On Being MIA and a Giveaway Winner!

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in my one-year blogiversary giveaway. It makes me all mushy and gushy to have you around. Yup, it really does. 

Secret: I actually wanted to enter my own giveaway so that I could win that lovely typewriter print that I'm in love with. I guess I'll just have to add the print to my already very long Christmas wishlist. Man, I'm spoiled. But I still want it. Hahaha.

So anyway, the lucky winner of the f2 Images Etsy shop print was commenter #71:

Congratulations to Linden Townhouse! Woot woot! She wrote:

Thank you again to Emiko from f2 Images for hosting this awesome giveaway. Linden Townhouse, can you please email me your mailing address as well as the print of your choice and I will forward the information along asap (cozycottagecute@hotmail.com).

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In other non-news, I've been totally MIA on this blog because there's only a week left before school starts.

Translation: PANIC!

I've been spending every day at my school trying to clean, organize, and decorate my new classroom. I've also been hitting up thrift stores for toys for the kiddos. So much work to do in so little time. I still can't believe I'll be teaching kindergarten this year. It should be a terrifying fun adventure. Haha!

So, don't give up on me. Once I'm finished labeling a million little name tags and sorting through play kitchen stuff I'll be back.

Pinky swear, k?

How Often Do You Paint Your Walls?

You know I have a love affair with yellow. I declared my undying love way back when with an inspiration post called Hello, Yellow!

Even recently I've pinned some photos on my Pinterest account that've got the same sunny, cheery yellow.

Like these:

Image: Better Homes and Gardens

Image: Country Living

But the thing is...... I've had the walls of four rooms on our main floor painted in yellow since we bought the house in March of 2006.

That's five years people.

Here, I'll show you the pictures:

Living Room

Dining Room

Sunroom

Front Entry

Even though I still love yellow, it seems as though I'm in a decorating funk. None of those rooms are finished but they've been the same for so long that I have no motivation to finish decorating them.

I think I'm ready for a change. And I keep gravitating to pictures with these coloured walls:

Image: The Handmade Home

Image: Hola Mama

So, now I need some info and advice from you.

1. How often do you paint the walls of your home? Every year, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years, 5 years?!?!

2. What colour are the walls in your living room and dining room?

3. Should I go for it and try out a new paint colour??? I'm nervous just thinking about it!!!

Help!

:)

{P.S. Only one more day until my giveaway ends so don't forget to leave a comment with your name on the giveaway post. }

A Mini Gallery Wall

Hello again! This morning, in between stuffing my face with homemade muffins, I was able to hang those four framed postcards that I posted about a few days ago (you can read about it here if you missed it). 

I decided to hang the four prints together (thanks for your advice!!!) in the little teeny hallway that links the breakfast room to the kitchen. Even though they looked realllllllly pretty in our bedroom I thought I should start trying to actually finish some rooms on the main floor before I start decorating the upstairs.

Just so you can picture it, one side of the teeny tiny hallway is a plain wall where I hung the four pictures. On the other side of the hallway is the door to the powder room. Here are a few pictures:

How do you like that vinyl flooring? Soooo stylish, right? Heh heh heh. So this is the view from the breakfast room looking into the hallway.

This is the view from the powder room. It was really hard to get a decent picture of these!

This last picture is the view from the kitchen into the breakfast room. I know it's hard to tell from the photos but the prints look really crisp and pretty in that little spot.

The postcards that I framed were from f2 images and if you enter my One-Year-Anniversary-Giveaway you can win your very own print from their Etsy shop.  

Click here to check out the giveaway. Hope you have chance to enter. :)

Linking to: Feature Yourself Friday @ Fingerprints On The Fridge, Show and Share Day @ Just a Girl, Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest, Flaunt it Friday @ Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Fabulous Friday @ Faith, Trust, & a Little Pixie Dust, Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home

Adorable Framed Postcards and A Giveaway For You

{This giveaway is now closed.}

Not sure if you remember but a few weeks ago I wrote a little post about an Etsy shop called f2 Images that has the sweetest pictures / prints for sale.

I couldn't decide on one print so I ordered the set of four postcards (pictured above). Ca-ute right?

