December Giveaway: Apple iPad 2 // CLOSED

( 1 // 2 // 3 )

I knew I wanted to end this year of giveaways with a bang. We spent a good portion of October wondering what on earth we were going to do for December (we like to plan ahead) but we were coming up empty handed. This year I've given away entirely too many Lomography cameras (my favorite!), a FlipCam, a ukulele, giftcards, etc. I had saved a little bit of cash from each month's sponsors to pay for all of the prizes, and I stashed away a little extra each month for December because I knew I wanted it to be big. Luckily we got a major deal with a friend of ours and I couldn't be more stoked. I didn't take it out of the package (it's still like shrinkwrapped or whatever) because I knew if I opened it then it'd never go back. Mike and I both want one, but we can't really justify getting one right now. But man... I really want one! I never really cared for them until we considered getting one for the giveaway and now I think they're so neat. Even still, one lucky LCH reader will win a white 16GB wi-fi enabled iPad 2.  Think of it as a belated Christmas present or just a technological version of a hug from me for being such a fabulous addition to my day. Don't worry, I'd prefer the iPad over a hug, too! 

To be entered to win, be a follower via GFC (on the sidebar!) and leave a comment below with your favorite part of the holidays. (Be sure to leave your Twitter name or your email address so I can contact you if you win! You must do this first entry in order to win!)

For extra entries, you can: (Leave a separate comment for each entry!)

• Tweet about the giveaway using this tweet: "Enter to win a white Apple iPad 2 on @kaelahbee's blog! http://tinyurl.com/765rhwz"
• Blog about the giveaway and leave a comment with a link to your blog post
• Follow LCH via BlogLovin'
• "Like" LCH + Honeybean on Facebook

That's up to five different chances to win! Be sure to leave a separate comment for each and check back at the end of the month to see if you won! We'll have our regularly scheduled giveaways posting throughout the month as well! Good luck!

This giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere in the world. As long as you can use it, you can win it!

The winner of the November ukulele giveaway is Comment #525 Brittany R! Check your email, lady!


The winner of the iPad 2 giveaway this month is Comment #1161 Airica's Adventures! Congratulations Mama! 

A Thanksgiving Table Setting, One Week Late: Welcome to the 171th Tablescape Thursday!

I'm a week late but for this Tablescape Thursday I'm sharing the Thanksgiving table setting I had been working on when my camera cat-astrophe occurred. All the pics in this post were taken with the new camera, a Nikon D5100. This camera is super, duper light sensitive, which is why it works so well in low lighting situations. It will take me a little while to get used to the change, so please bear with me while I "learn" the camera.

For this Thanksgiving tablescape I envisioned a soft, sophisticated mix of shiny silvers and browns, with touches of amber.  I usually like bold pops of color in my tablescapes, but I went for a more subtle feel this year.

I never like using the leaf in the table, so this table setting is a little on the cozy side.  You like cozy, right?

Spode Woodland is my favorite pattern for Thanksgiving.

I forgot to take pics of the china without the acorn soup tureen on top, so I borrowed the next two pics from a previous Thanksgiving 'scape.  I added the turkey salad plates to this Woodland collection last year.  Or, was it the year before--I forget now.

Here's the dinner plate.  Another favorite of mine for Thanksgiving is the antler flatware I found on eBay a few years ago.  Since the set only included a fork and knife, I like to mix in the Spode Woodland flatware.

You may recognize the soup tureens.  I've used them previously in this Thanksgiving tablescape.  (Click link to view.)  For that tablescape, I mixed two different colored tureens: gold and brown.  For this table setting I chose to keep it simple, using only the brown.  The napkin rings are new this year, a find from Pottery Barn.  They worked great with this silver/brown/amber color scheme  They are etched with the words, Friends and Family--a perfect sentiment for a Thanksgiving feast.

The beautiful amber-colored stemware is "Breeze Amber" by Noritake.  You may remember it from THIS fall tablescape. Iced tea glass is Waterford, pattern is Araglin.

