uVinyl - Empower Your Inner Designer - and WIN!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

In the spirit of giving, I’ve paired up with an awesome lady, Susannah of uVinyl, for a fabulous vinyl giveaway!

But before we get to the details, let me introduce you to Susannah!

Hello! Nice to meet you all!

Within the past year, I have gotten married, moved twice, quit my job, and started a business! The inspiration for this business came from my sister-- a crafty stay-at-home wife and mother of three. She loves to decorate and loves her children, but can't afford and doesn't have the time to re-decorate for every new phase she or they go through. Vinyl is a material that can be inexpensive, last as long as you decide, is personalize-able, attaches to any hard surface with no surface damage, and looks absolutely beautiful. Now women like my sister can decorate however they wish! I truly believe that decorating is not a privilege, it's a right! Everyone deserves to be surrounded by what they love, so empower your inner designer!

I love Susannah’s motto – empower your inner designer. And she really helps you do that! Just check out this AWESOME holly star she helped me design for my dining area!




She was incredibly receptive to all my suggestions and feedback, and in the end, I really think our collaboration did bring out a little designer in me!

In case you aren’t looking for a custom piece, but want some inspiration for a way to spruce up a room, Susannah has plenty to choose from. Just look at some of the things she’s done:






I’m so in love with the red light. So simple, yet the red makes such a statement on that wall. All of the items pictured here (and many, many more!) can be purchased through her Etsy store or directly through her website at www.uvinyl.com.

Aaaand now to the fun part – the giveaway! Susannah is graciously offering up a $25 gift certificate for her vinyl creations to one of you! What a great way to bring a new *pop* to a room!

The Rules

To enter, hop on over to the uVinyl shop (Etsy or uVinyl.com) and come back and let me know what you absolutely adore, or what you would love to see created!

For extra entries, blog about the giveaway, post it on Facebook, tweet it, or any other way of sharing it with others! Then come back here and leave me a new comment for each extra entry.

To be eligible to win, you must be a follower of the uVinyl blog. And please make sure to either leave your email address or have it on your Blogger profile so I can contact you if you win!

The giveaway closes at 11:59pm on Tuesday, December 14th.

Good luck!!

Brie & Chive Biscuits

I found this recipe in Real Simple, and just couldn't resist serving it for Thanksgiving! We often do a baked brie for holidays, but with only the five of us this year (one of whom doesn't like cheese), it just didn't make sense. So this was a way to work the brie into the meal!

Brie & Chive Biscuits

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
6 tbs cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
6 ounces Brie, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (including rind)
2 tbs chopped fresh chives
3/4 cup buttermilk

Heat oven to 375 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

Add the butter and, using a pastry blender or your fingers (I used my fingers), cut in until crumbly. Add the Brie and chives and toss to combine. Add the buttermilk and stir just until moistened. Do not overmix.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Knead it a few times to bring it together. Gently shape into a 1-inch thick disk. Using a 2-inch round cookie cutter (or a juice glass), cut out 16 biscuits (flouring the cutter and reshaping the scraps as necessary). Place on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until golden, 15-20 minutes.

Christmas Decorating on a Budget

We all know that money is already flying here and there around the holidays with presents, plane flights, and parties. So when it's time to decorate your house, and especially if you are newly married or just starting out and you don't have much to start with, you quickly realize that decorations are expensive!

My first Christmas with Chris, I went to Crate & Barrel, armed with the last giftcard from the wedding, thinking, "This is great! I'll get all of our Christmas decorations in one fell swoop!" Needless to say, I walked out of there with only a few ornaments, a little tree, and an ornament hanger. Bust.

But I soon found a way to decorate my entire apartment with just the few family decorations we had received, and $15. What could you possibly buy with $15 that could cover your whole place?

Ribbon: $5


And the jackpot...

Shatter-proof ornaments, pack of 70: $10


That's right, a pack of seventy ornaments for ten bucks! I found this pack at Home Depot, and they have had it for the past three years, including this year. It's the greatest holiday find I have stumbled upon!

So now on to your next question: how do I decorate my whole place with ornaments and ribbon?

Get creative! Put them EVERYWHERE!

Here are some pictures of the many creative ways we used them!


Set alongside the wine bottles I made last year (tutorial over at Mod Podge Rocks!)



Sitting in bowls and vases all over!





We used the ribbon to make a ornament banner to hang across the top of the TV/fireplace and secured it with two thumbtacks.


We even used fishing line (you could use clear/white thread too!) to string the ornaments to hang in the holes of a wine rack!


Finally, we had lots of fun with my empty frame collage. The ribbon and ornaments were great, and we even got to incorporate a cute little garland that was too short to hang on the tree, so needed to be used in a creative new way!




So now our place is decorated with Christmas cheer from floor to ceiling, and it only cost $15!

Craft Storage Winner!

Thanks everyone for entering the CSN craft storage giveaway!

Courtesy of our handy-dandy random number generator, the winner of the giveaway is....



Lucky number 11 -- Ranae Broadhead!

Ranae's response to why she needs this organization in her life:

"i would lOVE this... i have the smallest craft room ever and it would help so much to keep it from so cluttered and even smaller!"

Congrats Ranae! Hope these storage items help organize that little craft room!