CSN $45 Gift Certificate Giveaway!

Do you need a new bar stool?  How about some tailgating supplies?  Well, you are in luck!  I have been contacted by CSN to give one lucky reader a $45 gift certificate to get something wonderful from one of their 200 plus online retail sites.  They have a lot of online merchandise to choose from, some of my favorites are:

http://www.cookware.com/

http://www.dinnerplates.com/
http://www.everychandelier.com/ 
http://www.csnbaby.com/ 
http://www.tailgatingpartysupply.com/ 

You can click on http://www.csnstores.com/  to see how many ways you could spend that gift certificate.  The endless choices of merchandise are amazing. 

To Enter for the $45 CSN gift certificate:

• Just leave a comment saying you would like to win. ( 1 entry) This is mandatory to win.  Always leave your email or make sure it is visible in your profile.

For extra entries after you have done the mandatory entry above:

•  Follow publicly with Google friend connect, Blog Frog, or let me know if you already are following so I don't miss it! (2 entries) 
• Post on your website about this giveaway; linking back to this site and let me know that you did.  And, be sure to grab my picture to help advertise it. (2 more entries)

This giveaway is open to US and Canada residents and will end on Saturday, October 16, 2010 at midnight.  Winner will be announced on this blog Sunday, September 17, 2010.   I will email the winner.  Feel free to leave your entries in separate comments or all together.  I will add up all the entries and use random.org to draw a winner.  Prizes will be sent directly from CSN to the winner. 

Good luck!  I am so excited to offer you this opportunity!
If the winner doesn't respond after 7 days a new winner will be chosen.

*I did not receive a product or any form of compensation for writing this post.

This giveaway is now closed.  Thanks to all who entered.

Sherry

You know it's bad when...

... you pull in the driveway and see your kid's tricycle and consider painting it. 

Or even getting another for Christmas...  

We found Christian's tricycle in the trash by the side of the road a couple of years ago (yes, I pick from the trash) and it's missing that cool thing in the back where we could have pushed him so it didn't get much use until he learned to pedal it on his own.  The colors are totally faded but the fact remains that it works and he loves it.   It's now parked in the front of the driveway (which is in front of our house) because he uses it so much and I have to be honest, it's irking me.  Not driving me crazy by any means, but every time I pull into the driveway and wonder if I should just spray paint the thing black or something, anything to get rid of the faded plastic and blue that just stands out like a sore thumb to me.  As much as I would love to say we could put it away in the shed every night, I know we won't.  Life just isn't like that for us right now.  

I know this is one of those things to let go, but it has my OCD-design head twitching.

We also have a toddler plastic slide/ gym thingy in our back yard...  it too makes me a little nutty and I can't wait to replace it.  

I know toys will be part of our lives for a while now...  and I have to say that I'm so much less bothered by the classic toys than the new plastic ones.  It's crazy that I care but seriously, I'm so much more okay with a bunch of cute little wooden cars on the ground than a bunch of plastic ones...

{Christian's trucks}

We try to limit the toys coming into our house...  When new stuff comes in, something else leaves.  There just isn't room and we don't want our kids to have a million toys they never use.  If something's not getting played with enough, we put it away and take it out a few months later. 

I know I sound like a freak.  What are your thoughts?   (Not on my freakishness, on toys ;)  And, any tips for spray painting a plastic bike?   Maybe just the blue parts???

 

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

My mom's birthday

My mom's birthday was this past weekend so we decided to do dinner at our place.  The weather was perfect and we moved the massive harvest table Dave made out of old barn wood to the center of our back yard:

{sorry about the pics but something funny was going on}

It is insanely heavy and won't be moving anywhere for a good long while...  my back still feels it.

I added pumkins & gourds and eucalyptus & hydrangeas to give it a Fall vibe even though it was so warm:

I'd never gotten fresh eucalyptus before... Trader Joe's was selling it for $6 and I love how it looks just gathered simply in an urn:

I didn't notice any bugs so I think it definitely helped keep them away.

Here's the birthday girl with Christian and my little sister Morgan (13):

My mom's a special lady.  She's the kind of mom I could always tell anything to...  even my friends would confide in her in high school.  She was a single mom (until she & my stepdad, Tom, got married when I was in 8th grade) but still managed to be super-involved & spend a lot of quality time with me: Girl Scouts, festivals & musicals & plays & events...  She's amazing with advice and rarely judges. 

We've had our battles (oh my gosh would we yell!!) but I think mostly it's because battle alike:  get it out and get over it.  (No moping or stewing here!)  She's always coming through when I need her: babysitting, food, help at home, advice and also those "mom" hugs.  We're very alike but very different.   She's lower-key than me, yet supported me going into a creative field/ being self-employed even though it's not something she would ever do and scared her when I started because she understood me.  She had my sister late in life but still manages to be as involved in her life as she was in mine  (if not more so!! :)   I love her so much and she is one of the few people I actually lean upon.   

Here's my gorgeous cousin Jen who just got engaged & will be getting married in Puerto Rico next summer!!  (I'm her maid of honor ;) ;)

And my mom informed me it was time to pull up the carrots Christian & I planted back in March.  (Um yeah, I really know nothing about growing veggies -or anything for that matter- and thought that the time was right to pull them up when they were long like you see at the grocery store.)  So as we all enjoyed some cider (I'm a huge fan of woodchuck haha) and some hummus & pita chips, Christian and I pulled up the carrots:

And they really reminded me of those screaming baby-root things from Harry Potter (mandrakes)... especially the double ones:

(Justin enjoyed the food too as you can see from the bits on his face}

I didn't get any pictures of the food (besides that beautiful bag of pita chips) but we did grilled tilapia and shish kabobs with rice & salad.  We ate just as it got dark & there's something so awesome about eating outside with candlelight.

