Holiday Pictures and Christmas Cards!

The Holiday's are quickly approaching. Yes...holiday music and the Charlie Brown Christmas CD has, indeed, been playing in our home since before Thanksgiving. We send out an annual Christmas Photo card every year and I usually just have my mom take a photo of us at Thanksgiving. I love sending out a Christmas Photo card because we have friends from Hawaii to NC and it just shows how much everyone has grown or changed from the last year. This year we did a little switch-a-roo with another family in taking Christmas Photos. Do you know how hard it is to get a decent picture of four people with BLUE eyes...looking at the camera and smiling...somewhat? We had to take a plethora of photos just to get a few decent shots! Here are a few of the photos that my friend took.

This year we're going to use Shutterfly for our Christmas Photo Cards. Have you seen the cute Christmas Photo cards they have? So stinkin' cute!


I love this one...if you have more than one photo you'd like to show. Or if your dog is too crazy to come to your Christmas Photo shoot...because she will run away at the first chance she gets. Just insert dog photo anywhere.

I am the designated Christmas letter writer for our family...but...this year, I'm not writing it. AND then, lo and behold, I saw these Christmas cards on Shutterfly. One is a top ten of the year and on the other you can write a little letter saying what you and your family were up to this year. Simple and sweet!


I adore the simplicity of this card. And you know how I love a monogram.
I've used Shutterfly to make Photo Books for grandparents for Christmas! BEST present EVER! I'm not even kidding. One year, I did a "A Year in the Life of The {insert last name}" They loved it! I was the Queen of gift giving! I will definitely be doing some this year! I call it "The Lazy Girl's Way to Scrapbook!" Go check out the Lazy way to scrapbook and make your own photo book! And order some Christmas cards while you're at it!

In exchange for this fantabulous post I'll be receiving 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly. If you would like to contribute a blog write up and receive 50 free holiday cards, please sign up by clicking here and following the easy directions.

Friday's Featured Slipcovers

Deux Maison made this twin sized slipcovered daybed! I can't stand how cute this is!


Karen from What's the Plan had these monogrammed slipcovers made for a client. A monogram will fancy anything up!


Sugar and Spice made this flouncy fall ottoman slipcover.



Sarah's first slipcover from Sarah and Drew B. Love the modern lines of this chair.

Happy Turkey Day!

The winner of the Purple Lemon Designs Stamp is:

Personalized Stamp GIVEAWAY!

Kelly from Purple Lemon Designs has the most beautiful personalized stamps and adorable etsy store. She sent the above medium stamp to me and I can't wait to use it to address all my Christmas Cards. No, we're not the Smith's...or else you might show up here for Turkey on Thursday.

She has monogrammed stamps, classy elegant stamps and some with a bit of whimsy. Not only does she have personalized stamps, she also has Christmas cards, stationery and hand stamped journals. Now you have the chance to have your very own! You can win a Medium sized stamp of your choice!


Simply, go to her etsy store and pick which stamp you would like, then come back here and leave a comment telling us what your favorite is. I'll choose the winner on Thursday...Turkey Day through Random Number Generator! Good Luck!

Mama's got a brand new bag!

I have been so obsessed with gray and decided to make my own cute ruffly bag. Make sure to come back tomorrow! We're having a nifty little giveaway. Maybe I can have a tutorial up for the bag by then?!

Friday's Featured Slipcovers, A Winner & A Discount

As always, Yvestown never ceases to amaze me with her talent. I want to come over and have tea in her home and eat biscuits. She made this for the Skruvsta chair from IKEA.


Maggie from Maggie Muggins Designs made these adorable geometric ottoman slips. She plans on using them for the kid's table at Thanksgiving!


How fresh is this glider rocker and ottoman slipcover made by Emily at Emily's Latest?!

Jona from Stop Staring and Start Sewing made a slipcover for her dirty ironing board! She even has a tutorial so you can make one too! Genious!

First! Thanks so much for entering the fabric giveaway and for all your support! I'm very grateful for this community and for Nester hosting the giveaways! I loved what all of you would do with your fabric! But their can only be one winner and that is...

