Fabulous and affordable gift ideas from BHG.

The Better Homes and Gardens product line at Walmart has a lot of nice, affordable gift ideas, just in time for the holidays.  They were kind enough to send me to do a little gift shopping.

I picked up a few of these awesome wire baskets...

And several of these wonderful jar candles.  (They all smell great, but the Frosted Gingerbread is my favorite.)

 A little tissue paper in the basket, along with the candle, some baked goods and a little container of sweets...

 ...wrapped up with cellophane...

... and there is a nice hostess gift or gift for the neighbors, ready to go.

Even though I bought several of the same thing to make multiple baskets, I love that there is a huge selection of items and that they were incredibly affordable.  Those jar candles for example?  $6.  Compare that to some I've seen that are upwards of $18 for the same size...

Quick, easy and affordable.  And who doesn't need a bit more of that these days?

disclosure

 

An easy floral arrangement. (Using California Grown roses...)

Thank you to California Grown for encouraging me to connect with California growers and encouraging California consumers to "Choose California Grown" when they can.



I live in Southern California, so I'm familiar with the "California Grown" blue license plate logo.  I know that they grow delish produce.  (I eat avocado every morning instead of butter on my toast.)

However, it did not occur to me that fresh cut flowers are part of the California Grown agricultural products.  I was super excited to get to participate in this promotion because I loooooove fresh flowers.  (Who doesn't, right?)

Going forward, if I don't see the California Grown label, I'm going to ask for it, or at least find out which products were grown here in Cali. I really like the idea of supporting one's local economy whenever possible.  Just as I would try to buy handmade from etsy shops or local artisans, so too would I want to buy local produce.  It helps local economies, of course, but I think it ultimately ends up being less expensive for the consumer as well.

I had six light pink and six dark pink roses.  I know they were long stemmed, and if I wasn't weird I would have left them that way...  (But I am weird and I had a pretty mercury glass pedestal bowl that I wanted to use for the arrangement.)

I took some floral foam and cut it to fit my bowl.  After wedging it in there, I filled the bowl with water and let it soak into the foam.  Some people say you should soak the foam in water first, then place it in your container.  That just seems like an unnecessary step to me...

Next I added lengths of ivy and cut hydrangeas from my yard, and beaded pears that I cannibalized from some floral picks I had.  (Never underestimate the contents of your own backyard to enhance your floral arrangements.) Once those items were in place, I started filling in with the beautiful, California Grown roses.
Ta-Da!

Super easy, super pretty, and locally grown.  Can't get much better than that, right?

Thank you again to California Grown for sponsoring this blog post. Please click here to learn more about all of California Grown growers. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own. #CleverCAGrown #spon

A rained out Thanksgiving: going to Plan B (with minimal freaking out.)

My dining room is too small to fit the 15 to 20 people that come over for Thanksgiving dinner, so I always host it outside on our patio.  Living in Southern California, it's usually safe to do this.  However, this year there were cold temperatures (62 degrees. brrr!) and a threat of rain.  (Yes, yes, all you Mid-Westerners and East-Coasters are laughing at our interpretation of "cold"..)

In any event, my visions of an outdoor room, with drop-cloth and burlap walls and surrounded by colorful fall trees and candles will have to wait until next Thanksgiving.  (click here to see what I did last year.) This year, all 17 of us squeezed into the house for a sit-down dinner.  

I still did what I could to decorate with all my fall leaves and sticks though.  I added them to my dining room chandelier for the evening.  I just tucked them into the chain.  I just kind of poked the dried leaves into place in between the sticks and they stayed just fine.

The shades got a quick burlap and fabric leaf treatment.

(Cut the burlap into strips.  Hot glue the end of a strip to the top of a shade, overlapping them until the shade is covered.  Add fabric leaves.  Done.)

Because we ended up with everyone inside, we had to shove all of our living room furniture to one end of the room and clear out our entry way.  Why?  Because I needed a second table for dinner.

Yep.  See that table far, far away from the dining room table?  That was the best we could do, under the circumstances.

All of my table decor was either from my mom's downed tree, or from the landscape guys that I mugged before I knew it was going to rain...  In other words: Free.

And I absolutely, positively was not going to waste the fabulous branches that I got...

Christmas tree stands can hold up more than Christmas trees...

Someone was asking me how I got the fall leaves under the cloche.  It seemed obvious to me, but OK.  It's pretty easy.

Please let me know if you have problems doing this... we will get you the help you need. ;)

Hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving!
(ps: it never did rain.  Darn weather man!)

Holiday comforts? I'm easy to please...

