Free Thanksgiving Dinner Party Printables

I love the holidays. I especially love Thanksgiving because it is all about being with your family and friends without the gift buying pressure. This is a sneak peak of my Thanksgiving Table.

You can download the printables for free from scribd below.

It comes with wine tags, food labels, place settings and "I am Thankful for..." 3x3 circles.

Fall Dinner Party Printables....

You can also get ours from last year (pic below) for free too which includes our kids table.

iPod Touch Giveaway!

Welcome to the first annual Fall Social Freebies Giveaway Event. We have partnered up with lots of different and wonderful bloggers to bring you some fabulous prizes, just in time for the Holiday Season!

Giveaway starts October 31st at12:01 AM EST to November 21st at 12:01 AM EST. Giveaway winners will be announced through the Rafflecopter widget and notified by email by the end of the day on November 23rd, 2011. Winners must reply to email notification within 48 hours of delivery, or a new winner will be chosen.

Participating Blogs that made these giveaways possible:
Pink Dandy Chatter
Between The Lines
Personalized Sketches and Sentiments
Magical Mouse Schoolhouse
Reading Teen
The Organic Blonde
Nurtured Beauty
Green Country Girl
Free Hot Samples
Social Media Junkie
Pawsitive Living 
Retail Therapy Lounge
Lily's Laundry 
Uncommon Chick 
Chi-Towncheapskate 
Smile A Day Giveaways 
Granny Loves Gift Baskets 
Kelly's Lucky You 
An Avid Readers Haven 
Mayra Calvani

GIVEAWAY PRIZES:

* Winner will receive a 8 GB iPod Touch in their choice of black or white by Apple. Retail value is $199

*This giveaway is open to the US and Canada Only

*There will be 1 winner chosen to win this giveaway

* Winner will receive a SleepTracker Elite Watch by SleepTracker. Retail value is $149

*This giveaway is open to the US Only

*There will be 1 winner chosen to win this giveaway


ABOUT SLEEPTRACKER (from their website):
The SLEEPTRACKER® Elite watch is the latest in sleep monitoring technology. Unlike other monitors and alarms, the SLEEPTRACKER® measures and logs your sleep patterns waking you at the most optimum time when your body will feel the most alert and energetic. The SLEEPTRACKER® Elite also records and stores your sleep data allowing you to download and track your own personal sleep information right from your home computer.
SLEEPTRACKER® continuously monitors signals from your body that indicate whether you are asleep or awake. Because you wear SLEEPTRACKER® on your wrist like a watch, its internal sensors can detect even the most subtle physical signals from your body. SLEEPTRACKER® finds your best waking moments, so that waking up has never been easier.

GIVEAWAY ENDS SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21ST AT 12:01 AM EST

GOOD LUCK!!!

This Cake is Witchin'

Check out this Witchin' Cake and lots of other cool things 

over at Half Baked the Cake Blog!

Free Happy Halloween Printable

Need a last minute Halloween Printable?

I used this one, as a gift tag, for treats for Lily's class.

Download Here for Free!

Free Happy Halloween Printable

Versace for H&M

You know I just love this!!!

Versace has done a whole collection for H&M. It debuts November 17th!

Most  of the women's pieces are fabulous...
The mens ummm....let's just say I know my hubby is not that fashion forward.... *wink*wink*

I wonder if it will be as crazy as Missoni for Target.
I guess we will will see.

Neon Pumpkins.

I love spray paint. It is great for instant projects. I have had these molded pumpkins for a couple of years and I loved their shape but they are really boring so to follow through with my neon obsession I decided to spray paint them.  It  livened them up.  I am going to use them for a centerpiece for a fall dinner party I am going to have.

You need.
Spray paint and painters tape.

How you do it.
I sprayed them both solid gold and then sectioned off the areas I wanted to accent with the painters tape and sprayed those areas.

You can create any design that you would like.
I did vertical and horizontal stripes.

Chevron would be cute too!

Cupcakes in a Jar

I have been wanting to try this for a while.  Last year at Christmas I tried making cupcakes in a jar and it was a disaster.  I cooked the cake batter right in the jar and it was so gross.  My family all ate them which was sweet but I could tell it was because they loved me not the cupcakes. I did a little more research and this time they turned out great.   They are actually really simple.

Make the cupcakes like normal.  Pick your favorite batter and bake.
Let them cool completely!
Make the frosting.   I like this recipe.
Cut them in half, horizontally.
Layer them in the jars.
Cupcake. Frosting. Cupcake. Frosting.
Add whatever you would like to the top. Sprinkles, fruit, chocolate chips, marshmallows or more.

Put on top or not.  They are really good too to make for someone bc they travel easily.
Happy Cupcake Making!

Black Light Makeup

Black Light Makeup... 

 Weird...Right? 

 But it would be cool for a Halloween Party. 

 You can find it at Sephora for $31.  

WE WERE Boo'ed!

Have you seen this? 
www.beenbooed.com

It is so cute. Last night while we were about to eat dinner when the door bell rang and there was a darling Halloween bag filled with goodies at our door.

