happy little links

Hey guys! Just posting to remind you about the giveaway I'm sponsoring over at Dezzy's blog! The winner will be picked tomorrow, so hurry and get our entries in tonight! And you seriously have to watch this video. I've been quoting it all day ;)

~via~

Oh, and go check out Hannah's blog (great name, right? ;]). I pretty much drool all over the place every time I visit it ;)

Happy Thursday!
-hannah
How do ya like my blog design? I'm thinkin' she's a keeper! Get yours HERE!!

peace is held with rain

Pounding and pattering as the slick drops hit the window and slither down the glass. The sound is calming, and I embrace it.

A land of sloshy mud after the downpour.

Puddles deep enough to soak your feet.

The world is quiet, holding it's breath.
Waiting,
waiting,
waiting...
Until the greedy soil drinks in the raindrops, leaving only the smell of refreshed nature.

Calm was the world when the slick drops fell. Peaceful. Silent. Content.
Content with watching the sky break free.


-hannah
p.s. Hurry up and enter these two giveaways:
rouge and whimsy headband giveaway
Sand and Starfish clutch giveaway
 You don't want to miss a chance to win these fabulous prizes :)

product review+giveaway: Sand and Starfish

Okay first off, let me say how adorable everything is in Stephanie's shop. I love it all :)
But let's move on:

When Stephanie generously sent me one of her products to review I was extremely excited. When I opened the package, this is what I saw:


This is the Vintage Ruffle Clutch in Pretty Pink. Wowza! So. cute. Here's what the listing description says:




Quite the catch! 
If the vintage fabric isn't cute enough, the ruffles sure are!

This clutch is the perfect size to hold the necessities with room to hold a little more! 
Also has a single pocket on the inside to hold something more near and dear, i.e. your cell phone! 


Clutch has reinforced stitching throughout and is sewn with heavyweight fusable interfacing for added support.

Measures approximately:
6.75 inches deep 
10 inches wide


Here are my opinions:


Versatility:
This product is fabulous for just about anything, but for the past week I've been using it to tote around my makeup at school. It's really convenient because it has a little pouch inside so you can sort certain things.

This can be used as a pencil case, toiletry bag, makeup bag, or anything else that you can think of!

Quality:
The quality of this is amazing. After 6-7 days of being tossed, dropped, bumped, crushed, stepped on, sat on, squashed, squished, and other unpleasant things, it is still in perfect condition, both on the inside and out. (Okay, maybe it didn't endure all those things, but it definitely was squished and squashed a couple times ;])


Compatibility:
This is larger than a regular clutch, so you may have trouble fitting it in you backpack/school bag, but it fits fine in mine, so you shouldn't have too much trouble with it. I actually find the size very handy, because you can even squeeze a pair of flats inside!





Guess what? One of YOU will win a vintage ruffle clutch of you choice!











Exciting right? Right! But first, let's get to know the wonderful Stephanie:


When did you first begin crafting?
As long as I can remember, I've been crafting. As a little girl I would take nail polish and paint wooden letters, or make garlands, or save the SOBE bottle caps and glue them around the edge of my mirror. But it wasn't until we moved into our house that I finally was able to put my creative crafty mind juices to work and I directed them more towards making our house feel like our home. 


What is your favorite thing to make?
Such a tough question... I don't consider myself a pro by any means in the sewing world but I really love making my vintage ruffle bags. I use my pink one practically every day and I still feel as giddy and excited about it as I did the first time I threw it over my shoulder. I dyed the vintage sheet pink, and that was a first for me. I've never dyed anything! But the color that it came out as was the exact shade of pink I wanted and it took my heart away!


What are some of your other hobbies?
I love spending time in my flower and vegetable gardens. Seeing something grow and blossom into this beautiful flower or delicious vegetable makes me so excited! I love scattering bouquets around the house. Beauty everywhere! I'm also a huge fan of the beach. I can go and lay out for hours and hours and just listen to music or dream up new things to make. Taking the kayak out for a bit around the pier is always fun too. Seeing schools of fish swimming right under me, pelicans floating 10 feet away, dolphins out further... it is never something that I take for granted. There's beauty in life all around us and I love being able to really enjoy it all. 




Thank you so much Stephanie! Okay, so here's how you can win:


Mandatory entries (leave both of these in the same comment!!):
You must be a follower of my blog to enter and comment to tell me you are
and
you must go to Sand and Starfish and tell me which vintage ruffle clutch you would pick if you won


Extra entries:
"heart" Stephanie's shop
follow Stephanie's blog
Like Stephanie on Facebook
"heart" my etsy shop

That's it people! You've heard me rave about this product, so you know it must be pretty dang amazing!
Happy entering! Oh, and don't forget to enter the rouge and whimsy giveaway!! Entries for that giveaway giveaway are closed on Saturday February 5th!!
Entries for this giveaway close on Saturday February 12th!!

-hannah

GIVEAWAY: Rouge and Whimsy

Hellooooo my lover-ly readers! I have for you today a chance to win something beautiful from one of my favorite etsy shops ev-ah.

purchase here

purchase here

purchase here

It is Rouge and Whimsy, and I was so extremely excited when Erika said she could donate something for you guys.
Let's get to know Erika a little better, shall we...

