tall, it sticks up off the head, almost like a little hat, very cute!
Mary Poppins Presents
*****

Flowers in Mason Jar Handmade Card
Flowers in Mason Jar handmade card with envelope. Image is hand colored with copics. Inside is blank to include your own message. Perfect any occasion card.
Scrappin Ashley
*****

Stoneware or Raku Pendant
Beautifully hand formed and kiln fired stoneware or Raku pendant. Each is strung on a silk cord with silver lobster clasp closure. All pendants are glazed, front and back and include artist's signature.
Lisa D Pottery
*****

Card and Tag Gift Pack
These note cards feature prints of colored pencil illustrations, as well as coordinating gift tags. All artwork created by Marisa Hopkins.
Elegant Snobbery

*****

Korker Alligator Clip Bow
Grosgrain ribbons korked and attached to alligator clips. Great for really fine hair. All bows are hand-stitched to ensure durability and that the ribbons lay correctly.
Winklepots Clothing & Accessories

*****

Support handmade, working moms, and a very good cause!

Go to The Cookie Jar {HERE}

xoxo,

Random Q&A About Me

Me and Holly at the Oregon coast,
where I hope we'll be again, in five years from now.
My head looks abnormally huge. I'd like to say its just the picture...
but I suspect I might have an abnormally huge head.

I was tagged by my awesome friend Jonathon Arntson (which will be a household name someday, as he is a brilliant writer and bound to wow the world with his brilliance) with a five questions meme. Though I frequently ignore these things, I feel obligated to answer this particular questionnaire, because Jon posted on his blog that I'll choose our friend Dena when I have to tag five more people. As he chose Dena by association, I just can't leave her hanging.

So. Some of these answers might be surprising, because I don't really blog a lot about the fact that I'm a writer, working on a YA (young adult) novel, but it consumes my daily life and will hopefully consume my future, too.

Where were you five years ago?

1.) In the hospital with my one-day-old baby girl, husband and the millions of friends and family who I couldn't wait to show off my new baby to.
2.) Living with my mom because of immigration laws (which I explained in my comments), and wishing Will and I had our own apartment.
3.) Getting my classes ready - Five years ago, I taught several Art Fundamentals and Knitting summer school enrichment classes for 4th and 5th graders.
4.) Painting with my friend Brian Nishimoto (who is AMAZING), and so thankful I had him in my life, because I probably never would have built up my illustration portfolio to what it is today, if it wasn't for Brian's encouragement.

Where would you like to be five years from now?

1.) I'd like to be a published author, working on my second or third book.
2.) Will and I talk about moving to Portland all the time, and I can't wait until I can live near my friend Holly someday, so hopefully in five years we'll be there.
3.) Um... I guess read question five. I'd like to be one of those...
4.) I'd like to be just as happy in five years as I am now.
5.) Um. I honestly don't plan ahead with my life. Will and I are too impulsive for that, so I really don't know.

What is on your to-do list today?

1.) Several times a week I join my awesome writer friends for an unpluggage convention, where we all post what we want to accomplish in an hour, then unplug from the internet to write, and then get back together to chat about our progress and such (though we usually get off topic and chat about everything else under the sun). Today there are two unpluggages scheduled, so YAY. And if any of you are writers (or considering being a writer) and want to join us, here is where we meet up: The Practice Room.
2.) I'm a critique partner for several people and I have quite a lot of critiques to catch up on... so today I'll be critiquing chapters in two YA paranormal fantasy books from two fabulous soon-to-be authors.
3.) Dishes. I hate doing the dishes.
4.) Package and ship my recently sold items from my shop.
5.) Call Gracie's pediatrician to get the paperwork ready for the rest of her vaccinations before we finish her kindergarten registration.

What five snacks do you enjoy?

1.) Sour Cream and Cheddar Cheese Ruffles
2.) Air popped popcorn with melted butter (okay, I use Smart Balance - to keep my weight in check)
3.) Frozen Reeces peanut butter cups
4.) Bakewell tarts, although I only ever get them when I'm in the UK.
5.) Anything cheesy and creamy.

What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?
I would do a lot more than five things, and some include giving to charities (ones that involve kids and art/writing/music) but here are my purely selfish answers:

1.) Buy a house in Bath, England and then invite everyone I know for a super awesome month-long house party. All of you are invited, btw. We'll have tons of fun.
2.) Buy my family a vacation home in Cape Cod, which was my favorite place to vacation when I was in high school.
3.) Build a library that looks like the one from Beauty and the Beast, and stock it with books that I love (I love a lot of books).
4.) Hire a chauffeur to drive me around everywhere.
5.) Hire a staff to do all the things I don't want to do (cook, clean, garden).