This post is sponsored by Tempur-Pedic, the brand millions of owners trust to deliver their best night’s sleep every night. Enjoy our Buy 2, get 1 free pillow offer now and give the gift of custom comfort to someone you love.

The holiday season is a busy one.  Our calendars and to-do lists fill up and make us a little frazzled, (maybe even a lot frazzled) and sometimes it feels like the entire month of December flies by at lightning speed.  When this happens, I tend to get a bit of a homebody vibe going.  I don't want to go anywhere... I just want to be home and have all of my family home with me.

One of my favorite holiday comforts is so simple that I feel kind of dorky sharing it, but here goes: I love having a fire in the fireplace and something yummy to drink.  Yep.  A fire and a beverage and I'm good, thanks.

The boys even love it.  They'll lay there and just watch the fire.  It's nice to just be in the room and enjoy the fire and the Christmas tree and each other's company.  A perfect evening means that we're playing a game together or watching a Christmas movie too.

One of our favorite holiday drinks is wassail.  Everyone makes it a little differently, but here is our recipe:

• 2 quarts apple cider
• 2 cups orange juice
• 1 cup lemon juice
• 2 cups pineapple juice
• 2 whole cinnamon sticks
• 1 Tbsp of whole cloves
• sugar or honey to taste (we never add any)

Combine all ingredients and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes.  Serve hot.  (It's pretty darn good with a healthy slug of brandy in it too...)

So there you have it... a roaring fire and a tasty beverage and I am one happy girl.  What are some of the holiday comforts that you love?

Comfort is the perfect gift for everyone on your holiday gift list, so be sure to take advantage of Tempur-Pedic's Buy 2, get 1 free pillow offer! I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective.

The one about bikers, beer and stereotypes. (And Twilight.)

Carlsberg beer made a commercial where they rented a small movie theater.  There are 150 seats and they filled 148 of them with tattooed, leather clad, body pierced biker-types.  They left 2 seats open...
What would you do?



Such an interesting example of human behavior, isn't it?

I showed this commercial to Devin and Conner.  We all thought the guy in the pink shirt was re-thinking his fashion choices as he made his way past (and over) all of those tough guys.
We discussed whether or not we would have done it... (I'd like to think that I would have.)

Conner said: "It would depend on what movie was playing."

I assumed he meant he was gauging the stay-or-go decision on how much he wanted to see a particular movie.  Not so.

He clarified it for me: "No, I mean if they were all sitting there to see Twilight or something, you'd know you were probably pretty safe.  What kind of a tough guy would see Twilight?! pfft"

Careful, Conner...  I have some friends who would think them's fightin' words.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for $150 towards anything at Bathroom Mirrors Direct!

Charmin? You should fire your whole marketing team.

Scene: Handsome Hubby and I are watching TV.
An incredibly lame commercial for Charmin toilet paper comes on.  (Whoever came up with their latest campaign should be fired.  Enjoy the Go?  Seriously?)

source

The commercial spot features a lot of women, hands on hips, saying things like we need to come clean... no one mentions it... and: it's time to talk about what REALLY happens in the bathroom.

Handsome Hubby looks over at me and says, totally deadpan: "Were we putting that off...?"

I needed some Charmin at that point because I just about peed my pants I was laughing so hard.  Reason #834 why I love that man so much... he pops off with these dry one-liners and cracks me up.

Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for $150 towards anything at Bathroom Mirrors Direct!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's not that happy people are thankful... it's that thankful people are happy.

via Pinterest

Lord, for what we have ALREADY received... may we be truly grateful.

Wherever you are, whoever you're with today, I hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for $150 towards anything at Bathroom Mirrors Direct!

Everything looks better if you put it in a champagne bucket.

I put together this little grouping of sparkly glass and silver on the buffet in our dining room.

I especially love, love, love the rusticity of the sticks in the silver champagne bucket.  I like that the two elements kind of play off of each other.

I know it's a bit monochromatic, but I like it.
Want to see how it started out?

Yep.  My mom's gardening tragedy is my decorating windfall. (No pun intended.)
This tree had just blown down and we were over there for dinner.  I quickly started scooping up the sticks that I wanted.  Handsome Hubby was reluctant at first, but I reminded him that there are a lot of women out there who want diamonds... I just wanted sticks.  (He changed his tune pretty quickly.)

So I wedged some foam into the champagne bucket, added the sticks, some moss and a leaf that got in my way when I was spray painting the pumpkins.

Subtle sparkle is good.

Easy!
(And you can be fairly certain that these sticks will be frosted and icy in a couple of weeks.)

Would you like $150 to spend at Bathroom Mirrors Direct...? Of course you would!

