Etsy Monday, Halloween + a Giveaway!!!!

I AM SO EXCITED TODAY!! Not only is it Etsy Monday..( remember...every Monday until Christmas, I will be showcasing a favorite shop from Etsy..or sometimes..not Etsy) and Halloween...but TODAY, I have A GIVEAWAY for YOU, from an amazing Etsy Shop!!  In honor of Halloween, let's all SCREAAMM together!!  AHHH!!  SO EXCITING!!!
( who needs coffee when you have CAPS).

So let me tell you about Amy over at Vintagraphy....She is a forward thinking, independent artist, who has created unique prints for every style of home!!  When I stumbled upon "Vintagraphy" on one of my many hour+ long Etsy searches, ( I totally get sucked right in every single time!) my jaw dropped. I had NEVER seen anything like her prints before. She has over 300 prints, and each one can be printed on either, an antique book page, or antique dictionary page..we are talking 1800's here..true "Vintage" !  As an Interior Designer, I see SOOO many possibilities with her prints, and can see them fitting into every style from Traditional to Modern. Take a look at some of my favorites!

Do you just LOVE the Octopus??!!

DO YOU LOVE??!!  I mean, I cant even cover 1/4 of the prints that she has, so its up to you to check out Vintagraphy!! Her prints start at $10 and go up from there..perfect gift for the holidays!!

How do you find Amy and her great little Etsy Shop??

Vintagraphy on Etsy

Vintagraphy on Facebook

@Vintagraphy on Twitter

Follow along on Facebook and Twitter to see all specials and deals!!

and now....for the

FUN PART!!!! 

THE GIVE AWAY!!!!!!!!

Here are the rules:

ENTER TO WIN !!!

• Prize: (1) 8"x10" print from Vintagraphy. You get to pick between the BOAT or the Yellow Octopus!!  The winner will choose once notified. So fun, right??

• How to enter???: Leave a comment and tell me what YOU  like from Vintagraphy?
• Extra Entry: Tweet: "I might be a winner with @kdesignthoughts and @vintagraphy " then come back and comment letting me know that you tweeted.
• Giveaway Ends: Monday, November 14th at 8pm...
• How Many  Winners?!: One Lucky winner!!
• Ships to: US Only
• Please only enter once, with the exception of the extra entry. I will be using Random.org to select a winner ( at random, hence the name) and will notify the winner via email by the following week.

I cant wait to give YOU some prizes!!!! YOU DESERVE IT !!!
Stay Tuned....ooohh I have so many goodies for you in the next few mondays!

Happy Monday!! and Happy Halloween!

Guest Post: Design Shuffle

I am so excited to have Susi, from Design Shuffle Share some great ideas about Lovely little Lights on DesignThoughts today :)  Take a look!!

Happy Friday!!

~


Hi, I'm Susi, a writer for the design community of Design Shuffle, where designers around the world can find inspiration and share inspiration. I just want to say how excited I am to get to guest blog at Design Thoughts, a lovely design blog. Speaking of lovely, my post today is all about lovely little lights and decorating ideas for using them. Small is beautiful too. Hope you enjoy these eight rooms that shine with lovely little lights. Enjoy!



Lighting doesn't have to be grand to be lovely. The small scale of this chandelier works over the bed in this romantic bedroom. The small wall sconce is a lovely reading light.



An adjustable arm wall light makes a wonderful task light for a desk in a small home office. This lovely little light has great vintage industrial style.



Lovely candlestick lights are perfect for small spaces, buffets and console tables. A pair would look lovely on a dining room sideboard.



A lovely little lamp is a smart idea for a corner of the kitchen. Small lamps can illuminate kitchen designs with soft, ambient light.



A cluster of lovely blue glass lights makes for a stunning chandelier in this chic living room. Grouping small lights together creates a bigger impact.



This bedside lamp has great lines that draw the eye to it, despite its small size. Little lights are lovely as reading lamps or task lights.



These lovely little lights with scrolling bases under small white shades are perfect reading lights in this bedroom design. The elegant scrolls add a great touch of ornate detail to all the straight lines of the shutters.



This fluted bulb can make a lovely little light for a bookcase or small corner. The fluting turns the simple bulb into a small pendant light. [ Images 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 ]

The right lighting can make your interiors both useful and stylish! For more interior inspiration, head on over to Design Shuffle where you'll find inspiration from talented New York interior designers and more!

Pinterest Challenge!

So its all over the Blogger world by now..and I am so excited! Sherry ( Young House Love) and Katie Bower ( Bower Power) have once again, issued a Pinterest DIY challenge!! Are you joining in??!! 

