A Great Deal~

Photo Credit ?

Because I'm going to blink and the lazy days of summer will be behind me,

I've got the holidays on my mind.

"Already?" you're thinking, as you roll your eyes. "I haven't even put away the lawn chairs."

Well, neither have I, but if you're like me, planning in advance is the best policy.



Because the holiday shopping season is just around the corner (no seriously, it is), I'm offering a special advertising deal here on the old blog...4 months for the price of three...that's a huge savings....and will carry you all the way through the holidays.



So if you have your own web-based business, or if you just want to promote your blog....now is a great time to do it!



Click here for more advertising information. Or email me at shabbynest (at) yahoo (dot) com.



And if you haven't had a chance yet, scroll down and check out Frugal Friday! It's the biggest to date...and the projects look oh-so-fabulous!



And last, but not least, you have just one more day to enter for a chance to win your own Silhouette Digital Cutter (a $300 value)...I'll close entries Monday at 11:59 EST and the winner will be announced Tuesday. Click here to enter!

Bloggy Makeover~

So you may have noticed that I have given the old blog a little makeover. She was in need of a spruce up...some bloggy love...so I contacted Jenna at Q.A. Designs. She was a delight to work with. So sweet, so talented, so patient with me as we went back and forth with design details.

She worked up a beautiful blog banner...designed just to my specifications...then emailed me a design she had come up with on the side. And guess what? I fell in love. It was so hard to decide between two beautiful looks...so different from one another. But in the end, I fell in love with her version. I mean really, isn't that nest just the sweetest thing? And the colors are so fresh and springy!







Not only does Jenna design blog banners and buttons (Did you notice the cute new Shabby Nest button on my sidebar?) but she also designs invitations, baby announcements and more!

And she has her own Etsy shop where she sells darling prints like this one.

I think I should buy this one. (I'm seriously missing that California sun...spring break just wasn't long enough.)

So a big huge Thank You to Jenna!!

And please, my dear readers, grab yourself a copy of my new button!!

Oh! And don't forget that I'll be on FaveCrafts blog radio this Sunday 7:00 pm EST. Hope you'll all tune in. :-)

Have a great day~

Painted, Facebooked, and Ohdeedohed~

First up...I painted my green buffet white. I know...I know. Some of you are going to be very mad at me. I tried to live with the pretty green in our new house. Honestly I did. And it simply did not work. I couldn't take it anymore. Well, that, and the fact that if you saw the piece up close, it was looking very worse for the wear. We purchased it with the green paint job, and the man who had refinished it? Well, let's just say that he didn't do the best job. It was chipping like crazy.

BEFORE (pretty in our old house):

So the hubby gave it a good sanding, then I pulled out the white paint and set to work. I'll be honest with you. I don't really like to paint that much. But what I do like is the almost instant gratification I get from it. The furniture (or room) transforms so quickly right before my eyes...like magic.

AFTER (pretty in our new house):

And now that this pretty piece is white...it is like magic! It brightened up the space...and it looks so clean and fresh and spring-y. It makes me happy! Now for a little accessory tweaking...but that's another post.

Next up, you can now find The Shabby Nest on Facebook!! And I need some fans! Yes I do. I've placed a Shabby Nest fan box over on my sidebar. If you feel so inclined, I'd love to have you as a fan on Facebook!! Yes I would!


Finally, for those of you who haven't seen my mini-mudroom, (there are some of you out there right?) Ohdeedoh ran a fun feature on it yesterday. You can find it here.

With the busy Easter weekend, and now spring break upon us, I'm still making my way through all the fabulous Frugal Friday links from last week...so look for Linky Love comin' up soon.

And don't forget to go vote for the week 6 challenge at So You Think You Can Decorate! I can use all the votes I can get. ;-)

Have a great day~

A Special Giveaway for a Special Cause~

I have a friend I've known since Jr. High. One of those friends that I recently reconnected with after several years. A wonderful lady by the name of Shawni. After catching up with Shawni again, I found out that she is the mother of a very special little girl who is battling a very rare disease.

Shawni's daughter Lucy

Since I am the mother of three very special little boys who are battling their own rare disease, I felt an instant bond with Shawni in a way I never had before, and I wanted to do what I could to help. So I asked her if I could spread the word on my blog. And, of course, she was happy to let me do just that. She sent me her story, which I'd like to share with you.





Shawni's beautiful family


In Shawni's words...



Last year my two-year-old daughter Lucy was diagnosed with a rare syndrome called Bardet-Biedl which, among other things, causes kidney and heart problems, obesity, and most heartbreaking for us, blindness.

