The Winner Is. . .

I want to thank all of y'all who entered my 400 followers giveaway! I can't believe I have surpassed 400 followers! I wish I could give each of you a gift card, but since I am currently unemployed, that ain't gonna happen! LOL! You all inspire me so much with your creativity and for that, I thank you. I'm sorry I wasn't able to get on here yesterday and announce the winner like I had planned. I had a lot going on and just didn't get time to do it. So, without further ado, the winner of the $50 Visa gift card is. . .


Kathy @ Dandelions and Dust Bunnies!!!!

Congrats to Kathy!! If you will get me your mailing info, I'll get your prize out to you as soon as possible.

I have a few small projects I'm working on right now that I hope to share with y'all this week as well as some tweaking I've done on some wall groupings in my living room that I plan to share if the weather will cooperate and allow me to get some decent pictures of. So I hope you will check back in for all that. Have a great Sunday!!

Until next time. . .

400 Followers Means It's Giveaway Time!!

Woohoo! Y'all rock! 400 followers ~ how awesome is that?? Pretty awesome, if you ask me! In light of this accomplishment, here's what one of you lucky followers is going to win:



A $50 VISA GIFT CARD!!!!!!!!

That's right! A $50 Visa gift card to spend on whatever your heart desires! I have decided to leave this giveaway open until midnight on Friday, January 27, 2012. So if you haven't signed up for it yet, there's still some time to do so. And if you aren't following me yet, sign up and leave me a comment on my giveaway post here letting me know. That's also where you will find all the rules associated with this giveaway. Good luck!

Please note: COMMENTS LEFT ON THIS POST WILL NOT BE COUNTED!!!

I want to thank you all for following along with me these past three years. I know my blog is not the prettiest, fanciest, or most amusing blog out there, but it's who I am and I am honored that y'all think enough of me to want to follow along.

Until next time. . .

Magazine Copy Cat Challenge

Debbie over at Debbiedoo's Blogging and Blabbing is hosting another one of her fabulous Magazine Copy Cat Challenge linky parties. These are so much fun! The object of the challenge is to find a picture from a magazine or catalog and "copy" it, putting your own personal touch on it. I found this awesome picture from Pottery Barn's online catalog and it's what I'm using as my inspiration:


(source)

And here is my version:








I love how this turned out! And it was so easy to recreate this look for under $10. I purchased all my supplies, which included the plate, bowl, heart dish, red hearts and table runner, from the Dollar Tree. I used a cursive script stamp that I had purchased a while back at Hobby Lobby and just randomly stamped my table runner in various directions. I also used the stamp on some ivory candles that I had. I already had the red placemat and I used a book box to elevate my candles and loving couple Willow Tree figurine, which was a gift to me on our last wedding anniversary from my hubby. I brought in a live ivy plant for texture and a bit more color. I took a scrap piece of linen fabric and folded it like a napkin which I then stamped with my rubber stamper. I have had the skeleton key for a long time, just waiting for a spritz of black spray paint. I made the tag by cutting it out of some card stock, stamping it with the rubber stamper and then handwriting my message on it. I tied it up with a scrap piece of red ribbon. So simple, yet so elegant!

Click here to check out all the other great "copy cats" in this fun party!

In addition, I'm also linking this up with Marty's Tabletop Tuesday. Click on the picture to take you there!

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Until next time. . .

Time for a Giveaway!

Wow! I logged on this morning to find that I am at 393 followers! How awesome is that?? I think this calls for a celebration, don't you?? So I've decided to host a SURPRISE GIVEAWAY. Once I reach 400 followers, I will draw a winner, but won't reveal what the winner will receive until the day I announce who the winner is.




Here's the rules:

1. You MUST be a follower! (of course!)
2. Leave me a comment on THIS post only telling me you want to be entered. Comments on any other post will not be counted.
3. Post this giveaway on your blog. Then come back here and leave me a separate comment on this post telling me you did this. This will get you a 2nd entry.
4. If someone becomes a new follower and they tell me that you referred them, you will get another entry!

So that's up to three chances to win! This giveaway is open to all followers, no matter where you live. The giveaway will stay open until I reach 400 followers. And I promise you, it's gonna be a good one!!!

Good luck!

Until next time. . .

A Sneak Peek. . .

