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Monday, October 3, 2011

Accuquilt GO! Baby Fabric Cutter Giveaway WINNER!

Wow, this was the most entered giveaway we have ever had here on The Cottage Home! I guess I know what kinds of things you guys would like to win! I wish I could give one of these sweet little machines to each and every one of you, but unfortunately I only have one to giveaway.

There was no way I could pick a winner from 765 entries, which is why I used a random number generator to pick for me. So without further ado, the winner of the Accuquilt GO! Baby Fabric Cutter PLUS three dies of your choice is........

Congratulations, Clover! You are one lucky gal! You're going to absolutely love this machine and I can't wait to see what you end up creating. Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway. I've got a ton of other giveaways coming up, so keep trying your luck, you never know when you might just win!

Clover, if you could please email me at thecottagemama[at]gmail[dot]com with your contact information and the three dies you would like (you can choose any that are GO! Baby compatible), that would be great!

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of The Cottage Home blog, please email Lindsay at thecottagemama[at]gmail[dot]com for rates and more information.

10 Things I believe

Today I’m over at Capella’s blog sharing 10 things I believe in on her new Monday series, “10 Things I Believe.” Click Here to see the post.

Thanks for having me Capella!

LiveJournal Tags: guest post,Capella kincheloe,A Curated Lifestyle

About a week before I was scheduled for my angiogram, I received an email from Carol who works for Habitat for Humanity of Utah. I will share part of the email with you all.

"In 1985, the United Nations declared the first Monday in October “World Habitat Day” in order to recognize the vast housing need in cities around the world. This year is even more special; Habitat international will build its 500,000 home worldwide and its 500,001 domestically. This is a monumental achievement. The Utah County office has built 43 homes locally and 133 homes internationally. This year our project requires your help..."

You may not be familiar with Habitat, so I will explain it to you. :) Basically the have a chain of thrift stores like DI or Savers, called ReStore, that specializes in furniture, fixtures and construction materials.

All profits from ReStore help to build more houses here in our county as well as worldwide. World Habitat Day is a day for individuals and organizations to change the reality of those living in poor conditions and to work together to find housing solutions for those in need.

She emailed me because she wanted me to pick some materials from their store and create something fun to share with my readers, so you will become aware of this resource that is available to you across the U.S.

I really wanted to help out, because I heard that they are going to Japan to build some homes too! Although I had to turn it down because of the upcoming procedure and the two tutorials that I was working on, but I promised her that I would at least write about this important day and the opportunity for us to pitch in and help for such a good cause.

First of all I needed to know what I am writing about, so I went to the store in my area. I also met Carol in person and spoke to her too (she was so sweet and nice!).

The store is huge! They had lots of construction materials, doors, cabinets (there is a REALLY nice one that I would LOVE to have in my kitchen), counter tops, paints, lighting fixtures, furniture and so on. Oh, and I found lots of paint brushes and rollers for so cheap! I couldn't pick up the project this time but I know where I can find awesome things for DIY now. Better yet, the money I spend there will help to put a roof over someone in the world. How great is that?

Since it is a thrift store, you never know what they have until you go there, but if you want to save money, and help out a good cause, ReStore is the store for you!

Crafting with the Stars, Round 1

Round 1 of Crafting with the Stars begins today! Please click on the picture below to be taken to the voting page:

You will have 48 hours to view and vote on 12 *amazing* knockoff projects! The top 9 projects will move on to the next round.

I can’t tell you which project is mine until all the votes have been tallied, but please take a minute to go look at the projects!

Need a little encouragement? How about a giveaway?

After you vote, come back and leave me a comment telling me that you did, and you will be entered to win my “fall” beadboard pennant banner (which is actually pale yellow, not white as it appears in the picture), shown below.

What are you waiting for?

Click here to vote on your favorite Knockoff!

Giveaway ends when the voting ends: Tuesday, October 5, at midnight.

We've been eating a lot of caprese salad lately. The tomatoes have been coming in strong for weeks now, after being delayed due to our cool June and July temperatures.

Thankfully, the tomatoes are nice and sweet despite their slow start.

It's funny because we dream about tomatoes from the beginning of summer until that first wonderful tomato you pull from the vine. But now that the days are shorter, the leaves are turning and the sunlight shines a little crisper, I can't help but eye the pumpkins out of the corner of my eye and dream everything pumpkin...pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread...

We've even begun thinking of the pumpkin birthday cake we plan to make for the babies' first birthday in December. In the image above, you can see me carve their names in our favorite pumpkin using a carving tool. This is something we look forward to doing with Graham and Margaret when they're older.

Their names are barely visible right after my not-so-artistic marking.

But as the pumpkin grows (this picture was taken several weeks after), their names are becoming more visible.

We thought this would be a fun way to watch their birthday cake grow through the summer.

Recipe for caprese salad:

fresh picked tomatoes (we use whatever is ripe - cherry or heirloom)

fresh picked basil

fresh mozzarella

olive oil and balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

As I write this post, Mike is walking back and forth on the porch with the babies in the stroller. It's a beautiful evening, the sky is clear and the sun is casting that special fall hue. Off I go to do a few house chores before they come inside.

