Winner of Queen Bee Designs $40.00 Gift Certificate is.....

Hey ya'll,

Sorry I'm just now getting this out. It's been a crazy morning!

We had 235 comments left on the Queen Bee Designs Giveaway!

24 of you posted about it on your blog. Thank you.

Which gave us a grand total of 333 entries!

I used a Random Number Generator to get the winner.

And the winner is #47!!!

Silly Steeneck's

Here are her comments...

Silly Steeneck's said...
I love both of the bracelets!! I have 5 kids & it might be hard to get all of their names onto one necklace! Soo cute!

Silly Steeneck's said...
I am also a follower!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

I will be contacting you to get some more information.

Thanks to everyone who entered. It was a lot of fun!

Stay tuned for more great giveaways!

Have a blessed weekend.

Look what I got…

I got the coolest little thing in the mail. It’s from a childhood friend of mine, Norma, and I absolutely love it!

She said she knew I loved monogrammed things and that red was my favorite color (yes. yes.), so she made me this…

It’s a key chain! How cute are those polka-dots?! She didn’t know that I lu-huv polka-dots!

And she also said she knew that I loved stamped jewelry (yes, again.) So I flipped my lid when I saw this attached to the key chain…

Get back, Jack! How cute is that?!! Oh my goodness!!!

Please try not to be too jealous girls, okay?

I love that it slips around my wrist! It makes getting my two year old in and out of the car so much easier!

Thank you so much, Norma! You have blessed my heart!

She took some pictures of other key chains she has made.

Don’t ya’ll think she should open up an Etsy shop and sell this goodness?

I’ll let you know if she does. :)

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I also got something else in the mail that I love!

Here’s a picture of it, but I’m not going to tell you what it is yet…

Oh, I am such a tease! If you can’t wait for me to tell you, you might find a clue in my sidebar. :0)

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Lastly, I wanted to remind you that my Queen Bee Designs giveaway ends tonight at midnight! If you want a chance to win something as beautiful as this, you might want to click HERE.

I will announce the winner tomorrow!

Blessings,

Wednesdays with Wanda

I want to thank each of you for praying for my family last Friday and Saturday as we moved the rest of Mom and Dad’s stuff out of their house.

We are so thankful that the house sold and that Dad will be closing on it soon.  We had already moved all of their personal stuff out of the house the week after the funeral.  But we left all of the furniture and decorations in it to help sell the house.

Friday marked the four month anniversary of my mom’s passing.    Four months sounds like so little time, yet it feels like an eternity since I have seen my mom.

Friday also marked for me the last time I would ever be “home”.

You know what I mean. 

HOME. 

The place where you always feel loved, welcome, and safe.  Those memories of something good cookin’ in the kitchen and the sound of football on t.v. in the other room.  That’s what my home was like as a child.  I know that not everyone grew up in that type of home, so I am grateful.  I have always agreed with  Dorothy when she said, “There’s no place like home.”

Strangely enough, even though Mom is gone, and Dad hasn’t lived in the house since she passed, I still felt like the house represented “home”.  We drove pass it every Sunday on the way to church, and part of me wanted to believe that Mom was still in there making Sunday dinner.

I was the first one to arrive at their house last Friday morning.  I cannot describe the feeling that came over me as I walked inside. 

It felt like home. 

It looked like home. 

But something was missing.

I caught myself expecting to see Mom come around the corner from the kitchen with a big smile on her face.  “Hey sweetie!”  she would say.

As I walked from room to room, the pain grew deeper and deeper.  I sobbed out loud.  I looked at the walls filled with Mom’s favorite pictures and decorations.  Her lamps were still on the table, and pillows were still on the couch.  The beds still had the bedding on them.  She had gotten one of the comforter sets at Goodwill.  I remember when she got it.  Mom loved shopping at Goodwill, and was always so proud of her “deals”.  See where I get it? 

The “grandkids’ room” still had the bunk beds in them.  She got the A to Z  Pottery Barn bedding from Ebay.  And she had bought the cutest little frog curtain rods from Kelly Rightsell.  There’s a bookcase still filled with puzzles and toys for the grandkids to enjoy.  A t.v. for them to watch videos.   She loved her grandchildren!  And she wanted to spend many years spoiling them to death.

The hardest room for me to go into was the kitchen.  It definitely was the heart of the home.  There was so much love in every meal she made.  She loved having all of her loved ones gathered around the table. 