The girls went crazy and LOVED it!

I have no idea who did this  (it's kind of fun that way)  but it was great and THANK YOU so much for thinking of us.  You made my kids night!!!

We are gonna have to return the favor to someone... It would be fun at Christmas too!

Elephants and Coral Umbrellas: Nursery Decor

One of my good friends and sorority sisters from college is about to have a baby girl.  You might know her from her blog Our B.V.I Adventure.  She has designed the CUTEST baby girl's room ever and I wanted to post.  Here are some pics and the details.

I am loving Spoonflower!  Maybe my next new thing is going to be designing fabric ;)

Go vote for her room over at Project Nursery!  She could be the featured room for the month!

ABOUT AMELIA...
My husband and I are expecting our first child in October 2011. We live in Knoxville, Tennessee and the British Virgin Islands. Fortunately, we are stateside for the birth of our baby girl, surrounded by family and friends. And when that snow begins to fall, we will head back to the Caribbean for a 6-month stint!

• Child's Name: To be revealed...
• Child's Age: Due Date: October 20th
• Location: Knoxville, TN
• Description: I wanted to create a unique nursery for my baby girl that would grow with her, but still incorporate a bit of whimsy.  Rather than choose a theme, my design of this nursery developed organically, as I found various pieces that would work together without appearing too "matchy-matchy."  Working with a variety of shades of gray was a learning experience - who knew there were so many?  And finding the perfect punchy coral color might as well be akin to looking for a needle in a haystack.  Fortunately, I met a lot of helpful people along the way who turned my dreams into reality.  Thanks to the other Project Nursery members for sharing their design ideas.  Those too served as great sources of inspiration!
• Design Inspiration: My design inspiration came from a cosmetic bag designed by Milly for Clinique.  (Random, I know.)  But it was in the most punchy coral color, perfect for a fun, but feminine nursery. I had a difficult time finding a comparable fabric, so I turned to Spoonflower.com where custom fabrics can be designed and ordered in small quantities.  That's where I stumbled upon the incredible designs of Holli Zollinger. She designed this fantastic elephant and umbrella fabric.  The only problem? The umbrellas were red, not the bright coral pink I had envisioned.  We exchanged a few messages and she agreed to customize this fabric and a few of her other designs for me.  I simply matched the cosmetic bag to a Pantone swatch and sent her the information! Every other decision in the nursery stemmed from this elephant and umbrella fabric!  You can check out her entire line of coral and gray fabrics here.  Love it!
• Decorating Style: I love mixing traditional elements with modern pieces.  While our crib features traditional bead board, the custom baby bedding combines a contemporary color palette with a graphic print.  We recovered the classic upholstered glider and ottoman in a bold, over sized graphic print which also reflects the way the two styles can work together.
• Project Details:
  • Crib - Ragazzi
  • Glider/Ottoman - Unknown, reupholstered in P. Kauffman's Slick Grey, from buyfabrics.com
  • Dresser - IKEA
  • Coral End Table - Antique (from grandparents); paint from Lowe's
  • Pendant Light Fixture - IKEA
  • Area Rugs - C&F Enterprises from Carolina Pottery
  • Baby Bedding - Custom; fabrics from Spoonflower.com
  • Canopy - Custom; Elephant and Umbrella fabric from Spoonflower.com, Geo Tile fabric in coral from Spoonflower.com and Duralee's Smoke Scroll fabric from buyfabrics.com
  • Wooden Chair - Antique store find; paint from Lowe's
  • Round End Table and Skirt - Bed, Bath, and Beyond
  • Photo Frames on Gallery Wall - IKEA
  • Changing Pad and Cover - Babies R Us
  • Curtains - IKEA with custom ribbon detailing from Michael's
  • Wall Paint - Lowe's Olympic ONE Paint
• Favorite Items: Other than Holli Zollinger's custom elephant and umbrella fabric, my favorite item in the room has to be the canopy over the crib.  It's the first thing that people notice when they walk in the room, and hopefully the baby will enjoy looking up at it.  They say babies like graphic patterns! I was inspired to sew the canopy from an image I found in a Coastal Living magazine from years ago.  With no pattern (which I honestly rarely use) I relied on measurements of the crib and the wall. Another nursery favorite of mine is the colorful Ikat picture frame on the coral end table.  It was a shower gift from dear friends.  It gave me the courage to break away from the coral and gray color palette and add in pops of color around the room.  Take for example the orange elephant statue, also placed on the end table.  When I picked out the statue, I figured I would need to paint it so it would "go" with everything else in the room.  I then realized the orange did "go" in the room, especially with its colorful counterpart, the Ikat picture frame!   (Since the frame was a gift, I do not know the source...the elephant statue is from Carolina Pottery.)
• Advice: Don't be afraid to see your vision through to the end!  There were many times I was discouraged because of the difficulty of finding exactly what I wanted. For example, had I not reached out to Holli through Spoonflower, I would have never ended up with the custom elephant and umbrella fabric. My determination (and the word PLEASE) helped tremendously! DIY