One Year Giveaway

It’s officially my one year blogiversary! If you haven’t introduced yourself, please do! I’m loving getting to know all of you a bit more.

To celebrate this momentous (well, to me) occasion, I’m having another giveaway! One of you will win your choice of pillow cover (fits 11x11 to 12x12 pillow)

EDIT:: I'm so glad BJ reminded me that I forgot to post an end date! I will let random.org choose the winner on Thursday (1/28) at 7:00 PM.  So check back tomorrow night to see if you're the lucky winner!

You can choose ruffles

A lovely bike diagram

Or a fun vintage bike advertisement. Your pillow cover may be slightly different than these, as I'll be making it from scratch, but it will be very similar.

To win, comment below with your favorite choice. If you follow me or subscribe through a feed reader, you can earn another entry by commenting again and letting me know. You can earn a third entry by blogging about this giveaway and leaving a comment with the link to your blog post. Make sure you leave one comment per method so all your chances will be counted! I’m sorry, but I can only send to US address.

Thanks so much for reading this blog, leaving such kind and encouraging comments, and sharing your own great ideas with the blog world! I think this has been the most creative year of my life, and I’m so excited to begin the next!

<3
Hattie

Getting to know you...

Hello, lovely readers! Today’s post is all about you. Let’s start with what I know about you. 13,447 of you have visited me this year. I can’t even tell you how that number blows my mind! 80 of you read Little Red Roost through Google Reader and 56 of you follow me. You have visited me from all over the world, including places like Croatia and Bulgaria. To be honest, I don’t think I could locate Croatia or Bulgaria on a map, although I have trouble reading the “you are here” maps in malls, so that’s not really saying much. Most of my visits come from the USA with Texas (Howdy!), Virginia (Hey Y’all!), and Georgia (Hi, Aunt Kathy!) ranking top 3.


So that’s all I know about y’all numerically speaking. What I really want to know are all those juicy personal details. So, I’m calling all you lurkers (yes, you!) to tell me a little bit about what makes you tick.

I wanna know:

-Who are you?
-How many candles were on your last cake?
-Where do you call home?
-What do you do?
-Do you blog? Plug away!
-What’s your most favorite thing in the whole world?
-What should I know about you?
-What do you like best about this blog?
-What do you want to see more of on this blog?
-And anything else you’d like to say. . .

I am really ridiculously excited to meet you!

<3
Hattie

Just Do it!

This post is a little How-To, but it’s also a Go-Do. Let me explain. If you are like me, you have about ten itsy bitsy little things about your home that you’re not crazy about that you walk past everyday with doing anything to change. I am so guilty of this! Why is it that I can easily use my spring break to slap three layers of paint on an entire dinning set, but I can’t take five minutes to change out an ugly brown switch plate for a white one?

Anyway, it has always bugged me that all of the frames in this grouping are blue or white except for one. That little tan frame drove me nuts, but I never took the time to do anything about it, until this weekend.

First, I roughed the frame up with some sandpaper.

Then I took some French blue paint on a q-tip and used it to fill in the word, “sisters.” I got some paint around the edges, but a little swipe with a wet paper towel took care of that.

Next, I brushed on a coat of white paint. Note that light brush strokes kept the white paint from covering the blue letters.

After this, I used a dry paper towel to wipe on two more layers of white paint. This trick gives you a beautiful, weathered texture. If I wanted more wood to show through, I could have stopped at one extra coat.

Here is the finished product.

The colors tie together so much better now, but aren’t obnoxiously matchy matchy!

This is your challenge: Just do it! That tiny change you’ve been meaning to make forever? Go and do it this weekend! Now that I’m on a roll, I might even change out that brown switch plate.



<3
Hattie

Blogging flashback - posts you loved

I had so much fun looking back at my old posts yesterday, thanks for joining me! Today I took a very unscientific gander at my analytics page and my comments page to find your favorite posts.

Your number one favorite is Price My Space with the Nester with 1,798 page views and 19 comments, which just goes to show that we all love a party, a good deal, and imperfect décor!

My (little) big Bathroom Reveal came in with 1,427 page views. I suspect this is because a lot of people Google bathroom remodel!

One of many, many bird related project this year, A Little Tweet ranked 1,252 page views, due to the fact that we all love birds, and Kimba featured it in her DIY Day roundup. Thanks Kimba!

Yet another birdy project, Bird is the Word ranked second highest in comments with 16. Like I said, the blog world is all for the birds – hardy, har, har.

Finally, the one overlap on my list and yours, Bench Pressed Resolved came in with 18 comments.

If you are new to blogging, let me share with you from my vault of knowledge, garnered during one whole year of blogging (but seriously) if you want your blog to get bigger hits, join the parties on the bigger blogs. I linked every single one of these posts to at least one blog party. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they are also my most viewed and commented on posts. So, join a party, make some friends, and have some major blogland fun!

Once again, I can’t thank y’all enough for reading my blog and leaving lovely comments. It’s so nice to know I’m not blogging into a void!

Check back tomorrow for a post all about getting to know you, my wonderful readers!