Bathroom Mirrors Direct... that sounds like it's all about mirrors for the bathroom huh?
Not so fast! Yes, definitely there are bathroom mirrors, but that is just the beginning.  They have a great selection of home decor and accent mirrors.  Contemporary mirrors, traditional mirrors, full length floor mirrors, the cool kind that just lean up against the wall... Tons to choose from!

Like this one.  This one is so pretty!

This is the Trory Mirror and BMD has it listed in their "bathroom mirrors" category, but I could totally see this in a living or dining room.  I love that the frame around the mirror is actually made up of little antiqued tile mirrors.  So. Cool.

Or how about this one?

This is the Donna Mirror and it is part of BMD's Home Decor collection.  I love the etched details on the frame and the beveled edge on the mirror.

They have some very cool looking contemporary mirrors as well.
This Sunburst Mirror is awesome.

And I think that this Amberlyn Etched Mirror might be one of my personal favorites though...

I love that it has a contemporary shape but has a subtle, sweet touch of the etched flowers.  How cool is that?
I could spend a lot of time poking around BMD's online store.  (Oh and most items are free shipping... nice.)

So guess what!? Bathroom Mirrors Direct has offered one of my readers a $150 credit towards anything in their store!  You want to get something for $150 or less? Go ahead! Do you want to put it towards a more substantial purchase?  Go right ahead! It's up to you how you spend it.

Here's how to enter:
MANDATORY for entry
Go check out what Bathroom Mirrors Direct has to offer and come back and leave a comment telling me what your favorite piece is.


Get additional entries (leave a separate comment for each action)

• Like BMD on Facebook
• Follow BMD on Twitter
• Follow BMD on Pinterest
• Tweet about the contest: " Win $150 to spend @bmirrorsdirect http://bit.ly/ulvRQL @TheVspotBlog "  or share this link on facebook.  (tag The V Spot and Bathroom Mirrors Direct)
• Follow or subscribe to The V Spot

Please, please, please make sure your email is linked to your profile, or leave your email address with your comment.  How much would it suck to win and we can't reach you...?!
This giveaway is open for entries until Tuesday, November 29 at Noon PST.
This giveaway is closed.

Good luck!

Make your own frosted, icy branches.

Last week I shared this project over at A Glimpse Inside.  It's a quick and easy way to turn ordinary sticks and branches into frosted, icy ones for the holidays.

I love the pretty, frosty branches, floral picks and other accessories that are available this time of year.

source

However, they can be pretty darn pricey and I see no reason to pay for something that I can easily make myself for just pennies.  

Here's what you'll need:

• sticks and branches
• white spray paint (cheap-o is fine-o)
• spray adhesive
• epsom salt
• coarse white glitter
• fine iridescent glitter

When getting the salt be sure to use epsom, which looks like icy little crystals, as opposed to rock salt, which looks like, well... rocks.

Spray your branches with white paint.
When dry, spray a coat of adhesive onto the branches, then move them over an old cookie sheet and sprinkle the epsom salts onto them.

I do this over the cookie sheet so I can reuse the salt that doesn't stick.

Scoop up any extra salt and put it back into the container.
Move the branches away from the cookie sheet and spray with adhesive again.  Move them back over the sheet and sprinkle with the coarse glitter.  Repeat the process with the fine glitter.

When dry you have some pretty, sparkly, frosty sticks.  Oh yeah, that were practically FREE!

There are so many uses for them.  They look great alone in a vase,  or with smaller ones tucked into your Christmas tree or used in a wreath...  The only caveat: salt melts if it gets wet...  Not a good option for use outdoors.

Have fun!

Check the bottom of the blog to see where I link this project.

Also linking to: Home Stories A2Z

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Craft Fans & Grant Fans... unite!

I've got something for both groups of readers today!

I just finished another piece of artwork for Thanksgiving.  (I actually used the flip-side of the Raven artwork, so it's 2 holiday art pieces in 1! I is smaaaaht!) I'm happy with how it turned out.

While I was cutting out the contact paper letters**, Mitch asked me what it was going to say...

What if you woke up today

with only the things you thanked God for yesterday

Mitch:  "Whoa... that's deep."
Grant: "Hey! That rhymes!!"

I guess they're both right.

So you see?  A new craft for those of you who tune in for that stuff... and a Grant story, for those of you who come over for those.

**For those of you who asked for more detailed instructions on how to make the art: Click here for a step by step tutorial on how to make this Family Rules subway art.

Click here for a tutorial on using contact paper in your electronic cutting machine and employing a similar method.

I'm thankful for different ways to view the same thing.



Have a great weekend!

Check the bottom of the blog to see where I link this project.

Also linking to: Home Stories A2Z

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