My 100th Post Giveaway & A Custom Order

Today is my 100th post. It's hard to believe it, but it's true. I've had so much fun with my blog. Blogging for me, combines many loves. I love to write; I love to share about my family; I love to share about our homeschooling experiences; I love to share decorating and home improvement projects. I have "met" so many nice people through blogging and the CS forum. I'm honored, excited, and humbled to know that it's enjoyed by others as well. So please know that I don't take it for granted and I appreciate each and every one of you that stop by to visit my blog. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! :)

And now to celebrate that 100th post...........how about a giveaway? As tempted as I was to make it a Christmas one, I held back! (That way I get to do another one that's Christmas related later, right?) This is a fall giveaway. Here's what the winner gets:



It includes a burgundy distressed table bench made by my hubby (primmed by me), a set of fall blocks made by me, a leaf resin bowl, a package of faux acorns and faux leaves. (runner not included)

Here's a closer look at the table bench. It is antiqued burgundy. It measures 11 1/4" wide x 20" long x 5" high.



This fall blessing block set was my first attempt at making my own set of blocks. I freehanded everything...so it is amateur, but I hope you like them anyway!



And the bowl is in the shape of a leaf. It is made of resin.



Also included will be the colorful autumn leaves to sprinkle around and a bag of faux acorns.



Here's the rules: Leave me a comment if you would like to enter (bloggers and non-bloggers welcome). Within the continental United States, we will pay shipping. If you live outside the continental U.S., you are welcome to enter and should your name be drawn, we will pay shipping up to $15.00. Any cost to ship over and above that would be your responsibility. I really wanted to include everyone, so I hope this helps. Since we are gearing our Etsy store toward small unfinished wooden decorative items and small furnishings, we would also like to know in this comment...If you were buying wooden decorative items and small furnishings unfinished (to be finished, customized by your self to your own preference of color and distressing), what items would you be interested in? That gets you entered once. If you would be so nice as to post this giveaway on your blog, I'll also add your name in two more times for a total of three times. A name will be drawn out on Thursday, October 9th, at 10:00 a.m. (central time). I will announce it soon afterwards. Please remember if you leave an anonymous comment as a non-blogger, to leave me a way to contact you if you win (an email address).

And since a new blogging friend of mine, Dianntha (Ohio Farm Girl) agreed to let me share this with you, I'd like to show you a custom order of two sets of shutters that she purchased for her garden shed.....well this is one set of them anyway.



Now Dianntha and her family have been very busy working around and on their home and garden shed lately. She bought these shutters unfinished, then customized them with paint to match her home. Click here to see the shutters on her garden shed. Thank you so much for your order, Dianntha and for letting us share! And everyone can stay tuned...at a future date, she'll show you something else that was part of that custom order that she's working on....and I can't wait to see it customized myself)! Thanks, Dianntha!

Unfinished Shutters Added to Our Etsy & Jo-Anne's Giveaway

After a recent request for a custom order that involved unfinished shutters, we decided that just might be something that my prim friends and fellow prim decorators might be interested in......unfinished primitive shutters. I've learned through painting on my own and most recently our kitchen remodeling, that color shades can vary even just the slightest bit! There are so many burgundy red shades, as well as mustards, and so on. By adding this option to our Etsy store, hopefully it opens up more options for the customer.



We've just added the unfinished primitive shutters to our Etsy store. This set shown is 7" wide by 36" long. They were purposely left unfinished so that they can be customized to the decorator's liking....favorite paint or stain, and even distressed as much or little as desired. I'd love for you to stop in our Etsy store and check them out! If another width or length is needed.....that's not a problem either! Just contact us and we'll work with you to get the size needed!

And speaking of Etsy stores, Jo-Anne of The Carter Clan, just opened her very own Etsy store and is hosting a wonderful giveaway in honor of her store opening. Hop on over there and check it out!

Drum Roll Please......

Are ya'll ready for this? Well...I counted the entries and we had a total of 117 actual entries! Wow!



And the excitement was mounting for me...So at 10:00 sharp last night, I picked up the basket and shook it well, but that wasn't good enough for Joy. She picked it up and shook it up and down, side to side, then reached in with anticipation...



