Giveaway ~ Family Style!

**This Giveaway has ended.**

I think it’s time for another giveaway!  Don’t you?

A little twist to this one.  The giveaway sponsor this time is my sister, One Cheap B*tch!  {I love calling her that.  And only because that’s the name of her blog.  Really.}  She has an Etsy shop and has offered the winner of this giveaway any item from her shop up to a value of $10.00.

She has lots of stuff for up to $10.00.  Let’s look at a few, shall we?

Shabby Chic clipboard

Hand stamped lavendar sachets

Vintage inspired crown tin/pill box

Easter Shabby Chic Grungy hang tags

And this is just a sampling! 

To enter, just visit my sister’s Etsy shop then come back here and leave me a comment letting me know what you’d pick if you won.  That’s it!  Easy Peasy! 

Additional entries: 

• Put this giveaway on your blog ~ post or sidebar and let me know in a separate comment; and/or
• Tweet about this giveaway and let me know with your @ name in a separate comment.

If you do not have a blog, you can still enter; you just have to leave an email address so you can be contacted.  This giveaway will be open to U.S. residents.

This giveaway will run through to Thursday, February 25th, 8:00 p.m. EST, and the winner will be chosen via random.org.  Winner will be announced shortly after that time and have 48 hours to confirm or an alternate winner will be chosen.

Looking For Kitchen Cabinet Inspiration

{Source: Unknown}

It turns out that we will be staying in our house for about another two years.  This means that maybe, just maybe, I can do some of the things I’ve admired and would like to do in our house.  First thing on the list is painting our cabinets.  I love the white glazed look of that island above.

{Fabulous Finishes blog}

{ehow.com}

I’m hoping if I can get enough inspiration pictures together to show hubby, he will get on board with this project.   These are what I have found so far.  I think going this way with color will work with our existing tile backsplash and Corian countertops. 

{Hansemmanhattan.com}

So, that’s what I got!  Of course, any blogs that I have seen this type of thing on have gone right out of my mind at this point, so if you know of a specific link to a website or have done this to your own cabinets, I’d love to see it.  I’d also like to know if you were happy with the outcome if you did do your cabinets this way.

Oh ~ this is our kitchen currently.  Oak cabinets with tan tile backsplash, and tan fleck-y Corian countertops.

{Picture our realtor took when we were on the market}

 

Fun Frugal Finds

From Target!  I would have put that in my title, but it would have messed up my alliteration flow.

I had a day off from the day job on Monday so I made a trip to Home Depot and Target {which is, fortunately, in the same shopping center}.  Right through the door, I headed to the little $1.00 area in the front.  I found these great little clipboards ~ on clearance for $.70 each!   The frames were $.98 each and hold a 3 x 5 picture.

In the scrapbook and photo album aisles I found these plastic little photo albums for $1.99 each.  I picked up a few to transform into brag books for when my first grandchild arrives this Summer.  I really only need to change out the removable cardboard inserts in the cover and . . . .

add some pretty little embellishments, which I also found for $3.49 and $1.99!   In this same area I found the rub-ons {$.99}, the “Kiss” glitter word {.99}, and the chipboard alphabet {$.99}.

Even though I don’t have plans for some of these finds, I’m sure I’ll come up with something!

Linking up to Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous.

 

Coffee Table Reveal

Finally!  I was starting to worry that I was procrastinating over this project.  I put an end to that thinking last Thursday, when I was stuck at home because of a snow storm.  Thankfully, I had all the supplies I needed to tackle this table.  If you might recall from previous posts on my living room, this is the table before.

I used my free quart of Glidden black paint and, using a paint brush, painted the legs and side details.  I used a foam roller for the top of the table.  I did two coats on the base and three coats on the top.  I then put Minwax Polyurethane {in a spray can} over the whole thing.  Here is the after.

I am really pleased with the way it turned out!  I think it looks like a totally different table!  Next up on the list is an unfinished pine armoire.   

Linking up with:

Furniture Feature Friday at Mustard Seed Creations

Saturday Night Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps On The Porch

Make My Monday at Twice Remembered

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

This week we are interrogating speaking with Karen from The Graphics Fairy!  I'm sure there are many of you who {like me} love the graphics that Karen shares with us all.  They translate into such beautiful and creative projects.

