Monday, January 31, 2011

CSN Stores giveaway winner!!



As promised the random name drawn as the winner for the CSN gift certificate is.......................................................  by- the- bluegrass!!  Congratulations!  I will email you with the details.  Thank you to everyone who entered.



Kibbygirl

Friday, January 28, 2011

Contest Extended until monday

Just a quick note to let everyone know that the $35 CSN gift certificate giveaway will continue until Monday!  If you haven't left me a comment letting me know what you would like to spend it on do it now.  I will do the draw Monday morning.  Have a great weekend

Kibbygirl

Sunday, January 23, 2011

The CSN Contest continues


Good morning all.  In the spirit of my latest giveaway I am posting some ideas on what I might spend the gift certificate on.  Hopefully this gives you some inspiration.  Don't forget to get your name in on the post below.  The rules are super simple.  Just let me know what you would love to spend the $35 on.  I will be choosing a random winner on Friday. 







All items are from the CSN chain of stores.  Visit here for even more ideas.

Kibbygirl

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Shake off the winter blues contest


If you're like me winter is not the most fabulous of all the seasons.  Summer is my favorite.  I can't get enough of the sunshine and garden.  Spring and fall aren't too bad themselves but winter I have a hard time working up a fondness for.  It's not winter's fault of course.  Its just being what it was created to be, but oh how I long for summer.  To help give winter a better name I decided to have a contest.  A kind of  'make your own sunshine' sort of thing. How does a $35 gift certificate sound?  Money you can spend on just about anything you would like.  You can even put it towards a truly summer thing like a swing set!  Really!  The great people at the CSN Stores have offered  a $35 gift certificate for me to give to one of my lucky readers.  How cool is that?  Consider it a little boost to brighten someones wintry days.  I have checked out their site for swing sets and more found they have all sorts of summery play things.  I think my favorite was the kids play cafe tent.  It is a little tent complete with an awning so your kids can set up their own wee bistro!  I would have loved that as a little girl.  Actually, I could have fun with that now!  For under $40 it is pretty neat. 


So to win this all you have to do is visit the link and let me know what you would love to spend the gift certificate on.  Easy peasy right?  I will choose a random winner from the comments next Friday.  Good luck to everyone!

Kibbygirl

Monday, January 17, 2011

Thrifty gifts

If you are like me you like to plan ahead, especially if it comes to gifts.  Now that Christmas is over I am planning for birthdays and next Christmas.  I love giving gifts.  Its fun.  Not just actually giving them but, finding them or creating them too.  Even mentally going over "what would this person really like"  is fun.  Satisfying too if you come up with a great answer.  It's even more satisfying when said gifts are creative and not too expensive.  Don't you think?  I am always on the hunt for great ideas and I thought I would share some of them with all of you.


This is a present I made for my niece who love horses and rides a lot.  I just decorated a matchbook case and lined it with velvet.  Inside is a horse charm for a necklace or bracelet.  You could use any size matchbook and put any neat trinket inside.  You may remember the one I did with a pair of earrings inside for a giveaway.  I don't have pictures unfortunately but I also made plaques with a version of the Keep Calm poster.  For my sister who likes bees I made one saying Keep Calm and Bumble On, along with a bee graphic from the Graphics Fairy.  For my dad and his wife I made a wine lovers plaque with the saying Keep Calm and Drink On.  I painted the wood an antique white and distressed it.  They both turned out pretty great if I do say so myself.  As I come across more ideas I plan to share them with you.  For example, here is a recipe I found for homemade scrubs. 

Recipe #1 – Brown Sugar Scrub


1/2 cup of brown sugar

1/4 cup of almond oil

1/4 cup of liquid Ivory hand soap

1/4 tsp of vanilla

Recipe #2 – Lemon Sugar Scrub

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup olive oil

1 TBS lemon zest (grated)

How great would one of these be in a pretty jar.  Possibly a thrifted coloured glass jar.  Hmm, maybe a big ribbon, an old key and a vintage note card.  Yep, I like it.  I have some birthdays coming up and I may just make some of these.  For now though, a cup of tea is what I need so I am off to make it!  Have a great night everyone,
 
Kibbygirl

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The dangers of going to the dark side


If the title of this post drew you in, let me explain.  The dark side I am referring to is hair colour.  Now let me take you back a few years to my university days.  I was happily brunette and had, up unto that point, not been a hair dyer. One day though, curiosity got the better of me and I decided to try out the life of a blonde.  Why you ask.  Youthful impetuousness I suppose, and although the highlights were pretty I didn't notice any great increase in fun having.  It was pretty much life as usual only blonder.  The problem arose when I was sitting with my boyfriend ( who is now husband ) who turned to me and said "I am so glad you are a natural blonde and not one of those girls who dye their hair!"  Oh no!  Tell me he didn't just say that.  Well, I had just had it done before we met so I had forgotten that he wouldn't have seen me any other way.  I had to break the news to him.  I wasn't going to stay blonde forever after all.  Plus someday there would be roots!  Oh the roots, he is not always the most observant but he might just question those roots.  Bless his heart he took it pretty well and said he loved me no matter what colour my hair was. 

Sweet right?  Well, let me tell you, those pretty words aside he never really got over the hopes that I would return to the blonder me.  Sure he has been the best husband a girl could ask for but deep down he harboured the hopes I would go back to those hair colouring days.  So, a year ago, as a thank you to my sweetheart I embraced the light once again.  Just like last time my hair turned out great.  It was kinda fun to do something different and to wear clothes that never seemed to go with my colouring before.  In the end however, I am a brunette.  I am a proud brunette.  I like my hair just the way God made it, so of course the time came when I had to return to my roots so to speak.  Now this is where the aforementioned dangers come in to the story.  I chose a box of colour that should be close to my natural look and set about returning my hair to its former glory.  Now, did you notice my use of should?  Yeah... its black.  Not a rich dark chocolate, but black!  " ohhh, can I call you Elvira?" asked the love of my life.  He means well people, really he does. 

So now here I sit, bemoaning my choices to all of you and wondering what can be done.  Do I believe my husband when he says it looks fine?  Do I rush to the drug store in desperate search of help? Or do I find a hat and slink back to my hairdresser and hope the lecture on home hair colour is short?  Hmmm?  Any thoughts? 

Kibbygirl

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Caterina's Christmas swap



Happy new year to all my blogging friends!  We have had a great holiday around here and I am looking forward to a quiet day around the house today.  In that spirit I thought I would post the pictures of the gifts I received in Caterina's Christmas swap!  I love it all but the candle set is so creative and so intricate, I can't wait to use it in my Christmas decor next year.  Have a great day everyone!







Kibbygirl

A little more of what I have been working on :)    This Joy sign is metallic, it just doesn't show well in the picture ...