Sarah from Misadventures in Matrimony! She is a military wife and just moved into base housing...so she will get alot of use out of $75 worth of fabric from fabric.com. I'm also giving her a complimentary copy of "The Lazy Girl's Guide to Slipcovers...just because I want to. I'm also giving everyone a chance to buy "The Lazy Girl's Guide to Slipcovers" at a 20% discount...just because I want to. the discount code is: SLIPCOVER and expires at midnight tonight. Click on the button below to download your discounted book! Have a great weekend!

*EDITED: I've extended the coupon deadline until Saturday night at midnight!

A little's bedroom re-do {Part 2}

This room is still a work in progress. I need to get some pictures in here. I'm also in the process of making a co-ordinating pennant/bunting to go around her room. Find the pennant tutorial here. The fake roman shades tutorial is from Thrifty Decor Chick. I use those plastic bins for wrapping paper as storage and slide them under her bed...because this room is as small as a postage stamp! They fit perfectly!

I recycled a canvas and painted it turquoise, but I have no idea what to do to it. Any ideas? I was thinking...maybe...some word art or text or just letting her paint something???

The small book case is going in the other daughter's room and I have a tall one that will be painted turquoise or pink...I haven't decided. I took the inspiration board out of my studio and put it in here for her to hang her art work. I still would like to get a pink shag rug to go by the bed...like this or maybe this one! What are you trying to finish before Turkey Day!

A Fabric Giveaway

I'm so excited to be sponsoring this giveaway. I LOVE fabric and I buy it...even if I don't know what I'm going to do with it.

I'm giving away a $75 gift card to fabric.com! Only one person will win the entire $75 gift card. And yes, I'm pretty sure you could buy enough fabric to slipcover your sofa before all your family gets here for Thanksgiving! Come on...you can do it...easy peasy! ...or

You could also bust out a lazy girl quilt with some co-ordinating fake valances...for your guest room that you need to get ready for the holidays! The world is your oyster! You could also leave your fabric on a shelf and gaze at it while you drink your morning coffee...you have my full permission!

To enter:

• Leave a comment saying what you'd like to do with your $75 of fabric.
• For a second entry, become a subscriber and leave a second comment saying you "subscribe."

Giveaway open until Thursday, Nov. 19th. This is open to Canadian and International. Fabric.com doesn't ship to all countries, so check their site to make sure they ship to your country before entering. I will announce the winner on Saturday, Nov. 21st. Good luck and don't forget to go check out all the other giveaways at Nesting Place.

Friday's Featured Slipcovers

Carrie over at Ohdeedoh slipped this ikea chair...she has other examples shown.


Check out the Orla-esque freezer paper art on this white slipcover by Dried Figs and Wooden Spools.


Cara from Johnson Manorisms made her first white sofa slip. She had this to say about the Lazy Girl's Guide to Slipcovers...

"Then I found Pink & Polka Dot's "Lazy Girl's Guide to Custom Slipcovers" and suddenly, I had PERMISSION to just do what made sense, connect the pieces, without all the "rules" of sewing tripping me up. With simple instructions and a few pictures for illustration, the Lazy Girl's Guide is a springboard for your inspiration to run wild, minus the doubts about getting it "right".

I think I should hire Cara to do my marketing. It really is as simple as putting puzzle pieces together and if you want to try it, click on the button below to purchase. Just have fun!

Before and After Master Bedroom ~ Board and Batten

before

Here it is as the Dark and Dismal pea green dungeon. I lived like this for over a year...it's so depressing...ugh!

after

My husband walked in and said, "It's amazing! It doesn't even look like the same room." I felt like a proud mommy. I'm still working on getting rid of the sun scorched blinds that look like pee yellow. I want to paint the side dressers and get new lamps. Maybe I'll find some at IKEA this weekend. Yes, I'm off to IKEA on Saturday with a friend...come meet us for lunch!
I'll give you the low down on how I did this. There are tons of tutes on how to board and batten...just google.