<3
Hattie

blogging flashback - favorite posts

Monday will be the one year blogiversary of Little Red Roost! When I read through my archived posts, I have two reactions:

1. I cringe in painful embarrassment at how awful my early pictures were – nobody told me to turn the flash off!

2. I can’t really believe how many projects I actually accomplished in one year. Let me tell you, trying to think of things to blog about is a great motivator for getting stuff done! So thank you for getting my butt off the couch!

Today, I thought it would be fun (at least for me!) to take a look back at a few of my favorite posts.

1. Favorite post so far: On Being a Homemaker
This has nothing to do with making/sewing/painting/DIYing anything – but it’s very true to me. I think I need to re-read this every month just to keep my priorities straight!

2. Favorite project: Bench Pressed Resolved
I love that my Dad and Brad redid the bathroom. I love that we painted all our thrifted and hand-me-down kitchen furniture a lovely heirloom white. But this little bench just warms my silly DIY heart. It was so out of my “I will paint every last stick of furniture white until you pry this paint brush from my tiny fingers” comfort zone. It’s kind of whimsical and dare I say, trendy, with the fun mod podged numbers.

2. Favorite posts that no one read – ok, like 15 people read. Junk Philosophy 1, 2, and 3.
According to my Google Analytic stats, these posts are waaaaay down on the list of most viewed posts. I had so much fun putting my decorating mojo into words, and it was worth it to me to spend some time defining my personal style. Still, I think these posts, especially #3 are pretty darn funny (or psychotic, depending on how you look at it) so maybe they’ll get rediscovered.

Tomorrow I’ll post a little run down of my most popular posts, at least according to your comments and my analytics stats. Have a favorite? Do tell!

And thanks to all of you who read my crazy rambling and put up with my less than superior photography skills- it pretty much blows my mind that I have actual readers!

<3
Hattie

Treasures

I wanted to share some special, new-to-me décor items I added to the living room over the weekend. These pieces came from my Granddad’s estate and have the special meaning that only family treasures can.

I have often gazed longingly at vintage ball jars in overpriced antique stores. I love how the light shines through the rippled aqua glass. I’m so glad my Granddad kept these around – although I’m sure he’d think it’s a little strange I’m using them for coffee table décor rather than canning!

Can’t you just imaging how beautiful they are going to look with some fresh tulips in them this spring?

I made this plaid pillow cover from one of my Granddad’s shirts, using this tutorial.

The blue and red colors are perfect in the living room.

This is my favorite part:

My Granddad’s original painting. He was a very talented artist and left behind quite a few sketches and paintings.

The style and colors of this one have always made it my favorite. It’s a pretty big step up from my vintage paint-by-numbers! Ummmm…could I please paint this well?

I love that these items have a family history and will be treasured for generations to come.

What are your favorite family heirlooms?

<3
Hattie

Bithday Boy

On Wednesday, my sweet husband turns 26 (and will no longer be able to tease me for being closer to 30 than 20 without getting it thrown back at ‘em!). We celebrated with our families on Sunday night.

I made a little “party time” banner from some scrapbook paper.

We feasted on Swiss Chicken, Cesar Salad, and Smashed Potatoes. See recipes at the end of the post. Sorry for the lack of pictures, we were too hungry!

The birthday boy or girl gets to eat off of a special plate.

After dinner, Brad opened some presents.

Isn’t he too cute?

He was very happy to have a new golf bag.

We finished the evening with peanut butter filled chocolate cupcakes. Yum!

Happy Birthday to my amazing husband! I love you!
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Birthday dinner menu:

Swiss Chicken (using 6-10 chicken breasts. Adjust recipe if using more or less, Can be assembled ahead of time)

- 6 – 10 chicken breasts
- 1 slice of Swiss cheese per chicken breast (I used 2%)
- 1 can 98% fat free cream of chicken soup
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- Herb seasoned stuffing mix
- ¼ - ½ cup melted butter

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Place chicken in a greased baking dish. Lay a slice of cheese over each piece of chicken. Mix wine and soup together and pour over chicken. Top with a thin layer of stuffing mix. Drizzle butter over stuffing. Cook for 45 minutes.
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Smashed Potatoes

- Red skinned potatoes chopped into large chunks (I used an entire bag from Trader Joe’s – about 10 very small potatoes)
- ½ stick butter
- ¼ cup sour cream
- Handful of chopped chives
- Salt and pepper to taste.

Cover potatoes with water and cook over medium high heat until fork tender. Drain potatoes. Smash lightly with fork. Add remaining ingredients and smash until desired consistency.
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Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter filling

Make chocolate cupcakes using your favorite recipe. Use these directions to fill with peanut butter filling:

-½ cup of peanut butter
-¼ a package of cream cheese
-1 cup of powdered sugar
- 1/2 Teaspoon vanilla
- 1 Teaspoon milk

Beat peanut butter and cream cheese together. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla. Add milk to thin. You may add more milk if desired. This makes way more than you need for 24 cupcakes. You could try to half this (although this has already been halved from the recipe I used) or think of a creative way to use the extra.

Enjoy!

<3
Hattie