Man. I want to be a billionaire.

Okay, I have to choose five people. Such is the way of a chain-blog. Here goes.

1.) Dena, who is one of my crit partners and awesome friend.
2.) Holly, who I always tag. Can't let her down this time.
3.) Alyssa, who I also always tag.
4.) April, who also always tag (what can I say, I'm a creature of habit)
5.) Edward Cullen (or his human, Kearsie) because I want to read Edward's answers. And also, Adventures with Edward is my favorite blog.

That's all for now. Have a great day!

xoxo,

Crafty Project: Little Fairy Peg Dolls

Click the above image to be magically transported
through the fairy door, to The Mama Dramalogues, and my post!

Today is 5th Gracie's birthday, and I shared one of her presents
(something I have spent the last few weeks slaving over)
over at The Mama Dramalogues.

Come on by and see!

xoxo,

The Best Thing About 5-Year-Olds...

Okay, so remember three days ago when I all like, "Awwwww! My little baby is almost five and growing up and I wish she would stay teeny tiny forever!"

Well...

I changed my tune. And spent the whole day yesterday jumping with joy over the fact that in only two days, Gracie will officially be old enough to fly unaccompanied, which means when she spends the entire day giving me nothing but attitude (like yesterday for example) I can book a flight to Austin for her and call my mom to say, "Hey, can you pick up Gracie? You'll find her at gate 6, waiting for you. You can send her back next week. Or next month. Or next year. Or whenever this humongous attitude she's developed goes away."

That would be really great.

*sigh*

A mom can dream, right?

It's Monday, which means Mama Drama day over at The Mama Dramalogues. If you've got a kid-related blog post, come on over and link it to ours!

xoxo,

Alphabet Print Giveaway Winners!

Giveaway winner announcement time!

I wrote every entry down on slips of paper, and let Annelie do the winner-picking... so if she picked you, you have Annelie to thank.

And if she didn't... hey, she's only three! Don't hold it against her!

First winner, for the $25 gift certificate to my shop (Elegant Snobbery, in case you don't know) and alphabet letter-of-choice print: April

Second winner, for the $15 gift certificate to my shop (yes, its still Elegant Snobbery, in case you don't know) and alphabet letter-of-choice print: Marie

Third winner, for the alphabet letter-of-choice print: Catherine

And that is all! I'll contact the winners and you can choose which letter you want!

Thanks everyone for entering!

xoxo,

Hannah Tinkerbell Hopkins

Something to know about me and Will: we are ridiculously impulsive. Also, when we see a pile of rescue pups in the shelter's last ditch effort to find homes before termination, we tend to go, "Awwwww... we can't let them DIE!"

So we bought Gracie a dog for her birthday.

Haha, just kidding.

Sorta. We did technically buy a dog (if you can call a chihuahua a dog) and she does looks like a hyena, but a smaller-than-a-cat version. Gracie picked her out and named her Hannah. And then Annelie gave her the middle name Tinkerbell.

So, here she is: Hannah Tinkerbell Hopkins

And she's really, really tiny, which was a huge surprise. She was in a little cage and Gracie pointed and said, "Awww, I want that little doggie!" The shelter people pulled her out and put her in my arms and Will filled out the adoption papers and when that was done I put her down on the ground... and stared at her.

"Wow. That's a really small dog," I said. The shelter people only smiled their smug little smiles.

When I brought her home and set her down next to the kittens, I stared again. "Wow. She's smaller than the kittens." Will only raised his eyebrows as if to say, duh Marisa, its a freakin' chihuahua. What did you expect?

I'm sure my cat-loving friends are like, *gasp* "A chihuahua? WHY??!!"

And my dog-loving friends are like, "That's not a dog. What the heck is that?"

And my small-dog-loving friends are like, "Whoooo! Welcome to the world of being followed 24 hours a day by a shivering, little four-legged shadow! Have fun!"

But I do have to say Hannah is pretty cute.

Cute like a cuddly Gizmo.

But I'm also a little nervous that I'll accidentally get her wet and she'll turn into the scary gremlin.

Honestly, though, she doesn't seem like a dog. She's two years old and full grown, and sort of reminds me of a martian. Like, if she were to suddenly sprout antennae and command in a high-pitched squeak, "Take me to your leader," I probably would take her to my leader without question.

Does anyone else feel this way about chihuahuas? Please say I'm not the only one.

But Hannah likes me. I guess that is okay. And she doesn't bark, and that is definitely okay. Life with two kids, two cats, a German Shepard and a chihuahua should be interesting.

xoxo,