Spotted these cute antler ornaments at Walmart this year.  I removed the little gold hanging loop.

They made great place card holders for this woodsy table setting.  They also tied in beautifully with my centerpiece--more on that in a sec.  Each ornament was only  $1.97 and included two antlers, so all six place card holders were around $6.  When  you're out ornament shopping, keep your eye out for treasures you can use as place card holders or napkin rings.  It's an inexpensive way to add some creativity and playfulness to your table settings.

Do you recognize the large, mercury-glass, pumpkin candle holders?   They were last used in this Halloween table setting.  They continued the silver theme of this tablescape.  I placed them on either side of a 4-tiered, silverplate server and filled the server with natural elements: pine cones, acorns, nandina, spirea and antlers.

Last year I tried several times to win "shed" antlers on eBay, but alas, someone always managed to outbid me. This year when I saw Pottery Barn was asking $29 for just one faux antler, I decided to try again.  I just couldn't pay that for a fake antler.

As I shopped on eBay, I focused on the auctions for the "shed" antlers.  I really like the idea of using the naturally shed antlers for decorating. If you would like to read more about shed antlers, you can do that HERE.  I ended up winning 4 big, beautiful antlers for $61, the cost of 2 faux antlers at Pottery Barn.




You can see the beautiful coloring on these antlers.  They were still nice and fresh--you can tell because they still have a lot of the brownish coloring, as well as obvious wax rings.  The seller found these in the northwest corner of Minnesota.  I love knowing that.  Does that make me weird. lol   The antler centerpiece ties in with the antler flatware and antler place card holders.  See, there's method to my madness. ;)

If you look on ebay, search for "shed antlers.  Read the descriptions if you want to make sure they are truly shed antlers.  No need to buy faux when you can get the real, naturally shed antlers for a lot less.  I used two in the tiered server centerpiece and two on the table itself.  Something tells me they just may end up on a mantel or in a Christmas wreath this year.

I cut Fire Power nandina from the yard and mixed in some colorful spirea foliage for a tiered centerpiece.  The centerpiece is all natural and includes pine cones and acorns.  These are the acorns I blogged about HERE.  And for the record, no worms, yet.  I'll keep you posted on that.  I'm trying to avoid the "baking-in-the-oven" thing. lol  Check out the post and the comments for more details.

The silverplated tiered server could have used a bit of polishing but I thought the slightly tarnished look worked well with the woodsy theme of this table setting.  That's better than saying I was too lazy to polish it.

I've used this tiered server in a previous Christmas table setting, HERE.  It was nice and shiny for that tablescape.

Hope you enjoyed this Thanksgiving table setting.  Pssst:  Molding was added to this room a while back.  To see the "Before and After" click HERE.

Looking forward to all the beautiful tablescapes posted for this Tablescape Thursday!

To receive the latest posts, as well as updates about blog parties, subscribe via an RSS Reader or have BNOTP delivered right to your Inbox.  You'll find links to subscribe via RSS and Email on the sidebar to the right.  Thanks for reading; so glad you are here!

Reading this post via e-mail or RSS feed?
*If you are reading this via email or RSS feed, to view all the tablescapes linked for Tablescape Thursday, click HERE.

Please Read:
If you are participating in Tablescape Thursday, please be sure to add your permalink below, and not your general blog address. To get your permalink, click on your post name, then just copy and paste the address that shows up in the address bar, into the "url" box when you link up.

If you would like to use the Tablescape Thursday logo button in your post, just copy and paste it to your computer and upload it to your post as you would any photo. Or, grab the html code you'll find under the "BNOTP Parties" heading at the top of this blog.

Please link back to the party so your regular readers will find all your fellow Blogger's tablescapes, too.

Please, don't add your post name/blog name ALL IN CAPS...it tends to create big spaces between the rows of links. Thanks!

Let's try something fun today! Please visit the person who linked before you and after you...that way everyone will get some visits. Hope you'll visit more, of course.


