Excuses and I should play the lottery!

Well, as you've surely noticed [don't call me shirley!], I haven't posted any projects in the last couple of weeks. Sorry!! :-/ But if you've been around for a while, you know it isn't all that unusual for me to take a hiatus every now and then.

You see, for starters, I have a pretty high-falootin' full-time job in the headquarters office of a large, international company. And while we're certainly busy all of the time... sometimes we're REALLLLY busy with various special projects and deliverables and I just don't have the time or ENERGY to do any fun craft projects, let alone blog about them. In addition, the Heela's job often requires him to go into work early and come home late and even work at least one weekend a month. This means I have even LESS free time since I frequently have to manage two pesky little pre-schoolers by myself. Hence the lack of crafting time and energy!

(And before anyone flames me, I do love my children more than you'll ever know so no comments from the peanut gallery for calling them 'pesky'. :P)

The downside of all this is that I don't get to post fun new projects for my fabulous followers as often as I would like. But the upside is that, when I do post projects, they are usually relatively easy and non-time-consuming! :)

So those are my excuses for my occassional lapses in posting. I really hope you enjoy following my humble little blog and I thank you for sticking around (regardless of how often I post)!

Now... even when I am super busy, I still do my best to make time to go through my reader so I can keep up-to-date on what everyone else out there in blogland is doing. I often bookmark ideas for later and truly enjoy seeing all of the wonderful creativity everyone has!

In addition, I also love to participate in giveaways. I mean, seriously, who doesn't love free stuff?? So, I also make the time to enter various giveaways I come across as I stroll through my reader. It usually only takes a couple of minutes to enter and, hey, you just never know! Well, I have to brag and share that this past month was RIPE with LUCK for me. Despite me not decorating at all for St. Patrick's Day or even wearing green on the 17th, I somehow still managed to land some luck 'o the Irish because I won THREE giveaways over the past few weeks. Yes, you read that right... THREE! Squuueee!

First, I won a special Facebook giveaway hosted by Krista over at While He Was Napping. The prize? She is including my blog button in her sponsors section for a couple of months! Score! {And yes, I realize that I don't have any product to sell, but she has over 800 followers and maybe one of them will decide to come check me out. Hey, you never know!}

Second, I won a giveaway hosted by Cassie over at Primitive and Proper. This is actually a "custom giveaway" and she is going to create a mystery gift just for me! I am so excited to see what she comes up with - I know it will be amazing no matter what it is because she is SO talented!! I'll be sure to show it to you once I receive it!

And lastly, I won a giveaway hosted by Gina over at The Shabby Chic Cottage.

I will be receiving two complete sets (of every size they offer) of DISC plate hangers from AllPlateHangers.com! I've been wanting to try these for a while! Score!!

Squueee! I want to sincerely thank all of those wonderful women for having such fabulous blogs and, of course, for hosting such fabulous giveaways. :) Please be sure to go check them out - you won't be disappointed!!

Awww, gee shucks! *blush*

You like me! You really like me!

I just noticed that I now have over 100 followers! I really cannot believe it. When I first started this blog last August, I can honestly say that I NEVER imagined that I would ever have more than about 10 followers (who would probably all be my good buddies IRL anyway!). But to surpass 100?? Wow. Just wow.

I am truly humbled and so genuinely appreciative of each and every one of you who takes time out of your day to spend a few moments with little old me. I certainly don't have the biggest budget for my projects, nor do I even have much time to do that many projects (let alone write up blog posts about them!!) but you keep following and that means the world to me.

I truly hope that I inspire a few of you by letting you know that you CAN be a wife AND a mom to 2 toddlers AND a full-time corporate-world employee and STILL find time to do pretty, but CHEAP FRUGAL projects that aren't all that time or labor intensive. It IS possible!! :)

So THANK YOU!!

To celebrate this wonderful milestone in my blogging life, I plan to have a giveaway in the coming weeks. Not sure what exactly it is going to be yet or exactly when (don't forget who you're dealing with here! LOL) but I expect it should be something pretty fun. :) So stay tuned!!

IN ADDITION, I want to acknowledge a few blog awards I've received recently. 

(YAY ME!)

:) 

First, I want to send a big {THANK YOU} to Andi over at Jane of All Crafts who awarded me the "Liebster Blog Award". 