These are the beautiful curtains she made for her kitchen…

She made all of the curtains for her house.  She was an amazing seamstress!  She also re-covered that little white chair in the picture below.

Mom loved decorating her house.  She was always changing things and moving furniture around.  It became the family joke.  You had to be careful when you got out of bed in the morning at Mom’s house.  You never knew if she might have changed the furniture around while you were sleeping, and you might bump into something.  :)

And she always had a project for Dad to complete. 

Change a light fixture.  Add trim.  Replant a tree.  Put up shelves.  Move a bed.  Paint a wall.  And on and on. 

Dad would always complain about Mom’s crazy antics.  But we all knew that deep down he loved it.  And I know right now that he would give anything to move a light fixture from one room to another for her, if it meant she was still here.  And he wouldn’t complain a bit.

But now it was time to pack it all up.  And it gave me a sick feeling in my stomach.

Then it hit me.  I was homesick.  Not for the house or all of the “stuff” in it.  But I was homesick for Mom.  I wanted to sit at the kitchen table with her and talk about life.  I wanted to tell her about how much the kids have grown and all the fun I am having with my blog.  I wanted to tell her how Luke is the highest scorer on his basketball team, and that Eli wrote all over the walls with permanent marker.  It may seem like unimportant stuff, but it was always important to Mom!  And then I would tell her some struggles I am going through and ask her to pray for me.  And she would give me the best advice because Mom always knew the right thing to say to make me feel better.

And I am homesick for her hugs and kisses. 

And her encouraging words.

And her amazing faith and wisdom.

You know, as I packed up Mom’s things that day, I realized that  she didn’t take any of her earthly belongings with her when she died.   They were all left behind. 

And I thought about all of the “stuff” that I would leave behind if I were to die.

And I realized that it is not the “stuff” that I collect throughout my life that really matters, but it is the lives that I hopefully touch along the way that matters most.  And the only way I can do that is through the love of Jesus Christ.

I am thankful for that reminder. 

And thankful for the promise of heaven.

Thankful for the promise of a new “home”.

Thankful that I will see my mom again.

What a blessed reunion!  I can’t wait.

I wanted to share with you a song that you may have heard before.  I had too, but now it takes on a whole new meaning for me.  My sweet Aunt Pat made me a CD of Christian songs to listen to in the car and this song was on it.  I love listening to it and thinking of going home someday, my real home….heaven.

 

Thanks for letting me share the thoughts beneath my heart,

Traci

Stamped Jewelry Giveaway

I am so excited to introduce you to

one of my fabulous sponsors…

I met Amanda via email on New Year’s Eve.  She was the very first person to sign up to be one of my sponsors!

Thanks, Amanda!

We have a lot in common…She is the mother of two sweet little boys, and a former teacher.  It is evident through her emails that she is a fun, family-lovin’ gal!

Isn’t she cute?!

Her stamped jewelry designs are equally adorable!

Look at this beautiful necklace with three discs…

I love this next one because it reminds me of my mom.  She constantly reminded us of how blessed we all are.    I know that I consider my four little boys my “blessings”.

How cute is this little necklace?  Wouldn’t it be precious for the little “princess” in your life?

I love the look of two or more oval discs, don’t you?

And she even has some designs for that special man in your life!

I love the little birds in the tree surrounded by family names…

This next one is a great reminder for all of us to slow things down and “keep it simple”.

And last but not least, I love this one… “have faith”.

Now for the giveaway!

Amanda is offering one of you a $40.00 gift certificate to purchase one of her beautiful pieces of jewelry at

Queen Bee Designs!!!

There are 3 ways to enter this giveaway:

1)  Visit Amanda’s blog, Queen Bee Designs and take look around.  Come back here and tell me your favorite piece in a comment and you will be entered.

2)  Let me know if you are a follower in a separate comment, and you will be entered again.

3)  Tell about this giveaway on your blog through a post or on your side bar, and you will be entered 5 more times!  (Be sure to link back to this post.)

If you do not have a blog, be sure to leave your email address in your comments so I can contact you if you win. 

The giveaway will end at midnight on Thursday.  I will announce the winner this Friday, the 29th.

Have a blessed day!

 

Cottage Guest House Tour

If you want to enter to win a $40.00 stamped jewelry giveaway,

click HERE! (Giveaway ended 1-29-10)

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I wanted to share with you how far we have come on our guest house. I am still not finished with some of the decorating details, like curtains and such, but we’ve come a long way, baby!

