NEW BLOG IS UP AND RUNNING

Exciting news! The new blog, Simple Street, is up and running full swing. I'll be making a few adjustments here and there so if you see me in there moving things around, don't fret. Just keep reading :)

I am SO excited to finally be making the switch. Thank god I love a simple design because it didn't take too long to create the site.

Happy blogging and hope to see everyone over on the new site!

PHOTO CRED: awesome phone

• Stick to Basics •

Wow, this has been a crazy week! I have a deadline set to launch my new blog, Simple Street, by December 1st. I'll talk about all of the same stuff as I do on this blog, only better! Ha, well I have to convince you somehow, right? Keep an eye out for the updates on my Twitter. Does anybody else wish they had a computer that would only let me go to one website at a time? Just me? Okay. I constantly find myself sneaking over to that dang tweet palace looking at updates. I think it's just a procrastination technique that I like to use during my busiest times.

Anywho, the point of this post was to gather inspiration for our bedroom. I am so wishy-washy on design. One day I like big bold colors, other days I don't like color at all, it's so random. So, I have wanted to change up the bedroom, but am afraid that I will, again, change my mind in a couple months. Enter pinterest... I scanned through my bedrooms board and noticed a trend. Do you see it?

 1 • 2 • 3

4 • 5 • 6

DIY Yarn Ornaments

Even the least craftiest of people can do this project. Alls you need is:

• a hot glue gun (but not too hot... I learnt my lesson)
• some yarn, preferrably thicker so that it doesn't take as long and so you don't burn your fingers (again, learnt my lesson)
• scissors, sharp ones. not your old 99¢ pair from 10 years back. you need some good fabric ones so you don't fray the yarn, because that's no good
• some ornaments you aren't too fond of. i bought mine last year for 50¢ from Walmart at the end of the season. they don't need to be pretty, you're about to cover them up. and if you're cheap like me, you might have to buy some ornament hooks because the cheap-o ornaments you just bought don't come with them, fyi.
• a pair of hands

So, directions are pretty basic as you can see from the pictures. 

First, glue around the top. I found this was easiest than to start at the bottom or, god-forbid, in the middle.

Then, just keep wrapping & glueing, wrapping & glueing, wrapping & glueing, you get the idea.

When you get to the end, you are going to need to make your circle very small and tight so that your yarn doesn't stick out. Just put a big dab of hot glue on the bottom and pat your yarn down onto the glue. Cut at the end, as close as you can get to the glue and VOILA, you're done!

I got really fancy and made a striped one. 

Cookie Collaboration

This is a brilliant collaboration, a cookie collaboration. Two greats, Shimtokk (designers) and Not Without Salt (cookie maker/blogger), create packaging for Ashley's "random acts of cookies". Man, I need a friend who does random acts of cookies. Where can I find one?

Check out Shimtokk's post here. You can visit Ashley's blog Not Without Salt here for more delicious recipes.

Links: Photo

The Vintage Bazaar

Meet Katherine Raz and Libby Alexander, owners of The Vintage Bazaar. TVB (yeah, I'm cool) is a pretty neat idea that started back in late 2009. These two vintage furniture obsessed created flea market pop-up shops around the Chicagoland area where they could bring all of their own finds from estate sales, garage sales, craigslist, etc.

Everything seems to be fairly priced and from the photo below there seem to be a LOT of great items available. I'm bummed that I won't be around this weekend to go to the holiday pop-up shop! If you will be in the area, don't miss it!

Oh, and they blog over here.

Links: Images

A Me-Time Weekend

I had a pretty successful weekend. I was able to relax and focus on things that I want to spend more time doing, like sewing. I made some winter-ish pillow covers for the couch, watched christmas movies (Home Alone, Elf, Scrooged... the classics), drank coffee, and put up our tree, but no ornaments, yet. We will be gone for the next couple of weekends, so I figured we may as well put the tree up now and enjoy it!

Did you do any fun projects this weekend? I already have some lined up the next upcoming weekends when I have some free time!

Happy Monday.

And the Winner is.....

The winner of the $25 Starbucks Gift Card is.... Kerri Holden!!

Kerri, please email me: me@amandagenther.com so I can get all of your info and send you your much deserved card!!

Thanks to everyone who participated! I hope to have more giveaways in the future, because that was so fun!

Links: Congrats Photo

This Weekend

So, after looking at my bank account and noticing the large lump of money that was taken out this month for our monthly dues to our gym, I decided I may as well go to the gym even if it kills me. I know there were like a million other things that I could have been doing, but I can't keep making excuses!

Anyways, for the rest of the weekend, I will be cleaning up the mess that I created last night when I decided to rearrange furniture to make room for the early christmas tree.

The dining room is now on the other side of the apartment next to the windows. I love it so much, I can't believe I didn't do it sooner!

The "office" is now where the dining room used to be, next to the kitchen (that might be an issue in the future). I have a HUGE mess to clean up and lots of throwing away/organizing to do! It's gonna be a long weekend, but a much needed weekend so I can make the space a little more motivational for work!

Have a wonderful weekend! Oh, and don't forget, my giveaway ends tomorrow at 12 pm (CST).

Products: Judy Kaufmann Cases

I have been a big fan of Judy Kaufmann's work admiring her unique look on everyday sights that she turns into amazing illustrations. The one thing I didn't know is that she sells her illustrations as iPhone cases. I've already picked the one I am getting!

She also sells iPad, MacBook, and iPod cases, along with prints and clothing. Personally, they are all amazing to me.

Link: Judy Kaufmann Gallery - Society 6

For Dolls Only

These are the cutest little sets of furniture I have ever seen. The shop owner, Kelley Quinn, found these little gems at an estate sale of an 85 year old woman. The previous owner believes she has had them since she was 10 years old. Well, I believe her. Plus, they were made by her own father using salvaged woods.

See the rest of her goodies here. 

Mid-Century Love

So, exciting day over here at the Genther household. Freelance is really taking off for me, first giveaway on the blog started yesterday, and we got our wedding pictures in the mail yesterday. I am in the middle of editing them, but hope to have them up on the blog by early next week. Oh, and got pre-approved for a house last week, even though we don't plan on buying until middle of next year...but still exciting stuff!

Anyways, I rounded up some of my favorite Mid-Century interior design photos. Soon, I'll have to start collecting these photos when I start to research for our new home!

Top photo, bottom left, bottom right.

Left photo, right photo.

Don't forget... Giveaway ends on Sunday at 12 pm (CST). You can find out how to enter here. 

GIVEAWAY!!!

Well, I promised a giveaway in honor of my 100th post. So, how abouts we give someone special a little, or lots of cups of cheer! Today, we have up for grabs a $25 gift card for Starbucks, who by the way, has their holiday cups out! [insert Happy Dance]

Here's how to win:

1. Follow me on Twitter

2. Retweet the giveaway on Twitter:
RT @amandagenther GIVEAWAY on the blog. Win a starbucks gift card for showing me some love! http://bit.ly/vVfm7l

3. Like my page on Facebook

4. Follow my blog

You get 1 point for everything that you do above (ex: 1 point for following me on twitter, 2 points for liking me on facebook AND following my blog). You can have a total of 4 points! 

Understand? Good! Now just leave a comment below telling me what you did so I know how many times to enter you into the giveaway!

Giveaway will end Sunday, November 6 at 12 pm CST. Winner will be announced here on Monday, November 7 so make sure you check back to see if you won! Gift card will be emailed to the email address of your choice (because I hate buying stamps)! 

Well, that's all folks! See you back here soon!

Link: Starbucks

Graphic Floors

Welp folks, this is the 100th post for my blog. Which means that I will be doing a giveaway this week! Stay tuned.

In other news, here are some awesome graphic floors. Floors are a hard thing to take risks with, but these home owners sure had some guts!

images found here, here, here & here