"Lieben" is German for "Love" and this award is intended to recognize the "smaller" blogs without lots of followers (i.e. fewer than 300) and is a way to get the word out about blogs you may not have heard of, but are worth checking out. Thank you so much, Andi, for showing me some "Lieben"! :) 

Secondly, I would like to send a big {THANK YOU} out to Maleah at Little Eme who awarded me the "Trendy Blog Award"! This award is supposed to be handed out to blogs who are "trendy". Many thanks, Maleah, for thinking I qualify!! :)

[Just for full disclosure, I am supposed to pass these awards forward to something like 10 blogs each. I just don't have time to do all that right now, but I will try to get back to this when I can!]


THANK YOU!!!

My Cup Runneth Over!

WOW, yet another feature for me by the amazing Cassity (aka Remodelaholic)! This time, she highlighted my Snowflake Specimen Art on her awesome crafting blog Polly Want a Crafter.  Please go check out this blog too - but not just to see my feature (double squuueee!) - but because you'll find SOOOOOO many fabulous ideas and crafts. You won't be disappointed - another blog that is definitely google-reader-worthy!! (you'll see my feature HERE  :)

I am humbled! {Me-->Remodelaholic!!}

Wow.... you can only imagine my surprise when I got an email yesterday from Cassity over at the amazing blog *Remodelaholic*. The reason for my surprise? Well, she was letting me know that she was going to be featuring my Master Bath Makeover on her blog today. Yes!! My humble little post on her fabulous blog!!  I really couldn't be more honored! Please go check out the *Remodelaholic* blog. But not just to see my feature (squuueee!), but because you'll find SOOOOOO many fabulous ideas and projects. You won't be disappointed - definitely google-reader-worthy!! (you'll see my feature HERE  :)

Perfect time for {THANK YOUs}!!

I know I owe you some more craft/DIY projects, but (as I keep saying) I've been absolutely swamped at work and planning for SweetPea's birthday party on top of that. So I apologize for being project-less for a while now. But they're coming, I promise!

The party, I must say, was a total success and I will be posting all the details about it after the Thanksgiving holiday (when I'll finally be done with my work deliverable and will have a chance to breathe!). In the meantime, here is a pic of the SweetPea waiting for her friends to show up on Saturday.

The mask was a clearance find (from Joanns) and the shirt was purchased on sale (from Old Navy)
Yes, I am always cheap frugal!! :)

Before I sign off for the evening, I do, however, want to mention a couple of "yay me!" moments and send out BIG thank yous to a couple of folks.

First, I want to say {THANK YOU} to Krista over at While He Was Napping who recently awarded me the "Stylish Blogger Award". I am truly honored! There are a few requirements I am supposed to follow upon accepting the award, but due to my current time constraints, I am just going to say thank you and try to come back to those later.

Second, I want to thank The CSI Project and guest judge Amanda (from Our Humble A{Bowe}d) who selected my Master Bath Makeover as one of the Top 10 Projects from their Beautiful Bathrooms Challenge. I am so incredibly humbled to have my project selected, especially since some of the other "top 10" include Centstational Girl, House of Smiths and House of Hepworths - all longtime fave blogs of mine!! Wow, just wow!!

THANK YOU!!!

I Love Giveaways!

I grew up in a household where BOTH my parents were amazing cooks. (For the record, they still are, I just don't live in their household anymore! LOL). So I learned a lot over the years about how to make different dishes as well as how to improvise. And my father, in particular, also spent a lot of time teaching me the "basics". Such as, how to cut vegetables up properly and how important it is to have quality knives and pans. So I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to kitchen gadgets and cookware. (yes, I can admit it!)

The problem is, this totally clashes with my cheap frugal side. And while I know that it is less costly in the long run to invest in one expensive item that will last forever, than to buy a cheap new item every year, I still want to want to get the best deal I can for my money.

Well, I was recently perusing the internet for some new cookware (I need a new everyday pan) and decided to check out CSNstores.com and some of their websites. Why? Well... 

(and here is the point of this post - finally!) 

...because on Monday I WON Meg's giveaway over at A Little Knick Knack and the prize was a gift certificate that can be used at any of CSN's stores! Woohoooo!! Yay me! :) (By the way, you really should go check out Meg's blog if you haven't already - it really is fabulous!). Thank you Meg for hosting such a great giveaway!!

 I love giveaways!

