5 Things You Didn't Know About . . .

Welcome to this week's "5 Things You Didn't Know About . . .", where we are visiting with Tiaa from Exclusively Yours Interiors.

Favorite music at the moment: Jay-Z what he did for the families of 9/11 was amazing. Another favorite at the moment is Maxwell. I missed his presence! To make me complete, I wish Lauryn Hill would make a comeback!

If you didn't live where you do, where would you live: Hmmm…great question. I would have to say somewhere in the Caribbean. Beautiful beaches, weather, so relaxing. You can’t ask for anything more.

Favorite cocktail: I’m simple because I am not a heavy drinker. Give me a pina colada and I’m good to go! J

Best advice you ever received: Find out your passion and make money doing it. I also love this quote: "If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it."- William Arthur Ward

Person you most admire: There are 2. First is President Obama. To finally see an African American President, words cannot express how I feel about that. Next, I must say Jay-Z again. What a great businessman! He grew up in the projects and is now a multi-millionaire. Gotta love it! J Both men are truly inspirational.

Please join us next week to see who we visit with and find out "5 Things You Didn't Know About . . ."!

Don't forget to enter our Warehouse Fabrics Inc. Giveaway! You have until Friday, September 25, 2009, to enter with up to 4 entries!

Honest Scrap Award

Tammy at In Stitches has awarded me an Honest Scrap Award. Thank you, Tammy! How cool, my first award!

Here are the rules that must be followed upon receiving this award:

1) Say thanks and give a link to the presenter of the award.

2) Share "10 Honest Things" about myself.

3) Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.

4) Tell those 7 people they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving.

Here are 10 things about me....

1) I would do anything for my family ~ my kids and hubby are my life.

2) My birthday is on Halloween. {Never mind how old I'll be!}

3) I think I have a pretty good sense of humor.

4) I like things to be neat and organized and can get in a foul mood if MY things are messed up.

5) I will be married 25 years in May and I think I love my hubby even more today.

6) I have not been on a real vacation in 5 years and I really, really need one.

7) I hate to cook.

8) I've been eating gluten free since last November and diagnosed myself with Celiac Disease {and a few months later that was confirmed by blood test}. I miss all the foods with gluten in it that I used to eat ~ badly sometimes.

9) I have a degree in Criminal Justice and worked loss prevention for Marshalls for a couple of months ~ before I decided retail hours were not for me.

10) I was a stay-at-home Mom for 14 years.

And now, I'll pass this Honest Scrap Award onto the following blogs, which are beautiful and have inspired me:

Debra from The Bunny's Bungalow

Tiaa from Exclusively Yours Interiors

Melissa's Heart and Home

Miss Mustard Seed

Lisa at Pickles and Cheese

Manuela at The Pleasures of Homemaking

Cathy at The Stylish House

A very talented and creative group of bloggers that I am proud to follow.

Blog Of The Week ~ Casa Moxie

This week's Blog Of The Week is Casa Moxie! Alycia offers tips, tricks, trends and more. I've pulled a couple of things from her blog to share with you.

I always love to see how you can get a similar look on a budget from stores that are a bit out of the budget. In this particular example, Alycia did Design Within Reach Via Target ~ very fun to see how close you can get for a big price difference. She has a few of these on her blog.

Alycia also talks about color, products, flooring and all things interior design.

You can click here to visit Alycia's blog ~ Casa Moxie. Enjoy!

Don't forget we have a new giveaway running all this week! Our Warehouse Fabrics Inc. Giveaway runs through Friday, September 25, 2009. Check it out here ~ there are 4 chances to enter!

Warehouse Fabrics Inc. Giveaway

**This giveaway has ended.**

Have I got a Giveaway for you! You are going to LOVE this! I love it and I can't even enter.

I am very pleased to announce that Warehouse Fabrics Inc. has offered a $25.00 gift certificate as a giveaway!




Many of you are already familiar with Warehouse Fabrics Inc. and their fantastic selection and prices on decorator fabric. Because I'm a fabric fiend, I pulled pictures of just a small sampling of the fabrics they carry. They also carry trim and tassels, and window hardware.

