Another fun giveaway on giftcardgirlfriend.com… a Sephora gift card, perfume and my “Love in Red” print!

The last time my mom went to Portland, she came back with some cute vinyl to make a wipeable tablecloth. While I was in Portland for the holiday, I did the same. This is Moda laminated cotton {I have a hard time finding moda fabrics online to show you, but here are some equally adorable laminated fabrics – Amy Butler even has some now!}. {oh, and you don’t have to go to Portland, they just happen to have a fabulous fabric store and NO SALES TAX.} The only limitation with this is the width of the fabric. You probably wouldn’t [...]

Weight loss, eating right, spending less, yada yada. Last year, my mom figured it out: make a New Years Resolution you can keep! She spent 2009 buying a new pair of shoes each month. This proved fruitful for her {and for Macys} as you can see in her year-end recap photo below. I do usually take my resolutions very seriously. Last year I vowed to get better at cooking, eat out less, and eat leftovers. I didn’t move mountains, but I definitely took a step in the right direction. This year, I can’t seem to see past our due date, [...]

We took some quick videos of different parts of our vacation up to Portland. Hope you like. 2009 Christmas Trip from Brooke Hall on Vimeo.

I receive the weekly emails from houzz.com… I think you might like it. A couple articles I liked from last week include: 1. Design Trends in 2010 2. How to Avoid Using Pink in a Girl’s room I feel like there are several blogs out there that just repost pictures on the web, but this blog gives great design advice along with the pretty pictures.

I have been busy busy trying to wrap up the year in so many ways. My hubby and I are taking time off for the holidays and that means EVERYTHING. My freelance client projects are wrapping up and coming to a close for 2 weeks, I’ve got invitations headed in the mail for an upcoming baby shower {I had to tell the girls I’m throwing the shower with that I can be a little “intense” in the details… please let me know if I’ve understated this}, bills are paid, house is clean, I’m ready for a B R E A [...]

Thank you SUSAN! I love that you took the time to match the nursery… these look ADORABLE. {more pics to come}. For those of you who don’t know Susan, lemme tell you a little bit about her: She leaves the sweetest comments on my blog, always a joy to read Look at this gift – even though we’ve never met, she’s captured my style perfectly. She is genuine and supportive. She supports handmade, and if I ran a marathon, I’d bring her along to keep me going. Check out her blog, Whatsoever Things are Beautiful to learn more about the [...]

I have had great support from you and I appreciate it. I know everybody has different experiences, but it helps me to know what worked and what didn’t for YOU. When asked how I’m doing, I’ll say “I feel great. Every now and again I get uncomfortable.” People invariably reply with, “Just wait.”         …meanies. I don’t know why new moms get anxiety about going into labor. The baby is just going to come out of a door in my stomach, right mom? Baby stuff doesn’t go on sale. For Black Friday, BabysRUs had a giant box of wipes for $5. [...]

I made some labels that you can put on any bag you have, or you can grab these cute kraft paper bags using your Michael’s coupon {Makes them about twenty-five cents each}. Grab this PDF, print them out on label paper, or print and glue them to the bags. Use scrap ribbon or any scrap fabric you have {ALWAYS wanted a use for those!} for personal and cheap gift wrapping. {I think you could also cut up Christmas cards and use them as a tag or label instead of throwing them in the trash.} {free label PDF download here}

Lindsey at A GreatFull Day sponsored “The Great Give”, a way to get us out there helping each other. I got to break in my new cookie sheets to make cookies for my neighbors, some I knew, and some I needed to introduce myself. It was a great opportunity, and a great reminder from Lindsey to go out of our way to help people this Christmas! Not huge, I know, but my neighbors got them STRAIGHT OUT OF THE OVEN… so they got to have the yummy smell without the mess in the kitchen. I don’t know why I don’t [...]

It’s no secret that I have many irons in the fire. It’s a temperature I’ve become accustomed to, and I like it. In fact, I’m not sure what to do when I’m not working on multiple projects. But to juggle all of these projects, I have to adhere to some rules. Never ignore my husband to work on projects. Family will always be my priority, and if I have to neglect my husband to finish up projects, then it’s just not worth it. If he happens to be watching the Sharks game, however, it’s better for both of us that [...]

I cut up my t-shirt and framed it. It was a cozy t-shirt and I loved the print, but was a tad short {and more like a straight jacket now that I’m “with child”}. Now I can see it everyday instead of hiding it in a closet. Oh, and hey, freed up another hanger for a new shirt. Win – win. {It has become BLARINGLY apparent that I need to paint my master bathroom now that this white art is hanging.} I have also immortalized t-shirts in the past… from little league to college volleyball – all the t-shirts I [...]

My sister Shelley and I have just launched a fun new venture for us, revolving around something Shelley feels passionate about: GIFT CARDS! And who doesn’t love getting a gift card? It could be one of our favorite gifts to give, but often times our friends and family feel that by giving a gift card, they’ve lacked thought. Gift Card Girlfriend is a resource for CHEAP and fun, thoughtful ways to give a giftcard and still get the “oohs and aahs”. Here’s a sneak peak Cookie dough, bread dough, or Play-Doh attached to your gift card “dough”. Smarties candy or [...]

I’m trying to get off my feet in the evenings a bit more. But I still need a project in my lap. Here I’m making shop tags for Pillows By Mom, whilst my little one encroaches on my surface area. {I made the tags in Illustrator, attached Whitney’s Green Apple Divine Twine, and clipped them on with assorted colored safety pins from the fabric store.}

Every year I have participated in “Black Friday” shopping. Although I feel my list is small, there are a few things I’ll be needing. Let’s start with my bent/warped/wobbly baking sheets. How’s a girl supposed to make some good looking cookies if they all slide to the middle? I either embrace it and open up a “Crooked Cookies” shop, or hit Target for some new baking sheets. I don’t know why I don’t have this. I’ve been wanting it for a year or so, and keep borrowing one even though they aren’t that expensive. BUT, if it’s on sale, I’d [...]