Especially when I ~win~ them!! :)

Anyhoo... as I was saying... I am in the market for some new kitchen stuff so I have been checking out CSN's site Cookware.com. It has so many incredible items at really reasonable prices. For example, did you know that they have 63 Rachael Ray cookware items for under $35? And there are 60 Paula Deen cookware items for under $35 too. (oh, and have I mentioned that I will be seeing both of those amazing women next month? In person? YES!! Squueeee!) But I digress... how about an apron? They have about 450 aprons under $35! Wow, the possibilities are endless!

Anyway, I need to go do some shopping. *GRIN* And if you get a chance, go check out CSNstores.com ... you never know when someone may be hosting a giveaway for her loyal followers... hint hint ;)

Legal CYA (just in case!) - CSN has not asked me to "promote" them in any way via this post. I have written it of my own decision without any knowledge to them. And while I did win Meg's CSN giveaway and I will eventually be getting a credit towards whatever I order, I have not yet even decided what to get! :)

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

{WOW!}

 Last week was a great week for me!

(and yes, I am going to brag a little right now - so please bear with me!)

What is so great about rain, cranky kids and lots of deadlines at work you may ask?

Well... let me tell you!

...

First... do you remember when I told you HERE about my trip to TOT SWAP last Friday? Well, while I was waiting on line to pay for all of my wonderful purchases, I moseyed over to one of the many vendor tables lined up there to check out a {stella & dot} display.

I'm sure you have heard of them as it seems every other blog out there these days is hosting a giveaway. And it seems that I've entered every other giveaway out there but, alas, have never won. SO, when I noticed that the stylist at the Tot Swap was having a raffle, I figured "what the heck", I'll give it a shot... again... one more time...

Well, wouldn't you know it that I received an email from Kelly (the stylist) the next day and, as luck would have it, I won! So I now have a $50 credit to spend on some of their awesome jewelry. Yay!!! I'm sooooo excited!!

Second... About a week ago, one of my new favorite blogs hosted a giveaway (don't you just love blog giveaways??!!). Andi at Jane of All Crafts decided to give her awesome Halloween Subway Art to one of her lucky followers. Naturally, I entered and, well, wouldn't you know it that I received an email from Andi on Tuesday morning letting me know that, as luck would have it, I won! So I am going to be receiving her awesome art to add to my Halloween decor! Yay!!! I'm sooooo excited!! Isn't it wonderful? I can't wait for it to arrive!

Courtesy Jane of All Crafts

Two giveaway wins in the same week!! Man, I should go play the lottery! LOL

Third... my DIY Canvas Art was featured by 3 different blogs this week. I want to send out a BIG {THANK YOU} to It's So Very Cheri, Mural Maker & More and House of Hepworths! Thanks ladies!!

(OK, please let me apologize for having no shame and bragging about my recent wins and achievements.

I will now return to our regularly scheduled program.)

What a nice surprise!!

First I would like to say... Yay me! :)


Next, I would like to send a big


{THANK YOU!}


out to Andi over at Jane of All Crafts.


She gave me my first Blog Award!

I share this award with 4 other bloggers chosen by Andi and am honored to be among those talented folks. One of the best things about the {One Lovely Blog Award} is that I get to pass it on! Here is how it works...

1. Accept the award. Post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2. Pay it forward to 5 other bloggers that you have newly discovered (or that you just really like!).
3. Contact those blog owners and let them know they've been chosen.

So here are my 5 choices for the One Lovely Blog Award:


Pink Postcard.
A Little Knick Knack
Hi Sugarplum!
The Hand Me Down House
A Silly Little Sparrow

All these are awesome blogs so be sure to stop by and check out how FABulous they are!!

I Won!

Apparently this humble CPA does have at least one creative bone in her body!

A couple days ago Shelley over at House of Smiths hosted a contest to see who could come up with a name for a new spin-off of the up-and-coming website GroopDealz. She solicited the creativeness (is that a word?) of her readers to help and...

they picked mine! 


Holy crapola!


~happy dance~
 :)

They're keeping the new name on the Down Low until the site gets further along so my lips are sealed. But I have to say I am quite proud of myself for being able to tap the other side of my brain in a successful manner! Check out Shelley's announcement of the winner HERE. Yay me! :)

And a big THANK YOU goes out to Shelley for hosting the contest and for having such a FABULOUS blog. 

PLEASE be sure to check her blog out!!

HOUSE OF SMITHS

Thanks Shelley!