Flaunt it Friday 85 and Introducing Cherry Creek Designs!

Hello friends!  Welcome to the last Flaunt it Friday party of 2011!! 

First, I'm excited to introduce you to my newest sponsor, Cherry Creek Designs!  Heather makes fabulous jewelry like...
 

Tiny Personalized Square Charm



Love these and they are so inexpensive. Want one for each of my boys!



Wedding Bouquet Charm

This would be a great shower gift for the bride-to-be! What a cool momento from your wedding day!

Look for a giveaway coming soon from Cherry Creek Designs! 
So, now let's get down to business... like partying. 

It's been a fabulous year for my little ol' party.  It's grown tremendously only because of you!  Thank you to all of my loyal party animals, I appreciate each of you taking the time to link up... you've made Flaunt it Friday a huge success!  Even if I don't comment on your post, I am looking and I appreciate each of you!! 
I'm amazed by all the talent and creativity that is linked up each week.  Can't wait to see what all of you talented friends have in store next year!  XOXO to you all!

Before we party, have you gotten the "New Year Cleaning/Organizing Bug" yet?  I have and I need your ideas!!  I am building my inspiration and motivation with an impromptu organization party, link up your best organizing posts HERE. 

You may also link them up here at Flaunt it Friday.  Organizing and whatever else you'd like to flaunt this week. 

Can't wait to see it! 

Impromptu Link Party, Your Best Organizing Posts

Well hello there.  Can you believe it's over?? 

We had a wonderful Christmas.  My boys are at that fun age where everything about Christmas is magical and wonderful which makes it extra special for Mr. Chic and me.  I always get a little melancholy when it's over. 

Adding to the post Christmas blues is the fact that I will have to start taking down my pretty Christmas decorations.  Mr. Chic wanted to start yesterday... What?!  The day after Christmas?!? No way!  Christmas isn't really even over-over until New Years, right?!? 

With the bummer of the end of Christmas comes the hope of a new year... a new beginning.  (that just sounds so cheesey to me but it's true!)   This means a lot of different things to people.  It seems like the biggest resolution is getting back in shape and losing that extra holiday weight.  While I definitely could work on this, (I think I ate my weight in Christmas cookies over the past 2 weeks!!)  it's not my "resolution". 




Source

This year I resolve to get more organized.  As my blog and interior decorating business continue to grow I need to take some steps to simplify running my household without taking away quality time from my kiddos. 

My regular approach to getting things done is "flying by the seat of my pants".  It seems I'm too busy for that now.  I won't lose the whole flying by the seat of my pants thing all together, that's how I'm wired.  But, I'm going to work on my organization and efficiancy.

Since I don't come by this naturally, I need your ideas.  Please link up your organizing posts below.  If I use your idea I will give you a shout out and link to your post in my blog post.


via simplify101.com

  

Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas card design courtesy of Shutterfly

From my family to yours, may your Christmas be filled with Joy!

Flaunt it Friday 84

Did you see my Christmas Home Tour?  Please check it out here if you'd like.  I can't believe Christmas is almost here!!!  Let's celebrate!

For those of you done shopping and baking and wrapping, it's time to party!

Christmas Home Tour 2011, Part 1

Season's Greetings, friends! 

I think I'm a little late for the Christmas home tour parties all over blog-land but I'm not sweating it.  It's not Christmas yet so technically, I'm not late, early in fact!

My home has been decorated since Thanksgiving, I just didn't have time to take pictures and post about it.  I'm trying to enjoy the season by avoiding extras on my to-do list, one being "join blog home tour parties in a timely fashion", didn't even make the list!

Part 1 of my tour includes my foyer and formal living and dining rooms.  These are considered my "fancy" decorations by my boys.  Part 2 is a bit more casual and kid friendly, it will include my kitchen and family room where we spend most of our time. 

So, come on in friends.  You'll be greeted in my foyer by my mercury glass vignette.  I am loving mercury glass and have picked up several inexpensive pieces which I display all over my house.  I decided to bring several pieces together for a sparkly holiday vignette. 

Don't you just love this silver greenery garland??  (when I think of garland I think of that cheap shiny plastic stuff that you can get for a dollar, this stuff is much nicer!)   

From here you'll see my formal living room and "Fancy" Christmas tree.

This year I added a touch of leopard print, you can see a post all about my fancy tree HERE.

I love decorative pillows!  No room to sit on the couch?!  That's ok, just toss 'em on the floor.

A leopard print and French script pillow pull the tree and room together.

A vignette of greenery, golden reindeer and sequined and feathered Christmas trees tops my Great Grandma's display cabinet.

A bust of Santa sits near the tree.  (He was 90% off after last Christmas, only $3.99!)

Another Santa hangs out under a cloche along with a sleigh full of ornaments on the ottoman tray.

My dining room has simple natural looking Christmas trees in  burlap sacks lining the table along with some shimmery netting over the table runner.

My kiddos love the Christmas village... each piece has special meaning behind it.  Mr. Chic got me the church the year we were married.  (Awww, isn't he so romantic!?)

Santa even flies over the village (except his motor broke so this year he just hangs out  :(

And most importantly, our nativity is at eye level for the boys to enjoy and remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Hope you enjoyed Part 1 of my Christmas Home Tour.  Stay tuned for Part 2, hopefully I get it up before Christmas! I'm not going to stress over it.  :) 

My Fancy Christmas Tree with a touch of Leopard Print

Hey there! 

Before I bust out my Christmas tree I have a controversial topic to discuss:

Leopard Print.

Folks either love it or they hate it.

It's really envogue right now but that doesn't mean that it's suddenly beautiful to everyone or right for your home.

Back in the day I was SO not a fan of leopard print, at all... in fact, I hated it. I thought it was gaudy and cheap looking. A pattern only used on very short skirts or the lining of a pimp's big hat. (did I just say pimp on my blog?!?!)

Since then, leopard print has come a long way.  Moving from the pimp hat (I said it again!) right into classy home decor catalogs like Ballards Design.

Along with the styles my tastes have also changed.  I no longer despise the leopard, I've actually grown to love it, albeit in small doses.

For example, I would never buy a leopard print couch but I would buy a leopard print accent pillow (I actually did!).   

My "fancy" tree (named by my oldest boy) is in bronze tones accented with gold and silver.  Guess what matches bronze, silver and gold... leopard print!!

Since I'm digging the leopard quite a bit right now and wanted to kick my tree up a notch I decided to get some leopard print ribbon for it at Hobby Lobby.  It was half off and I managed to stretch 2  rolls onto my big fat 9 foot tree.  A big change for under $10!  The best part is, when the fad passes and leopard print goes back to it's rightful owners (pimps) (AGAIN!)  I'll only be out 10 bucks.  Sweet.

So here's my tree in all its pimping leopard print glory....

You know, it's really hard to get a good picture of a Christmas tree.  It's so pretty to photograph it at night but the ornaments don't really show up and if you take one with natural sunlight, it doesn't have that magical glow that makes it so pretty. 

I picked up just a few ornaments on clearance at the end of the season last year and only one new package of 3 this year.

I got a package of 3 of these for dirt cheap at TJ Maxx and absolutely love them!  I'm sure they could easily be reproduced but I couldn't make them for as cheap as I bought them!

I'm a sucker for birds... love the real feathers tail on this one.

A Hob Lob find after last Christmas.

Since it's such a big tree it needs a big topper.  One of my Christmas tree pet peeves is to see a huge tree with a tiny star or bow on top, or worst of all, nothing!!  There needs to be some "weight" at the top of the tree to balance out the wide "heavy" bottom. 

Last year I got some ribbon and watched youtube videos of how to make a large fancy bow, ummmm, yeah.  It's not rocket science but I just couldn't get it to look right, it was droopy and sloppy looking. Total fail.

I had this made at a local decor shop for less than $20 to give me a base.

I added a little bit of my own goodies and ended up with this...

Front side

Back side

I absolutely love how it turned out and so glad I didn't settle for my crummy youtube bow.

To pull the leopard print into the room I added my pillow to the chair on top of nice and cozied up next to the tree. 

Hope you enjoyed my "Fancy" leopard print Christmas tree.  Stay tuned for more Christmas decor!

Linking the Christmas Tree Party at Thrifty Decor Chick, Dittle Dattle, Under the Table & Dreaming

Flaunt it Friday 83!

Seasons Greetings party time friends! 

This has been a crazy week but I promise I will share more of my Christmas decor with you very very soon!!  Please come back and see me over the weekend, I'll be flaunting my Christmas decor just for you!

Let's start the party!!

A Rustic Christmas Vignette

Hey there, friends!  How's Christmas decorating treatin' you?  Are you doing all kinds of new and exciting things this year? 

Because of my severe case of decorating ADD I had to change it up a bit.  This is easily cured by going out and buying lots of new stuff. 

However, I really do not need one more Christmas decoration.

Ever.

Like for the rest of my life. 

I've got plenty of Christmas decorations... and then some. 

So, I try to work with what I've got and mix it up a bit.

For some reason this season (I'm a poet and didn't know it!?! cheesey, I know...) I am really digging the rustic looking Christmas stuff.  I'm even surprising myself because this usually isn't a look I'm attracted to (unless it's in a log cabin, or when Mr. Chic grows a beard ;). 

So, I set up a little rustic vignette on my kitchen sideboard.

I think the rustic look hit me when I busted out my 90% off after the season last year greenery garland.  It's kind of rustic in that it's very realistic looking and it even has some little pinecones attached.  (does realistic = rustic??  I dunno but it was looking very rustic to me). 

I have to come clean about one itsy-bitsy purchase...I broke down and bought a small Christmas decoration Bad, bad! I know. BUT, this little reindeer could not be passed up!

He was less than $8 at TJ Maxx!! I love him and wish I could find him a big brother reindeer but no luck. 
Anywho, I busted out my most "rustic" decor.  I had this old sleigh that I got at Wal-Mart after Christmas several years ago.  It came with a hideous looking Christmas tree in it, I used it sans hideous tree of course. 

This old sleigh has become my Christmas card holder.  Doesn't really display the cards but hey, at least I'm not throwing them straight in the garbage and I can see the one on top.

I added a moss/pinecone/cranberry Christmas tree and my twiggy looking Christmas tree in a burlap sack but it still seemed to be missing something. I didn't want to buy anything so I almost scratched my rustic Christmas vignette.

Then I was helping a client (now friend) decorate for Christmas.  I found this great tree from Crate & Barrel in her pile of old Christmas stuff that I was supposed to go through and determine what was junk. I told her this wasn't junk but since we changed her color scheme this totally didn't go, besides, it was too rustic.  (Did someone say rustic?!)  I bought it off her for a measly $4 but she was going to throw it in the garbage so I'll take that as a score for both me and her.

I added it to my rustic Christmas vignette and it worked perfectly!  It would not have worked with her blue and silver sparkly trees at all.  

Instead of the greenery wreath I usually hang on the mirror at Christmas time I opted to use a coffee filter wreath, I like the natural color and the texture it adds to all the greenery on the tabletop. 

The finished vignette...

This isn't a great picture, the lighting was a bit off but I think you get the idea.
So, I guess I did buy something this year, but not much.  One little reindeer and the Crate & Barrel tree was more like a garage sale find so that doesn't really count because it wasn't full price, right?!? And I got rid of some things too, so I'm following Mr. Chic's mantra: "Bring something in, take something out".

Did you change up your Christmas decor this year?? 

Flaunt it Friday 82 and 3 Shutterfly Winners!

Hi friends!!  I'm excited to announce the winners of the 25 Shutterfly Christmas/Holiday Card Giveaway.

1. Anonymous said... Fa La La or Faith & Hope would be the cards I would select because it would nicely fit the family picture we took on Thanksgiving for our Christmas cards. My email address is sherry@mail.usf .edu. Thanks!!
2. Monica said... I've subscribed to this blog on email also :) thanks for the fun giveaway!
3. Taylor said... I would choose posh and merry!

Congrats to my winners and I'll be following up with an email to you as well.  Thanks again to Shutterfly, hope you enjoy! :)

 

I was a little short on posts this week but will make it up to you in the next few weeks where I will bombard you with Christmas decor posts.  Don't miss it!

 

Now, time to enjoy a little par-tay! 

 

 

Creative ways to display Christmas Cards

Hey there, friends!  How ya been??

I've been busy decking almost all my halls with Christmas cheer but haven't had any good photo taking weather.  Can't wait to share it with you all.  I know you're losing sleep over it... soon, very soon, my dears. :)

Since I couldn't take pictures today, I crossed something else off my Christmas "To do" list! I ordered Christmas cards from Shutterfly! 

For those of you still needing to cross Christmas card ordering off your list, I'm giving away 25 FREE photo cards from Shutterfly to 3 lucky winners (that's right, THREE WINNERS)!  Go HERE to sign up!!

Ordering Christmas cards made me realize once again that I don't really have a good way to display all of those pretty cards.  This year I have mine in a little sleigh, it works fine but you only see the one on top, not really a "display". 

I went to Pinterest for some "pinspiration"...

Beautiful!  I wonder if they have that up all year?  I would...

2 cute ideas!  But mine never seem to match as well as these do...

Another spin on the picture frame, could be used for photos all year long.

Love this idea!

They look lovely across a pretty mirror.



Perfect if you've got a banister!



This is cute!

This would be so easy!

This is pretty but you'd have to poke a hole in every card, too time consuming for me,
 I'd use laundry pins like the rest of them. :)

Well, I hope I've given you some ideas for what to do with all those Christmas cardsthat are starting to show up in your mailbox. 

Remember to enter my giveaway to win 25 Free photo cards HERE!

*All pictures above found on Pinterest, search "Christmas card display"

Shutterfly Christmas Card Giveaway!

Hi everyone!  It's time for the next giveaway in my "Giveaway Extravaganza!"(in a big, loud, echoing voice)

I'm sure all of you have heard of Shutterfly, an online printing service that offers some of the cutest cards, stationary and photobooks at reasonable prices. 

Last year I ordered my Christmas cards from Shutterfly and had more than one person tell me that my card was the best one they received!  Seriously?!  I didn't think people paid that much attention to Christmas cards so I took that as a very nice compliment!    Shutterfly did the work for me, all I did was choose the design and drop in my pictures. 

This year it's time to order if you haven't done so already, Christmas is in just 3 weeks!  I am ordering my Shutterfly cards today and giving 3 of my lucky readers the chance to win 25 free cards!!

Shutterfly has a gianormous selection of Christmas cards!  They have so many great ones to choose from in all kinds of colors it's kind of hard to pick just one!

I love how simple and colorful this one is...


Classic Christmas colors...

You can even get matching address labels with your picture on it! 

How cool is that?!

Of course Shutterfly also helps preserve your memories with their fantastic and easy to make photobooks.  These make great gifts for grandparents or even yourself! 




So how do you enter to win 25 Christmas or Holiday cards from Shutterfly? 

You have several chances, please leave a separate comment for each and make sure to leave your email address if you don't have a blog. 

1.  Go to Shutterfly and tell me which Christmas or Holiday card you'd choose.
2.  Be a follower of this blog
3.  Subscribe to this blog on email
4.  Like Shutterfly on Facebook
5.  Like Chic on a Shoestring Decorating on Facebook

3 winners will be chosen by random.org on Tuesday December 6th at 10pm cst.  Enter now!

*Winners will receive a gift promo code good for 25 free cards (which expire December 31, 2011) at Shutterfly.com.  I received free greeting cards in return for this post and giveaway.

Flaunt it Friday 81 and a Winner! and another Giveaway!

Hey friends!  I'm so happy to announce the winner of the Shabby Apple dress giveaway:..

Chosen by random.org, #41, Courtana!  Congratulations!!!  Please contact me Courtana, your profile doesn't list an email address for you!

You won this beautiful Shabby Apple Dress!

Shabby Apple Boogie Woogie Dress

For those of you that didn't win, I have another giveaway going on right now for Scentsy!  Go HERE to sign up for the Plug-in Warmer and Scent Circles giveaway and get some Christmas shopping done, everyone loves Scentsy! :) 

Now, it's time for Flaunt it Friday again.... Hooray for the weekend and Fluant it Friday!!

Scentsy Plugin and Scent Circles Giveaway!

Hi friends!!  I'm still rolling with my Giveaway Extravaganza!  

Doesn't that sound exciting?! 

Good!!  Because it is very exciting! :) 

Tonight please welcome my sweet sis-in-law Lisa and her new Scentsy business!

Orders placed by December 10th will arrive before Christmas!  There's plenty of time and you can't beat Christmas shopping from the comfort of your home.

I love these Christmas and Holiday warmers!

Lisa is giving away a Scentsy "Ornament" Plug-in Warmer, a $20 value.  This cute plug-in is discontinued but you can win it here!  It's perfect for Christmas and beyond!  She is also giving away some Scent Circles too!

Scentsy "Ornament" Plug-in

If you are not familiar with Scentsy you really need to be!  It is a decorative and safe way to make your home smell fabulous.

Scentsy makes specially formulated wax, similar to a candle but without the open flame!  The authentic Scentsy warmers use a low-watt bulb to slowly melt the specially formulated wax which releases the wonderful scent of your choice. 

The wax is Lead Free, Soot Free and Wick Free.  If tipped over the wax will not burn you nor will it catch on fire making it a great option around children and pets. 

With no flame, smoke, or soot, the Scentsy wickless candle system is a safe way to enjoy Scentsy fragrances!

They have warmers for any taste and budget....

Tannenbaum Full-Size Scentsy Warmer

I love that this Tannenbaum warmer could be left out all winter because it's not too Christmas-ey. 

Morocco Full-Size Scentsy Warmer

Loving the stylish Quattrefoil on the Morocco warmer.
 

Scentsy says: "With Plug-In Scentsy Warmers, you still get amazing fragrance in even the smallest spaces. Now available in a range of colors and designs, each plug-in features a detachable base, making it quick and easy to change fragrances."

Taro Plug-In Scentsy Warmer





Other products include...

Scentsy Buddies: "Each Buddy features a zippered pocket to hold scrumptious Scentsy fragrance. Just insert a Scent Pak™ and bring your Buddy to life with comforting scent.

For children ages 3 years and up."

They also offer room sprays, fragranced foaming soap, travel tins, perfume and Scent Circles which come in all fragrances and can go anywhere!  Tons of great stocking stuffers at Scentsy!

Scent Circles

So, how do you win? 

Here are the rules...

Go to this website HERE and choose your favorite product, leave a comment below stating what it is.  This will enter you to win one of several scent circles.

To be entered to win the Ornament Plug-in giveaway you must go to the website HERE,  and make a purchase ($20 minimum please).  Make sure you click on my party, host Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Kate S. before you buy so you'll be entered in the giveaway, also leave a comment below.

With any warmer puchase Lisa is giving away a FREE SCENTSY SPATULA!  These can not be purchased and are only available through a Scentsy representative.  These are super handy to get the wax out of your warmer when you want to change your scent. 

This giveaway will run through December 10th when the winner will be announced!  Good luck! 

PS:  If you are a local (you know who you are)  I can get you free shipping, just email me at kateluvs2decorate {at} gmail {dot} com and I'll get you the details!