Welcome! Thanks for coming to the party!

Loft Tour: Twinklelight City

I feel so thankful to live in such a creative space. I get to work somewhere that constantly inspires and surprises me (sometimes those surprises are spiders, but let's overlook that!). We've taken a glorified basement style loft and transformed it into a place we call home. Twinklelights everywhere, because why not right?! Sometimes it almost feels like we live in a planetarium.

I can't wait to have a normal sized hot water heater and a bath tub, but for now I'm happy with our freezing cold concrete floors and "everything is dusty within 15 minutes of wiping it down" home sweet home. It fits our current situation and we're happy to have a roof over our heads.

The lighting is far from ideal so it's almost impossible to get decent photos but these will serve as a little taste of our home. Excuse the random boxes, giant softbox, and plentiful Honeybean shoes... our home is our office and our storage shed! We've got an always-stocked bar, wicker furniture perfect for a garden party, and an antique pink couch that I can't seem to get rid of. (It's kind of like the girls' couch [obviously!] but I'm hoping to have it reupholstered eventually!) Home sweet home, here you have it! xo

Are you decorating for the holidays?

// wedding dress \\

so i got my wedding dress last night... i didn't think that i would find the absolute perfect one on my first night of trying on dresses, but i did. and i am so in love with it. it's so simple and perfect and just my style. more pictures to come. ♥

Oh how Pintersting.....Angels!

In honor of last nights Victoria Secret fashion show and the start of December tomorrow here are my pins on angels.  All different kinds :)

Hope that got you in the holiday spirit!

check out the other pins on The Vintage Apples link up!

Wedding Wednesday: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pie

Mike and I are getting really excited about putting our plans into motion for our October 2012 wedding. We made the decision several months ago to do a multitude of pies rather than cakes or cupcakes for the reception. We've been having fun playing with pie recipes ever since. While the Blueberry + Peach is still by far my favorite (yum!), we've also made apple pie and Blackberry+Pear! This one is our most recent attempt though! I baked one for my family on Thanksgiving (and we kept one at our home, too!). Mmmm! It's rich and gooey and positively divine when still warm! Of course all pie tastes better with ice cream in my opinion but this one hits a homerun!

I originally stumbled upon this recipe from Our Best Bites (which originated from Nestle) and they have the best pictures, too! I didn't manage to snap any while I was baking away (aside from the 3 which are obviously from my phone!) but I've included a few from OBB and you can always pop on over to see step-by-step photos if needed! I got to use my new baby KitchenAid mixer for this recipe and boy oh boy, it's a dream machine! 

Let me preface this recipe with this: It is so simple! I made a second one without even looking at the recipe and I clocked myself and five and a half minutes! Of course you need to bake it for an hour, but really, it's such a simple recipe! (I changed a tiny thing here or there, but not too much!)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pie

Ingredients:

1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust, homemade or store-bought.
2 large eggs
1/2 C flour
1/2 C white granulated sugar
1/2 C packed brown sugar
3/4 C real butter, softened (1 1/2 sticks)
1 C chocolate chips (semi-sweet or dark works best, you might find milk too sweet)
1 C candied pecans (you are welcome to make it without nuts)

Directions:

Vanilla ice cream, or sweetened whipped cream for serving (a must!  I prefer ice cream)

optional: chocolate sauce (honestly, doesn’t really need chocolate sauce, but it looks pretty!)

Preheat oven to 325° F.

Beat eggs in large mixer bowl on high speed until foamy. Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter. Stir in morsels and nuts. Spoon into pie shell.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between edge and center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack or serve slightly warmed.  Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Okay, so mine doesn't look all that delicious out of the oven, but I assure you it is! OBB makes a good point that it takes a lot less rich when it's cooled, but you can't really beat the oogey gooey goodness of a fresh-from-the-oven pie! iPhone photos and poor kitchen lighting do not do it justice. It's a super simple recipe with things you might already have in your house so you simply must give this a shot! Even if you don't like overly sweet things, this might tickle your fancy! (Mike even liked it!)


