Coming Soon: Blogiversary Give Away!!

Technically, the blogiversary isn't until January but I'm in the holiday spirit so I'm celebrating early. Hard to believe its been close to two whole years!

I don't have any fancy gifts from from sponsors to give away. Instead I'm going to be sending a few items from my very own collection of goodies that I think you might enjoy. Lets call them mystery gifts for now but I'll share more next week.

pretty gift packing ideas ala Martha

In the meantime, I wanted to give early warning to anyone who wanted to participate. The rules are simple:

Share your best Holiday creation/craft/decoration/ideas.

It could be anything - your holiday card; a favorite gift you're giving; a clever centerpiece; a personal ornament; a beautifully decorated room. Christmas, Hanukkah, New Years, Winter Solstice - whatever floats your boat. I don't even care if you thought up the idea yourself as long as you share the version you executed.

Enter as many times as you like, in anyway you want. (Emails, comments or links to your own blog post with your idea) All I ask is that you share at least one photo so I can pick my favorite. And don't forget ladies: POISE COUNTS! In other words, a good photo and description helps.

I'll pick my favorite to win the prize but we'll all be winners by enjoying the entries.

So get ready with your good ideas to get your hands on my goodies! Wow, that sounds really naughty. I promise they are very G rated prizes :)

**Feel free to start posting/emailing now...I'll post more on the prizes next week **

English take on HGTV

It will probably come as no surprise that a house peeper like me loves to watch HGTV. Their logo is probably burned into my television screen since Im tuned in so often.

Well what do you know? Our friends across the pond might have a similar need for all things home decor. Last week I received this article from UKTV which prompted me to spend a little time looking at all the pretty photos on their website. Unfortunately, I can't watch any of the programming from my Brooklyn living room :( Any of you lucky enough to get this channel?

Who would have thunk Ty Pennington would appeal to a British audience? UKTV seems to think he is an "American Superstar". Hmm..interesting.

Ty's Great British Adventure ???

Ironic categorizations of overenthusiastic handymen aside, there is some lovely eye candy on this site. Particularly loving the Christmas inspirational photos:

What do you think?

Rate My Space!

I know everyone in bloggerland already knows about HGTVs Rate My Space but I just have to give credit where it due. I love peeking into others peoples homes whenever I can so this is the ultimate porn for me. Ive wasted way too much time lurking and finally threw myself in for the peanut gallery's comments.

Take a look at some of the fabulous rooms Ive been spying

I added my own office on the site - if you happen upon it, please leave your vote or a comment.

A small complaint: Whats the deal with them not having an office category? I had to post in "girl's rooms". Not that far of a stretch as I am a girl and this is my room...but I dont think thats what they had in mind.

Maybe if I ever get close to feeling Ive finished any of the other rooms in the house, Ill add those as well.

Please be gentle:)

Top this!

After weeks of internal debate, we finally selected our tree. We flip flopped a lot - we decided to go faux, then decided to get real, then looked at some crappy fake trees with doubt, then finally decided to just go for it with a sight unseen version found at Costco. They had me at "1500 lights". This is our first ever faux and I have to say - Im kind of liking it.



I do miss the fresh scent. And I wish the lights had a twinkly setting. But other than that, Im pleased.

Not only did it go up quickly, its loaded with evenly distributed lights that look beautiful even without a single ornament. Ive even considered leaving it completely bare...but then what would be the fun in that??

So without further yammering - I need your help. I need a tree topper! Can you suggest one please?

Home Office Part 5: Done for Now

I've been a busy bee. Attempting to use my motivation to complete a project to my advantage, I actually have completed a project. Well, sort of. I would still like to replace the window shade; add something on the wall over my desk; load a few more books and things I use regularily into the credenza but Im just going to call this room done for now.



I wasn't intending on finishing off the room so fast but I just happened to stumble upon a $99 black and tan zebra rug at Target. It was the last one left and it called to me. So instead of accomplishing my gift finding objective at Target, I managed to find this instead. Once I had the rug, I felt compelled to get the rest of my act together and 'finish' the room.



As I mentioned in my last post, I had a plan for those two empty frames in the room. I used the top one to display a wooden scissors I had picked up a few years ago. I always liked it but never had a good way to put it front and center. Voila. What do you think?

The bottom frame got a pegboard organizing station. Since I tend to spend almost as much time finding my supplies as working on a project, I thought it would be a good idea to have all my most oft used items on display. The pegboard got a coat of gold enamel paint, just like the scissors. I added some pegboard hooks and its ready to go. Im not sure what other supplies I need to have at the ready but Ill finger that out as I go along.

If you remember, the scissors was originally a bare wood with some tacky words on the blade. I painted it gold using my new favorite thing - this gold enamel paint. Its very thin and has a great lustre to it. I have a feeling you'll be seeing some other gold painted items in my future. :)


With Thanksgiving in mind, Ive been very lax in thanking the very talented Snappy Chic (aka Heather Spratt) for sending me one of her prints. It needs to get framed properly but I couldn't stand having it hidden in the envelope any longer so it got the honor of being the first thing on my inspiration board. Its a photo of a carosel in Paris. The color and composition is beautiful. If you are looking for some great prints for your home, check her out.

Below the it, I added this "Bonjour" sign I found in the Christmas decor aisle at Macys. Not sure what this has to do with Christmas but I still love it. Glass glitter makes me weak in the knees :)


Last but not least, I tackled the window. Using some birdy branch clipart as inspiration, I hand painted on the lower pane using some acrylic cream craft paint. Then I pulled out this rattan shade I had saved from years ago...it doesn't quite fit but it was 100% free so that was an offer too good to pass up. I'd like to switch it out for something else later but this is good enough for now.

So thats pretty much it when it comes to my office. As you can see, its quite a departure from the style of the rest of the house. Its a departure from my style in general actually. I generally tend to go for a much more muted and calm decor. I wanted this room to be more of a fun space. A place where I could be inspired and make a mess but also a room with personality. Im pretty happy with how it turned out but Im always up for suggestions for improvement.

For the record, here is what it looked like before: