Saturday, March 27, 2010

The Well-Dressed Home~And an Annette Tatum queen size duvet Giveaway



I have a great book I want to share with all of you and a very generous giveaway!
I wanted to repost this because I want to make sure you are aware of what is in the giveaway!
I think my post might be a bit confusing and some of you thought I was giving away the book!
I am really sorry if I confused anyone with my post. I wanted the giveaway to be a surprise at the end of my post! So I thought I better state at the beginning what the giveaway is so there isn't any confusion!

This is what is in the giveaway~
Annette Tatum is giving away a queen size duvet from her new
Annette Tatum Home Collection to one of my readers!
This is very generous of her!
Her duvets are gorgeous! They are valued at $253.00!

I have just recently discovered Annette Tatum's new book The Well-Dressed Home, and love it. I wanted you to all know about her new book. Annette has been generous enough to offer one of her queen duvets from her Annette Tatum Home Collection for one of my lucky readers.
Please read the following and you will find the giveaway information!!!!


Have you read The Well- Dressed Home?

Annette Tatum is an interior designer and is the author of this fabulous design book,
She is also the founder of the successful House and Little House lines of high end apparel, accessories, bedding, and furniture.

Annette is also a mother of four children!

Annette is an amazing woman. She is a very talented designer and has an eye for beauty.
I can't wait to share her new book with all of you! I also have a big surprise to share as well!
First I want to tell you about The Well-Dressed Home!
I am really excited about this book!
I took a few pictures of the book so you can all see how fabulous it is!

I know there are a lot of you who love fashion and love interior design.
This book is filled with fashion and interior design inspiration!

Annette teaches you how to let your own personal fashion choices be an inspiration for how you decorate your home.

Annette highlights eleven popular fashion styles in her book,
Romantic, Couture, Classic, Casual, Bohemian, Retro, Resort, Modern, Eclectic, Vintage, and Eco


In the book Annette says you will learn how to embrace the idea of
designing
your own home in the same way you choose your day's wardrobe!

I haven't been able to put it down since I received it in the mail.
There are over 200 beautiful pictures!
The homes she features in her book are stunning.

I am really excited about this book!

It is filled with fashion and interior design inspiration!
I have learned a lot from this book!
If you are interested in purchasing The Well-Dressed Home
you can purchase it for a great price at

Giveaway!
Okay girls now here is the SURPRISE!
Are you ready?
Annette Tatum has a new spring catalog out.
It is called
This catalog is filled with beautiful linens for your home. All designed by Annette Tatum.
I actually can't believe I am going to say this,

Annette is offering one of my lucky readers, that would be
YOU,
a chance to win a beautiful queen duvet
from her
NEW



The lucky winner gets to pick the design of her choice!
I want you to take note
The queen duvets are valued at $253.00!

Annette is very generous and kind!

Here is what the giveaway is again and what you have to do to enter the giveaway!
Annette is giving away one queen duvet to one lucky winner, from her new
Annette Tatum Home Collection
The winner gets to choose the design.
My international readers are welcome to enter as well!

1. First you need to visit

2.Then You need to come back to my site and leave me a comment on which lovely design of duvet you would like to win! This will give you one entry.

3. If you want a second entry become a follower and leave me a comment stating that you are a follower. If you already are a follower please still leave an extra comment stating that you are already a follower! I am using the random counter! That is two entries.

4. If you want a third entry, post about my giveaway on your blog and leave a comment telling me that you are posting about my giveaway. That is three entries
Important: You need to leave a separate comment for each entry!!!
I will be using the random counter.
So be sure and leave me a comment for each step you complete so you get the right amount of entries. The entries will close April 2nd at 9:00 p.m. pacific standard time.
I am so excited about this giveaway!
Good Luck Girls!
Thank you so much Annette!
I hope you all have a great weekend!
I will see you back here on the 2nd!
You should be sure and visit Annette's website!
click on all the colored links




Thank you Annette for providing us with a new inspirational design book to read! I love it!
Thank you for your generosity in giving one of these lucky girls a chance to own one of your beautiful duvets!
I know you are going to make someone feel very special!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

An Honored Beach Cottage Guest

photo by me
Hello everyone, I have something really fun to share with all of you!

photo by me
Can you guess why my table might look a little beachy?

photo by me
Well there is a very good reason for it!

I am in Australia at my dream beach cottage today!
I am visiting my friend Sarah.
I have to thank Sarah for giving me this opportunity!
Sarah is one of a kind!
I can't get enough of her style and her writing! I know all of you feel the same!
So to be asked by Sarah to be a guest at her beach cottage,


Thank you Sarah you are way too much fun!

photo below is courtesy of A Beach Cottage

Saturday, March 20, 2010

photo by me


I want to share 3 great blogs with all of you!

I love farmhouse kitchens, and hope to have one in my home someday. Until that time comes I love to admire my blogging friends' kitchens. All three of these girls have great kitchens.

The first blog is

Tina lives in the cutest home in Australia


I love Tina's chalk board wall in her kitchen. Great idea Tina!


Love her farmhouse sink.


If you have a chance stop by
and say Hi to the talented Tina, she is a real sweetheart. Thanks Tina for your friendship.

Next up is the


Janice from Canadian Cottage has the sweetest little Cottage.


Janice also has a farmhouse kitchen.


I love her sink and faucet. I LOVE farmhouse sinks!
Janice bought her cabinets and sink from Ikea. (I happen to love Ikea, and have to admit my heart races when I step foot into this store)


Love this kitchen, and I love those floors!


If you have a chance hop on over to
and say hi to the talented and sweet Janice!

Then there is my friend Lulu from Dusty Lu Interiors. It just so happens that Lulu is an interior designer. I bet you couldn't tell??? I love Lulu's style! I love her photographs as well.
Take a look at her kitchen and home!







Photo Courtesy of Dusty Lu Interiors
So what do you think? I am pretty sure you are thinking what I am thinking!!!
If you want to see more of Lulu's home
click on the link below & I know you want to see more!

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend!
I just want to thank all of you for all of your sweet comments you left about my kids. You all made my day. My kids loved reading them as well! Thank You! You all really know how to make a girl feel special!

Oh and before I forget my talented friend Ness is having another giveaway! She is giving away two pillow slips from her shop. You get to choose! I just bought 3 pillow cases from Ness and LOVE them. Her pillows look very professional. I will be doing a post on these in the near future.
She is also giving away a set of her clay tags. The tag below is one Ness made for me. I love it!
If you want a chance to win this great giveaway then you better hop on over to
and sign up!


photo by me


Friday, March 19, 2010


Have you heard of minted.com? I discovered this wonderful website last year, I had been looking at different stationery sites and trying to decide which one I wanted to use for my Christmas Cards. I always do something special for my Christmas Cards. I want the person who is receiving my card to feel like they are receiving a Christmas gift from my family when they open their card. My cards always have pictures of my kids included in the card. I used to have their pictures professionally taken, but lucky for me, my husband bought me a very nice camera for Christmas 3 years ago. So now I take my own pictures.
So when I discovered minted, I was really excited. It was something different. They have a wide selection of great designs to choose from.
One thing I liked about this site, is they use designers from all over the world. They hold design challenges. If you win the design, your winning designs are sold on minted.com. You also earn cash prizes and 5% of ongoing revenues. Then their best designers are commissioned to create minted originals. If you know anything about graphic design you should really check out minted. Maybe you are a graphic designer waiting to be discovered! This might be your chance!
Or maybe you are a mom like me who loves to take pictures of her kids, and wants to create a special Christmas card with your own photographs. So I thought I would share this site with all of you.
I also thought I would share a few pictures that I took of my kids for my 2009 Christmas Cards.
I uploaded some of these pictures to minted.com and created a mini photo book.

This gives me an excuse to share pictures of my precious kids with all of you!

My kids know that they are blessed to be able to grow up on a horse ranch.

They show horses and cattle.


I just wanted to tell my friends from Australia, the dog pictured here is a McCallum bred dog. Tony McCallum is from Australia and started this breed. My husband loves using McCallum dogs for working cattle.


My kids LOVE animals.


Remember the post I did on the bird cage, a lot of you suggested I put feathered friends in the cage, well this is what my sons keep in the cage during the summer months, praying mantises, aren't they cute?

They love insects & reptiles!

My kids are the REAL treasures in my life!

If you look in magazines such as Martha Stewart Living you can find coupons for minted.com. I also watch their site for sales.



Have fun checking out this great site, minted.com. I was really happy with my purchase from them. I know I will be purchasing Christmas cards from them again this year.
If you are someone with graphic design talent and are looking to be discovered you should think about signing up for their design challenge.
I hope you all have a great weekend. I want you to know how much I appreciate all of your comments you leave me. Just remember you don't have to leave a comment about me, feel free to share something about yourself. I love learning something new about YOU!

Friday, March 12, 2010

A Beach Cottage~ that I adore


Have You visited Sarah over at a Beach Cottage Yet? Well if you haven't yet you are going to want to. All these pictures are from the talented Sarah's home over at a Beach Cottage. I am always so inspired when I visit her blog. I asked Sarah if I could share a few pictures of her home on my blog, and she was kind enough to say yes. I also asked her if she could share a little something about herself with all of you.

You are all in for a real treat!

I would like to share Sarah's story with you!

Sarah is An advocate for winging it and not worrying about perfection Sarah loves to combine coastal, cottage and country for her unique Beach Cottage style - she shares her projects, decorating ideas and ways to achieve a comfortable and casual home without spending a fortune.



"I started blogging to document the journey of our fixer-upper cottage but it has become so much more than a blog for me, it has provided me with a place to fulfill my passion for casual, laid-back decor, vintage coastal style and more has become for me a cathartic outlet at the end of the day"

Sarah loves old furniture, vintage things and the faded patina of the past mixed together with a healthy dose of modern white for a fresh take on hectic modern life.

In 2005, a young mum with three children she and her husband set out on a huge sea change, upping sticks and moving to the other side of the world, 17,000 miles away from her family and friends.


