Beach Dreaming

Hello, snow day number 6! I know you are used to me complaining about snow, but this morning I’m going to take the more hopeful approach of dreaming about warm sand, sparkling water, and gorgeous coastal décor. To dream your own beachy dreams, head over to A Beach Cottage, where Sarah is giving away subscriptions to Coastal Living magazine to three lucky readers.


Good luck!

<3
Hattie

Ohhh, and for fun (and to keep me warm!) let me know your favorite beach town. I might just need to plan a trip!

We have a winner!

Thanks to all of you who participated in the allmodern pillow giveaway! Now, let's find a winner!

I put you all in a random number generator and it spit out....

31



Random numbers generated Oct 10 2009 at 10:33:10 by www.psychicscience.org


Free educational resources for parapsychology, psychical research & mind magic.

Which means that....

31 limonurse said...


I love the little owl pillow. It would be perfect in my guest room. :) BTW I love the milk glass....I am a big fan of that and depression glass. :)


October 7, 2009 11:11 AM

limonurse, you are the winner! Congrats! Please send me your email address so I can pass it on to the people at allmodern.com. They will be contacting you about your prize!

P.S. I love that Owl Pillow too!
Have a great weekend y'all!

<3
Hattie

A gift for me and a gift for you!

It’s a very special DIY day for me because I get to show you a wonderful gift my husband gave to me, and then I get to giveaway a wonderful gift to one of you! How awesome is that? Just about as awesome as all the super cool tricks you can see over at Kimba’s – make sure you stop in and check them out.

Now, on to the fun. On Thursday my husband brought me a beautiful and seriously huge bouquet of fall blooms. I could have put them all in a big ‘ol vase and been done with it, but that’s not very DIY, now is it? So, I rounded up a bunch of containers and set to work creating a bunch of small arrangements to scatter around the house. This is one of my favorite things to do with flowers, so be aware that if you have the inclination to send me a bouquet, I will most like dismantle it within seconds of arrival. Just warning ya!

First, I had to put some flowers in the kitchen because they make cooking and chowing down a little more homey.

I think the entire blog world has this same vase, and we all paid less than a buck for it at a thrift store. It makes you wonder where all these babies came from! I love to cut flower stems kind of short, so they just peak over the edge of the vase, almost like a little cap of flowers. They just look a little more “done” to me this way.

To balance out the formality, I went for a little fun and whimsy on the other side of the buffet. There is nothing as simple as popping a few blooms in empty wine and water bottles. Easy and classy – I like it!

Flowers on my nightstand are my favorite luxurious treat. If you haven’t tried this, you must! For next to no money, you can feel like you’re sleeping in a swanky hotel.

I mixed in some azalea cuttings from the yard to give this arrangement a little pop of green. I just stuck the whole thing in an IKEA juice glass and ta-da – instant glam.

I love how a few white pumpkins and this mini arrangement take my birdy pictures from spring to fall.

I think this milk glass beauty was intended as a candle holder, but if it’ll hold water, it can hold flowers!

Finally, I had to add something fresh and fall-ish to the living room.

I love simple!
---
OK, so now that you’ve taken a gander at my lovely present, it’s time to take a look at a present that could soon be yours! The folks at allmodern.com are generously giving one Little Red Roost reader their choice of a decorative pillow valued at $50 or under. Do you realize the kind of pillow gorgeousness that kind of money can buy?

You could soon be the owner of this little cutie

Or how about this fun modern print?

You know I love this organic looking print

Umm yeah, you could even snag some of this Thomas Paul hotness.

Seriously, if I didn’t have my lovely flowers to keep me company, I’d be kind of bummed that I can’t enter my own giveaway! So, if ya wanna win one of these beauties, and ya know ya do, here are three ways you can enter. # 1. Head on over to allmodern and check out the amazing pillow selection, then come back here and leave a comment, letting me know what pillow you would pick if you won. #2. If you become a follower of my blog and come back here and leave comment letting me know you have done so, you can earn yourself another entry. Please leave the extra comment, even if you’re already a follower. #3. You can earn yet another entry if you blog about this giveaway and come back here leaving a comment with a link to your post.

This giveaway ends Friday at midnight, Eastern Time, and is open to U.S. residents only.

Good luck! I can’t wait to see who wins!

<3
Hattie

It's a surprise!

Hey y'all! I had no idea I'd be saying these words again so soon, but I'm having a giveaway! When the lovely people at allmodern.com contacted me about hosting a giveaway for you crazy kids, I was super excited. I'm hoping to have way more entries than last time, so I'm going to wait till Tuesday to give you all the details. In the mean time, here's a little teaser to keep you guessing.

Will you have a chance to win some awesome Modern Bedding like this?

