Greetings friends, the lucky winners of the Fabricadabra giveaway are:

#67  Cayla from Cayla’s Corner who wrote:

“I love the Vintage wool on linen crewel floral pillow cover! It is beautiful !”

#290 Misty of House Queen who wrote:

“What a cool giveaway! I am really liking the OC019 Untreated cotton hand crocheted pillow cover!”

#373 Jacqueline of Dirty Shiny Pretty who wrote:

“This was so hard! There are way too many pretty pillows but if I’m forced to choose I would go with IKT47 or IKT067.”

Congratulations ladies !  Send me an email and I’ll get you your goodies ! 

Also, while you’re considering gifts for Mother’s Day and graduation, please pay a visit to these lovely sponsors who support this blog and keep it going !

The Shabby Chic Cottage, for vintage finds and handmade goods, just for you or for Mom !

The Vintage Pearl for personalized hand stamped sterling silver jewelry.  Both moms and grads would feel blessed to have one of these lovely pieces created by Erin !

Color Incorporated, your one stop shop for photo printing and gallery wrapped canvases.  And you get 25 free 4 x 6 prints when you use the code cen10 !  Got a picture of mom you’d like to have enlarged on a canvas ?  Visit Color Inc ! Know a grad who makes you proud ?  Pick them up a personalized photo notebook to carry off to college just so they miss you… and call you not just for money.  

Noteworthy, for stylish invitations, announcements and personalized stationery.  Any mom would love some personalized note cards, and if you have a grad in your family, pop on over to select from the beautiful announcements available!  

Scentsy, a fragrant gift for Mom that keeps giving and giving !  She’ll think of you every time her home smells amazing !  My warmer is one of my favorite things, and will surely be one of your Mom’s too.  Or give one to a grad who’s headed off to college to camouflage those not-so-wonderful  dorm room smells – his or her roommate with be grateful, and yes they even have ‘man’ scents too. 

Don’t forget about the incredible MirrorMate transformation !  Enter CENTS when you order and you’ll receive 15% off !

And please welcome three new sponsors, the first is Recessionista, where savvy shopping is always a party !  Do you feel a giveaway coming ? 

Also, please welcome Fabricadabra, which you remember from the fantastic giveaway!  Fabricadabra is your place for finding that perfect pillow or fabric to modernize your home, including ikat, batik and other exotic choices!  All natural fibers of course!  

Finally, please also welcome as a new sponsor stylist Christine for Stella & Dot, your one stop shop for stunning jewelry !  Again, a perfect gift for Mother’s Day and graduation !  And have you heard Stella & Dot is coming out with a line for little girls ?  Oh dear, I’m in trouble when my daughter spots those baubles ! 

Finally, if you’ve sent me an email, and think I fell off the face of the planet because I haven’t responded, please note that I am alive and well and will get back to you shortly.  I just took a much needed day off yesterday, shame on me !   :-) 

Thanks so much for reading and happy shopping !   On behalf of my sponsors, I personally thank you for spending your hard earned dollars with them.  It helps them, it helps me, and you get something lovely too ! 

Cheers friends. 

My friend AnNicole over at Our Suburban Cottage is having a party tomorrow called ‘How I Met My House’.  I prefer to be fashionably late to parties, however this time I’m showing up early due to some delays with my latest project.  But I brought jalapeño poppers, so I’m sure I’ll be forgiven.  :-) 

So here is the story of how we met our house, but first, let’s take a little detour.  When I was growing up, I would whiz past this amazing property on the freeway on my way to school each day. 

This is not my house. 

This is the Kendall Jackson Tasting Room and it’s one of my favorite properties in the entire universe. 

Oh my word, I could just stare at it all day.  Those arches, those French doors, those keystones, those dormers, that rose garden, I can’t stand it, it’s just so beautiful. 

*Sigh*

What does this tasting room have to do with my house ?  It inspired us in many ways when we first built our home over a decade ago, down to the exact color of the stucco. 

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One of the most inexpensive ways to add style to your home is with a simple collection from nature, right ?  I’m a huge fan of bringing nature inside, and decorating spaces with inexpensive (or free) finds from the great outdoors ! 

“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” 

- Frank Lloyd Wright

Shells on display, sand from a nearby coast, starfish or even sand dollars fashioned into wall hooks – the beach is a great source of inspiration when it comes to decorating your home.  Place items inside glass jars and they become instant focal points. 

  Credit: Country Living; Traditional Home; Nest; BH&G; JLDesigns; Pottery Barn; BH&G.

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What a whirlwind weekend friends, whew !  I made some serious progress on my boy’s bedroom – the walls and closet doors are finally all painted, now I just need to add some accessories and hopefully pull it all together soon ! 

Meanwhile, I was thinking about ways to decorate your home in a cost conscious way, and one of the ways to create big impact with little cost is to unite art on the wall with frames all painted the same color. 

Here are some of my favorite examples:

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