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$50 Dollar USD Giftcard
I am SO pleased to team up with Shabby Apple for this giveaway!
Shabby Apple's online store is full of beautiful and stylish modest clothing that I would love to fill my wardrobe with. Their specialty is no-fuss dresses that can be worn simply without the need to add tank tops or cardigans (except pretty accessories of course!). Brilliant!
One lucky winner will ONE $50 giftcard to use on ANYTHING in their online store! HOORAY!
This giveaway is open to US residents only.
HOW TO ENTER:
1. Follow this blog either via Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin.
2. Like Shabby Apple on Facebook and comment below saying what dress or item you would choose!
ADDITIONAL ENTRIES:
-Tweet about this giveaway (and comment below saying you did so)
-Blog about this giveaway (and comment below with the link)
A winner will be drawn at random one week from today, so hurry hurry!
Good luck, ladies!
xo
DIY: Pretty Decorated Bowl
Hello lovely Talia Christine readers, my name is Dee and I blog over at dee*construction.
I am so honoured to be a guest blogger over here this week – I originally found Talia’s blog through a comment she’d made on A Beautiful Mess about living in NZ and was delighted to find out we lived in the same city, and actually knew some of the same people! Since then, we’ve hung out a bit and my 4yo has developed a bit of a crush on Audrey (but, seriously, how could you not??)
Two loves I have are natural materials and vintage needlework and today I want to show you how I combined the two as a simple and sweet wall decoration.
You will need:
Vintage embroidery or applique
Wooden bowl (these are quite common finds in op shops here)
Mod Podge & paint brush
Scissors
If you are using a vintage applique, simply trim it with your scissors as close as possible to the applique.
Then apply the Mod Podge to the reverse side and glue it to the wooden bowl.
Done!
If you are using a vintage embroidery, more care needs to be taken not to ruin the meticulous hand stitching. It’s difficult to see from the photo, but on the reverse side I applied Mod Podge all the way around the edge of the embroidery where I intended to trim it. This way, if I accidentally cut too close and snipped some thread, it wouldn’t come undone.
Once it had dried, I trimmed the part I wanted as close to the embroidery as I could.
Once I had cut it out, I went around the edges of the embroidery with one of the kids’ brown pencil crayons so that the remaining white fabric wouldn’t be so obvious.
Also, for this bowl I drew some hexagons in the background with a white pen to add interest to the background.
Then I applied the Mod Podge generously over the reverse side of the embroidery and glued it to the bowl as I did with the appliqued one.
(On this bowl I also Mod Podged the entire front of the bowl too because I had sanded the original varnish off)
I hope you liked this little idea and can find some time to give it a try.
Congratulations on 4 years of blogging Talia!
Dee X
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Um, guys, Dee is seriously so brilliant! I LOVE this DIY! I can't wait to try this out for myself.
Dee blogs over at Dee*Construction about her craftiness, pretty dolls, and her beautiful (SERIOUSLY beautiful) family. I'm lucky enough to know Dee personally. She's just amazing. She's a great mom and a good friend. One time, when Audrey had the measles, she dropped a meal off for us because having a sick kid is rough. She just had a baby too. I should have been the one bringing HER a meal. She is always an inspiration.
Pop on over to her blog and give her some love! xo Talia
On being far away
When my husband and I got married almost five years ago, we felt like such adults. We moved into our first apartment. We got a dog. Eventually we bought a house with seven rose bushes in the backyard.
Two and a half years later, for various reasons, we decided we needed to move away. Far away. Not as far as Talia, but a thousand miles. A thousand miles from our family and friends. From everything we'd been raised with, every familiar building and road, every favorite cafe and local band.
We moved a thousand miles away from everything and everyone who had raised us. And we didn't realize until that point how much our families and friends really played into how we built our household. Suddenly, it was all up to us. Sure, we still skype and talk on the phone and email and get occasional visits from our family. But in a really heavy sense, we're in this on our own.
We've built a new family on our own. We're figuring out what kind of parents we want to be, without the benefit of having our parents on our doorstep a half hour after we call them for advice. We've stocked our pantries, tended our garden, chosen favorite nursery rhymes, had new babies, figured out chore schedules on our own. Gone (for now) are the days of calling my mother over to show me how to make baguettes. Or of my father-in-law stopping in after work to take a look at the broken washer. Family restaurant dates and discussions of the stages of childhood just aren't within our grasp right now.
We both long to live close to our families again someday. But in the meantime, it really has been sweet knowing that we can survive away from the most influential people in our lives - just as they learned to do decades before us. We're truly following in their footsteps. We're building a distinct family and taking charge of it - and every little new tradition we start is a reminder of that. Every new Christmas cookie recipe, every family car ride game, every weed pulled from the lettuce patch. We're doing just what they taught us to do. It's sort of like we're not really too far from them after all.
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Thank you for sharing this beautiful post with us, Naomi! This hits home for me in particular being so far away from my family. But we're also really blessed to have Phil's family close by.