Even though in our hearts we knew full-well the diagnosis was coming (we had done enough research to know this syndrome fit…like a glove), in the back of our minds I think we dearly hoped that maybe, just maybe, it would all turn out to be a bad dream. And we’d wake up and our life would go on as planned.


But it wasn’t a dream. It was real.


And in many regards it slapped us in the face. Hard.


It is interesting to think about what has happened in a year. Our little family has learned and grown in ways we never thought possible. We have fallen more deeply in love with each other, we have cried together, laughed until we cried again, and worried. Countless doctors have been visited (and small pieces of my mind have been handed out liberally as needed). We have gone from worrying endlessly about blindness to obesity to heart problems to kidney issues and back again…around and around in one big circle.


As we work to fight all fronts of this syndrome, one thing we feel we can do is fight against blindness. You see, scientific evidence has given us so much hope that there may be a cure for Lucy's type of blindness within the next few years and we kind of feel as if we're on a race against time to help fund the research.


Simultaneously, as we found out about this syndrome my mother and I had just published a book on Motherhood called A Mother's Book of Secrets. My daughter, Lucy happened to be pictured on the cover. In light of our new syndrome news we decided to donate all of our royalties from this book to help fight blindness.

The money we can raise through this may only be a drop in the bucket to help, but sometimes as mothers we just need to do the best to fight for whatever our kids' needs may be. Right now, this is my fight, and I'm into it hook, line and sinker!

For more information about Lucy check out 71toes.blogspot.com or ilovelucyproject.blogspot.com.

Shawni and her mother Linda

Shawni's mother and co-author of her book is Linda Eyre. Some of you may have heard of Linda and her husband Richard. They are the founders of ValuesParenting.com and parenting experts known around the world. This book is nothing short of wonderful. And Shawni has generously offered to give a copy of her lovely book to one lucky reader of The Shabby Nest.

To enter this giveaway, please leave a comment on this post before Thursday, March 11 at 11:59 MST. And because this cause is such an important one, I'd love to get the word out in any way possible, so one extra entry will be given for tweeting, facebooking or blogging about this giveaway...just please leave an extra comment for each thing that you do. I will announce the winner on Friday.

Again, all the proceeds from the sale of this book go to help fight blindness, so if you'd like to purchase your own copy you can do so here.

All photos via Shawni's blog

EDITED TO ADD: My sweet cousin Jillinda left me a comment letting me know that little Lucy and my cousin Bryce suffer from the same form of progressive blindness (Retinitis Pigmentosa). I knew, of course, of my cousin's disease, but I hadn't realized that both suffered from the same progressive blindness diagnosis until she pointed it out to me. So now I have a double interest in finding a cure for this disease!!

Thanks Jillinda.

Have a great day~

Exciting News~

Good Monday Morning to you!! And Happy President's Day!!

Today I have some fun news to share with you! I am involved in a couple of new ventures that have me excited.

First up, I am now a guest columnist at BlackdressRedwagon.com.




This is the online version of the magazine Little Black Dress/ Little Red Wagon. It's a local magazine in Georgia that celebrates women and mothers. I'm so excited to be a part of it!


And next, you may have noticed this button on my sidebar...


Well, I have been invited along with 9 other design blogs to participate in this exciting event hosted by Alchemy Junk. They're calling it "Reality Blogivision". Over 10 weeks there will be 10 different decorating challenges presented, and each week, you, the readers, will have the opportunity to vote and save your favorite designers from elimination!!

I'm really excited ( a little nervous) and proud to be part of "Season 1" of this genius idea!
And I'm in good company. Here's a list of the other participants...

• The Shabby Chic Cottage
• FleaMarket Trixie
• Welcome to the Turner Farm
• Junk Fest
• WhisperWood Cottage
• All Things Thrifty
• Funky Junk Interiors
• The Feminist Housewife
• Miss Mustard Seed's Creative Blog

The competition should be stiff! I hope you all will join me over at SYTYCD weekly beginning February 28th. And if you want to vote for me too, I won't complain. ;-)

Have a great day~

A Fabulous Giveaway~

I wanted to start out with a very sincere THANK YOU to all of you, my fabulous readers!! On Friday at approximately 5:30 pm MST this little old blog hit the big 1,000,000 page view mark!

Sarah, one of my amazing readers, even emailed me a screenshot of the 1 millionth page view! How fun is that? (you'll have to click on it to see the detail, but I circled the page views for you.)