Because of Google Analytics I get to see how people come across our blog. And, sometimes I follow links to see what the post, or article may have been about. This is how I stumbled upon this gorgeous, unique nursery. This delightful blogger used my free bunting flag, the same one I used for Oscar's nursery. Want your own? Go back to my original post to download it yourself. But you must go check out this blog, she has the most amazing style.
Photo Via

un dejeuner sur l'herbe

Happy images from a great day spent in the garden.

This summer has brought us many visits from blogging friends, and today we caught up with Slavica and Jason of Seductively French. We were blessed with amazing sunshine, happy children, and hopefully good food. A great time was had by all. The only thing working against us - the clock!! Next time we'll take longer .

Hope you are all enjoying a great weekend with family and friends.

365 Swap with the Cultivate Girls

I’m a little slow, but I wanted to tell you about the 365 Swap! that I attended a week ago (I first mentioned it here).

This event was dreamed up by a group of friends (the Cultivate girls) who decided to get together to exchange various items they no longer wanted/needed (anything from décor to furniture to purses and more). The catch is…it’s all wrapped up in a big party! There are decorations, food, and lots of fun.

This year they sold tickets to the event, and my daughter and I decided to go. After seeing all they went through, I think $6 was one of the best bargains ever!

Loaded down with our “Swap” items (we were limited to 7 a piece, which was hard!), my daughter and I entered a back-yard gate into a marvelous world. At our left hand, a fence constructed of old doors greeted us (big fat puffy heart love).

Hay bales, trailers, wagons and the like provided a framework on which to lay and display hundreds of swap items.

There were funky-cool garlands and vintage accessories which you wished were available for swap!

There were layers and layers of stuff to look through!

You had to walk through several times, and in different directions, so as not to miss anything (and you still did).

See that dynamite box (above) on the red chair? That came home with me!

After everyone had had a chance to look around, there were 15 minutes in which you could clip a clothespin, marked with your name (you received a clothespin for every item you brought to swap), onto the items you wanted. My daughter came home with the aqua birdcage!

At the end of that time, each person automatically received any item for which they were the only interested party. I also came home with the cupboard door above.

For items that had multiple clothespins, they were placed in a battered army helmet and a lucky winner was drawn!

If you were not a winner, you received your clothespin back to be used for another round.

Did I mention there was also food? A huge stack of Marie Callendar’s pie tins served as plates, vintage hankies served as napkins, and mismatched mason jars served as bowls! There were cupcakes and pies and homemade root beer!

It was a fabulous evening! THANK YOU to the Cultivate Girls, and I hope I can come again next year!

What do you think? Was $6 a bargain or what??

********************************************

Remember that the voting for Round 1 of Crafting with the Stars begins tomorrow!

Fall Table Setting

There is something about fall....cool, crisp air, a fire in the fireplace....

It makes me want to spend a day in the kitchen cooking up something comforting and invite friends over for dinner. Tonight we had braised beef short ribs, mashed potatoes and roasted carrots. Dessert was a warm black cherry torte with vanilla ice cream.

Of course, along with the fall comfort dinner came a fall table setting.

I bought these cute mini individual bread boards through Vintage Home Designs on ETSY. A set of four all different. She also has a blog called Our Vintage Home Love. If you have a chance, hop on over and visit her.

The place mats, napkins and napkins rings are from World Market.

Linking to:

A Stroll Through Life Table Top Tuesday

Welcome Home,

Penny

Glow to Go

Helianthus angustifolius 'First Light'

The tall, glowing masses of swamp sunflower, helianthus angustifolius 'First Light' must go. It is high maintenance for one reason. Deer. This perennial is listed as deer resistant in many nursery catalogs.

After five years, I'm tired of trying to keep the deer away from it all summer long. It is the only perennial in my deer resistant garden that has failed miserably.

This is so unfortunate as the sunflower quickly forms a big mass of glowing, fabulous and perfect blooms! Although, it does require support when it towers over five feet high.

Gorgeous. But, the glow has to go.

This is one of those difficult decisions that gardeners are forced to make. How much effort do we put into saving one type of plant? There are so many other plants that I can use in the space consumed by the sunflower.

This has been a five year love-hate relationship. When the enjoyment is out of proportion to the maintenance and space required, one must shovel-prune. I must be brave. I must do this...when it finishes blooming!

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

So OK, I know they've only just gone back to school, and I know they have to be super serious about their school work, and home work, and I know they're getting to those crucial years when every little mark counts, but hey! - HOW could I refuse?!! tell me ....

when my daughter comes out of school with a girlfriend, enthusiastic and
smiling about their day, even though it was 6pm and they'd been working since 8.30am !!

when you are blessed with the most fantastic indian summer sunshine,

I mean we're late September and we're in t-shirts and shorts - unheard of !!

when there are two horses up in the fields who are longing to get out into the forest ....

when it makes everyone happy, including the dog ....

well, you would do like me, throw the saddles into the boot of the car

and get them up to the field as fast as possible

life's little pleasures - they're just too precious to miss out on

“There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October”
Nathaniel Hawthorne *Welcome Home,* *Penny*