And the Winners Are...

In my 300th post/holiday giveaway:

The winner of the large round box is Lina T. from Denmark!

(Lina, I don't have your email address, so please email me!):

The winner of the three small square boxes are: 

Emily, Smarts, and The Gardeners Cottage!

Congratulations to the winners!  I have emailed everyone and as soon as I get your address, I will mail your boxes!  

And a huge thanks to sweet Noel of Fanciful Designs for providing these beautiful creations and going in with me on the giveaway.  You are a jewel Noel!

Merry Christmas everyone...

~ A Fanciful Little Giveaway ~

To commemorate my 300th post, and to celebrate the holiday season, I'm having a wee giveaway! 

A couple of weeks ago, I contacted my blogger friend Noel, a very talented artist and founder of Fanciful Designs, to buy a few of her paper box creations for a giveaway (and also one for myself)!  I have been coveting Noel's French-inspired designs since I first saw her lovely Etsy shop!

Noel was so gracious and offered to go in with me on the giveaway!  So, we are giving away three small square boxes from her Etsy shop (shown above and below), and one larger round box (not shown...I will photograph this tomorrow night).   

All the boxes have a Christmas style, but are so elegant and timeless you can display them all year.  Right now, I have them all sitting in my china cabinet and they look so pretty it will be hard to part with them!

The wax seals come in ivory, red, and gold.

These boxes are little jewels – so dainty and sophisticated, like all of Noel's work.  I also thought they would be an easy giveaway as they are small and lightweight for mailing. 

To enter the draw for one of four boxes, all you have to do is leave me a comment!

I will draw the winners on Saturday, December 5th at 12 noon (Mountain  Time), so I can get these mailed out before Christmas.  Winners in North America will likely receive their boxes by Christmas – others may be a little late!

 

Good luck!  

And if you want to buy one for yourself, please check out Noels' Etsy shop!

Domino Magazine Subscription Winner

Hello dear Readers!  

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The winner of the Domino magazine subscription giveaway is:

Blue Muse 

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Blue Muse (Isa) has a wonderful blog called The World According to Isa that you definitely must visit.  Isa's gentle and spirited site is brimming with beautiful music, incredible photographs, gracious quotes and tons of inspiration!

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Please visit her and leave her a word of encouragement as she and her partner undertake a wonderful  reno project of their lovely beach home and guest cottage.

Thanks to all who took time to enter and leave your comments!

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As for me, I am busy with a new yoga class on Saturdays and a Photoshop class on Wednesday nights, so my plate seems rather full all of a sudden.  Please check back as I will try to post soon.  

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Love Terri xo

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Domino Subscription Giveaway!

Warning: this offer is for U.S. readers only!

For Christmas, I received a lovely (and well-known) book called  "domino: The Book of Decorating" by the oh-so-talented producers of domino magazine.  I know that many people own this illustrious and delicious book, and if you do, you were lucky enough to receive a free subscription card to the magazine, tucked at the back of the book.  The card gives you a free annual subscription (that's 10 issues)!

But to my dismay, the subscription card is good for "U.S. subscribers only".  This seems to be the story of my life in Canada - we're your biggest trading partner, but no one seems to know that we exist here in the frosty un-decorated north.  Oh well, after drowning my sorrows in a pan of chocolate chip brownies, I've emerged and decided to re-gift my subscription card to YOU!

Above: Designer Windor Smith's (oh, I love her!) house in domino magazine 2007

Above:  Designer Schuyler Samperton's (I think - correct me if I'm wrong) own house in domino magazine

So, if you are a U.S. reader of this blog, just leave me a comment below (or send me an email) and I will draw a name next week and send YOU my subscription card.  You just mail it in and get a 1-year subscription to domino, for free!

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I will make the draw next Friday, Jaunary 23rd at 8pm mountain time. 

P.S.  If you're unfamiliar with domino, please check out the links or pick up an issue.  Domino is a very youthful, colourful, whimsical yet sophisticated version of your mama's decorating magazines.  This magazine has a ton of character and is steeped in decorating fundamentals, but takes an offbeat, and cheerful approach to the classics.  I promise you will love it whether you're a traditionalist, a modernist or somewhere in between.  And while there is a ton of colour, there is also a sacred love of white within its stylish pages.  It's lively style will totally rejuvenate your decorating!  

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To me, reading domino is like cutting in to a juicy fresh Florida orange after a long dark winter eating oatmeal! 

Leave me a comment and I'll put your name in the draw!  

Sorry to all non-U.S. readers - now you can be just as disappointed as I was!

A Gift from Sweden

Last week, I received a wonderful gift from Sweden!  I was so excited as I love gifts (who doesn't?), especially if they are from lovely new friends in lovely places!  My dear blogging friend Poppins decided that I should try a certain Swedish Christmas sweet (Juleskum) she had mentioned in a post (I have a very sweet tooth).  So she went to the trouble of sending me a wonderful and thoughtful care package!

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You can imagine how excited I was when I opened her parcel with all these things!

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Not only did she send me two packages of Juleskum (also called tomteskum), she also sent me a gorgeous Swedish decorating magazine called "Hem & Antik" (which means "home and antique" since it's a beautiful blend of contemporary and antique styles).  See, my Swedish is improving already!  And she sent me Christmas decorations and a lovely vintage postcard.

  The juleskum are very sweet pink marshmallow fruit candy in the shape of Santa Claus.  They are delicious, fruity, chewy, and very, very sweet.  So far I have eaten one every day (I am rationing) but really want to just keep them to look at and smile at!

Poppins also gave me an adorable set of felt ornaments for my Christmas tree - aren't they lovely?  They remind me of shortbread cookies and look good enough to eat. I love them because they are so thoughtful and pretty and seem very Swedish to me. 

Here's how they look on the tiny tree in my kitchen:

We're taking the decorations down tomorrow, but I'm happy I got to enjoy them for the past week.  They look just like cookies, don't they?

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I've also enjoyed reading "Hem & Antik" immensely.  Let me tell you, the Swedish decorating magazines are everything you'd expect and more (I wonder what they'd charge for a subscription to Canada?).  I took some photos of pages in the magazine, which is full of gorgeous and unique rooms, and lots of white!  I'm starting to pick up a few Swedish words too, but boy is it hard to read a magazine in a language you don't know at all!  I kept looking at the captions over-and-over until I realized it really wasn't helping!

I loved the bare branch Christmas "tree" in the photo above, decorated with old-fashioned things.  It is so elegant.

The white room above is picture perfect with its real winter foliage!

I really love this elegant room - the placement of a beautiful table at the end of the bed is such a wonderful idea.  Isn't this a perfect vignette?!

Thanks Poppins for your thoughtful gift!  

Your gift really lifted my spirits at a difficult time!

~ T H A N K   Y O U ~