Just over two years later, in 2008 she purchased her first Australian home, a tatty old cottage near the sea, sadly neglected but on the beaches of Sydney, bathed in sunshine and heaving with potential (wood floors, sash windows, old fig trees, a summer house and a battered old deck).

She embarked on a mission to decorate the cottage-near-the-sea with a mixture of old vintage finds scoured from the beach-side suburbs and painted everything she could in a tried and tested hand mixed beach white, added piles of white linens, striped cotton rugs and heaps of vintage china...

Her blog has become a firm favourite with a large and loyal bunch of visitors logging in and commenting daily to see her latest find and gathering inspiration to re-use, re-purpose and re-invent for a comfy, easy home. She motivates her readers to source old cast-offs, browse flea markets and garage sales and turn them into much loved pieces with a past.

Eschewing the beach-themed look she combines bare floorboards, coir rugs, white cotton, neutral stripes, wicker baskets, Adirondack chairs, fresh flowers, and large puffy white sofas with the odd sea shell and displays a few interesting finds tumbled by the sea and washed up on the beach...

In less than a year the popularity of her blog has grown quickly, acknowledged by Apartment Therapy for her individual style and noted by the Washington Post as one to watch.

Recently showcased in the blogger's bible Artful Blogging for her take on creating coastal chic in a real home and real living by real women and about to embark on a new journey as a writer...

Born in London and raised in a very small house in Kent, England, Sarah, her husband, three children and goldfish now call Sydney, Australia home.


and the story of how we got to Aus...

I’m a thirty-something (okay I'm nearer 40 than 30) owner of a tatty old beach cottage in a beautiful seaside town in Australia, mother of three, wife to one, seaside taxi driver...

But I haven't always lived here, for nearly my whole life I resided in the same, very pretty village in England. Life was quite comfortable, filled with country pubs, cricket on the village green, walks in the woods, lots of drizzle and warm beer. Our children went to a good school, we had a good income, nice holidays, two expensive cars and some cash floating around for a nice life.

Something was missing though, and I was beginning to wonder what life was all about.. and as we flew into London in 2005, after a Christmas holiday we embarked on a mission to find a new life by the sea. We ummed and ahhhed on where we would go, re-locate to the coast of Britain or warmer climes - Europe, France, Florida, Australia?

We knew absolutely nothing about Australia, apart from that it was a long, long way from home, it had sun & beaches that were part of everyday life and an old friend of ours had sent us pictures of his commute to work on a very nice ferry and his life on a very nice beach.

So we put the feelers out Down Under and we started hatching plans, long late phone calls in the middle of the freezing English winter nights, extended internet searches on Australian cities, reams of reading, heaps of books and strange conversations on ex-pat forums about life the Aussie way.

Six months later and things were moving on, we had built connections and networked with enough business contacts for him to start job negotiations.


So in August 2005 we came to Sydney for a holiday. We'd told not a single soul of our late night Down Under dealings, so the whole covert operation was shrouded in secrecy, a kinda clandestine excitement circled the whole devious thing. But the funny thing was that the moment we landed in Australia, I felt like I'd come home.

After two weeks of shaking our heads in wonder at the wonderful Aussie lifestyle (& this people was WINTER), we flew home to London, overflowing with the amazing lucky country that is Australia and absolutely desperate for a visa and a new life by the sea.

A few weeks later & we got an offer we liked the look of and shortly after started the visa application process, including attending medicals and filling in forms, forms and forms. Surprisingly, two months later and much quicker than we had anticipated the big fat envelope from the Australian Department of Immigration arrived, our visas granted.


Oh. My. Goodness. We could go.

We quickly decided we wanted to get out here before Christmas, so what followed was a total frenzied operation to get our English house rented out, our belongings shipped, our life sorted out and to say goodbye to our friends.

It was a manic time, but on the second December 2005 we arrived, 5 suitcases, a holiday apartment, brimming with anticipation and one job in hand.


My days are now spent dealing with the same old things family life brings - but a little differently than before. And it's a pretty nice way to live. I only wish I came here sooner.

The move though has brought a few other changes, ones I didn't expect. Not everything turned out as we thought it would and the inevitable challenges of emmigrating and has meant making do, in more ways than one, in lots of areas of life.

It did lead us to this sad old cottage, that has needed bundles of love and attention to get it feeling good. And led me to start logging it all in my blog A Beach Cottage. I write about my escapades in finding things for our cottage, chronicle the makeovers and remodeling projects we take on ourselves, that don't always turn out so good...oh and living by the sea

You'll find it here on this site, I hope you enjoy surfing through my antics in this old place...


Don't you love Sarah's story & the pictures of her home!

I can't get enough of her blog! I just love this girl. I love her style and I love the way she writes. I feel so lucky to have gotten to know Sarah. Her blog is so much fun!
Thanks Sarah for sharing your story and for letting me use your beautiful pictures!

I can't tell you how blessed I feel to be apart of this amazing blog world. I have made so many friends in the past 2 months. I can't even tell all of you how much you mean to me. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Take Care,
Maria