. . .at my laundry room! The laundry room makeover has begun! I've already hit a couple of snags, but I am happy to say that progress is being made. I knew I wanted green walls so I went to Lowe's and picked out an Apple green color that was bright and vibrant. My laundry room is very tiny and windowless so my goal was to try and make it a brighter room using paint. I bought one of those little sample jars of paint (love those!) and ran home to slap it on the walls! Well, to my horror, it was more of a fluorescent lime green. Horrible!!! Not at all what I was aiming for. So back to Lowe's to pick out a more toned down green. This time I chose Valspar's Garden Hedge. I. Love. It!!! I am kind of leaning towards a garden theme for this room so it's a bit ironic that my paint color should have a garden themed name, don't you think?

Here's a few pictures of what I've got going on so far. There's still a very long way to go. Hubby is going to install a couple of cabinets for me for some much needed storage. We haven't purchased those yet. He's been working so much overtime at his new job (which is a good thing for the paycheck!) that he hasn't had much spare time to work on his "honey do" list. But I am not on any set schedule to finish this room, so we will get there when we get there.

Paint going on the wall. Yay!!


A peek at the new flooring:


And a couple of decorative elements that may find their way to a new home in here:



So that's what I've been working on this weekend. Have you started any home improvement projects yet this year?

Until next time. . .

My First Little Project of the Year

I have been busy around here getting started on my laundry room makeover and working on my project for an upcoming copy cat challenge party that Debbie from Debbiedoo's Blogging and Blabbing will be hosting in a few days. In the midst of all this, I have found the time to work on a couple of small projects and I'd like to share one of those with y'all today.

I had these little terra cotta trays in my craft stash and decided to turn them into drink coasters. Here are the supplies that I used:



Terra cotta trays, scrapbook paper, paint, Modge Podge, and rubber bumpers.

All I did was trace the bottom of my trays onto my scrapbook paper and cut the circles out. Then I painted my trays black, modge podged the scrapbook paper to the inside of the trays and added another layer of modge podge to the top of the paper just to seal them in there real good. Then I stuck my rubber bumpers onto the bottom of the trays to protect my furniture. These are self adhesive so no messy glue needed! Then I finished them off with a quick spray of sealer because I wanted to make sure that any sweating glass that sits on them wouldn't cause my scrapbook paper to peel off. And here is the finished product:



And here's a picture showing the bumpers I used on the bottom:



I'm really pleased with how these turned out. They remind me of Mackenzie-Childs style, without the Mackenzie-Childs price, which I love! I'm linking this to some of the fabulous parties listed at the bottom of my blog. Please check them out for some great inspiration!

I bought several sheets of this scrapbook paper and I'm working on another project with the rest of it using this:



Any guesses on what I'm up to???

Until next time. . .

Why Buying a New Sofa May Be The Death of Me. . .

Hubby and I have been discussing purchasing new living room furniture a bit later this year. Ok, I have been mostly discussing it and he has been grunting and nodding every now and then. I'm taking that as agreement on his part!! :)

So today, we stopped in at a local furniture store to look around and get some ideas of what we would both like to have gracing our living room for the next several years. No surprise, neither of us really agreed on the same sofa! Hhhmmm. . .

Right now, we have a hand me down sleeper sofa which sags terribly even after several attempts by me to "stuff" it with every available quilt and throw I can get my hands on. It is a tan suede kind of material, or at least that is what it is supposed to be. It has been through the wringer and now is sporting such lovely stains that the actual color is not one recognized on any color wheel that I could locate! In addition, we have a beautiful matching (NOT!!) burgundy colored recliner that sports an equally lovely (again, NOT!!) Indian style throw blanket on the seat to cover up the ripped seam located towards the back of the seat. The poor thing is so rickety that most visitors (thankfully, we have few. . .wonder why that is??) tend to steer away from it and choose the stained sofa as the preferred seating. I would show you pictures of these outstanding pieces, but I don't want to make anyone jealous!

Anyway, I digress. So we are shopping the furniture store with the sales lady trailing behind us, offering her unsolicited advice, plopping our behinds down on any sofa that looked like anything remotely pleasing to us, then proceeding to "yay" or "nay" it. Most of my "yays" were hubby's "nays", and vice versa. Sigh. This is going to be much harder than I anticipated.

Here are a few pictures of some that we may be able to compromise on:






We are thinking of a sage color, but I couldn't find pictures of three of these in the sage color, so just use your imagination. Couch #2, which is the only one of these actually in the sage color in these pictures, is the one hubby liked the best. I haven't made up my mind on my favorite yet.

Decisions, decisions!! I hate them! And then you have to decide on coffee tables and end tables.

That's when I ran out of the store screaming!!

Until next time. . .