Re-Inspired

I think I'm finally ready to come back now. I've been busier than ever since the holidays with four (soon to be five) custom wedding sets, with paper crafting, and making new things for the shop, which will, with any luck, be receiving some pretty new additions in the coming weeks.

I want to thank you, my lovely readers, for being patient with me during my little hiatus, and also to beg your continued indulgence if I'm not here quite as frequently as I used to be. I've come to the conclusion that blogging should be about being inspired and sharing inspiration with others, and when I felt lately like it's just one more thing on an impossibly long to-do list, it becomes a stressor rather than an overflow of creativity. So I'm going to approach it in the future with the mindset that I'll share when I have something to share, and not bore you with nonsense when I don't.

The wonderful Debee Campos of Art As Life (incredible blog) and InspireLovely (beautiful shop) is a perpetual source of inspiration to me, so I can't think of anything more appropriate than including her in today's post. She's running a giveaway on her blog right now of several beautiful Valentine's Day themed items from her shop, so be sure to enter after taking a few minutes to marvel at the loveliness (I always do) and to be inspired yourself (I always am).

It's nice to be back. Thank you for reading.

Etsy Treasure Tuesday: Olive Manna

I just can't get enough of pretty packaging, so obviously, Olive Manna has been in my list of Etsy favorites for a very long time now.  But this week is a perfect time to feature the shop because Danni over at oh, hello friend has an Olive Manna giveaway going on this week! Check out some of my favorites below, then go straight over and enter the giveaway!

  

 

Natalie Jost, the very talented person behind Olive Manna, has a blog, an Etsy shop, and also an independent shop with some different offerings than you can find on Etsy. Happy browsing, and don't forget to enter the giveaway!

Birthday Sale and Giveaway Winner

On the agenda for today: some lovely new things to show you, an exciting offer, and the announcement you've all been waiting for.

First, my birthday is this week (!). Last year in honor, I ran a Birthday Sale in my Etsy shop that was so well-received that I've decided to make it a yearly tradition. So on Wednesday, September 22nd, I'm offering a 22% discount on your entire purchase from my shop, for one day only. So stop by and stock up for yourself or gifts for others. I've been working really hard this weekend on some lovely new members of the Pink Street club which will all be listed in the shop by Wednesday.

Here's a preview:

       

More will be listed tonight, so you'll have a great selection from which to choose on Wednesday!

And finally, our Giveaway Winner: Niandra!

Congratulations, Niandra; please send me an email at sarahetimmons@gmail.com with your address, and I'll get all of your goodies packaged up and sent off to you!

Giveaway Extended

Executive decision: the Favorite Things Giveaway shall be open to you, my lovely readers, for another week. We need some more entrants, friends, so comment away! (Please comment on the original post.)

Go on, then!

Favorite Things Giveaway

{Oh, the fun I have in store for you today!}

Here's how it all began: I was thinking to myself, "gosh, I love playing with my new Japanese paper tapes" (stay tuned for Wednesday's post), and "boy, stamping is fun," then, "heavens, I just can't get enough of these neat paper embellishments." {Oh, you laugh, but I'm not even kidding. I had FOTC playing and I was bobbing my head along to Carol Brown and everything.} And then it came to me, like a carrier pigeon with a great idea tied to his leg: a giveaway of all of these things! AND MORE!

I therefore present to you, the Favorite Things Giveaway!

 

  

 

Here's what you get:

1. A pink and brown notebook embellished by me with fun papers, vintage french book page, vintage lace, and a mini envelope in which to tuck secret messages to yourself  (envelope by The Gilded Bee)

2. A cool bird stamp

3. About a yard of magenta cotton twine

4. A bunch of white paper millinery flowers

5. Cute little translucent pink plastic heart and circle 'crystals'

6. Pink Street brass earrings handmade by me

7. Three new rolls of Japanese washi paper tape in orange sherbert, pink stripe, and banana pudding

8. A sweet little cloth-covered butterfly button brad

9. 10 adorable yellow paper buttons (by The Gilded Bee)

10. A package of sweet handmade butterflies in melon, blush, and bashful (by The Gilded Bee)

11. A pretty scrap of dusty rose fabric

So, all you have to do to enter is follow my blog, then leave a comment here telling me what your own Favorite Things Giveaway would include. Giveaway ends this Sunday at 5:00pm (editorial correction: Sunday, September 19th). Tell all your friends (or at least the ones who enjoy the stuff pictured above)!

Hooray for holidays! Hooray for giveaways!