Last challenge, I sat by, and watched as so many creative, inspiring, like minded "Pinteresters" ( I may have just coined a new term!! feel free to use it ;)) tried their hand at one of the many projects they have "pinned". I did not join in...I was sad...so NOW , I am jumping in. Next Wednesday is the big reveal, and I cant wait to see what Sherry, Katie, Ana ( of Ana White) and  Erin ( House of Earnest ) decide on! Whatever it is, with these talented ladies, they are sure to be GREAT!!

Anyway..I have BIG  Pinterest ideas, and little time. As we all know, this weekend is Halloween, and with a very excited 2 yr old "Dinosaur" living in my house, I will be focusing most of my attention on making sure this Halloween weekend is filled with Parades, Carmel apples, trick-or-treating and belly aches from eating too much candy ;) In the time while my little Dino is napping....I will be trying to accomplish THIS!!

Yep. I am going to paint the interior of My Kitchen Cabinets!! Okay, so its not a super -over the top, my head explodes when I see the creativeness of it, type of projects, BUT it is something I have been pinning for a long time, and have wanted to do!!  Its either paint the interior of my cabinets ( dark Grey by the way!!) 

OR this!

Awesome, right?? A mirror, made from Paint sticks!....Only time will tell :) Who knows, maybe I will have a FLOOD of extra crafty DIY time and I will accomplish BOTH!! 

AND  I just want to offer YOU a challenge...Do you want to take part?? You Don't have your own Blog?? GUESS what? THAT'S OK!! I am going to use Wednesday to post my project completed, and if you decide to join in..comment and let me know, I will add your project too!! If  you DO have a blog or website, and you are participating, let me know and I will link you up to my page!! If you need a Pinterest Invite, Ill give you one!!

Good Luck everyone!! and Happy Thursday!!

Its HOLIDAY time..Discounts y'all

I have decided since we are now in the midst of holiday season..pause.. for those of you who are saying WHAT?! that's right!! With Halloween just around the corner, Thanksgiving on its way, Hanukkah just 59 days away and Christmas just 62 days away, I have decided that I am

 going to add a new feature to Design Thoughts, its called "Etsy Holiday Finds"

Each Monday,  I am going to feature a new Etsy shop (and sometimes, not Etsy) that I love, to help with your "Shopping" needs!  Really, this is just about supporting independent artists, and what better time then the Holidays!!

I am SO EXCITED to share NUMERO UNO with you!! The first shop is called Jenna Sue Map Co.! Not only is she featured in West Elms 2011 Holiday catalog..WHAT!?! AWESOME!!..BUT, she is also an amazing visionary, creating modern artsitic map prints of your favorite cities!! Since I am more than a little obsessed with maps, I cant wait to tell you all about her! (and the exclusive discount she is offering to Design Thought's readers!) Here, let me just show you!!

Any city you can think of from Detroit, to New Dehli...Jenna has created fun, modern prints that I LOVE!!!!  (perfect gift right?) Maps range from $13 to $30. ALSO, while she isnt busy creating for her Etsy Shop's ( yes, plural..her other shop is here, and just as GREAT) She is busy settling into her

Home in Florida ( she moved from California) you can check out her progress at her blog,  http://jennasuedesign.blogspot.com/ take a minute to look at her California home before and

afters, and the progress on her Florida home!! Love her eye for design!!

If all of that wasnt exciting enough, LISTEN TO THIS!! Because Jenna Rocks the modern print universe...she is offering a 20% Discount exclusively to my lovely readers, on all maps!!!!  Can I get a high five??!! Seriously, I feel like a real blogger, passing on discounts!! ;)

Just enter DESIGNTHOUGHTS20 at check out!

One last thing..please support independant artists, they make our world so much prettier :) thanks, Jenna!

Jump to Jenna's Map Shop, and start Shopping!!

ps..did I miss the holiday you celebrate? please leave me a comment, and I will add it to the list, so you can freak out along with the rest of us, when you realize how many days you have left to shop ;)

Take Responsibility...

Just a powerful little quote that has been with me since 2008, and I was reminded of it today as I was watching my tivo'd Oprah Life Class show..

"Take Resposibility for the energy you bring into a room"

~Spoken by Dr.Jill Bolte Taylor (oprah Show guest)

SO good, right?

Happy Sunday!

~K

A tiny.."I'm A giant Challenge" Update

Finally...I have completed one tiny, small, itsy bitsy,  little thing for The "I'm A Giant Challenge" hosted by Emily Henderson ( Secrets from A Stylist). I have had the best intentions to be much further along than I am, but...I had to do a few things like..GO TO NAPA..Leave my baby for the first time...Work...Procrastinate..Enjoy the last few awesome days of sunny fall before winter sets in. I am happy to say, however,  that just before I left for vacay, I was able to "update" my existing Dollhouse fireplace. It started out red brick..and I decided to paint it white, a la Young House Love, except I decided to leave the original mantel that my grandparents hand crafted, and just stain it a tad darker...here are a few before pics..