#1 Take a shower and put on make-up before you go to Home Depot to ask a man to help you cut 3 sheets of MDF into 140 thousand pieces. Just sayin. Josh from Home Depot cut 3 sheets of 1/2 in MDF for me. My top piece was 5" wide with 2" vertical strips. My board and batten was 5 ft tall. Cost was about $24/sheet MDF. He charged me $12.50 for cuts (because I didn't take a shower and put on make-up).

I painted one coat of high gloss paint on the bottom part of the wall, then I used carpenter's wood glue and glued the vertical strips on the wall...about 12" apart and then nailed 3 finishing nails into each strip. One at the top, middle and bottom. OH...if you have a nail gun, Yay for you! I don't, so I kept nailing my thumb!

Glue the top piece and nail it...all the way around the room. Then I caulked the seams and corners with a paint-able and sand-able caulk found in the paint aisle. Oh...and you need a caulk gun. I primed the strips, then painted them with hi gloss paint, then rolled a second coat of paint on the wall. While going around, I rolled onto the strips also.

I finished with a coat of gray on top. I used 3 different gray's to make this color, then took it to have it shaken and stirred! I'm throughly pleased with how it came out!

My advice is to paint everything before you put it up. That's what I'll be doing next time...if there is a next time!

Master Bedroom Board and Batten Sneak Peek

I just finished painting yesterday! Whew! This has been a much larger project than I anticipated, but I LOVE the result! Here's a little sneak peek. I'm still trying to put my room back together. I found some great examples...

via One Nutty Girl

via Frugal Home Designs

via Domestically Speaking

via Funky Junk Interiors

Also...check out Nester, Julia, and Kimba

Friday's Featured Slipcovers

From last weeks link up...A Romantic Floral chair slipcover by Kristen from Cozy Things.

Amy from Maison Decor made this beautiful white sofa slipcover! We love white slips!


This is so funky and fun! It's not handmade, but from Pier 1 via A Bit of Heaven.

**Eight of you were correct about the shades of gray swatches...there were 9! Crazy...I know. I ended up mixing about 3 different shades together. The winner is the 2nd person who guessed 9. It was Emily at Remodeling this life.

Board and Batten

I've jumped on the board and batten train! My husband went out of town for about 36 hrs...so I thought I could put up board and batten, paint and get the Master bedroom I've dreamed of...all within the 36 hr time limit. Why is it when husbands leave to go out of town, every creative juice starts flowing? I think I can re-do the entire house while he's gone. I also think I'm on vacation and I don't have to cook and we can eat out for every meal. He's home now...so I will cook tonight.

Lowes Home Improvement would not cut my MDF...something about no kick plate and not being able to cut anything less than 6 inches. So I went to Home Depot and, good natured, Mr. Patient, Josh...cut my MDF for me. I did end up getting charged $.25 a cut. That was a bummer. And a quick project has turned into me hammering my thumb nail 47 times. I'll tell you all about how I did it when I show you the finished project. It's 5ft high with 2in vertical strips. I'm painting the top gray.

Speaking of gray...let's have a little impromptu contest. Can you guess how many paint swatches of gray I have painted on this wall?? I'll choose the winner of the correct answers, via random # generator. The winner can choose between "The Lazy Girl Slipcover eBook" or "The Lazy Girl Quilt tutorial."

De-Halloween

By now, you must know...my favorite holiday is Halloween! Even though I LOVE Halloween, I take it all down the day after! D-O-N-E. ...like after Christmas, I'm a taker downer! But only after I get back from the Halloween clearance at Target. I have a standing date with my girlfriend that consists of coffee {full caffeine} and Halloween Clearance. I'm done with all the little trinket stuff and knew I wanted the Big witch that talks and moves. I think she's taller than me. Got her! Love her! And next year when I open my Halloween boxes, it will be like Christmas and we'll all be so excited! My friend dubbed it our "Black Friday"...because we do not shop the day after Thanksgiving. I can't do it. Sorry. I love my orange and black bins. They help me feel organized...and they are about to outnumber my Christmas boxes. I'm going to enjoy this month of autumn before Christmas decor...I can't decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving.

What about you? When do you start decorating for Christmas?