* Additional photos courtesy of Our Best Bites

Hang Wreaths on Your Exterior Windows: A Tutorial

Though I didn't have a working camera this week, I did manage to get all the "outside" wreaths hung and snapped a few pics for this tutorial.  The porch isn't decorated, yet.  This is an old pic from a past Christmas showing the wreaths across the front of the house.

Wreaths hung on windows across the front of a home has to be my most favorite Christmas decoration of all.  I've been hanging them on my home now for around 28 years, first at our old house and for the last 21 years on this home.  Each year when I hang them, I think back to the first time I saw them on the front of a house.  I marveled at the tremendous effort it must have taken to hang all those wreaths, envisioning long hours on a very, very tall ladder.  Then one day the proverbial light bulb went off and it hit me just how easy it would be to hang them.

You may already be hanging wreaths on your windows, but if not, this post is a little tutorial showing how I hang mine each year.  I have 13 windows on the front of my home.  When you first decide to hang wreaths, there's a bit of an initial investment.  After that, they last almost forever.  I did purchase new wreaths about 10 years ago but that was just because the first ones I bought were pretty skimpy.  Wreaths have come a long ways over the year--much more realistic looking now.

Measure your windows before purchasing your wreaths.  You don't want them to be too small or too big.  Apply the Goldilocks factor here.  For comparison, my windows are 32 inches wide and my wreaths are around 21-22 inches wide.

There are several ways to hang them.  You could buy those suction cup thingies that stick to windows.  I prefer hanging them from ribbons--just love the look of a wreath hanging from a pretty ribbon.  If you do wish to hang them with ribbon, be sure to buy outdoor ribbon.  You'll need about 4-5 feet for each wreath depending on the size/height of your windows.

I prefer to use 2 1/2 inch wide ribbon for my hanging ribbons.  The ribbon I originally used to hang my wreaths was narrow.  (See first pic of the house above to see the narrow hanging ribbon.)  When that ribbon eventually began to shred after many years of use, I bought the wider ribbon and I much prefer that look.  (See picture just above for wide ribbon look.)

After you've purchased your wreaths and your ribbon, you'll need to cut the ribbon and wrap it around the top of your wreath.  Previously I stapled the ribbon together after wrapping it around the top of the wreath.  That lasted for many years but eventually the staples began to cause the ribbon to shred.  That's when I changed the hanging ribbons out to the wider 2 1/2 inch ribbon.  I hot glued it together after wrapping it around the top of the wreath and it has held.  (see pic below)  Be careful if you use hot glue; you can feel it through the ribbon and it's HOT!

I purchased ready-made bows at Michael's for half-price after Christmas one year.  I chose bows with long flowing tails.  They look so pretty swirling in the breezes all during the month of December.  Again, there's a little investment in the beginning for your bows, but they last for many, many years.  These bows are around 8 years old now and they still look new.  You can place your bows at the top of your wreath or at the bottom--whatever look you prefer.  I'm a "bow at the bottom" girl.

Once you have all the hanging ribbons attached to your wreaths and all the bows are wired on, it's time to hang them.  Now, go get your 28 foot extension ladder and call your insurance company for a little extra life insurance.  Kidding!  If you have double sash windows (hope you do because that's what this tutorial covers) lower the top sash about a foot and push your be-ribboned wreath out the top.  Hold fast to the end of the hanging ribbon or you'll get some extra exercise running down to the yard to fetch it back.  I speak from experience.

I have wood windows so I just stick a push pin through the ribbon into the top of the window.  I try to hit the same hole each year.

Normally I let the tail of the ribbon drape down, but this year I decided to pull out my ancient candles and use them in the windows along with the wreaths.  So I pinned the tail of the hanging ribbon up with the push pin.