Favorite music at the moment:  I usually listen to a lot of Enya, but I just picked up a CD by Ingrid Michaelson which I love.


If you didn't live where you do, where would you live:  I actually obsess about this one a lot! I would really like to live somewhere a little warmer and closer to the ocean. As I get older I find that I just can't take the Winters like I used to!


Favorite cocktail:  Ummm well, I don't actually drink. But, a friend of mine makes these amazing Basil Lemonade drinks in the Summer, they're mean't to be made with Vodka, but he makes mine without, and it's sooo delicious!

Best advice you ever received:  Do what you love. Sometimes it takes awhile to figure out what that is, but once you do it can really change your life.


Person you most admire:   My grandmother. She was so good at so many things. She was super crafty, she could weave her own fabric, sew, crochet etc. She was fluent in French, and was an expert gardener. She was very knowledgeable about antiques and she was quite savvy at real estate too!

Thanks so much Karen for sharing 5 Things we didn't know about you!

Some Etsy Love

I’ve purchased some things recently that I just love and wanted to share with you.  A couple are from bloggers I follow and I hope you’ll check them out.  I always use Etsy as a resource now when I’m looking for something in particular.

First up, I’d like to share this beautiful fleur de lis tassel that Heather at Butterfly Genes made just for me!  She knows of my love of fleurs and this one is a giant!   Heather has such a wide range of tassels on her Etsy ~ there is definitely something for everyone.  Thanks, Heather!  I love it!

I was getting frustrated looking for a reasonably priced lamp shade for the little lamp I found in my basement that I wanted to redo for my desk in the living room.   Etsy to the rescue!  I found Boopsy Doodle’s Boutique, who has some really great looking and reasonably priced lamp shades.  I found this great black and white damask print shade that was just the right size for my lamp and I ordered it right away.  I got it really fast, too!

Finally, Rhonda at Blue Creek Home has been on a sewing tangent recently!  She made this gorgeous pillow and I just had to have one!  I put this on my new desk chair.  Love it! 

I’ve been keeping the business cards of all my Etsy purchases and I am going to organize them by category.  This way when I need something I know exactly who I can go to.  I love Etsy!

As a “by the way”, if you have an Etsy boutique and you’d like to offer a giveaway on my blog, I’d be more than happy to devote a whole post to your hand-made items.  Please feel free to email me at kathyp{at}creativehomeexpressions{dot}com.

What To Do With All Those Great Ideas?

I come across so many great ideas from all over blogland of different projects that would make great gift ideas and home decor accessories.  I can’t just save them to favorites on my computer; I need to be able to see the tutorials and instructions on paper.  So, I started printing them out. 

This also allows me to know who to credit the project to if and/or when I posted my own.  The problem started to become having all these print outs that were getting stuck in a drawer.

I got a large white binder that had the clear plastic on the front, so you could insert a title page, but where I inserted some scrapbook paper. 

I also got tabbed dividers.  I glued scrapbook paper to the fronts of these as well as to the tab portion.  I then used our Brother label maker to  print out a title for each section.  Since the label itself is clear, it allows the decorative paper to show through the title.  I currently have the dividers labeled as “Gifts”, “Home Decor”, and “Crafts”, to be added to or change as I gather more inspiration.

It’s difficult to see in the pictures, but I then used stickers to put “Blog Projects” on the front of the binder and down the binding I put “Ideas”.  I can now keep all these inspirational posts stored and organized!  It will fit neatly on a shelf in my craft closet and be right at my fingertips when I’m looking for a particular project.

I was delighted to see that Manuela at The Pleasures of Homemaking shared a post where she talked about her Household Notebook.  Reading it, I realized the idea in my head for my binder was here for me to see in reality. 

This type of binder/notebook comes in handy for many different things!  Whether it’s your household information; one for each of your children’s school, medical and extra-curricular activities; craft projects; take-out menus; selling/buying a house; or maybe your interior decorating project.  You can personalize this to your own needs and style.

Linking to Tatertots and Jello’s Weekend Wrap Up Party.