Traditions Sweet Potatao & Natural

Traditions Black

Paisley Chocolate & Linen

Lickity Split Seashell

Kensington Lime

Jamestown Kelso Brown

Diamond Black Linen

Belfiore Robins Egg

Here's how to enter:

Visit Warehouse Fabrics Inc.'s website and then leave me a comment telling me which fabric is your absolute favorite. In addition, you can do any or all of the following to gain additional entries:

• Become a follower of my blog and let me know in a separate comment.
• Tweet about this giveaway and let me know in a separate comment {include your @ name}.
• Write a post about this giveaway and link to it, and let me know in a separate comment {include the link to the post}.

That's up to 4 entries! Remember, each one must be a separate comment so you are counted properly. This contest will run through Friday, September 25, 2009, {midnight} and the winner will be announced on Saturday, September 26, 2009. Winner will be picked by a random number generator.

See Jane Work Giveaway Winner

The winner of the See Jane Work Giveaway is comment # 34, Stephanie {A Fine House}, picked by random.org .


Congratulations Stephanie!



Please send me an email with your full name and mailing address {to kathyp (at) creativehomeexpressions (dot) com}, and I'll get this packed up and on its way.

Please check back tomorrow when I'll be posting a new giveaway for the week. You're going to love it!

Hooked On Chunky Black Shelves

I'm sharing this post over at Julia's Hooked on Houses blog, where she does a Hooked on Fridays feature.

They are all over blogland! Those chunky black shelves {apparently called Cafe Shelves} that are being DIY'ed by talented Ballard's fans. I love 'em! I want 'em!

I first saw them in Rhoda's home office over at her Southern Hospitality blog. {I love Rhoda's home office but that could be another post all on it's own!}

Then I saw them in Traci's kitchen at her Beneath My Heart blog.

Most recently I saw them on Sarah's blog ~ over at Thrifty Decor Chick. The artwork pictured on this shelf is another stunning project Sarah did. You HAVE to check out her blog to see what she did.

So last week I was in our garage looking for that trigger thingy that you put on a can of spray paint and couldn't find it. So I sat down on a stepstool in there and just did a quick scan around trying to think where it would be. And, my eyes rested on this.

"This" consists of two bookcases my hubby made for me one year for Christmas, which we took out of our great room prior to putting the house on the market, because we didn't want people to think they came with the house.

On top of the bookcases is the bridge for our entertainment center and on top of that . . . see those funny wood legs . . . well, they are attached to a base hubby made for the bookcases because the wall they were going on has baseboard heat. To not block the baseboard he rigged up these bases, with legs that looked like they didn't pay back their loan shark on time. Fuhgedabodit ~ these bases and their funny legs raised the bookcases above the baseboard heating and kept it from being blocked.

Okay, but look at them this way with me for a minute {squint a little bit} ~ I take the legs off, sand, prime and paint these beauties black {I love the decorative molding he put on here}. Get large brackets from Home Depot {or wherever} and put them underneath ~ are you seeing it with me?!? Yes, yes ~ I think this could work!

They would be a bit different than the Ballard shelves, but they are basically made for me ~ all I have to do is paint them and get the brackets. Plus, I get to reinvent something that might otherwise have no use to us anymore.

I could use these anywhere ~ a home office, a family room/den, a kitchen. I'm very excited and even though I have no real place to put them right now {house still on market, sigh}, I may just get them painted up and ready for wherever their home may be.

This post is also being shared over at homedigz for the Hump Day Blog Party.

Today {Friday} is the last day to enter our See Jane Work Giveaway. Winner will be announced Saturday, September 19th.

5 Things You Didn't Know About . . . .

Welcome to this week's "5 Things You Didn't Know About . . .", where we are visiting with Jane of Finding Fabulous {formerly known as Decor Mama}!

Favorite music at the moment: This suburban mom is guilty of loving the Black Eyed Peas at the moment! My 10 year old son loves them, and well, I think it's contagious! I also love Jason Mraz and Colby Callait.

If you didn't live where you do, where would you live: Oh, I'd most likely live at the Beach somewhere. Maybe Charleston or Hilton Head Island!

Favorite cocktail: My favorite cocktail is Chardonnay...especially in the summertime! But I recently tried a dirty martini and was amazed at how good it was.

Best advice you ever received: Always do your work first....and play later! I can't remember where I heard this, but it's stayed with me!

Person you most admire: The person I most admire is my high school sweetheart and husband of 16 years now! His kind heart and caring ways are amazing. Yup...he's a keeper!

Please join us next week to see who we visit with and find out 5 Things You Didn't Know About . . ."!

Don't forget to check in and enter our See Jane Work Giveaway! It ends Friday, September 18th and you have 4 chances to win. Make sure you read the rules!