Tag Archives: friends

Family Style Living Bling

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Winning stuff is pretty much a day maker in my book.  We have friends that literally win just about every contest they enter.  They insist it’s because they enter them all the time so the odds are in their favor.  I think some people just have amazing luck like that.  I don’t tend to be one of those people, but our friends are so sweet, I find myself truly thrilled whenever they win something new.

All that to say, you can imagine my astonishment when this popped up in my email last week.

Family Style Living Giveaway Winner | Storypiece

Winning a giveaway is a day maker for sure!

And even though they had no idea I was going to do this, I’m just too excited to not share about the ladies that held the giveaway as well as the actual item I won.

Family Style Living is hosted by Pam and Lindsey.  They are a mother/daughter team who live in different states and started a blog as a way to stay connected.  How cool is that?! As someone who is particularly close to her mom, I find this to be such a neat way to share life across the miles.

Pam & Lindsey | Family Style Living

I’ve mentioned on this blog that I’ve done a little quilting, but I’m not a “true quilter”.  That’s because of people like Pam.  Let me just show you Pam’s latest creation:

Fox Quilt by Family Style Living

Pam takes quilting to an art form.  The detail and planning in this quilt is incredible.  That stitching is just… wow!

Fox Quilt Detail by Family Style Living

I don’t think I’ll ever have the vision or patience for this level of quilting, but I serously admire those that do.  You can read more about the process that went into Pam’s foxy creation here.

So about that giveaway I won….

Pam is also a jewelry designer and has her own Etsy store which inspired FSL’s giveaway. And I am now the proud owner of one of her fun pieces.

PeeGee Jewelry | Storypiece

The ornate heart is something I would buy for myself and the color is perfect as we head into summer.

Bracelet Detail | Storypiece

So let me further promote these gals by saying if you are still needing to pick-up a Mothers Day gift (or if you’re a mom and want to send a suggestion to some of the people still needing to shop for you) please check out PeeGee Jewelry.  They have a wide variety of pieces that are truly lovely and reasonably priced.

Have you ever won a blog giveaway or contest? Have you finished shopping for your favorite mom?  Are you leaving hints for family members that still need to finish their shopping?

As a side note, it’s really fun receiving something in the mail from a blog you follow.  I’m hoping you can experience that by offering my own giveaway soon!

 

 

Project Notes: Personalized Paperwhites

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After a whirlwind week of playing with blog administration stuff, I think everything has successfully switched over and I can get back to the fun part of telling stories.  If you are reading this… congratulations.  We both made it!!  And a huge thanks for being patient and keeping up with me through this transition.

During the holidays, I saw these pots at Target and picked one up to give to a friend.

Plain Flower Pot

They come with paperwhite bulbs which I love.  Paperwhites always remind me that Spring is just around the corner and the winter grays will be ending soon.  I thought this would be a neat gift, especially once I personalized it with a little chalkboard paint.

When I got home, I gathered my supplies:

Paint Supplies

  • Painters Tape
  • Chalkboard Paint
  • Decorative Scissors

1. Pull off strips of tape and cut them down the center with decorative scissors to get two identical strips with scalloped edges.  Do this twice to get enough tape to create a rectangle.

Taped Flower Pot

Tip: How big you make the chalkboard area can be determined ahead of time by writing the word you will write in chalk on a piece of paper and measuring how much surface area you’ll need.  I guessed on the size I wanted and it ended up being only enough room for a small word.  Luckily my friend’s name is short, but lesson learned.

2.  Once you have the taped area marked off for painting, put the entire pot in a bag and tape it off so that only the area of the pot you want paint on is exposed.

Prepped & Ready to Paint

3. Spray with chalk paint.

4. When the paint is still slightly wet, pull off the tape and let everything fully dry.

Finished Flower Pot

5. Rub chalk over the dried paint and personalize.

This was such an easy gift to customize.  My only disappointment was that Target was sold out when I went back for more.  I’ll definitely pick-up extra next season.

Have you done anything with Chalkboard paint lately?  What was the last store bought item you put your own personal twist on?  Have you gone back for more of something only to discover the store has run out?  It’s such a bummer!

Gift Tag Ornaments

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As we sit less than one month away from Christmas, I’m dying to tell you about the holiday projects that I’ve been working on.  But since I don’t want to spoil the surprise just yet, I thought, instead, I’d share a quick craft project that I came across on Pinterest.

The original idea came from this post by Simply Kierste.  She created very cute personalized ornaments from wood cutouts that she picked-up at JoAnn’s.  I decided to use this idea as a jumping off point and have the ornaments double as name tags for the gifts we are giving this year.

To start off, I found these wooden tags from Michael’s for .29 each.

Then I picked scrapbooking paper that would compliment my gift wrap.  I scored this huge pack at JoAnn’s for $8.  (It feeds my paper addiction.)

I traced the wooden tags onto the back of the selected scrapbook paper.

And then I cut the tags out.

Kierste suggested personalizing the ornaments with vinyl letters, but I hand wrote mine with a Sharpie.  I also think another great option would be to play around with fonts on the computer and print them out for the tags.

Then it was time to crack open the Mod Podge.

Once the first set was done, I felt like it needed something more.  The light green swirls got a little washed out in the glaze and the tags were looking a bit plain.  So I re-wrote the names and year on white card stock and added them to the tags.  I like that the layered paper gives the whole thing more dimension.

To finish up the tags, I added pretty ribbon to each.

I ended up creating three different versions for my family and friends.

Tess suggested the green ribbon with the red tags and this combo is probably my favorite. The girl has a great eye!

Now as I’m wrapping presents to ship out, it’s fun adding these gift tag ornaments to each one.

This festive project was simple, quick and easy.  However, if I were to make these again, I would definitely opt for funkier name tag paper and plainer gift wrap.  A lot of the details on the finished tags are very subtle and they get lost in the overall look.

How is your Christmas planning going?  What have you found on Pinterest that is making its way into your holiday preparation? Are you, like me, starting to avoid Pinterest so that you don’t get any more ideas that you feel compelled to sneak in? Normally, I can keep a healthy Pinterest perspective, but I’m starting to want to make one of everything.  There’s just too many amazing ideas!

I’m sharing this post at the “Dare to DIY” Party hosted by Decor and the Dog, Maybe Matilda, Newly Woodwards and Two Twenty One. .  Check out all the handmade gift ideas that are being rounded up.  They are sure to inspire even more holiday ideas.