Even though the postcards are only 4x6 I went and bought four white 8x10 gallery frames from Chapters. (Man, it's hard to find white frames in this town).

I brought one of the frames and postcards to a local shop (Victoria's Custom Framing) to get some custom mattes cut. Once they were ready I popped them into the frames with the postcards, secured them with tape, and voila! Four new, unique pieces of art for the house.

Now my only dilemma is whether I should hang them up as a set of four or divide them up into two sets of two. They just look so darn cute everywhere I put them!!! As soon as I figure it out I'll make sure to take a picture for you.

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In other news, this past July was my one year blog-anniversary (woot, woot!) and I wanted to celebrate with a giveaway for one of my lovely readers. That's you, dear.

Emiko, from f2 Images, has generously offered to give away a print of your choice from her Etsy shop. Let's take a peek at a few of them just for fun.

Typewriter 2

Petite

Ugly Pear

Yup. All dreamy. Sooooo, here's the scoop:

Giveaway Guidelines

{Open to all readers near and far.}

{Winner will be chosen via Random.org.}

{Giveaway will close next Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. EST.}

{Winner may choose one print up to 8x10 or 8x12 / $25 value.}

{Three chances to win. Make sure to leave a separate comment for each entry.}

Chance #1

Simply leave a comment letting me know that you're a reader and how you follow along (email subscriber, feedburner, google friend connect, etc.) Don't forget to leave your email address if you don't have a blog or a profile page! :)  

Chance #2

Take a peek around the f2 Images Etsy shop and leave a comment letting me know which print you would choose if you won the giveaway.  

Chance #3

For one last chance (only if you want to) spread the love by mentioning this giveaway on your sidebar, at the bottom of a post, on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Then, just let me know with a comment.

Good luck and I thank you for your sincere bloggy friendship over the past year!!! It's been a blast. ♥

And The 22 Pound Mirror Has Been Hung

Yup. That 12-pane window frame mirror that I just made weighs twenty-two pounds. We had to check to see how heavy the thing was to make sure it was installed properly. I definitely wouldn't want that mirror falling on my pinky toe. Yowzers! So when we hung it up we made sure to choose hanger-thingies and wire specifically strong enough to hold its weight. Safety first!

I brought our little bench from the breakfast room into the front entry to help decide how high the mirror should be hung.

Can you see me in the shadows playing with my tripod? Hahaha!

{Looking at this picture of the bench makes me want to paint the orange-y wood top of it so bad. Gah, it's ugly.}

I'm on the hunt for a chippy antique bench for this space but I've had no luck so far.

My last pictures of this mirror weren't the greatest so here's a close-up of my wickedly awesome glazing. It sure does give it that extra bit of character.

I had a few comments on my last post about the flooring in our front entryway. They are slate tiles and the colour is called Indian Autumn. We ordered them from a local flooring store but I think you can special order them from Lowes. :)

I've got a whole whack of posts coming your way over the next week including blogging tips, custom framing stuff, more vintage finds, and a giveaway. So don't forget to come on back, k? See you soon!

Five Pictures I'm Loving Today

This post is kinda random. Just five pictures that I'm loving today. 

What's not to love about this bedroom? A mantle used as a headboard, an old window frame, oversized letters, pretty flowers, a tiny clock. Such a pretty room.

I found a rug for our living room. It's expensive. It looks just like the one in this picture. Doesn't it create the perfect amount of texture against those crisp white couches? I want it I want it I want it I want it I want it.

See that up-high gallery wall with all the pictures of butterflies and birds. When/if I ever get around to decorating our bedroom that's the look I'll be going for on one of our big, empty walls. 

Image: The Handmade Home

I'm pretty much a light, airy, pastel colour kind of girl so this picture is a bit unusual for me but I'm pretty much obsessed with the wall colour. It's called Glass Slipper by Benjamin Moore. It's gray with a hint of blue. It's making me want to repaint my living room and dining room. Don't tell Alex, k? That will be a top secret mission one day when he's at work.

Image: Country Living

I'm loving this little desk area at the bottom of the stairs. It's such a clever use of space, not to mention it's adorable and so inviting. Can't you just picture yourself sitting down to write a little thank you note? It kind of reminds me of the teeny little desk thingie in our living room. 'Cept mine doesn't even look half as cute.