When I started this blog about a year and a half ago, I had no idea what an important part of my life it would become. I look forward to sharing decorating ideas with you all, getting your input when I need a little inspiration, and being uplifted by your supportive comments.

I read each and every one of those comments, and although I may not be the best at getting around to everyone else's blogs (although I try, I really do) I want you all to know that your comments, and the fact that you come by and visit me here at The Shabby Nest mean the world to me.

And because you all mean so much to me, I wanted to celebrate with a FABULOUS giveaway today!!

When I started blogging, one of the first blogs I found and fell in love is that of jewelry designer Lisa Leonard!

From Lisa's Blog


Her photography is amazing, her story is inspirational and her jewelry is completely and utterly drool-worthy. She's also on Twitter (just in case you'd like to follow her there like I do!) Just check out the amazing necklaces below.

To help us celebrate Lisa Leonard has generously offered to give one reader of the Shabby Nest a $75 Gift Certificate to use in her shop!! She makes such amazing hand-crafted jewelry, your only problem if you should be the winner, will be deciding what to spend it on!

To enter, please leave one comment on this post. Drawing ends at 11:59 pm MST Tuesday, January 26, 2010. Winner will be announced Wednesday morning.


Thank You All!!

The Mini-Mudroom Strikes Again~

Popping in on a Saturday to let you all know...

My mini-mudroom was featured again at Ohdeedoh yesterday! Check it out! http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/organizing/shoes-offroundup-106688

Thanks Laura for letting me know!!

I hit 1,000,000 page views Friday at about 5:30 pm MST!! To celebrate come back Monday for a special giveaway... it's a good one!!

Have a great weekend~

A little humor and why my subscribers are getting shortened posts~ (How's that for a dumb title?)

In my box of goodies that I won over at sweet Kasey's blog, there was a cute little sign. It says "please, no soliciting." I just love the colors and the sweet script writing. But in my neighborhood, we don't really have trouble with door-to-door solicitors, so I didn't want to hang it outside. Then it hit me...

Ha ha! Isn't this funny?!? (If I do say so myself.) We are on the opt-out list for phone solicitors, but there are always those that find the loophole and call to bug us anyway. I just thought I'd put in my two cents worth, by putting the sign by our phone. (Too bad those darn telephone solicitors can't actually see it. sigh.)

EDITED TO ADD: I've had a lot of people comment on the phone. It is from Pottery Barn a couple of years ago. It's called the Grand phone. I don't think they have the wall version anymore, but they still have the desk version (which is actually what I wanted, but we had this ugly wall jack, so I thought the wall version would be better) Here's the link.

And I also wanted to let all of my readers know, that I have shortened my RSS feed. This means that those of you who subscribe to my blog via readers like bloglines, google reader etc. will now be getting a truncated version of my posts that wont include any photos. I found out that the blog that is stealing my blog posts is using my feed to do so. (If you haven't heard about this unfortunate situation, I wrote about it here.) In any case, now the offending blog is only getting short versions of my posts with no photos. My sincere apologies to my subscribers who are now having to deal with these truncated posts in their readers. I hope you will continue to read my blog...you'll just have to click over if you want to see the entire posts. It's just too bad that those who are less than ethical can ruin things for all of the other bloggers out there who are wonderful and supportive and who give credit where credit is due.



And since I'm on the subject of my readers and subscribers, I want to thank you all for your wonderful comments and for coming to visit me here!! I want to apologize for the fact that I don't comment on all of your blogs as often as I should. I do visit. I really do! And you all are wonderful. Just know that I'm there, enjoying your inspiring posts. My readers rock!!



Have a great Tuesday~

An Unfortunate Situation~

Hello my dear readers!

I interrupt this vacation to bring you news of an unfortunate nature! I debated if I even wanted to post about this, but then I thought it was a good idea to share it with all of my friends in blogland! A dear fellow blogger emailed me to tell me that another "blog" has been using my posts. Word for word, picture for picture. I am not even going to link to the offending blog, because I certainly don't want to drive traffic their way, but I wanted to let you all know what is going on just in case any of you happen upon the "blog" that is doing this.

I am working to correct whatever it is that is going on, but in the meantime, I want to warn my fellow bloggers to make sure that you follow up on blogs that are linking to you, and where your traffic is coming from. And if you happen upon a post that looks suspiciously familiar, please do as my dear bloggy friend did, and let someone know. We need to watch out for one another! We pour our hearts into our blogs, and for heavens sake, we need to give credit where credit is due.

