$250 Giveaway with Heart Shaped Sweat!

Happy Monday!  I'm excited to kick off the week with an awesome giveaway hosted by one of my blog friends, Kristine from Heart Shaped Sweat!  She writes a fantastically motivating lifestyle blog that is without-a-doubt one of my daily blog reads.  Recently she met a blog milestone of 500 followers and to celebrate she asked a few of us to join her in a Visa gift card giveaway - enjoy!!

How many ways can you spend 250 free dollars??? 
I'll give you a crazy number of ways to win the $250 VISA and you figure all the ways to spend it!

Heart Shaped Sweat has grown so much over the last few months! It's amazing to see all that has happened here and I'm excited for all that's to come. I couldn't have made it this far without the support from each of you! I'm so thankful for you little loves of mine :)

Helping me celebrate are 24 beautiful ladies...we're giving away a $250 VISA to one lucky reader! The options and entries are endless. With so many wonderful ladies and all the ways to get to know each one of them, I wouldn't dare limit your options!

Sooooooo get to clicking, making friends, and crossing fingers for the winnings!

Me! HeartShapedSweat, LynetteMarieh, FaithLove&Hope, PerceptionIsEverything, ChasingTexas
HooahAndHiccups, PursuitOfPink, EstherNorineDesigns, Her&Nicole, Kimberly'sKorner DesignYourDwelling, CaravanSonnet, OhSummerCandy, TheLilyField, PeaceItAllTogether

aMileInHerBoots, TheDomesticGeek, GraceForGayle, TheDomesticatedWorkingWoman, AnnieOneCanCook TheStyleSoup, ABodyThatWontBreak, MommaCandy, Him&Her, GoingWithTheFlow

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Valspar Spray Paint Winners Announced!

Congratulations to the following ladies who are the lucky winners of the Valspar Spray Paint giveaway!

Debra Lee

Meg {henninglove}

katerichter13

You will be getting an email from me in the near future requesting your address and with your spray paint color choices! 

Thanks for all of the comments and ideas you left - I will have to try some myself in the near future!

In case you missed the original post you can check it out here!

Have a great Monday!

{Gift DIY} Christmas Ornament

I love all of the ideas for what you can do with Christmas ornaments but this one might be my favorite!  I came across this neat idea for creating a wedding keepsake using an clear ornament on Pinterest and had to use it for Christmas this year.  Here's what you do.

Cut the wedding inviation into strips line by line so that the words and sentances are readable.

Then, wrap them around a pen so that they curl.  You may want to stretch out the curl a little bit so that they fill the ornament and are readable.

Finally, put the curled strips of paper into the glass ornament.  You can get a package of glass ornaments at Hobby Lobby pretty cheap since all of the Christmas decorations are 50% off.

Doesn't this look so pretty?

You can make these with baby announcements or write your own memories from the year on strips of paper.  I like how the ornament commemorates a big life event that happened over the year.  Christmas ornaments can tell such neat stories.

What ideas do you have for Christmas ornaments?

Have a great Tuesday...

Beth

Chevron Clutch Winner!

Congratulations to Sewingsanity - the winner of the chevron clutch giveaway that took place last week!Good idea to keep your fingers crossed because it worked! :)  She has a cute blog going so stop over and check it out: http://www.sewingsanity.blogspot.com/ I will send you an email to get your shipping address!

Welcome to the new Design Your Dwelling followers and THANK YOU for becoming follwers! Also, thanks to everyone who left comments, I LOVE reading them so keep commenting!

Beth

{Gift DIY} Clutch + Giveaway

I was definitely a "Suzie-homemaker" this weekend.  I spent all of Saturday sewing. (My mom would be proud at how far I have come with my sewing skills - I have moved past straight lines and can now sew around curves...)  Amongst other things, I made a few of these chevron clutches as Christmas gifts for some of the awesome ladies I have in my life!

I found this awesome tutorial from a blog I frequently visit called "See Kate Sew."  To get the tutorial for this clutch click HERE.  To find the fabric check out fabric.com.  Choose a heavier weight fabric like a home decor weight so that the clutch has some structure to it.  I chose a chevron print since that is the "in" style right now.

There are so many different things this clutch can be used for:

Purse

Make-up bag

Jewelry Travel case

Diaper/baby wipe holder

Gadget holder (ipod, Nintendo DS, cords)

Do you love it but don't want to make your own?! Good news - I am going to give away one of these clutches!  (Merry Christmas!)  Here are 4 ways you can enter to win:

1. Become a follower (+1 entry, leave a comment saying you are new follower)

2. "Like" Design Your Dwelling's Facebook page (+1 entry, leave a comment saying you "liked" the FB page)

3. Leave a comment with your idea for how you will use this clutch. (+1 entry)

4. Re-post this blog on your Facebook page (+1 entery, leave a comment to let me know you did)

There you go - you have up to 4 chances to win!  The winner will be announced on the Design Your Dwelling Facebook page next Monday, December 19!

Have a great Tuesday... Beth

{Gift DIY} Greeting cards + Giveaway!

Happy Monday to all of my readers!  I spent the weekend doing some Christmas preparation; decorating and working on my DIY gifts.  You will see a few DIY gift ideas over the next couple of days and some of the ideas will include give-aways! :)

I've been giving handmade greeting cards as a gift for a few years now. They have been a hit with my friends because it always seems that when you need a card, you don't have one.  Plus cards are super expensive.  ($3.59? Really?!)

Here are a couple of easy DIY gift ideas and a supply list for to make your project a little easier!