We finished up with s'mores by the fire where I proceeded to fall asleep. 

And that's a good night for me.  Most of our meals are "normal" and don't include special flowers or table settings and I know I couldn't handle this on a nightly basis, but I would like to do a pretty/ special table at least once a week.  It encourages lingering and laughing and talking on & on.  That's interesting to me...  that our environments really do affect our experiences.  Check out my friend Seleta's recent post to see the gorgeous table setting she created last week with her kids' help. 

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

If you have a pretty table setting you'd like to share, feel free to link up!!

Batty Lamp Makeover

This is a little occasional lamp from Better Homes and Gardens, it is sold at Walmart.  I have used it in my home for over a year and I wanted to give it a makeover for Halloween.  I originally saw this in The Best of Martha Stewart Living Halloween.  

Supplies:

sheet of black construction paper

white lamp shade

pen that will write on black paper

scissors

scotch tape

First I copied a bat template out of the above Martha Stewart publication.  I didn't buy the book I checked it out of  our local library.  Take the template and trace the bats onto the construction paper with a light colored pen.  

I think I made around 12 bats.  I just used regular scotch tape and wrapped it around into a roll; where it sticks to itself, and placed it on the back side of the bat and placed it randomly on the inside of the shade.  I found the white shade at the thrift store for $2.

The results were spooktactular!  I was really pleased with how well the bats show up.  Any creepy template can be used.  This would be a great project for your kids.  Templates can be found here.  I couldn't find the exact template I used in the book for a download on Martha's site, but Matthew Mead had a whole page of templates and a very similar bat is the last link on the bottom of this page.

Happy creating!!  Halloween is a fun time let your imagination grow.  Fly over to these sites and see what other makeovers are going on.

I will link this to:

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Today's Thrifty Treasures  at Southern Hospitality
Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative
Make It for Monday at Cottage Instincts
Making the World Cuter at Making the World Cuter
Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog
Toot Your Own Horn Tuesday at Silly Little Sparrow
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm
Trash to Treasure Tuesdays  at Sassy Sites!
Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts
Thrifty Thursday at Tales from Bloggeritaville
Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage

Inspiration for Creating in Vintage Style

I am happy to be joining the Creating Vintage Charm magazine's launch party today.  Please click on the link and go see this new publication and enjoy the launch party by visiting other blogs like mine that get their inspiration to create or decorate with vintage style.  The blog party theme is:  "What inspires you to create or decorate with vintage style?"

The answer to that for me is easy.  I grew up with vintage style.

This chippy, white, old Victorian farmhouse was my playhouse!  Starting this blog on a dare by my husband, I began really fast to explore what made me seek to create and be creative?  I began to pick up quickly on what blogs were so appealing to me and what my style was.  I wondered where did I gain this love for the old Victorian chippy white style and the answer was as close as a CD of family photos.  I played in this house for the first 12 years of my life.  The architecture, the chippy white paint, and the gingerbread trim were my everyday surroundings.  But, that wasn't my only inspiration.  I also grew up knowing for many years of my life my great-grandfather and this was his house.

My great-grandfather was born in 1901.  He was an avid collector of antiques.  His house and his fabulous collections of all things old was a true living museum.  

I spent every single Christmas Eve in this house till I was a teen.  It reminded me of being in Clement C. Moore's  "Twas The Night Before Christmas."  I can remember being very small and sitting on a sofa in the front room of this house craning my neck up at the sky to see if I could see Santa flying overhead; because, in this house I always thought that poem came alive every Christmas Eve like magic.  

Another wonderful way I grew up with vintage style was; that from the influence of my great grandfather's collections, everyone in the family began to give antiques for gifts!  Yes, it's awesome isn't it!!  Here my grandmother is getting a vintage doll tea set in the original box for Christmas.  

So, now when I decorate or tablescape I am drawn to all things vintage and charming.

When I put flowers on the tables I am often drawn to those century old foundation plantings that I grew up seeing around that Victorian farmhouse or plants that have old-fashioned charm.

I love mixing the old with the new, like vintage dishes mixed with a sea star in shabby chic style.

Here I copied a Pottery Barn style tea light holder by using a vintage tobacco mold from my great-grandfather's collection.  You can view that post here.

Here is a vintage Mother's Day tea served on a repurposed tray.

Here is an impromptu picnic for Memorial Day with vintage vacation souvenir mugs.

I used a vintage style fabric for a pillow to complement my Adirondack chair.

An antique bed from my great-grandfather's house gets a little Victorian styling.

Classic children's literature inspires me too.  My Mad Tea Party you can view here.

Here again; influenced by children's literature, I created a tea inspired by Anne of Green Gables.

Vintage dishes are a favorite, especially Limoges.

My grandmother's tea pot set out to remember her by.

Vintage in collage.

Teas and tablescapes done in vintage styling.

 Influenced by Colonial Williamsburg, I created a gingerbread art wreath.

I am always on the lookout for a great vintage find like this chalkware Santa I found at a thrift store.
Days gone by have left treasures for us to discover and to inspire us to create and decorate.  Congratulations to Creating Vintage Charm on their launch.  May vintage treasures continue to inspire us in our decorating for years to come.  

Sherry

The Charm of Home