Or, maybe a beautiful accent pillow?

Or, perhaps a pair of elegant wall sconces?

Be sure to check back Tuesday for the big reveal and your chance to enter! The giveaway will be open to U.S. residents only. Spread the word!

<3

Hattie

Winner, Winner, Chicken dinner!

We have a winner for my 100th post giveaway!

To choose a winner, I put every person's name in Random.org's list generator twice, since all of you are followers. It gave me this list:

List Randomizer
There were 12 items in your list. Here they are in random order:
1. Tim and Tracy
2. Cara
3. Carol
4. Julia
5. Carol
6. Amy
7. Strand family
8. Tim and Tracy
9. Julia
10. Strand family
11. Cara
12. Amy
Timestamp: 2009-09-19 13:26:23 UTC

Next, I used Random.org's random number generator to pick a number 1 - 12. It came up with:

Result: 9 ( It wouldn't let me copy/paste the whole widget thing. Bummer, because it looks cool!)

Congrats Julia!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

<3
Hattie

100 posts and a giveaway!

It's kind of hard for me to believe that I've written 100 posts for this lil old blog I started back in January as a New Year's resolution! I have to say that I've loved every bloggy second. To celebrate this only-momentous-to-me occasion, I think it's time for a giveaway!


I made this cute little duct tape clutch just for one of you. . .


The base is a man's shirt, which makes for some pretty spiffy lining on the inside.



You have two chances to win this baby:
1. Post a comment below letting me know what you like best about this blog and/or what you'd like to see more of.
2. Become a follower ( no Kool-Aid involved, I promise!) or subscribe by RSS or blog about the giveaway on your own blog. Just come back here and post a comment letting me know what ya did for your second entry.
---
I'll keep this open until midnight on Friday. For my own post office sanity, this one is open to US residents only.


Wouldn't this make a cute date night purse? Or pencil case, or makeup bag, or tissue/advil/lip gloss bag inside the mammoth purse we all really carry?



Good luck, and thanks for making my first 100 posts a ton of fun!

<3
Hattie

This little piggy wore pink

I wanted to let you guys in on a pretty sweet giveaway going on at A Soft Place to Land. Most of y'all have probably already heard about this, but in case you don't make a habit of visiting Kimba's awesome blog, I wanted to let you know that if you stop by and comment before Friday, you can enter to win $50 to spend at a cute shop called the Pink Pig.

Here's a little peak at some of the things from this shop that I heart the most.

This would be perfect for my trips to Trader Joe's! Or, ya know, the beach!


If I win the 50 smackers, I'm going to have a tough time deciding between this gorgeous birdy shirt and this gorgeous birdy cake stand.

Maybe my bird infatuation is getting a tad out of control?
---
While I'm on the subject of giveaways, I noticed I'm getting pretty close to my 100th post. I'm thinking about doing a little giveaway of my own, but since my first (and only) attempt resulted in one entry ( love you Tracy!) I'm a little hesitant. What do ya say, If I did a giveaway to mark 100 would y'all be interested?

<3
Hattie

A little cottage by the sea

I'm pretty excited about today's post because it features so many of my favorite things: books, cottages, the beach, and a giveaway!

I discovered author Mary Kay Andrews when I was living in College Park, Maryland during graduate school. I was really missing home and things like hearing "y'all," and "Bless your heart!" I missed country roads and junk shops, and was longing for a shot in the arm of Southerness. When I picked up Savannah Breeze, it was like someone had given me a big bowl of homemade peach ice cream. Here was a book with romance, humor, junking, furniture restoration, and the beach. I was hooked on Mary Kay's books from then on.



When I discovered Mary Kay's blog, I became hooked on that as well. She writes about her books, antiquing adventures, and restoring her family beach house on Tybee Island.

You can view even more pictures of the Breeze Inn and follow Mary Kay's renovation process by checking out her blog archive.

I just love this cottage, so you can image how excited I was to learn that you can actually rent the Breeze Inn through Mermaid Cottages . You have to go to this site and check out the 38 adorable cottages they have available for vacation rental. Clicking through this site is not only great for dreaming of an island getaway, but it is also a great way to get some cottage decor inspiration. Here is just a quick peak at a few of the gorgeous rooms in three other cottages.

Can I please visit Tybee Island as soon as possible?

- - -

I'm hoping that maybe I'll get to stay at the Breeze Inn next summer for free because Apartment Therapy has a contest going to win a weekend stay at the Breeze Inn! The contest ends July 16th, so get over there and register!

So my likelihood of winning might not be that great, but at least I can spend this summer enjoying Mary Kay's new book.

A love story and a total house restoration? I am going to love this book!