A Sidenote

Everyone, I just had to mention very quickly that Danni of oh, hello friend, whose beautiful blog I am proud to sponsor, is doing a 2 year blog anniversary giveaway right now that rivals some of the best I've seen. She's offering a new Fuji Instax camera and a $100 gift card to Anthro! Now, consider: wouldn't it be just plain silly not to rush over and enter to win right this second!?

(Images by Danni of oh, hello friend.)

A Different Kind of Giveaway

As I mentioned yesterday, friends, I thought I might give you a more detailed picture of the fabulous adventures we're planning for our Great English Adventure next week. I also realized yesterday that I've just posted my 300th blog post, and wanted to find a means of celebrating. So, I came up with an idea for a different kind of giveaway: leave a comment on this post before Sunday, May 16th at 10:00pm, and I'll draw a name. The lucky winner will receive a small souvenir from our trip, and if you like, you can even choose which of the five wonderful cities we're visiting you'd like your memento to come from!

Here are the details.
Destination One: Bath
On our Agenda: the Roman Baths and Pump Room, the Royal Crescent, and a Cotswolds tour

Destination Two: Stratford-on-Avon
On our Agenda: Romeo and Juliet at the RSC Courtyard Theatre, a stroll along the river, and a visit to Shakespeare's Birthplace

Destination Three: Chipping Campden
On our Agenda: a sunny room in a beautiful little Bed and Breakfast, bicycling around the countryside, the charms of an old market village

Destination Four: Oxford
On our Agenda: Blenheim Palace, The Eagle and Child, views of the city from a 13th century church tower

Destination Five: London
On our Agenda: Macbeth at the Globe, dozens of museums, and the Chelsea Flower Show

My giveaway offer has some runner-up winners as well: I'll send postcards to the first three people to a leave comment on this post!

Lovely Package Giveaway!

I've posted about The Gilded Bee before, but if you didn't take time to go and see all of the loveliness before, here's a second chance: there's a fabulous giveaway going on this week, hosted by the Head Bee herself, over at her blog. In order to induce you to head over and participate, I concocted a devious plan to tempt you into submission with an overload of prettiness.

Hurry over and enter the giveaway, friends!

(All images pulled from The Gilded Bee Etsy shop.)

Quick, Man!

Hurry, everyone! There's more to get all excited about this afternoon at oh, hello friend! An incredible giveaway, of which the theme is pretty packaging! I can hardly contain myself, honestly. Some of the most wonderful shops are represented, many of which I've been in love with, and have even featured here, for quite a while now. Don't miss your chance!

(Composite image by Danni of oh, hello friend.) Image represents products from The Gilded Bee, Mr. Rabbit, Sir, Caramelos, Pack It Pretty, The Whimsical Muse, and California Craft. Also included in the giveaway are six other shops: Sweet Provisions, The Paper Bar, In The Clear, Wrappery, MayThird, Junque Art, and Ginko Papers. How amazing is that!

And the Winner Is ....

Memzie!

(My husband very kindly helped me with the name-drawing this morning.) So E., send me an email telling me which of the five items you want and your address, and I'll get it sent off to you this week! Congratulations, and thanks to everyone who commented! I hope you'll all continue to stop by regularly. This week, you'll get to see how my red velvet mini-cakes and our special Valentine's pizza came out. Plus, I hope to be able to post photos of some wedding work I've been doing recently. Stay tuned!

(photo above is called "Looking for Love" by the incredibly talented Irene Suchocki. Look her up.)

Don't Forget the Giveaway

The V-Day giveaway ends tomorrow, friends! Leave your comment on the giveaway post to enter!

V-Day Giveaway

To thank you all for being such devoted and lovely readers, I've planned a terrific giveaway just in time for Valentine's Day. This time, you get to choose which item you win, from six {edited: five} lovely options in my Etsy shop. All you have to do is be a follower of my blog and leave a comment by this Saturday, February 13th telling me if you plan to do anything special on V-Day. I'll collect and draw names on Saturday night, and will announce the winner on the 14th. Tell all your friends!

Here are the items you have the chance to win:

The Softhearted necklace.

The Coquette necklace. {Edited: I'm so sorry, friends, but the Coquette necklace sold on 2.12.10. But if you win, you still get to choose from the other five items!} The Trinket earrings. The Radiant necklace. The Write Me Up necklace.The Center of Attention earrings.

Good luck! I can't wait to hear from you all.

Big News!

Giveaway coming tomorrow! Just in time for V-Day, friends! Get ready, it's the biggest one yet.

Pink Street Giveaway!

Everyone head over to a beautiful blog I'm proud to sponsor, Naturally Nina, for a chance to win my Dresden necklace! Although I'll be really sad to see it go -- it's truly one of my top three favorites in the shop -- I would love to see it find a good home, especially with one of you!

