Valentine Banner Giveaway!!

Don't you just love it when the parallel in your life goes and gets perpendicular??


I have so enjoyed making my LOVE banners for the very special holiday coming up that I realized that I really needed to 'share the LOVE' amongst my faithful...


And as fate would have it, I have developed a need for some new, fresh ideas for my tired living room. That is where you come in, my friends!  Let us give and take on this little venture!


Rules for the Giveaway!


1.  Leave a comment on my blog from now till Friday, February 4 at 9pm with a new decorating idea for my living room.  Color, pattern, style, furniture, paint, you name it; it's up to you.....Your favorite new decorating thing!


2.  Get creative.....On a budget (of course, silly!)  I have been given a stipends for The Living Room Remodel of $500 so keep that in mind....


3.  The best idea, that I will utilize and feature in my redo, will be the winner of the most festive
mama's collection Valentine LOVE banner!


See? Easy as 1-2-3!!


Now, get thinkin'!!  Get Sharing!  And thanks so much for reading!!


Woohooooooo!!

mama's own...

Ya know, every now and then, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do....
Fall is falling all around and as sure as the seasonal shift, a girl's desire for a new bag occurs.  Remember the Daffodilly Bag back in April http://sonowiknow.blogspot.com/2010/03/daffodilly-spring-bag.html?  Well, the same focused intensity for a new autumnal purse hit me recently.  On vacation, Crazier Don informed me that I needed a great statement of a purse, one that says, I Make Purses.  One that people will notice and comment on.  So in the time that I have returned from Vacationland, my Autumnal Designed Bag has been overtaking my brain.  When I walk the dogs, when I lie in bed in my menopausal insomnia, whilst I cut vegetables, I think of what is the best way to cut my favorite upholstery fabric that is left over from Faithful Friends purse from last fall.http://sonowiknow.blogspot.com/2009/09/miserable.html.  I have doled it out carefully since it came from an tiny upholstery shop up in Indy and not exactly re orderable.  It's small amount was untidily tucked into a corner of the endless rolls of upholstery/drapery fabric.  But my hands found it.  It is soft yet sturdy.  Woven carefully and brilliant as a Joseph's Coat bush in late fall.  It says ME.  That's precisely why I made Faithful Friend's bag from it last year; we are kinda intertwined, picking up where the other left off, so it was only fitting that I used my favorite material.


For this bag, I utilized those interesting giant curtain grommets (isn't that a fun word, 'grommets'??)(Probably why I like Wallace and Gromit so much! :Dhttp://wallaceandgromit.com)  I tucked it up a bit to cinch it around the opening so things do not escape.  I added a zippered pocket (something I do for others but not for myself) and even attached an old Baby Girl earring from her bohemian days (that was before she was a Pregnant Bohemian; different but the same!) for a zipper pull.  I added a pen/pencil pocket because I despise searching for a pen in my purse.  I usually have many floating around in my purses so not to be able to find one, is very irritating.  Not so any more!  All my new designed bags have pen/pencil pockets!  A mama's collection speciality of sorts.  My lining fabric is a cotton paisley from four years ago from Walmart of all places.  Our local Walmart removed their fabric section recently.  Granted, not too much to choose from but every now and then, I could find a nice upholstery piece.  So I haven't spoken to Walmart from some time now anyway, especially when this spring's floral assortment was so lame.  And their aisles are smaller.  The list is building of just my own beefs never mind the global things.


But I digress.


To summarize:  The purse is huge, noteworthy, soft, sectioned and I think what Crazier Don had in mind when he wanted me to create a Statement Bag.


Happy mama.


Now is time for a favorite activity of most women:
Changing To A New Purse!
Seriously, isn't that the most fun?  Taking the time to go through the old, discarding gum wrappers, placing receipts in their right place, finding those rascally pens and organizing the stray papers, is really very cathartic, almost euphoric but that is just me....Or not?


Off to reload the new purse with all it's handy pockets and soft externities......
Watch for it.....!

'Lady, You've Got Too Much Stuff!'

The above quote was spoken to me from a frustrated, overworked, underpaid professional mover/packer eleven years ago.  Apparently, her 'estimator' ran through my house a bit too quickly and grossly underestimated the amount of 'stuff' I was capable of hiding.. By the time another truck had to be arranged (and filled to the brim), she was about ready to bean me.

To my credit, I had warned the hurried estimator, that all 45 of my kitchen cabinets were full.  That my buffet, china cabinet, garage and most nooks and dang near all of the crannies were artfully filled to the brims. She offhandedly waved off my concerns with a 'Yes, dear, we are quite used to this kind of move..We do it all the time.'  Warned her.

I can fill a semi in nothin flat.

Now the down side to My Ever Increasing Collection.

Updating.

When Bob, the counter installer, called me yesterday to arrange a time for the install of my fetchingly beautiful Tur Quazzie counter, I thought to myself: preparing for this shouldn't be a big deal.  Just clear out those things that could in the way or broken by those that do not take my things seriously. Once I started, the refrain of the poor young packer of years ago, kept playing in my brain...'Lady, you've got too much stuff!!!' I do believe the chorus was even played in a minor key, just to add to the solemnity of it all.

I covered my rather large dining room table.  And the chairs.  And I went out to the garage/storage to bring in a folding table to make more table space. (You did know that I have five card tables, right?)  That filled, I started placing things in my laundry room and library.  Things started spreading out like slow moving lava and seeing it all out like that I gotta admit, I kinda got a little scared like it was the red hot stuff....Maybe the thought of Hubby seeing some of my well hidden treasures all exposed, might

jeopardize any future foray into Yard Sale Land. So I was a little anxious.

Daunting, isn't it?  Laden Counters, well packed cabinets, top of microwave, any horizontal  space is fair game for my 'collections'....Doesn't even Marjorie, my cookie jar, look a bit claustrophobic?  I reassured her that her New Happy Place would be forthcoming, that this temporary discomfort shall last but an evening....

By the end of the afternoon, Bob the Counter Man and his assistant Ryan, had completed their task and brought my kitchen into the 1950's...Retro Update; a bit of a contradiction, eh?

In all my appreciation for this most generous gift, I am vowing to be selective when returning things to their place.  I am proud to report that I have a box (albeit 'small') of things that will need to find another home. Maybe.