Tips Tuesday -- Tips for Decorating

This week's Tips Tuesday (hosted by Leslie at Lamberts Lately) is Tips for Decorating.

I love decorating, and sometimes I wish I would have gone into decorating as a career. I am not sure though if this post will turn into tips, or just things I like, but I think that either way hopefully it will bring some inspiration to try new things in your home. I am also going to include some pictures of my home so you can see what my style is like.

Inspiration -- I like to look at nature, gardens, food, etc. to find inspiration for colors and textures when I decorate. Sometimes nature can help you pull together a great color pallet for a room because everything just comes together naturally. I also like to find inspiration in magazines (love Martha Stewart Living, BHG and Domino), tv shows (love many HGTV shows such as Design on a Dime and Divine Design), or many decorating websites (there are so many!!)

Neutrals are key -- Especially with major things such as cabinets, flooring, fixtures, etc. I love bold colors (which is my next point), but that doesn't mean that when you sell your home that the next person will love it. Try to keep things that are hard to replace neutral to keep your home value up.

Go bold -- I love bold colors on accent walls (especially for really bold colors), or even the whole room if it is small and the color isn't too crazy. Paint is something that can easily be changed, and isn't too expensive (unless you have a really big room). I also like to add bold colors to pillows, candles, lamps, and other accents.

Chocolate Brown -- Love this color, expecially for furniture when you have kids and dogs! The dark color seems to hide dirt and stains, and if you find a really good texture, it tends to hide the dog hair!

Family photos -- I love to fill my home with family photos. I have a ton of photos of my nieces and nephew, my boyfriend, friends, dog, etc. It just helps to personalize the space, and I'll be honest, they also make me smile, especially when I miss all of them.

Homemade accents -- I am lucky that I have a talented family. My grandfather is great with woodworking and has made a lot of things for my home (see above for DVD cabinet). My mother also one time painted a picture for me (see below). These are great because they are personalized and they remind me of my family.

Sewing -- If you are able to sew, this is great because it will allow you to make things you love, and will also help save you money. I have made pillows, curtains, coasters and table centerpieces to name a few (see below for dining room curtains and above for bedroom curtains).

Above all, go with your gut and whatever you like is what you should do. You should always fill your home with things you love!

Lia Sophia Jewelry

I have mentioned before that I love, love, love Lia Sophia Jewelry. I have been to a couple of parties, and I actually hosted a show a little over a year ago, and I got a TON of jewelry both for free and at a discounted price.

Some of my newer items I have purchased are:

I actually purchased those blue earrings (top middle image) at my friend's party Sat night, and can't wait to get them, hopefully sometime next week.

Some of the items on my wish list are:
I totally want that flower ring in the middle at the top! I am actually going to host another party in June, so I am hoping that I can fulfill these wish list items, and many more, at my party. Check out their website for even more fun jewelry.

Spring Shopping & a Little Decorating

So after such a long and rough week at work last week, I needed a little retail therapy this weekend. I went over to Easton Town Center, which is a very nice outdoor shopping plaza, and visited some of my favorite stores. It was sprinkling a little that day, but it didn't stop me, or many others I found, from shopping!

I first hit Crate & Barrel and told my boyfriend that I wanted to move into that store. They have amazing things, and everywhere I looked, I found things that I just wanted to take home with me. I actually bought a few things to add some fun spring color to my kitchen.

I went to a wedding shower last weekend, and feel in love with this platter. I collect platters, and like to display them on my kitchen counter. I switch them up depending on the holiday/season. I also picked up this fun kitchen towel and a really cute butterfly cookie cutter. Not only do I love to make cut-out cookies, but butterflies are my FAVORITE! And of course, since it was hot pink, I knew I just had to pick it up. The candle (Island Nectar) I actually picked up at Bath & Body Works last weekend, and it smells awesome!

I also picked up this fun flower pot (at Crate & Barrel) for the little palm tree that I received at the wedding shower last weekend. They gave away really cute gift bags with sea themed cookie cutters, a Cheryl & Co iced sugar cookie and this little palm tree. I also ordered this fun citrus stand from Crate & Barrel's website for only $12.95! What a steal and it really helped to brighten up my kitchen!

I also hit up Ann Taylor Loft for their 30% off sale. I picked up this cardigan

And 2 of these t-shirts (one in lime green and one in light pink) to wear under the cardigan. I have some really cute jewelry that I am going to wear to help dress it up!

I then ended my evening by attending a Lia Sophia jewelry party at one of my friend's houses. I love Lia Sophia jewelry, and have a ton of it. I keep meaning to do a post about my favorite pieces, so maybe I'll have to do that soon.

Today I spent the day cleaning and decorating, catching up on my shows, and even went to the gym for a little bit. Overall it was a great weekend, but it really did go by way to fast. Hope everyone had a great weekend as well!

Pink Saturday - 3/13/10

For this week's Pink Saturday, I wanted to share some things from one of my favorite stores -- Ann Taylor Loft. I love the Loft, and buy the majority of my clothes from this store. Some of the fun pink things for spring that I have had my eye on are:

Love this hot pink shirt, and all the ruffles.

I love their dresses, they are always so comfortable.

I love their cardigans, and I really love the flowers on this one.

I actually bought this sweater for $20 last weekend.

And I bought this scarf to wear with the pink sweater shown above.

Love this pink scarf, as well as the flowers on this cardigan.

Hope everyone has a great Pink Saturday, and check out Beverly's blog for more information on Pink Saturday.

Nail Swap Goodies

A couple of weeks ago, I signed up for a Nail Polish & More Swap over at Gwen's blog Confessions of a Control Freak. I was really excited to participate because I was starting to really get the winter blues, and really badly needed a manicure at the time. I thought this would be a great way to kick off spring, and have some fun.


This is all the good stuff that I received. I got the following:

-- Qtica nail growth stimulator

-- OPI Jewel of India (I immediatly painted my nails with this!)

-- OPI Ink (a fun sparkly purple)

-- OPI All-A-Bordeaux the Sled (what a fun name!)

-- OPI Feet Nail Recovery (totally need!)

-- OPI Rapid Dry Top Coat

-- Soft Touch Glas-Sheen Nail Buffer

And the package that I sent looked like this:


And here are all the goodies:


The nail polish is the OPI Hong Kong collection, which is totally fun. If I remember correctly, I think this little kit included Suzie Says Feng Shui (blue), Dim Sum Plum (purple) and Red My Fortune Cookie (red). I totally want to go back and get this for myself! I can't seem to buy anything for someone else without wanting to get it for myself =)

I also found a cute basket at Pier 1, and some other fun manicure stuff there as well. I really hope she enjoyed everything! I had a fun time putting it all together.

Addicted to Cookies!

I have a problem...I am addicted to cookies! These last couple of weeks I think I have had cookies probably almost every day. My boyfriend and I made cookies for each other for Valentine's day, and we both ended up with a lot of cookies!!

So the other day I was at the gym reading a magazine (the only way to work out!) and I came across a recipe for some cookies that were supposed to be "healthier" that most cookies. It was in an ad for AllWhites, which are 100% liquid egg whites, and I thought, hmmm...seems interesting, let's give it a try.

Now these are considered ice box cookies so you have to roll them up into a log, and then freeze them for 3 hours before you can bake them. It's great because I only cut off a few cookies at one time and bake only what I intend to eat. It keeps you from eating ALL of them!

They do look a little weird, and I am not sure if it is because they are frozen (which are really hard to cut, especially if you don't have very good knives like I do) or if it is the wheat flour, but they were pretty tastey.

They do have a strong taste of cinnamon and sugar, which I don't mind. And the sweetness of the dried apples and the tartness of the dried cranberries is a great combination. My boyfriend, who loves cookies as much as I do, even thought they weren't that bad. Of course his response was...it's a cookie and a cookie is a cookie.

The only caveat, they state you can get 36 cookies out of this recipe. Those must be very small cookies because I made mine into what I thought were med sized cookies, and I only got about 20 cookies. So I am thinking if you are counting calories and fat, assume the nutrition facts below are for 1 cookie!