I have also added to this post 6 links to some of my favorite DIY projects that I completed for the guest house. Be sure to check those out as well.

This is our detached garage that we built about 4 years ago. We built it with the intentions of turning the top part into a guest house.

The red door takes you into the garage. Directly inside you will see our black “school house” door that leads to the guest house. We got this door at a Habitat store for ten bucks! It was solid wood and had a glass pane missing. So my husband installed a new piece of glass, painted it black, and added hardware. I love it.

The picture below is a “before” shot of the steps. We used pine for the stair treads and white bead board for the stair risers. We stained the steps a “Provencial” stain from Minwax.

Here’s the “after” shot of the steps…

We used some tile we had left over from the guest house bathroom to make the entry way.

The next two pictures show the “before” picture of the hard wood floors. The floors are made of 9 inch New England pine, tongue and groove, wood planks from Lumber Liquidators. We used the “Provencial” stain from Minwax again. My wonderful father-in-law helped my husband build this beautiful black bannister and also installed our hard wood floors. Thanks, Pop!

The right side of the room is where we planned to put the den.

Here’s the “after”…

This is the left side of the room where we wanted to install the kitchen.

My husband built some cottage style open cabinets…

He also made me a plate rack which I love! Then we painted the whole thing black.

We added corbels underneath the black cabinets. The white cabinets on the bottom were old cabinets we had leftover from our old kitchen island in our house.

I wanted some shelves on the side of the sink for baskets, so my handy hubby built some.

The picture below shows the baskets we added to the shelves and the cottage style doors that my husband made as well. We got the sink at a Habitat store for $7.00! It’s perfect!

My husband also tiled the countertop. It turned out fabulous! The backsplash is travertine tile that we got at the Habitat Store for a few dollars. The larger tile we got at The Tile Shop. The black hardware is from Lowe’s.

Then I added my white dishes that I got mostly from Goodwill.

The chairs for the kitchen table were a Goodwill re-do too. You can read about them HERE.

And I made the burlap tablecloth, and you can read about the tutorial HERE.

The light we added in the kitchen is from Lowe’s. We purchased a the black fan without a light because we couldn’t find a black fan that I liked. I wanted the old school house look. We found a light kit at Lowe’s with the old school house globe that we attached to it. It’s exactly what I wanted!

The picture below is the “before shot” of the opposite side of the room.

Here it is now…

I got the little chair from Goodwill for $6.50 and recovered it in burlap. You can read about that project HERE.

The white coffee table was also purchased at Goodwill for $6.50, and I painted it white. You can read about that HERE.

The couch still needs to be slipcovered. I am working on that! :) I got it at Goodwill for only 25 dollars. Right now I just have it covered with a white matelesse.

The next picture shows the door leading into our guest bedroom. We got that door from my sweet sister-in-law when she was re-doing her home. It was a green color, so we painted it white and added a oil-rubbed bronze door knob.

The next picture is a “before” shot of the guest bedroom. (We still had the kitchen cabinets in the room at this point.)

Here it is now…

I am hoping I can find a cute little desk to put under that window. I would like to paint it black and distress it.

The furniture in this room used to be natural wood, and I painted it white. You can read about that project HERE.

The white dust ruffle was a $2.50 purchase from where else but GW.

The chandelier was given to me by my mom. It used to be silver, and I painted it black.

Here is the “before” picture of the bathroom…

I haven’t done much in this room except to make a unique headboard towel holder. You can read about that project HERE.

This is the armoire that I painted white. It sits right outside the bathroom and stores towels and blankets. I got the wire locker basket at a yard sale for $5.00. I am on the look out for some more!

Well, that’s it!

I didn’t show you the laundry room because I still have a lot to do in there.

My goals for the guest house are:

1) Make shelf for laundry room.

2) Make shower curtain for bathroom.

3) Find mirror for bathroom.

4) Create curtains for each window.

5) Slipcover couch.

I am taking my time on the above list because I have some pressing projects that I need to get done over in our house!

Thanks for taking my little “Guest House Tour”. I hope you enjoyed it!

I will be linking this post to:

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch,

Make it for Monday at Cottage Instincts

Make Your Monday at Twice Remembered

DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land

Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog

Show and Tell Wednesday at Blue Cricket Design

Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage

Saturday Night Live at Funky Junk Interiors

Have a Blessed Week!