<3

Hattie

All cottage photos are from Mermaid Cottages

All book cover photos are from marykayandrews.com

How to waste and hour without really trying

After a wonderful 4th of July weekend at Lake Gaston, I'm excited to get back to life at home and in the blog world. Our Internet access at the lake was hit or miss due to roaming. Now that we're headed home, I've been online since we hit the first interstate!

I had planned to use this post to sing the praises of my favorite shelter mag , Better Homes and Gardens, but I stumbled upon so much cool stuff on their site that I got a little distracted. If you haven't checked out http://www.bhg.com/, go. Now. It's so much fun! I really like the color-a-room feature that lets you play with paint, flooring, and window treatments for every room of the house. I think this is such a valuable tool because it always amazes me how different a paint chip color looks once it's splashed on four walls. I almost always end up liking colors several shades lighter than what I think I'd like. It's also great to see these colors in relation to flooring choices. If paint is in your future, this little tools can suck you in for an hour or two!
- - -
Back to the original point of this post. When shelter magazines started biting the dust over the winter, it was a very sad time in the roost. I loved Cottage Living a lot, and I didn't think I'd ever find anything as good to give me my glossy home decor fix. On a whim that had a lot to do with the very reasonable subscription prices, I decided to give BHG a try. I have been so pleasantly surprised by the quality and value of this magazine. Not only does BHG offer great eye candy, but they also tend to feature reasonably priced items, simple and easy recipes, and lots of focus on green building.



The July issue is the best I've received so far. Lots of great recipes and food presentation ideas are included. This issue also features a ton of homes decorated in my favorite styles, a finished basement redo, and this cool idea for using typography to punch up your decor.



If you're not sure if BHG is your speed, I'd recommend picking this one up or finding it at your library. Almost every page has a great idea or inspiration!

I hope y'all had a wonderful 4th!

<3
Hattie

I'm a Basket Case!

It's super secret project reveal time!

Brad and I have a problem. We live in a tiny little cottage, and we have a lot of stuff. We've done a pretty good job of weeding out old clothes and childhood memorabilia that we don't absolutely need, but we still have a ton of books and movies. OK, I have a ton of books, and Brad has a ton of movies. To compound this problem, we only have two closets in the whole house. One is packed with clothes, and the other is full of Christmas decorations, camping supplies, tools, etc. So, storage is an issue. To further compound this issue, I find that I dislike clutter and adore hidden storage more and more with every year of my life.
- - -
I tackled the book issue back in January with my very first blog post. Although I'm still excited about the day we build our dream home with a big library, I'm pretty happy with the way our books are displayed for now. Of course, once one thing is all nice and organized, anything still cluttered sticks out like a sore thumb.



Notice how the book side is all nice and streamlined, while the DVD and game side is a big, junky mess! Let's take another look:



I shudder.
- - -
I've been scheming since January for a way to make our DVD storage civilized. I originally thought I would buy some of those gorgeous natural fiber baskets you can find at Target and Bed, Bath, and Beyond. When I discovered that those suckers are anywhere from nine to twelve bucks a pop, I put the baskets down and walked away quickly.

A month or so ago, One Pretty Thing featured a basket woven from strips of newspaper. Eureka! A solution to my problem that was practically free! I'm not going to rehash the basket weaving directions that others have already explained so clearly, but at the end of this post, I'll list the modifications I made and some other tips.
- - -
Here are the fabulous results of three full days of basket weaving!



One more look!



I'm really, really pleased with the results! I also like how our games stack much neater on the tallest shelf. Part of me would still like to find another way to store the games. I've thought about finding matching containers to hold each game and then throwing the boxes away, or just painting the boxes a solid color. I'm really tempted, but I think I might regret it down the road when we can easily store the games in a closet. Any thoughts?
---
Let's take another look at the baskets!

If you plan to make these yourself, here are my tips and suggestions.

1. Read the directions I've linked to above.

2. I wanted my baskets to be pretty sturdy, so I used twice as much newspaper per strip. Meaning, I did not cut my newspaper into half sized sheets. I kept the sheets full sized, and folded into eighths lengthwise. I suggest stapling each end of the strip after folding.

3. My baskets are the perfect length and depth to hold a DVD, and they are long enough to reach the back of my 11 inch bookshelves. If you would like to make a basket this size you will need: 7 strips made by folding a full sized sheet of newspaper into eighths lengthwise (if you would like a shorter or longer basket, just remove or add strips. each strip = about one inch in basket length), 5 strips made by folding a full sized sheet of newspaper into eights lengthwise, and stapling half of another strip to the end of each strip so that each completed strip = one and a half the length of the strips you made in the first step. Weave these strips together to make the rectangular bottom of your basket. You will then fold each strip up and weave around the rectangle to form the sides of your basket. It takes 6 full sized strips stapled together to form three long strips to create the sides of your basket. This means that the sides of your basket are three strips tall.