Naomi has the prettiest blog over at ofanselm.com. She blogs honestly about her life with kiddos and takes the prettiest pictures. I want to take pictures like her one day. I think she's the bee's knees. And we're also pen pals. Which I think is really really cool. xo Talia
Y'all. I am SO excited for this giveaway by Hunter Gatherer!
Gem is a sweet friend of mine who runs Hunter Gatherer with her husband Nate. Seriously a babe-tastic duo. They create and sell beautiful things for their shop as well as peddle vintage wares on their Facebook page.
ONE lucky winner will receive a $20 USD voucher for their Etsy shop, Hunter Gatherer. Ruling!!
Giveaway is open to New Zealand and international readers.
TO ENTER:
1. Be a follow of this blog either through Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin.
2. Like Hunter Gatherer on Facebook and comment below what item you'd pick if you won!
FOR ADDITIONAL ENTRIES:
-Tweet about the giveaway (And then comment below)
-Blog about the giveaway (And comment with the link)
The winner will be chosen by random on June 4th! Hurry hurry!
GOOD LUCK!!
xo Talia & Gem
I've been thinking a lot about blogging lately. It's a funny thing that snuck into my heart and has become a significant part of my life. Through blogging I've learned SO much, I've been inspired and challenged, and I've met some amazing people that I otherwise would never have crossed paths with.
In all honesty, I feel pretty lucky to have connected with so many of you. I feel pretty lucky to have such support. And it feels pretty good to have a platform to get creative and share.
In short, you guys rule. And I couldn't have blogged so long without you. So this party is about YOU!
Stay tuned for giveaways, guest posts, and DIYs!
Let the party begin!!
This Monday is my blog's 4 year bloggiversary! Can you believe it's been 4 years?
To celebrate I'm putting on a blog party ALL WEEK to say thank you to all my wonderful readers!
There will be guest posts, giveaways, and general festiveness for YOU!
Be there. You won't want to miss this one.
xo
I love blogging. I really do. I'm not always inspired enough to blog. Sometimes I'm just too busy with life. And it's generally bits of life that are just too bland to blog about.
It's not that I intentionally try to hide the rest of my life or be secretive about it. I like to focus on the positive things in my life. I enjoy sharing the things I've made or cool experiences we've had. I try not to ever publicly complain and you'll never see me tear down my loved ones in an online rant. I focus on the wonderful things in my life but my life isn't all glitter and fancy.
Still though, there are bits that I won't post because it's just too hum-drum, I don't want to needlessly embarrass myself, or it's too personal and I just don't like getting told how to do this or that by strangers.
But I thought it was time for a little honesty, inspired by this lady.
Sometimes I just want to be REAL with you.
source
I am really really hate to do laundry, to the point that I mostly try and ignore it. Every step of laundry is like pulling teeth for me. Putting it in the washing machine (no big deal, but I still avoid it). Taking it OUT of the washing machine (doesn't happen as often or as soon as it should). Re-washing it because I left it too long. Hanging it up (ugh). Folding it. (ugh!) Putting it away (Kill me now.)
I hardly ever get dressed. My daily uniform is a t-shirt and sweatpants. I LOVE getting dressed up, but I hardly ever go anywhere or have any visitors so I mostly just don't see the point in creating more laundry. Yup. There we go with the laundry again.
I'm kind of a terrible housekeeper. I want to be awesome at keeping my house clean. But it just doesn't happen. I'm too busy with the baby (which I love) and too busy with my crafts (which I also love) to be totally on top of the housework (which just doesn't seem as important). I really admire my girlfriends who can keep a clean house with kiddos. I'm just not one of them. Though I'd like you to think I am.
Though I will mention that it's clean under the mess. It's just untidy. Not dirty.
One time, I had a giant pile of clean clothes in our room. It was there a long time. Like. Weeks. My excuse was I was going to clean out my closet so that me and Phil could share our small closet in our room. I had difficulty finding the time to sort it out and the clothes pile grew and stuck around a long time. Then, my friend Dee came over to our house for the first time. I cleaned the house pretty good but I didn't have time to deal with the washing. So I did what any sane person would do... I stuffed it all in suitcases and hid the mess. EMBARRASSING. It stayed in the suitcases a few days. Even more embarrassing.
...Don't worry. It's all tidied up properly now. But it's still embarrassing to think about. haha
I know I gave birth naturally and everything, but I'm really afraid to go through it all again. It's hard for me to think about without crying a little. It's not like I had a near-death experience or anything. I just remember labor being really terrifying and it shook me to my core. When we get pregnant again, I know I'm going to have to face it. I WANT to face it and make peace with labor. And to try again to have a natural labor. I just don't want to face it right now. I don't feel brave enough.
(And here I go crying a little bit again.)
I don't shower as often as I should. You might think it's because I'm a hippy. But I'm not. Far from it. My hair is just too daunting to deal with so it's easier to leave it a few days so I have to tame it less often.
I kinda need a shower right now actually.
What are you afraid to tell?
Talia Christine