Stamped Greeting Cards

Suppliy List:

Assorted Rubber Stamps & Ink (Micheal's or Hobby Lobby)

Cards & Envelops (Target - card aisle)

Blank notecards (for the white background)

Rubber cement

Ribbon Greeting Cards

If you don't want to make an investment in rubber stamps or don't have the time it takes to do any rubber stamping, these ribbon cards are much easier!

Supply List:

Blank Cards (Hobby Lobby - stamping aisle)

Ribbon

Glue dots (Target, Hobby Lobby)

Just cut the ribbon to the length of the cards and attach the ribbon with glue dots and your done!

All you have left to do is package up these greeting cards by tying a pretty bow around them.  I usually add a nice pen to the gift.  This DIY gift is inexpensive but appreciated!  Good luck!

{Greeting Card Giveaway}

If you really don't want to take time to make these yourself I'll help you out!  I am giving away 2 sets of greeting cards!  Here's how you get entered in this giveaway:

1. Become a follower (+1 entry)

2. "Like" my Facebook page (+1 entry)

3 Leave a comment: who would you give your DIY greeting cards to? (+1 entry)

4. Link this post to your Facebook page (+1 entry)

* Leave a separate comment for each of these!

The giveaway will be open until Sunday December 11.  The winner will be announced on Monday December 12!

Have a great day!

Beth

Blue Ribbon Fudge Winners

Good morning! Today is the day I announce the two winners of Diane's Blue Ribbon Fudge!  But first, thanks to everyone for your comments on my blog, "Likes" on Facebook and welcome to the new Design Your Dwelling followers -  you gals are awesome!  The winners were drawn radomly.

The winners of Blue Ribbon Fudge are:

Tara Ryks

Melissa T.

Congrats ladies - you are in for a treat! :)

Tara and Melissa - please send your mailing address to designyourdwellingblog@gmail.com so we can get your fudge sent to you.  Thanks!

Also, remember you can order Blue Ribbon Fudge by emailing Diane at diane_mussell@hotmail.com.

The holiday season is about here so once I get into my DIY gift-giving ideas there will be quite a few give-aways

Happy Monday....

Beth



{Giveaway} Blue Ribbon Fudge

I am excited for our giveaway today!  My friend and co-worker, Diane, has agreed to give away 6 oz of her Blue Ribbon Fudge to two lucky Design Your Dwelling readers! 

This fudge has won the Iowa State Fair fudge contest every time Diane has entered it into the contest since 2009. (She is 3 for 3!)  Since then, she has developed quite the fan base ranging from her family and friends to her co-workers and it has resulted in a small fudge business over the holidays complete with beautiful packaging and shipping.

Check out how yummy this looks! :)

Judges Comments: "Creamy, Smooth and Excellent Flavor!"

The finished product!
Judges Comments: "Lots of nuts"

Beautiful Holiday Packaging!

This fudge is so good!  (She already let me try some)

If you are looking for a great holiday gift, or a sweet treat for yourself, Diane will take orders via email (diane_mussell@hotmail.com).  The fudge is $1/ounce - What a SWEET deal! :)

Here is how you get entered for a chance to win the fudge:

1. Become a follower of Design Your Dwelling - post a comment letting me know you did (+1 entry)

2. "Like" Design Your Dwelling on Facebook - post a comment letting me know (+1 entry)

3. Leave a comment to tell us what your favorite kind of fudge is! (+1 entry)

The winners will be chosen radomly and announced on Monday November 21!

P.S. She doesn't give out this recipe to anyone... :)

Fall Bread Recipes

Hello friends and followers!  Sorry for the blogging hiatus over the past week.  I have been traveling quite a bit for my real job as a training manager and actually just got back from Orlando, Florida last night.  I would love to be writing a post about the "Magical Kingdom" and sharing pictures of me with Mickey and Minnie Mouse but the work conference I was at kept me indoors.  :(

However, I did get a chance to do a little fall baking last weekend. I found two awesome recipes for bread that I thought I would try out before Thanksgiving rolled around (just in case I was asked to bring something.) 

Here they are:  Cranberry-Hazelnut Bread and Milk Chocolate Marble Loaf Cake.



Cranberry-Hazelnut Bread and Marble Loaf Cake

 Both of these bread recipes are very easy, but a little time consuming because of how long they take to bake.  Below are links to the recipes.  (Sorry I didn't type them out for you, but it's a lot to type in a blog post)

I found the cranberry-hazelnut bread recipe in the November 2011 edition of  Real Simple.  Click here for the recipe.

A quick note for the hazelnut bread.  If you haven't toasted nuts before, watch them closely.  10-12 minutes was entirely too long for the hazelnuts in my oven so the bread actually turned into cranberry-walnut bread.  Haha - oops! :)  Also - fresh cranberries work better than frozen cranberries. 

The recipe for the Marble Loaf Cake cake came from the November 2011 edition of Better Homes & Gardens.  Click here for the recipe.

Last night when I came home there was still some bread left so I took some for breakfast.  It was still moist and tasted fresh so the good news is they keep at least 5 days in case you wanted to make these ahead of time. 

NEXT WEEK I will introduce you to Blue Ribbon Fudge made by my co-worker!  This post will include a fudge give-away!  Ummmm.... :)

Happy Baking - BETH

And the Winner Is...

Thanks to those of you who visited my blog in the past few days and to those of you have joined as followers of Design Your Dwelling. 

The winner of the piece of Lia Sophia Jewelry, valued at up to $100 is Kelli Jo!  I will send your gift in the mail to you in the next week. :) 

Please check my blog regularly for more give-aways and of course ideas and inspiration to lead a beautiful life!