They like me, they really, really like me!

Hey! Raynor from The Shy Lion gave me an award! Eeep, I'm a little speechless because I admire Raynor and his work *a lot* and it just feels super nice to have someone you like say that they like you too ^_^

This award also comes with *rules* ... and here they be:

•  Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy
•  Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it
•  Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. ( I would add, pick blogs or bloggers that are excellent!)
•  Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award 
•  Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself

Ok, so seven things about me; I will try and stick to crafty things that you might not know ~_^

1. The first craft I ever sold as a kid was these pencil topper animals made from pom-poms, beads, googly-eyes, and pipe-cleaners. They looked kind of like worms with afros and I sold them at a car-boot sale. I think I sold two that whole day, but I was super pleased with myself. I was about eight.

2. I used to enter the cake decorating competition in the Agricultural Show every year, and every year I would get second place - beaten by the same girl every time! So, the final year that I was eligible to enter I went all out. I made a massive fish shaped cake that I iced to look like Nemo - I also did the ocean around it. It was a pretty awesome cake, and I was sure I was going to win. Then the other girl made a wedding cake! >_< That girl is now a professional cake baker/ decorator, so I don't feel too bad about losing all those times ~_^

3. I am terrible at origami. Pip tried to teach me these little puffy stars which are apparently really easy. She had a galaxy of stars ... I had a pile of screwed up clumps of paper! >_< The difference between our creations was pretty hilarious!

4. When I was a baby, one of my favourite games was to empty out jars of nails in Dad's shed and then put them back in, one by one. (What a weirdo! ~_^)

5. I have an i-spy quilt that I started when I was in high-school. It's still not finished ... >_<

6. The craft I would most like to learn is letterpress. It looks so sophisticated and elegant ^_^ But, I don't think there is anyone in Perth who teaches it! If you know otherwise, please tell me! 

7. I want to learn to dye yarn, for the sole reason of making a range of skin-toned yarns. It really irritates me when I'm trying to make people amigurumi and they have all the wrong under-tones ... does that make sense to anyone else? It's like, you buy brown yarn, but it has a grey or a green under-tones so it doesn't really look like skin? Anyway, it would also be fun to do, I think ^_^

Phew ... if you made it through all that, I congratulate you! Now, in no particular order, here are the 15 blogs that I am awarding the Versatile Blogger Award to ...

1. Mostly Nerdy Crochet

2. Cameron plus Whitney

3. Deadly with Scissors

4. Flora and Paws

5. Her Library Adventures

6. Joie de Vivre

7. Knitxcore

8. House of Humble

9. My Grandmotherly Ways

10. One Sheepish Girl

11. Scientific Culture

12. The Colour H

13. Evil Crochet Genius 

14. Miss Indie

15. Made by Bees

Yay! Congratulations folks! ^_^ All of these blogs are fantastic; they are written by very talented people and it always makes me happy when a post by them comes up on my Google Reader ^_^ I stalk a lot of blogs, so this is also an opportunity for me to say "sorry! I'll try to be a better commenter!" ~_^

Do you read any of these blogs? Have you ever won an award?

- Lisa x