I love my little corner of the blogosphere! I love the fact that there are so many supportive, caring and nurturing people who make it a wonderful place to be. Let's not let those who are less than ethical ruin it for the rest of us!

One more post from the archives is headed your way, and then I should be back in blogland!! Can't wait to catch up on all the blogging goodness that I've missed.

I'm signing this post and linking to my blog on purpose to see what happens if the other "blog" reposts this post...I guess we'll see. sigh.

xoxo
Wendy @ The Shabby Nest

Edited to add: Thanks for some great info and great support! There are those who would like the link so they can leave comments on the offending blog...Just wanted you all to know that comments don't seem to be working on the blog. (I've tried and my bloggy friend has tried...) And for those of you who mentioned blogs who steal posts from feeds...I think that may be what is going on, and I am currently looking into it! Thanks again! I know you all rock!!!

Clever post title needed~

Had some fun editing some of my photos today, and thought I'd share one of my favorites...

and another one of my favorite quotes for you...

It's never to late to be what you might have been. Anonymous

Coming up next week at the Shabby Nest...

• a trip to Brimfield
• more fun with curbside finds
• the return of Frugal Friday
• and, if I get my act together, new items for my Etsy!

Have a great weekend~

He Loves Me~

Okay, so this post is a little belated...but better late than never.

The hubby was out of town on Mother's Day. And if I'm being honest, I have to admit, I was a little resentful. As a matter of fact, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. Home alone with my four kiddos on Mother's Day...

Then there was a knock at the door and a delivery man with these...

Okay, I guess I can forgive him ;-) Yep, that hubby of mine, he's a keeper!

And I am happy to announce that the Shabby Nest is now accepting sponsors. I only have a few available spaces left... but, if you have a web-based shop you'd like to promote here at my l'il ole blog, contact me for rates and information.

Have a great Wednesday~

Thankful Thursday (and a little teaser)...

Since it is the month of November, I thought it only fitting that I share some of the things for which I'm thankful. (See that? I re-wrote that sentence so it would have correct grammar...that's the editorial assistant in me coming out...doesn't happen that often...but I digress). So, I'm going to make the next few Thursdays, Thankful Thursdays at the Shabby Nest. (And in case you were wondering, that funny bird is supposed to be a turkey.)



Our family has this fun little chalkboard door by our back entrance, and we have been trying to write something on it daily for which we are thankful. The first thing we wrote is family. I am very thankful for my family. And I am exceptionally thankful for their good health. And in these trying times, I am also thankful that we have a roof over our heads and food in our tummies. And in light of the fact that election day was this past Tuesday, I am thankful that I live in this wonderful country where we have the opportunity to make our voices heard as we vote to choose our leader. More thankfulness next Thursday...



On to more frivolous stuff...

I have some projects on the horizon...can you guess what they might be?

Happy Thankful Thursday~

Winterizing and other Important Stuff

I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon painting my porch. I was going to take a picture of it so you all could be proud of me, but not only is it raining here, the battery in my camera needs to be charged...so you'll either have to trust me or wait until Monday when I will hopefully have a photo. In the meantime, you can see a bit of the railing from the porch in this photo, and you will have to agree that it was in dire need of paint.

This is something I had to do before the lovely leaves of Autumn turn into the bitter cold of a New England winter. For those of you that have to deal with snowy winters...it is now the time (unfortunately) to think about preparing the house.



My to do list:

1. Paint the porch (CHECK)



2. Cover the air conditioner



3. Pull up my annuals



4. Plant tulip bulbs (and maybe some other pretty spring flowers, but definitely tulips)



5. Rake the leaves ...yuck!



6. Put away the outdoor furniture

Sounds fun, no? What sorts of things are on your lists?

And while we're talking about preparation....it hasn't escaped my mind that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This photo is of my Mother-In-Law and her sisters and mother. See that cute l'il punkin sitting on her mother's lap, that's my Mother-In-Law! She is truly one of the most beautiful women I have ever met. And you know what more? She's one tough cookie, that lady. She is both a breast cancer and a colon cancer survivor! She's a fighter. Thanks to aggressive treatment, she's still here with us. Thank Heavens, because I'm not sure what we'd do without her. In honor of her, and the wonderful influence for good that she is in my life and the lives of my family and many others, I want to remind all of my wonderful readers to please make sure you do self-exams and get annual mammograms if you are over 40. Okay, lecture over.

Come over and visit me at Blissfully Domestic where I'm talking about making your bookshelves beautiful! Love to see you there ! (well, I can't really see you, but you know what I mean) ;-)

Have a wonderful weekend~