Giveaway Weekend

Well hello! I am back from a FANTASTIC few days hanging with some amazing bloggy friends. I’ll tell you more about it soon, but I have a fabulous giveaway for you all first!

Amy from Amy Peters Studio makes some of the most adorable stamped jewelry around – I love her variety and the sweet messages on her pieces. And she’s been doing this since she was EIGHT years old – she’s a pro now, to say the least. ;)

Of course, I picked out a few of my faves to show you. And of course, I had 20 pictures saved and had to get a grip on  myself to whittle that down just a tad.

I know I should save the very best for last, but I couldn’t resist putting these first – TOO cute! Check out the itty bitty cutie patootie fortune cookie necklaces:

   

UGH. Are you dying? I. am. dying. There’s actually two sizes – the one on the left is a bit bigger. The one on the right is the teensy one. ADORABLE. :)

Like I mentioned, I love the messages on Amy’s pieces. This one has the “take the road less traveled” message:

Wouldn’t that be a great one for a teen in high school or going off to college? A reminder that they don’t always have to follow the crowd is definitely a good thing. ;)

I love that you can purchase the chain and charm, or just the charm for that one. I have plenty of necklaces, so being able to just buy the charm is brilliant!

This one is just plain sweet:

Too cute! If Stink Eye sis is nice, maybe I’ll get it for her. :) This piece is available as a necklace or a bracelet.

I’m also in love with Amy’s dainty, stackable rings. How adorable would this one be, stacked three or four high?:

I love, love, LOVE that little flower!

And the message on this one says “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey”:

Perfect for any woman in your life who is starting on a new phase – job, school, family, whatever.

And I couldn’t resist showing you this ring stand as well:

Ack! Stinkin’ cute!

Aren’t they so sweet? I just love them all. She has an amazing selection!

Here’s the best part -- one of you lovelies will get to spend $75 as you wish at Amy Peters Studio:

WHOO!! I love giving away stuff. This is so fun. :)

Here’s the drill – leave a comment here for your first entry. For your second entry, go to Amy’s site here and pick out one of your favorite pieces. Come back here to leave a second comment letting us know what that is. That’s it!

The giveaway will be open until Tuesday the 1st at noon Eastern time.

Have a GREAT weekend! I’m off to squish my son a few more times – missed him SO MUCH!!! :)

Silhouette discount code and a winner!

Well…WOW! What a fantastic response to the Silhouette giveaway!! I so wish I could give one to all of you!! (Really, I do.)

The LUCKY DUCK winner of the Silhouette and accessories is…

JEN from GARAGE SALE DIARIES!

Yay Jen! Please send me an email at thriftydecorchick (at) gmail (dot) com and I’ll get you hooked up!

Sooooo…for you other 5,402 entries that didn’t win, today only you can get a steal of a deal at the Silhouette site! You’ll get all of the following for only $199:

- Silhouette craft cutter machine
- One roll of Cream vinyl ($7.99)
- One roll of transfer paper ($7.99)
- Home decor CD (value $55)

The machine alone is usually $299, so that’s a fantastic deal!

**To order your Silhouette, visit their site here and make sure to enter discount code TDC123 when you check out.**

Remember you can only get this deal today from 4 a.m. to midnight.

Have fun with your Cyber Monday shopping and I’ll be back this evening! :)

Silhouette Craft Cutter Giveaway!

Yep…you read that right. I get to give away another Silhouette Craft Cutter machine.

Please say it with me…

WHOO. HOO!!!

If you’ve read TDC for a while, you know how I’ve fallen in love with this machine:

We’re likethis. LOVE.

This giveaway is full of so much good news, you may just pass out from the greatness. Not only is one of you going to WIN one…but the folks at Silhouette are going to have a crazy, wild, amazing deal on these beauties next Monday – now affectionately known as Cyber Monday. :)

This deal is only valid on Monday, November 29, starting at 4 a.m. (Eastern time) and ending at midnight that day. 

Get ready…the Silhouette, that’s normally sold for $299, will be sold for $199!

Aww yeah! Awesome!

They have also sweetened the deal with a few other goodies with purchase that day:

- One roll of Cream vinyl ($7.99)
- One roll of transfer paper ($7.99)
-  Home decor CD (value $55)

That’s more than $70 in FREE stuff! All for only $199!! (If you’re doing the math, that's almost $200 in savings!)

You will have to use a discount code to get this saaahweet deal – I’ll be announcing that code first thing Cyber Monday morning so you can get the great discount!

This is the newest version with more capabilities and newest technology, (Silhouette is now available to MAC users too!) and they have NEVER sold them for this cheap.

The possibilities with this machine are endless – your gift budget could be cut in half with a little imagination and the Silhouette!

Here’s the different ways I’ve used it (click on the picture to get to the post):

Big. Fat. Sigh. It’s awesome. :)

And one of YOU will win one a Silhouette of your very own!

The winner of this giveaway gets ALL of the following:

A Silhouette Machine (a $299.99 value)

It will include...

- Software for Windows XP/Vista, Mac
- Power cable, USB cable
- Two cutting mats (one for thick media, one for thin media)
- One cutting blade
- $10 gift card to the Silhouette Online Store

Get ready…there’s a bunch of ways to enter!

1. Leave a comment here.

2. Visit the Silhouette site here, take a look at what it can make, and pick one of your favorite ideas that you’d like to try. Come back and leave a comment telling me what that is. 

3. Tweet about the giveaway with a link to this post.

4. Write about it on Facebook and link to this post.

5. Blog about it and link back to this post.

That’s FIVE ways to win, if you’re counting. ;)

**The winner has to be in the US, due to customs and shipping. And a winner may only win one Silhouette, even if it's from a different host.

So there you go! Enter to win a Silhouette here this week -- the giveaway will end Sunday evening at 8 p.m.

I’ll announce the winner in the wee hours of Monday morning, and if you don’t win, you can order your own at 4 a.m. Cyber Monday – don’t forget to watch for the code on Monday’s post! 

Have fun and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Giveaway winners!

Hello there! I’m excited to announce the winners of my latest giveaways. FUN. :)

First up, the randomly selected winner of the TEN craft kits for you and nine of your friends (a $250 value!) is…

MelKel from For the LOVE of cooking!

Congrats! You can email Alison at alison (at) howdoesshe (dot) com to get connected for your kits. Have fun! :)

There was a HUGE response to the HomeGoods Mom Cave giveaway!:

The FOUR winners of the $50 gift cards are:

1. Cammy from Live to Learn
2. Stephanie from Good Bones Home
3. Amanda from Our Humble A(Bowe)d
4. Sarah from Our Cozy Robbins Nest (Random.org came up with #1 for the last one, out of more than 1600 entries! Whoa!)

CONGRATS all!! :)

Please send an email with your names and addresses to thriftydecorchick (at) gmail (dot) com so I can send you your gift cards. :)

And for everyone else…hang in there, I’ve got some more great giveaways coming up over the next month!

Giveaway Weekend!

It's time...Craft Group Tim

Whoohoo! I told you I had some great giveaways coming up! (I always do…but the anticipation of the holidays makes them especially fun this time of year!)

Two of my three friends over at How Does She (it’s such a fab site…check it out!) recently started a new endeavor – a business based around crafting. Even better -- crafting parties. How fun is that?

A Makia Craft Group is a great way to spend an evening with the girls – creating, gabbing, eating – perfect!!

But the best part is you don’t have to do ANY prep – no sawing wood, no running around for supplies, no nothin’. Makia helps you plan, organize and host a successful craft group by simplifying every step.

The kits include everything that is needed to complete your craft – glue, materials, paper – all of it! And when you purchase ten or more kits, you get a free kit (a $10 value) for you as the host! And the nice little bonus -- FREE SHIPPING! (Seriously that rocks!)

A stress free, fun and productive girls' night out!

How fun would it be to order craft kits for Thanksgiving day? The kids and parents (and grandparents!) could work on them together:

(OK, that little turkey is killing me!)

And check it out – he turns into a snowman! Two crafts in one!:

(Makia Creations will be taking orders for the Thanksgiving kits until November 15th or until they are sold out.)