After Cleaning the Fireplace, I taped off the wood Mantel, and spray painted the brick ( and box..However, the box WILL be changing, so kind of dis-regard the shotty paint job on it..and stay tuned for THAT post) with the Rust-oleum Flat White I had left over from my DIY Light Project.

And heeeere is the after!! I wish it were real, and in my living room right now!

I cant wait to keep going. My goal is to spend as little money as possible, and still have an AWESOME updated partial dollhouse when I finish! I have decided I am only going to restore the Living room for this challenge, so I can really dedicate some time to it...since this house is so special to me, I want to do it right ;)  and by the way, if you are interested in the "I'm A giant" blogger challenge, type it into Google, It super fun to see what other blog sites come up!!! And in case you missed the first post on my childhood Dollhouse...check it here, and give my gram and gramp some mad love for all of the hard work they put into it :)

Enjoy your weekend!!

~K

Bean Wreath.

I was starting to feel left out of the DIY holiday wreath club..ya know..the amazing crafters who post all sorts of jaw dropping, creative DIY wreaths on Pinterest, that make you think YOU can do it too?? Well, I finally did one!!  I started out small, because I'm not so good with a glue gun!! and I am so glad I did!!

So here is my journey to making a small, Northern Bean, Holiday wreath :)

I was first inspired by Katie Miller ( Little Things Bring Smiles) and her Split Pea Wreath. I took her concept, but decided to use Northern white beans instead.


Here are the things you will need:

1. A 9" Raffia Wreath from Michael's $2.99
2. (3) bags of White Northern Beans $1.00 ea
3. A glue gun and sticks
4. A large pan to dump beans into
5. Your choice ribbon $2.99 Michael's

SO as I started this project, I was super excited!! Using Liams nap time for something other than reading blogs makes me feel useful ;) And I was sure to have a beautifully hand crafted, Pinterest worthy, DIY white bean wreath when I was finished.....

Unwrapping the wreath, was one of the hardest parts!

Fits perfectly.Yay!

I found that spreading the glue in small 2" sections then quickly dumping the beans on worked the best.. 

It went VERY smoothly, no issues, or snafu's at all ;) I love Glue Guns....

Next time, I will start with the inside of the Wreath and work out..I didn't learn this until I was half way through..what happens ( as real crafters know..which I didn't) is the glue gun has strings of glue, so it gets very messy, and frustrating if you are pulling these little strings over already glued beans..

This whole thing cost me about $8 and it took me 40 minutes, The best part about this little wreath, is I know that the next time, I will do a few things different, I even still might spray pain this one light gray, I haven't decided..what do you think?

It feels so good to CREATE!!!

Enjoy your Monday!!

~K

A Girl with cancer !!

We are back from our AWESOME vacay in San Francisco and The Napa Valley!! We had so much fun, and were actually able to RELAX!!  Its the strangest thing, when you are a parent, to be away from your baby, and re-discover who you actually are now!! The only downside, is that I came home rockin a super duper Sinus infection, but I don't even care..that's how relaxed I am ;)!!

It was great, and I will have a fun post next week with pics and stories!

Right before we left for Vacation, I was trying desperately to catch up on all of my blog reads ( I  had zero time to post or read before we left) but because of lack of time, I shot straight to my top fav's..which of course, included Vintage Is For Lovers, as I was reading Samantha's latest post, I learned of a dear friend of hers, Britta Corradini, a 31 year old woman,  who has been diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer , along with being pregnant, and caring for a toddler!! ( can you EVEN imagine) well, it tore at me heart strings to say the very least. The most amazing thing about Britta? she is not letting Cancer rule her world!! ( woohoo sister!) she believes ( and so do I) that "love conquers all".  Samantha has organized a silent auction to help with everything a family needs when soldiering through this nasty disease! I am so honored to be part of this auction, and thought today ( October 16th) would be a perfect day to tell you about it! Why? because 11 years ago today, I lost my mom to brain cancer. I was 24. I KNOW what its like to be part of a family trying to handle cancer. Its excruciating, its sad, its powerful. Please, Please, Please, check out this link, to help them raise money! Also, Britta has an honest, joyful, energetic blog about her journey, she is TRULY inspiring. The Blog is called

 A Girl With Cancer.

Click below to get to the Silent Auction.

via

"All You Need Is Love" Silent Auction Link

Enjoy Your Sunday!

~K

Cheers!!

Husband and I are off to a Romantic getaway to Napa Valley!!

We will be tasting wine, reconnecting,  and meeting old friends to celebrate a wedding!!

I can hardly wait!

See you Monday October 18th!!

When I get back I have a few things to share...Spice rack bookshelves, An acorn wreath and very tiny renovations ;) ( not to mention how we survived out very first trip away from Liam!!)

~K