Now Joy knows so many of you by name so she was very excited about being the one to get to draw! When she pulled out the name, her mouth dropped open and I had to ask several times to please tell me or show me! She broke out into this big grin (you see here) when she turned it around to show me (and I'm so sorry that there is a glare on it that I discovered after I get it loaded on the computer)....Can you read it?



There really is a name on there...it says:



Lynn/OKC from the Country Sampler Forum (my friend). You see Lynn's son, Daniel is also serving our country over in Iraq (at a different base than Richie) and Joy has personally written him a couple of letters, as well as us sending him a care package....so she was both shocked and happy at the same time! I guess it was just meant to be...and I happen to know from the discussions on the Country Sampler forum that Lynn and her hubby are in the process (or may even have finished it by now) of painting their dining room table black. So hopefully, there will be a perfect place in her home for these shutters! Lynn...maybe you could send me a photo so I could share it with everyone when you find a place for them! Congratulations, Lynn! I'll email you Lynn to get your mailing address so I can send them on their way!



Thanks everyone for entering the contest, for announcing my giveaway on your blogs and for the very helpful comments, suggestions and input. This was really fun...and I look forward to doing another one in the future! We are definitely going to be doing custom sizes and choices of certain colors on the shutters as well as adding other items to our Etsy shop as time goes on. If you have something in mind, contact me through Etsy (until I figure out how to get my email link on here) and tell me what's on your mind!

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Tomorrow I've got something to show you...a little something new that I'm excited about....I promise you won't be nearly as excited as I am...but I'm going to show you anyway!

Our First Giveaway and Etsy Shop Opening

I started my blog back in the middle of May this year and it has been so much fun! I've "met" so many nice people through my blog and I look forward to even more! I love writing, creating, and photography. I love my family life, decorating our home, and working with my hubby on home improvement projects. To love all these things and be able to combine them all and share it with kind folks who are supportive, encouraging and actually enjoy reading it almost seems to be too good to be true sometimes! So I want to thank all of you that take the time visit my blog...to my fellow bloggers, my friends on the Country Sampler forum, my family and friends near and far and everyone else that stops by to visit....I'm both grateful and honored from the bottom of this country girl's heart!

Today I want to announce our very first giveaway in conjunction with the opening of yet another new venture for us, our Etsy Shop. I say "our" because Jason (my hubby) has a big part in it! People that have known me for some time know about all the wonderful things he's built for my mom and me. People often tell him that he really should sell his items. We've always talked about it and I've encouraged him, but we've never taken that next step...but we decided to "just do it". We'll be adding more as time goes on....maybe even bigger pieces of furniture, but for now, it's smaller wooden decorative items. Jason is always the woodworking expert around here (And I'm just fine with that and ever so glad). He builds and then I step in to help with the painting and distressing of the items and in running the shop. And one of these items that we will have for sale in the shop, we are offering in our giveaway today........a set of two prim shutters.









These shutters are black distressed with barn red with a prim star cutout in each one. (That's just homespun fabric on the back of my chair that you see behind the star in the picture...it's just a regular star cutout). They measure 7" x 24" x 3/4". They'll come ready to hang in that special place in your home. All you need to do to enter is check out our Etsy shop (by the same name) and take a look around. Then come back and leave a comment. We'd really like to know your favorite color and sizes or if you would like to see another size or color offered in the shutters or pegboards. Also, since being "hearted" on Etsy is a good thing....if you would like to "heart" me ...I'd really appreciate that too! Then finally, if you would be kind enough to announce my giveaway on your blog, we would be very grateful and would add your name to the drawing two more times. The drawing will take place on Tuesday night, July 22nd, at 10:00 P.M. I will post the winner the next day on Wednesday, the 23rd. Now if you're not a blogger, I still want you to be able to enter if you'd like. If you leave a comment, please make sure you leave your name and email address so I can contact you if you win! My comment section is now set to where the anonymous comment option can be used....but remember to tell me who you are and your email address so I'll know! You just might be the winner!

I'd also like to thank Kindra of 3 Guys, a Girl, and a Prim Place. I've really learned alot from her example. She actually discovered my "surprise" on Etsy before I announced it today and she's been very kind and helpful to me. She opened her Etsy shop back in May and has been a blessing and blessed by it. Thanks so much, Kindra! I think you're very deserving of your success!

Again, thanks to every one of you and good luck!