Enter to win today (the 17th) through Sunday (the 20th)! And I want to hear what your top three favorite Christmas gifts have been!

And the Winner Is .....

Jessica! Congratulations, my friend! Fiona is yours!

Thanks so much to everyone who commented -- I loved reading them all, and I hope that you'll come back to see some lovely things I'll be posting next week. And for more giveaways in the future, as well!

(Image by Andrea Singarella of Everyday Beauty, found here.)

Last Chance

Today's the last day to enter the giveaway! Post your comment here before 10:00pm tonight, and your name will be entered to win Fiona, a brand new pink street creation.

Winner will be announced Sunday morning!

Celebration and Giveaway

We've been celebrating lots of things in our little house this week: my husband finished and turned in his last really big research paper of the semster; his birthday is Thursday; I won a minor victory against the worst case of food-burned-to-the-bottom-of-the-pan in the history of the world last night; and lastly, I'm celebrating this week because this is my 200th blog post!

So, to thank all of you for being my readers, I'm giving away a Pink Street necklace which is brand new to the world -- it's never been seen by anyone but me in its short life yet. Her name is Fiona, and she features an ivory rose, a vintage and beautifully-etched brass paisley, and a vintage round raw brass locket, on a very delicate gold-plated chain. And one of you will win her next Monday!

Here's how you enter: just leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite holiday decorating tradition is, or something crafty and handmade you plan to make for a gift this year. I intend to make many of my Christmas presents, and also to "spruce" up my house a little more than usual for the holidays, and would love to hear some of your ideas. Post your comment by 10:00pm on Saturday night!

Giveaway Winner

Samantha wins!

Thanks for entering, everyone!

I'll be doing another giveaway for a pink street piece soon, so stay tuned!

And by the way, I wanted to mention also that I'm running a special holiday sale: all domestic orders receive FREE SHIPPING now through December, and returning customers receive a 10% discount on their purchases! Stop by and see what's new in the shop!

Friday Reminder

I'm sorry, friends -- my week has been insane at work and as crazy afterward, so I haven't had a lot of time to plan anything for you since the Giveaway post on Tuesday. But today, I have some loveliness from Livy at A Field Journal to share, and also, a reminder to enter this week's giveaway before it ends tonight at 10:00pm! Our winner will be drawn tomorrow!

I hope everyone has a beautiful weekend.

Etsy Treasure Tuesday: 3 Lambs Graphics (GIVEAWAY!)

Today, I am so happy to present to all of your our featured Etsy shop this week: 3 Lambs Graphics. Amy of 3 Lambs comes up with some of the most charming and creative graphic prints incorporating humorous and/or heart-warming sayings. My friend Jill first attracted my notice to 3 Lambs when she sent me a link to a print called "I Believe in Pink," which of course couldn't be more true or apropos for me. I wrote Amy, told her that I loved her work, and she graciously agreed to give one of my lucky readers a 5x7 print of "I Believe in Pink" for this week's feature! (I am so jealous of the lucky winner, whoever you may be.)

Here's how it works: visit 3 Lambs Graphics on Etsy, and leave a comment on this post mentioning which of Amy's designs is your favorite, and I'll enter your name to win! Giveaway ends at 10:00pm this Friday night (the 30th), and a winner will be drawn on Saturday. Tell all your friends!

This is the lovely you'll be sent if you win!

But it's definitely not my only favorite in the 3 Lambs shop. There are so many beauties that when I tried to develop a plan for where I would put them all, I ran out of hypothetical wall space. For the purposes of this post, however, I'll confine myself to the following seven.

A beautiful limited edition print entitled "Antique Birdcages," in some of my very favorite colors.

A fun print for anyone, especially those of us who still haven't decided exactly what it is we want to be:

I'm terrifically fond of this one, as Boston is where Nate and I spent our honeymoon.

Something cheeky, featuring Marie Antoinette:

Amy has several "Keep Calm" prints, each with a different funny or ironic saying (and some of them referencing Harry Potter!). This one's my favorite, in a calm and very British grey.

And I think this one's so cute. (My friends and I had a Ten Best Tattoo Ideas list going several years ago, and "I {anatomical ♥} Organ Donors" made it into the top two.)

But I think out of them all, this one would be the one I'd pick if I could only choose one. It combines pink, brown, birds, and a sweet sentiment; does it get better than that?

I know that's seven, but I just couldn't leave this one off of the list. It's too great. And I'd like to tape it up on all of the doors and windows at Tech. It needs to be said. Really.

Remember, the giveaway ends this Friday. Leave your comment (and an email address at which I can reach you) to enter! Good luck, friends!

(All images by Amy of 3 Lambs Graphics.)