My girlfriends and I get together for an ornament exchange every holiday season -- but how fun would be to do an evening of Christmas crafting too?! (They’re not all crafty – but with everything ready to go, I know they could totally pull it off.)  ;)

This countdown to Christmas project would be perfect!:

Ack. Love!:

There are always new fun new kits being added too. I love love LOVE this Christmas subway art!:

Remember there is FREE shipping and a FREE supply kit with every craft group order ($20 value)!

And you don’t need a party to order – get one for yourself and do it with the kids. Or by yourself. With some hot cocoa. Hmmm…perfect. :)

The folks at Makia Creations are giving away TEN craft kits for you and nine of your friends! That's a $250 value! Whooeee, how fun!

You are allowed up to three entries (per person) for this giveaway:

1. Check out the craft kits here and come back to leave a comment telling us which kit you'd like to create with your friends.

2. Become a fan of Makia Creations on Facebook. Come back to this page and leave a comment letting us know you're a fan of Makia.

3. Sign up to host a craft group (it's free). All readers can can get a free kit, preferred pricing and free shipping if they host a craft group. If you host a craft group, leave a comment on this page letting me know.

This giveaway will be open till Monday at noon – have fun and have a GREAT weekend! :)

HomeGoods Mom Cave (Giveaway!)

Oooooh…I’ve been so excited about this one! I have a FAB giveaway for you today -- I’ve been chomping at the bit to tell you about!

HomeGoods has a Mom Cave promotion going on right now that you may have heard about around blogland. I don’t care who you are…young, old, work outside or in the home, one child or seven, children or not…every woman needs a spot they can go and just relax. Recharge. Regroup. Cause we make our worlds go round. We do – you are the glue in your household.

And being the glue gets tiring. :)

HomeGoods worked with the talented interior designer Elaine Griffin to come up with four essentials of the Mom Cave:

Sounds good to me! Love it!

Thanks to HomeGoods, I was able to work on my own itty bitty Mom Cave. If you haven’t been to HomeGoods (or TJMaxx) – you. must. go. If you live near one, it is your duty as an American to check out the deals!! At least that's the platform I would run on…

You’ll find just what you were looking for and just the thing you didn’t know you were looking for.

You know I adore their lamps:

See all those drum shades? Swoon. The most expensive lamp I’ve ever purchased there was $50, but most are $30 each. For the selection, quality and the fact that they come with a shade – it’s hard to beat those prices. Lamps are pretty affordable most places, but adding on that shade is what gets ya.

There’s aisle after aisle (after aisle) of mirrors and art:

And there’s always a TON of furniture. I saw these two upholstered headboards the day I was there and thought they were lovely:

 

If you’ve been to HomeGoods, you know that doesn’t even scratch the surface. If you’ve never been but hear us bloggers go on and on (and on) about HomeGoods, you know that doesn’t even scratch the surface. ;)

We have a little spot in our master bedroom that has turned into my own little Mom Cave over the years, and this is what it looked like for a long time:

Ahhhhhh…the shiny brass is blinding me!!!!

Sorry…I couldn’t resist. :)

I thought this spot could use some warming up, and I started with the table. I’d pulled that one from the basement forever ago, and because it’s meant to be an end table, it stuck out really far from the wall. I wanted to cozy it up a bit, so I searched for just the right table at HomeGoods…I found plenty, most in the $150-$200 range. I didn’t want to spend that much and figured I wasn’t going to find what I was looking for.

But then I saw this one…and the birds started singing:

Really…there was a bird in the store. It started singing.

I KID. I KID!!

The singing was in my head. :) I’ve been wanting to pull some metallic tones into the room and this is a lovely muted gold -- the metal has almost a faux bamboo look, and the top is a mirror.

It was exactly what I envisioned for the space…AND it was only $60! Score!

One of the reasons I love HG so (we’re tight, so I can call them HG) is their selection of look-a-likes from more expensive stores. If you stalk browse Pottery Barn catalogs like me, you may have seen this pretty clock:

Well, at $39 it’s just a teensy out of my comfort zone for a little clock…but HomeGoods had a lovely version (I think it’s even bigger than the PB one?) for $15:

And dare I say – I like this one even better?