Tell us a little bit about yourself: 

I'm Erika-- a twenty-something creative lady living in Seattle with my husband and crazy little doggie. My blog is a place where I document my love of vintage, DIY, fashion and little bits of my life. I also have a little accessories shop where I sell hair accessories, button earrings and pretty pillows.

When did you first get interested in crafting and creating? 

I have always loved creating things. Growing up I preferred to make clothes for my Barbie rather than play with her. My mom taught me to sew at a young age and I probably inherited my love for handmade from her.

What is your favorite thing to make?

I don't know if I have a favorite thing-- but I love learning how to make new things and feeling the success of making a new thing well.

What other hobbies do you have?

I love working on decorating my little home, hunting down treasures at thrift shops, and spending time with my family and friends. I also really love to cook and try out new recipes.

Thanks so much for everything Erika, I really appreciate it :)

So, would you guys like to see what you'll be entering to win? Yeah, I thought so...

The gorgeous nude satin flower headband. How. pretty. is. this?

I'm so incredibly jealous that I can't enter to win this :)

So here's how you can win:

mandatory entry (please leave the following two entries in ONE comment!)

1. You must visit Rouge and Whimsy and tell me what your favorite item is

2. You must be a follower of this blog

Extra entries (please leave one comment for each):

"heart" Rouge and Whimsy on etsy

follow Erika's blog

follow Erika's blog on bloglovin

follow Erika on twitter

"heart" my shop on etsy

Happy entering friends!

-hannah

a holiday GIVEAWAY!

That's right, I have a giveaway to kick off the beginning of the holiday season! But guess what? There's not just one prize! Yep, you heard me, there will be two winners of this giveaway.

Let's see the prizes and their extremely talented creators, shall we?

prize #1:
The Amber Beaded Bohemian Feather Headband donated by Melanie of Neesie Designs.

When Melanie agreed to donate an item she let me choose which headband from her shop to give away. I was eyeing this one (it was my personal favorite) so I chose it!
When she sent me the headband so I could ship it off to the winner she mentioned she put a little "thank you" in the package for allowing her to be featured on my blog.
Inside the box was the headband above and almost the exact same one! I was so excited. Melanie, thanks again so much for the generous gift :)

Any-who, let's get to know Melanie some more...

Tell us a bit about yourself:

Hi. I'm Melanie and I'm the one woman show of Neesie Designs. I work in the fashion industry and live in NYC. I love going to see shows, eating out at all the unique and wonderful restaurants the city has to offer, flea marketing, thrift and vintage store shopping, and of course crafts fairs. I LOVE craft fairs. 

When did you get into crafting?

I've been creative as long as I can remember. But I think that I truly started to craft things when I was about 11 years old. I would gather dried and fake flowers and make flower arrangements, wreaths, and displays for the holidays. 

What is your very favorite thing to make?

I really enjoy making the woodland crowns. I think that it derives from the joy of making wreaths when I was younger. I've always felt that there's something magical about crowns, which may very well come from my love of princesses and fairy tales. But to make them now for my shoppe and to have people wear them for their weddings, festivals and other special events has been a really joy to share. 

What are some other hobbies you enjoy?

I love collecting postcards of other artist's work and framing them in my house. I have quite a collection. I still continue to make wreaths on occasion. I also love to collect interesting things at craft fairs and use them to make my accessories, which is how I first came up with my bullet headbands. I had a bucket of empty bullet shells just sitting in my room for months. I would just stare at it every now and again until the concept finally came to me. I love making something great from what someone else has discarded.

Thanks again so much Melanie!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Have you guys forgotten there is one more prize? Well, without further ado....

prize #2:
Two eyeshadows from Madison Street Beauty in the colors Wisteria and Galaxy

Now, you guys have heard me rave about MSB's products before, but I don't think you understand how amazing these shadows are.

they. are. amazing.

And these two shadows were specifically donated because the ever-talented Bridget liked my makeup tutorial using these colors, called Midnight Plum.
Ever since I bought my first five shadows from MSB, I have purchased thirteen others and Bridget has kindly included several samples of new shadows, so my makeup drawer is now overflowing with her products, which completely fine with me ;)

Here's a little more about Bridget:

Tell us a bit about yourself

My name is Bridget and I'm 28 years old, I am married to the love of my life, Rhys, and we live in Las Vegas. When I met Rhys six years ago I was a radio personality in my hometown and since then I have been a bartender on a train in Alaska, a receptionist in a spa and a dozen other things before doing what I do now. I feel so grateful that I have a job that I love and that I can also spend the majority of my time with the ones I love.

When did you get interested in makeup?

I can honestly say that I have been interested in makeup for as long as I can remember! When I was a teen I got into makeup in a big way until I turned 20 and my skin really took a turn for the worse. At that point I stopped wearing it for fun and I started wearing it more as a necessity

When did you start making makeup? Was it/is it difficult?