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Sooooo, that's it for me today. I'm off for a little Saturday coffee date with a friend and to pick up some more picture frames. Yup, I'm framing more stuff. I'll try to have another post up tomorrow telling you all about it.

P.S. Thanks so much for your comments lately! I appreciate them so much!

P.S.S. You on Pinterest yet? I'm only new at it (a mere 52 pins so far) but I'm sure I'll become addicted soon enough. Leave a link and I'll come and visit you. Mine is http://pinterest.com/cozycottagecute/.

P.S.S.S. I started reading the book The Help yesterday. It's a must-read. Soooooo good that I can't put it down.

P.S.S.S.S. No matter how many people try to give me the countdown of how many days are left until school starts, it's still summer to me. IT'S STILL SUMMERRRRRRRRRRRRR! ;)

Framing Interesting, Memorable, or Vintage Objects

In the past I've had a difficult time finding wall art for our home. I tried buying a print from Homesense once. It's hanging in our spare room and I secretly want to get rid of it. It's just not interesting or memorable. It's a generic print that a hundred other people prob'ly have too. Boooo to that.

I've tried to find other ways to fill up the walls of our home by:

a) Purchasing Etsy prints from various artists (see post here).

b) Framing vintage botanical prints from an encyclopedia (see post here).

c) DIYing a typography collage with print from a favourite book (see post here).

But I still have some empty walls. So on our recent vacation to Ottawa/Montreal I came up with a brilliant (to me) idea. Since I have this odd fascination with doors/doorknobs/locks/keys I decided to purchase a set of door knob plates from an antique shop and frame them as a little collection.

These doorknob thingies vary quite a bit in finishes and styles but I decided to get some plain, rectangular ones with chippy white/off-white paint. Three were bundled together so I bought the little set.

I took a look at Homesense for a shadowbox but they were all really deep. I spotted a frame that was shallower than a shadowbox but deeper than a regular picture frame. It was perfect. 'Cept I had to tell the cashier that I wasn't a crazy cat lady. {Might be a crazy dog lady though.}

This project was so easy.

First, I cleaned up the door plates with a little windex. Then I opened up the frame and removed the ugly matte. I used a gluestick to glue a piece of white scrapbook paper directly to the back of the picture frame. (I had to secure the paper to something sturdy since the metal was quite heavy.)

I had a tricky time trying to adhere the doorknob thingies to the back of the frame. At first I used a glue gun but it didn't hold to the metal very well. Next I tried some silicone that was leftover (and laying right beside me) from our last project. It was stinky but I used it anyway.

I let the silicone dry for about an hour and then reassembled the frame.

So easy and so unique! What I really like about this project is the contrast of the new, white frame with the old, chippy doorknob plates inside. They look so tidy and cute!

My plan is to use this on a future gallery wall in our bedroom. I'll lean it on a shelf for now though.

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I put together a few inspiration photos of other vintage/antique items that would look super cute framed by themselves or as part of a collection.

The possibilities are endless if you really think about it. Just dig around some antique shops for some interesting items:

Buttons
(Image: Little Frame Big Wall)

Tins
(Image: Lovely Package)

Cars
(Image: Unknown)

Letters
(Image: Little Vintage Violet - Etsy)

Tart Tins
(Image: French Larkspur)

Hankerchiefs
(Image: Glam Lamb)

Spoons
(Image: Stephie B.)

Records
(Image: Fresh MD)

Maps
(Image: Home Shopping Spy)

Keys
(Image: 2B Creative - Etsy)

Flashcards
(Image: Show and Tell)

Cookie Cutters
(Image: Bird Nests and Paper - Etsy)

Matchbooks
(Image: Lox Papers)

Typewriter Keys
(Image: Moxie Thrift - Etsy)

Thread Spools
(Image: I Could Make That)

So, which collection is your favourite? Do you have any objects/items to add to my idea list???

:)

Linking to: Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm, Twice-Owned Tuesday @ Creating a House of Grace, Amaze Me Monday @ Dittle Dattle, White Wednesday @ Faded Charm, Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts, Good Life Wednesday @ A Beach Cottage, Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Creek Cottage, Show and Share Day @ Just a Girl, Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest