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?

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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