If I had my way and a few extra hundred bucks a month, I’d have fresh flowers all over our house at all times. But I don’t so I don’t, but I hope to treat myself as often as I can here:

They smell ahhhmazing! Oh, and the “vase” is really a sundae glass. :) Isn’t it so cute as a vase? Love it!

For the past few months, I’ve found myself sitting in this spot every morning to put on my makeup, so I added a box I already had (it was supposed to be a jewelry box) and put my everyday makeup in it:

Since the table had empty space underneath, I found a beautiful storage box at HomeGoods to hide magazines:

It was $16 and I love the hint of gold metallic on it – ties in perfectly with the table!

I initially tried the old lamp on the table, but I was still running into the same issue I’ve had – the light was just too low to read by (or to put make up on). So I stole a floor lamp from the office and it’s the absolute perfect height:

I think floor lamps are so hard to pick out -- I find most are way too tall. This one happens to be just the right height for this chair. I found the drum shade a few months ago at Goodwill and it looks great on this lamp. (Love that natural fabric!)

No Mom Cave is complete (at least in my world) without a spot to cuddle up. I grabbed a luscious blanket for $13 at HG:

Seriously -- $13?! You can’t beat it!

It looks lovely on my little $15 garage sale chair and clearanced pillow I already had:

That chair is the one and only upholstered item I’ve ever bought second hand. I couldn’t get it out of my head when I saw it…and went back three times. The third time it came home with me. :)

Then it was on to the mantel…yes, we have a fireplace in our bedroom. No, we are not rich. Yes, it ROCKS. No, the fireplace was not my idea. When we built our house and sat down with the designer to pick out all of our “extras,” I was in full freak-out, hyperventilating mode by the time we got to the bedroom and hubs announced he wanted a FIREPLACE.

You have got to be kidding. I think I passed out for a few seconds…the dollar signs were giving my hives. But hubby talked me into it…and I am SO GLAD he did. It’s only a few dollars more a month on the mortgage anyway…right Dave Ramsey? RIGHT?!  :) (Don’t hate Dave…we’re paying it off with your guidance!)

Anyhoo, I wanted to keep the mantel simple, but also make it a bit more sophisticated. I took a platter we’ve had for years and tried it up there and loved it. LURVE. Then I found three candlesticks in various sizes at HomeGoods to give some height to the other side:

  

Those candles are totally fake by the way. No catching the art on fiyah. (You can see how I made the DIY art (with wallpaper!) here.)

I wanted to beef up my little photo wall a bit, so I got a couple more black frames, one for $8 and one for $6:

The photos are printed right off our computer onto plain computer paper. (No, I don’t even use photo paper most of the time!) I keep scraps of foam board and cardboard and use them for photo “mats” – I cut them to size, paint them the color of the wall and just center the printed photo on top.

El cheapo art. Photographs are 90 percent of the “art” in our house and that’s just how I like it. :)

The little mirror was a Goodwill find a while ago, and I had been using it as a tray till  now. The wall needed one more little something and it was perfect!

So my little corner of the world, that used to look like this:

Is now just a tad bit warmer and cozier with the addition of some metallics, some soft stuff and a couple more photos on the wall:

(I’m trying out the buffalo check side of the drapes by the way – not sure if it’s staying or not, but ooohweee, I love that print!!)

Of course, in my world, the “Mom Cave” is still surrounded by toys (that I pushed out of the picture) and my pile-o-crap in the corner:

But let’s focus on the relaxing part, shall we??:

Until tomorrow when there’s a cat sleeping in my chair, choo choo’s all over the table and fire trucks lined up on the floor. But I wouldn’t want my Mom Cave any other way. :)

So I have some AWESOME news for you Squeeeezies! I have FOUR $50 HomeGoods gift cards to give away! WHOOHOO! I told you this rocked. I did.

All you have to do is leave a comment. What would you use $50 for? A space for just you I hope! Cause you DESERVE IT! I don’t know you and really have no idea…but I’m going to guess you totally deserve it. ;)

(This giveaway will be open till Monday, the 8th at noon.)

**Disclaimer:  My love and gushiness of HomeGoods, their prices and their products is all my own. They do not ask me to tell you how much I love them. I just do. So I tell you. That is all.