Happy Monday in Minnesota! It's a blizzard outside my window, and it took me a little extra time to get into work this morning. We're supposed to get a foot or more by the time this is done. Yay winter.

Valentine's Day is comin' up this weekend, and if you're low on funds and short on time, I've got a super cute valentine idea for you to make your special someone. Check out this adorable valentine!

Take a trip over to cozyblue, and check out this little tutorial on how to make a sweet forever valentine.

Looking more more cheap romantic ideas? Over Christmas I made my guy a special present using the cheapest possible materials... paper! All you need is a frame, a piece of paper, and a good sharp xacto knife. Have a look. Just be warned... it's a cheap project, but not a quick one.

Enjoy your Valentine's week, and get a-crafting!

Well, we're still sorta getting things up around there, but we thought we'd give you guys a little peek at the new office!

Two weeks ago today, our extended family packed up all our stuff and moved to this new space, just up the road from the old one. An office building is an office building, but this one's pretty great - it's got windows like you wouldn't believe (the old one had only a few, in places nobody could really enjoy them), it's a much better size for us, and we gave it a sweet paint job that you can't really see here. Periwinkle, dusty rose, turquoise ... nothing tooooo freaky, but it's a nice touch.

This is my desk...

You can see on the shelf above me my love of strange toys. They sure do add color to the space though, don't they?

And look! I have a window! OK, so it doesn't look at much, and hey, this is January in Minnesota, but still, natural light does wonders. We have way more windows in this new office than our old one, and we all love it. Except my studio, but I'll get to that later...

This is Karline's nook (aka cube), from which she posts the latest greatest stuff on the website and fields your inquiries, requests, and pleas for help. Her old desk kind of floated in the middle of a big room, so she's quite pleased with the "nook" arrangement. Now that she's got walls to stick stuff up on, she's become a bit obsessed with wallpapering everything in sight with scrapbook paper.

My studio isn't totally set up yet, so I'll give you a tour of that when it's filled with less boxes and mess. And yeah, I don't have a window in there anymore. Sadness. I never realised how much natural light is important to photos. I have to teach myself how to take pretty photos all over again...

When we get the office fully prettied up, we'll be sure to share more pictures, and you'll get a gander at my new studio soon. We love our new space! 

It's Thursday and we're back with another fab roundup of the craftiest mascots around! This week we have a truly diverse lineup. Just see for yourself...

This is Severus, and he's, uh, helping to make a bow. Everybody together now... awwww....

His owner Jinx tells us that he's a 7-week-old BernaDane, half Saint Bernard and half Great Dane. That's going to be one big puppy. I'm not sure on this, but since his human is the owner of the awesomly dark MTcoffinz, I'm going to take a wild guess the puppy might be named after a certain someone... 

Representin' for the kitties this week is Rex.

Rex is one lucky kitty, because his helper Sara made him this awesome bowl out of fabric scraps that he loves to snuggle in in front of the fireplace. Seeing as Rex lives in Alaska, that sounds like a darn good idea...

And, ladies and gentlmen, I have the honor of introducing to you our first crafty iguana, Tyle!

His owner, Ellen, says that despite his 6 foot length and 20 pound weight, she can't think of any reason not to just sew around him. Right, 'cause a giant 11 year old iguana is so subtle...

Awesome roundup this week! We've now had dogs, cats, kids, bunnies, iguanas, and plushies of all sorts. What else you got? Ferret, anyone? C'mon, someone must have a ferret...

Send us your photos of your crafty mascot (any mascot will do!) in a crafty situation (don't forget their name and yours!) to craftymascot@urbanthreads.com, and we'll post new ones here every Thursday!

*yaaaawwwwwn*

*blinkblink*

G'mornin. I am so totally awake, I swear. Just let me find me some caffine and aallll will be dandy. Anyway, for those of you also feeling a little blurry-eyed this morning, hopefully I have something to perk you up. A fabulous new tutorial!

Mr. X Stitch is giving away, among other things, a $50 gift certificate to Urban Threads! Details.