Apple Cranberry Icebox Cookies

Ingredients:
-- 1/4 cup 50/50 Butter Blend, softened
-- 2/3 cup sugar
-- 1 teaspoon vanilla
-- 1/4 cup (2 oz.) AllWhites
-- 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
-- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
-- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
-- 1/8 teaspoon salt
-- 1/3 cup dried apples, finely chopped
-- 1/3 cup dried cranberries

Directions:
In large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Beat in AllWhites®. Add flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Beat until well mixed. Stir in apples and cranberries. On waxed paper, shape dough into about a 10-inch log. Wrap tightly in paper; freeze at least 3 hours or until firm. Heat oven to 350°F. With sharp knife cut log into 36 (1/4-inch) slices. Place 1-inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until cookies are a light golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet immediately; cool completely on wire rack.

Serving: 2 cookies
Calories: 90
Fat: 2 g
Carbs: 17 g
Fiber: 1 g
Sugar: 10 g
Protein: 2 g

Tips Tuesday - Organization Tips

This week's Tips Tuesday (hosted by Leslie at Lamberts Lately) is Tips for Organization.

I actually have OCD, so this was a great post for me. I have actually been trying to overcome some of my OCD (now it is totally not that out of control, but something that can drive me nuts), so I have found a few organization tips that seem to help keep things organized, but doesn't require a lot of dedicated time.

I am a huge fun of keeping things in bins, buckets, containers, etc. And I have them EVERYWHERE (in closets, under sinks, in drawers, on shelfs). All of my drawers are divided up by some type of container. Now of course you can get some pretty nice (and equally expensive) ones at the Container Store, but I use those cheap tupperware containers that you can get at Walmart. I find small ones in different shapes and sizes and place them side by side in my drawers to keep them from getting out of control.

This is actually one of my kitchen drawers, and it pretty much stays this way...no I didn't clean it up before I took this picture =) The little containers help keep everything in place so it doesn't get all stirred around.


Here is my jewelry drawer. These are actually boxes that I got my Lia Sophia jewelry in (I just realized this shows how bad my obsession with Lia Sophia jewelry is!) Anyway, this helps keep everything visible so I know what I have, and keeps it from getting tangled.

This is how I store my earrings. I recieved this as a gift from one of my previous supervisors. It's an antique frame, and she put a screen (you know like a door screen) in it, and you hang your earrings through the little screen holes. It helps keep your jewlery organized, and it's cute!

Keeping with the bins, this is my laundry area, and I have some plastic kitchen bins, and some cloth bins (which I got at Walmart for really cheap) to store odds and ends. I pretty much know what goes in each bin, so it helps keep things organized, but allows you to just toss stuff in a bin. I have bins for cleaning supplies, dog food, misc. laundry items, a dog bin, and a bin for one of my friend's personal/beauty items who comes and stays with me often.

Books: I read a TON of books, so I started a spreadsheet of all of the books I have read. This helps me keep from reading books I have already read, and it's nice to look back at books that I have previously read. I have actually emailed my spreadsheet to friends who are looking for recommendations. I also keep a list of books I would like to read so that when I am reserving things from the library I know what books I want to read.

Magazines: I don't have a ton of room to store books and magazines (which is why I tend to rent books from the library), so in order to save space, I have started binders for ideas I have found in magazines. I am starting tabs for beauty tips, fitness tips, and home ideas. This allows me to keep the ideas I like, and then I just recycle the rest of the magazine.

Mail/Bills: As for bills, I have started getting paperless statements through my email, which helps cut down on mail! If you go to Mycheckfree.com you can actually get an email reminder to pay your bill. With one click, you can log-on and pay your utility bills, and even some car/loan payments. All other mail items I immediatly go through and recycle all the junk mail. I have a little basket that I keep everything else in, and once a month I go through the basket and throw away anything I don't need, and deal with all the rest.

Shoes: I actually keep all of my shoes in their original shoe boxes, and stack them on the top shelf in my closet. I actually have a ton of shoes, and had to start a 2nd closet -- but my boyfriend doesn't know that yet =) This helps keep them organized, but also keeps them clean and from getting dinged.

I could go on and on, but I'll spare everyone with my organizational obsessions! If anyone has any organizational tips you would like to share, please do so. Otherwise, head on over to Leslie's blog for even more tips.