I haven't put the candles in the windows for many years.  In the past I tried battery operated candles but they were not nearly as bright as the electric ones.  So I donated those and stuck with the electric.  I just set the candle over the window lock and then run the cord through the side gap where the shutters close.  There's just enough space for it to fit.  I usually tape the cord in place on the window with a small piece of masking tape.  You could also place the candle on the window sill, if you prefer.  My shutters won't close with it there, but that would work for curtained windows.  Just make sure the bulb isn't touching the fabric or anything else that could burn or catch fire.

Oh, this year I noticed the flickering bulbs in Walmart.  They were around .97 cents each.  I bought some but after trying just one, I think I'm going to return them.  They are really pretty, but not very bright.  I may give them another try.  They really were pretty flickering red and orange in the window.

See what's outside this dormer window?  It's the top of the camellia I shared a couple of days ago HERE.  The cold hasn't killed the blooms, yet.  Unfortunately, it's just a matter of time.  Hopefully it will bloom again in late winter when it's really supposed to be blooming.  Georgia weather is so crazy.  Two days ago it was 70 degrees--now it's freezing out.  No wonder the plants are so confused.

Now, I want to show you something new I did this year since I'm using the electric candles in the windows again for the first time in many years.  It's a big improvement over what I've done in the past and was prompted by having a secretary in front of the outlet I would normally use.  I didn't want to unload everything out of the secretary to move it, so I decided to use the outlets you see on either side of the room.  (Note the arrows.)  It was still a bit of a pain getting behind the trunk on the left and the table on the right to plug in the extension cords.  They would be easier to move or reach behind than the hutch, but still a pain.

So I headed over to Big Lots (Walmart has these, too) and purchased several of these extension cords with the foot operated, on/off switch.   I bet you use these for your Christmas tree.  They are the best things!  You just step on it to turn your lights on or off---no fumbling behind furniture or trees to get to the outlet to unplug the lights on the tree, or in this case, the windows.  I definitely recommend this for window lights if you can hide it behind a table skirt or something near by.  I put one downstairs in the living room and I can turn the candles in both windows on and off with just one step.  This is going to make turning the candles on and off a cinch this year.  Another great option would be timers for your candles.  I saw bunches of those at Walmart, as well.  I may try those next year.

A final daylight view, taken with the new, correctly-focusing, camera.   See what I mean about the long ribbon streamers hanging below...love that look!  I hung the wreaths a tad higher than normal on the top windows so the candle would be right in the center of the wreath.  Normally they would be down just a bit lower and the tails of the bow would be almost touching the window sill.  I still haven't hung the wreaths or put the lights in the garage windows behind the magnolia and camellia.  The garage windows are filled with dead buggies and I just didn't feel like dealing with that yesterday.  Yuck.  What is it about garage windows?  They are bug magnets!

A previous year's view of the dormer windows with the garage windows below.  This pic was taken with the skinnier hanging ribbons, before I changed them out for the 2 1/2 inch wide ribbon.  The wider ribbon just looks so much better than the skimpy narrow ribbon for hanging.  I see camellias about to flower out in this pic, too.  I guess the camellia does this every year around this time.

Outdoor wreaths look as pretty from inside as they do outside.

An evening view:  I think I may need to dial down the wattage on those outside lanterns.  I never realized how bright they were until I took this picture.  You'll need to wear sun glasses if you visit my house at night.  Ha!

Did you notice the "Blue Hour" was approaching as I took this pic?  Of course, I couldn't see that through the camera--that sneaky Blue Hour.  You can read all about it, HERE.

What's your favorite Christmas decorating idea each year?  Do you hang wreaths from your windows?  Anyone with metal windows who hangs wreaths?  If the top sash lowers, perhaps the ribbon can just drape across the top and catch when the window is raised.  My windows aren't quite snug enough for that technique, hence my use of a push pin.

Would love to hear your technique for hanging wreaths.  Do you also use the electric candles?  Has anyone found  some really bright battery-operated candles and if so, how long do the batteries last?  Love hearing your ideas!

Happy wreath hanging!