After trying a million skin care products and a million more different cosmetics I realized that my bad skin was caused by what I was putting on my skin. I did a lot of research and I discovered that the only way I could use makeup without anything “bad” in it was to make it myself. I started making foundation for myself about 8 years ago and it wasn't long before I got requests from friends and family so it quickly became a hobby of mine. It was a little overwhelming at first but I always found creating makeup fun so it never felt overly difficult. The more confident I became in making new things, the easier it got. The most difficult thing to do was to believe in myself. I am still getting into new things but now, I have the confidence to try out something new rather than just telling myself that it's too hard to do and never trying it out. 

What is your favorite thing to make?

Eye shadow! Making eye shadow is easily my favorite thing to make because I find it really fun to experiment with and there is no end to the amount of colors that can be made. Lately I have really been interested in lip products and have been playing around with different lip colors.

Are you a huge beauty addict yourself?

I hate to admit it but I am a massive beauty addict. I have always believed that a girl can never have too many shoes or enough beauty goodies! I am always looking for the perfect hair product for curls and have probably spent a small fortune on hair products in the past. 

If you had to get rid of either all of your eye shadows or all of your eyeliners, which would you keep?

That is a tough question! I would have to say eye liners. Although eye liner is so important for framing the eye, I find that eye shadow can really bring out your eyes and even transform your whole look.

A million thanks Bridget!

Okay, so if you're still here, you probably want to know how you can enter to win one of these awesome prizes. Here's how:

•mandatory entry•

leave a comment saying what your favorite thing about the holidays is

•extra entries•

follow this blog

follow Bridget's blog

heart Melanie's shop

heart Bridget's shop

"like" Melanie's facebook page

"like" Bridget's facebook page

add Melanie to your circle on etsy
post about this giveaway on your blog and leave the link in a comment

So enter away friends! And also, the shadows pictures above are actually mine, the winner's are still sealed up tight, but believe me, they are the exact same colors :) The winners will be chosen fairly and randomly by random.org on Friday December 9th.

-hannah

p.s. If you use the coupon code HOLIDAY2011 you'll get 10% off your purchase before shipping in Melanie's shop, and the code SBS60 for 60% off your purchase at Bridget's shop!

lack of inspiration+giveaway winner

purchase *here*

Lately I've been in need of inspiration. Photography inspiration, fashion inspiration, etc.
There are several people I go to for this:

number one: carlotta

Carlotta has just about the most stunning posts ever, always chock-full of amazing photography and beautiful writing.

number two: jessica shae


jessica has photos that are the perfect cure for my not-so-creative days, most of her posts feature beautiful whimsical photos that are just about to die for ;)


number three: stephanie williams


this woman has my dream job. I'm serious. I've looked at all of her sessions about a bazillion and one times and I haven't gotten tired of them yet, and I doubt I ever will! I can't even tell you how much I would love to be the Ruche or Threadsence lookbook photographer. Plus, did I mention how uh-MAZ-ing her photography is? Make sure to check her out!


Well, I'm pretty sure my need for inspiration has been cured! Which brings me to the subject of our giveaway winner! The winner is:

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

hope!

Congratulations hope, please email me.

That's it for now friends, so long!

-hannah

now announcing...

the re-launch of my design business, now named Simply You Designs! SYD offers lovely custom blog designs for extremely low prices. And to celebrate this re-launch, I'm giving away this package:

A Little Bit More Package...................$8

1 removable header

1 removable background (two or three column, please specify)

1 blog button

1 signature

1 menu bar

1 post divider

1favicon

up to 4 sidebar titles

template adjustments

custom coloring of fonts, borders, etc.

installation

I'm excited! Are you excited? So, here's how to enter:

{mandatory entry}

comment and tell me what colors you would like in your design if you won :)

{extra entries}

1. follow my {beautiful} nutty life

2. blog/tweet about this giveaway

3. have my link in your sidebar/good reads list

Four ways to win people! Start entering!

-hannah

giveaway winner

Hi guys! Last weeks giveaway winner is...

Thats the second giveaway Lauren won on here! Girl, you are a lucky dog! Oh, and there were only twelve entries last week. Come on guys.....

And I'm sorry to say there will be no giveaway this week, but, there will be next week so stay tuned! Also, sorry for announcing the winner a little late!

Moving right along...

I downloaded FreeMind on our computer yesterday and I've been tooling around with it a bit.

For any of you who are wondering, I did not outright copy Ara's layout, The names for the branches just fit :)

Inspired by the ever wonderful Ara I got to work.

This is possibly the best outlining tool on earth, and I don't even like outlining!

Anywho, here's what I've been up to for the past few days:

I've been oil painting!! Oil is my new favorite medium. Here's my favorite one that I've done so far:

I love this! I think this is the first tiger I've painted/drawn in my life. Except I did few when I was little and they were *cough* terrible ;)

Aah, and a few days ago I was baking and luckily there were still leftovers:

so. good.

Question: What is your favorite dessert? I love cake but you can't beat a good old ice cream sundae!

Happy Friday!

-hannah