4. Hot glue and staples are your friends. Use both liberally if you want your basket to hold a firm rectangular shape. I used staples where I could hide them and hot glue in the more vi sable areas.

5. Glue a solid sheet of paper to the bottom of your basket if you are worried about the newsprint rubbing off on your bookshelves.

6. This is not as complicated as it sounds. Once you start weaving everything makes sense.

7. What have you got to loose? Old newspaper is free!

I've thinking about adding a solid color ribbon around the middle of each basket. Will this dress them up a little or distract from the simple graphic vibe they've got going right now?

<3
Hattie

Get Your Free On!

Confession: I've been working on a big secret project (OK, it's not that big) and I'm almost finished. If all goes well, I'll post the finished product tomorrow. I'll only give y'all three hints. 1. this project does not involve white paint. 2. our bookcase full of DVDs looked so junky I cringed every time I looked at it. 3. both of my hands are covered in black ink smudges.

- - -

So, in the style of my hero, Mr. Rogers, "Let's think of something to do while we're waiting!" Here are my current 3 favorite, absolutely free, things to do on the web.

1.

One Pretty Thing



This site is dedicated to scouring the web to find the best DIY and craft projects. Each day, about twenty different projects are featured. I have found some of my best ideas on this site! I was so excited when Rachel featured my no-sew sink skirt that I jumped up and down like a college kid on The Price is Right.

2.

Kraft Foods





On this site, you can sign up to receive the free Kraft Foods and Family magazine that is always chock full of great easy recipes and coupons. You can also sign up to receive email recipes from Kraft. Or, you can just browse the site to find something yummy. I do all three! I've tried a lot of recipes from this site and they are almost always awesome. I especially like checking the user rating on a recipe for tips on substitutions and adding extra ingredients.


3.


The Graphics Fairy



Every day, the Graphics Fairy features a free vintage image. A lot of them are a little more Victorian than my style, but I've still found tons of free images that I love. Go ahead and browse through her posts, I bet you'll fall in love with at least one image!

Have fun browsing these great free sites. Be sure to let me know if you've found any amazing free places to hang on the web!


<3
Hattie

Art for your heart

As promised, here is the nearly free (yet priceless!) art project I've been working on for our bedroom.

I really like the look of vinyl or painted quotes, but I don't want to use them in the roost - 1. because we are renting and 2. because the vinyl letters get a little pricey. So, last summer I bought four document frames at the Dollar Tree, painted them, and used them to frame one of my favorite phrases.




While I love the sentiment, the outcome was not as great as I had hoped. My spacing was off, and the overall look lacked polish.

I've been meaning to redo this project for a long time, and this weekend I finally got around to it.
I started by taking the four words, "Peace" "Be" "with" "you" and finding verses that included each word. Then I opened up Word, created a text box with a pretty border, inserted the featured word in a large font, then inserted the verse in a smaller font around the word. It took some playing with text boxes to get everything to look the way I wanted, but if you have the 2007 version, there is a function built in for doing this sort of thing. Next, I printed out each text box, cut it out, glued it to a sheet of heavy weight cream colored paper and stuck it in one of the frames. Here is the final result:





You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

The verses I chose have special meaning to me, and I'm going to love being reminded of them every day. In case you are interested, I used the following verses:

"PEACE I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27

"Have I not commanded you? BE strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

"And surely I am WITH you always to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:20

"YOU a r e God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for you to do." Ephesians 2:10



I'm very pleased with the results. I love that four bucks an an hour or so of work can result in a beautiful reminder of God's promises.

Do you have any word's of wisdom in your home?

<3

Hattie

When I'm giving students research pointers at school, I always like to direct them to the awesome resources available through the Library of Congress. This site contains not only valuable historical documents and records, but also some pretty great examples of American art and photographs. It's a good place to gather some inspiration, and you can even order print reproductions of your favorite pieces.

The WPA poster collection is one of my favorite places on the website.

These are just a few of my favorites. There are hundreds on the site in nearly every art style from art deco to modern and they represent a huge range of subjects from theater to farming. Aren't they awesome!

The LOC has gotten so hip, that they have even put some of their collections on flickr.

They have a great set of photochrome travel pics, as well as some of the most iconic pictures from the 20's and 30's.

What's even better, is that most of these photos are copyright free! So, have fun searching for some fun and free art for your home. Can't you just imagine a grid of these black and white photos in a hallway or going up a staircase?

I've been working on another easy and cheap art project, this time for our bedroom. So, stay tuned, I plan to get everything finished and post pictures over the weekend.

<3

Hattie

All photos from the Library of Congress.