Saturday Social Features and a WINNER!!

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!  If you were on the east coast, I hope you stayed out of Irene's way, and are safe and sound.  My family lives in the town in New Jersey (Little Egg Harbor) where the hurricane made landfall early this morning.  They are all safe and were spared any floods or damage than goodness.  My sister did see the eye this morning though - she said it was really eerie!!

I on the other hand, spent the weekend at Lake Hartwell in North Georgia with some friends.  We had lots of fun in the sun, and it was a much needed weekend away.  Very relaxing!!

Addie with her friends on Lake Hartwell

Before I announce the winner of my very first giveaway, I wanted to post my favorites from Saturday Social this weekend.

First, is a very delicious looking dish shared by Colleen at So Much to Say.  You can find the recipe for this Fusilli alla Caprese on her blog.  How refreshing does this look?  I pinned this and planned to make it for dinner this week!

 

My other feature is this awesome antique sap bucket turned trashcan!  This is one of many before and afters that Melissa posted at Shabby Love this week.  You have to check out all of the others as well - so great!!

If you were featured, please feel free to grab a button from my sidebar.

OK - and now for what you have been waiting for!!!  This lucky person wins a set of 20 personalized stationery from yours truly!  You can choose any combination of the four patterns shown here.

To choose my winner, I printed all of the comments from the contest post, cut them in equal sized strips, folded them and placed them in a container.

Then, Addison chose the winner for me - she was so excited to be a part of it!!!  And the lucky winner is.......

EVE!!!!!  Please shoot me an email:  jennifer@socialsalutations.com to let me know how many of which colors you want.  Congratulations!!!  

Thank you to everyone who entered!  Hopefully I can do another one soon!!  Have a great week!

Saturday Social Week 13 Features

Thanks again to everyone for linking up!!  I hope you all had a fabulous weekend - mine wasn't so good.  I came down with a cold on Thursday, and it has gotten progressively worse each day.  Who in the world gets sick during the summer??  Me I suppose...that's ok.  It gave me a much needed excuse to stay home and work on some orders, so at least I was productive, right?

There were a lot of great recipes linked up this week, and it was hard to choose.  In the end, I went with the ones that made my mouth water the most.  LOL.  I also chose the craft that made my mouth water the most - so pretty!!

Let's start with breakfast.  Brie Joy from Breezy Pink Daisies shared this amazing Blueberry Buckle.  I just had a conversation with Addie yesterday about making blueberry muffins, but have decided to make this instead!  I can already see myself enjoying this with my morning coffee!! 

Next, is a savory Chicken Wire Memo Board made by my friend Jen at Scissors and Spatulas!  Can we say night and day??  We go from a very manly (hubby-esque) Buck,  to a pretty, girlie, lovely creation!  I love the shape of the frame, and the fabric she used.  Gorgeous!!

Finally, we come to dessert!!  So, this chocolate cheesecake has only 4 ingredients.  I think even I could make this!!  Nikki from Chef-N-Training always has the best recipes that look so amazing!  Drool....

Feel free to grab a button from my sidebar if you were featured.  Tune in tomorrow for my 100 Follower Giveaway!!!

Saturday Social Features

Thank you everyone for linking up this week!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  Mine was jam packed as usual, but hubby and I had a really great date!  Hubby won backstage passes to Keith Urban, so we drove to Augusta for the concert last night.  What an amazing time - and meeting Keith wasn't so bad either!!  We are waiting for our picture with him to be uploaded to the tour site, so I will share it when it's up!  OK - back to the party!!

Crissy's Crafts shared this awesome metal flower made out of an Arizona Iced Tea Can!  This flower can be added to just about anything - gift wrap, a tote, you name it!  She shares the tutorial - check it out!!  LOVE it!!

Vivienne from The V Spot shared this amazing media cabinet transformation.  From the before photos, this looks like a completely different piece!  Pretty incredible!!

Anne from Wobisobi shared a video tutorial on how to make these awesome double wrapped bracelets.  So easy, and so cute!  I can see making these becoming addictive!!

I am so jealous over Pamela's organized and beautiful Pantry Makeover over at PB&J Stories!  I have been wanting to do this forever, and haven't gotten around to it yet.  She did such an amazing job!!

Thanks again to everyone for joining the party this week!  If you were featured, feel free to grab a button from my sidebar!  Have a great week!  Tune in to see if I reach 100 Followers (only 3 away)!!!

Hopefully there is a giveaway in the near future!!

Saturday Social Features

 Before I start my features, I just have to say that today has been an emotional day for me.  My gram passed away exactly one year ago today, and I miss her sooo much!  There are so many times I have wanted to just pick up the phone and call to tell her something. I can still hear her voice in my head, "Hi Jennifer" when I called, or always telling me to "get" (while laughingly slapping my hand), when I tried to steal something off the counter when she was cooking.  She was the best cook (much like Paula Dean with the amount of butter she used), and she and my grandfather loved to bake together.  She was a wonderful woman and I miss her every day.  I am blessed to have so many amazing memories of her!

This first feature made me cry.  I'll admit it.  Maggie at Midwestern Sewing Girl made this absolutely beautiful mini album full of photos from when her Gran was younger.  I love this - I need to get my hands on some old photos so I can make one of these.  

I almost lost it when I saw these PAINTED shoes from Southern Lovely.  The yellow is awesome!  I need me a pair of yellow shoes!  Thanks for sharing the tutorial Lindsay!!

Finally - this next project is pinned to my "Things I Have To Make" board.  Kim from It's a Crafty Life made this bench from scratch!!  I LOVE it!  I have been wanting to buy a bench, but now I can just MAKE one!!  This fabric is great too!

Thanks everyone for linking up!!  You think I was emotional today?  Wait till tomorrow - my baby is starting KINDERGARTEN!!!

Saturday Social Features

This weekend FLEW by!!  I swear I feel like every week it is Friday night, I blink, and then the weekend is over already!!

There were once again, some great projects linked up this week!!  I had a lot of fun reading all of them!  Thank you to everyone who linked up - you are all amazing, and I am honored that you come to party with me every weekend!!

The first feature I would like to share is this Coffee Grinder from The Savvy Shanty.  Ginger found this baby at Goodwill.  Not only would I have mistakenly passed this right by without a second look, but never would have thought to actually PAINT it! LOVE!!!

Vivienne from The V Spot made this awesome Newspaper Sailboat - which looks amazing!  I think the best part is that she made it all using only what she had in her house!  So super cute!

Finally,  this PVC Framed Canopy Bed is ingenious!!  Brandy from Gluesticks enlisted the help of her hubby, who built the frame for this awesome bed - fit for a princess!!

Thanks again for linking up!  If you were featured, feel free to grab a button from my sidebar!  

Have a great week!

Saturday Social Features

Why does the weekend have to go so fast??  Wasn't it just Friday night?  We had Addie's party yesterday - she had a blast!!  I still have to upload all of the pictures, so hopefully I can share everything with you tomorrow!  

I was so excited for the projects that were linked up this week.  There were some seriously good recipes AND creative crafting going on!  I hope everyone comes back next week - it's nice to see some new faces here!  I love meeting new bloggers and finding great new projects to admire!!

I loved this beachy vignette that Carolyn at Desire Empire dedicated to her followers.  Isn't it beautiful??  Something about a blue and white color combo gets me every time!!

These Antipasto Skewers from So Much to Say look soooo good!!  I just loved this idea - and these are now pinned to my "Good Food!!!" collection.  The Italian in me was lusting over these!! Thanks Colleen!!

Finally - Anna at Blissful Whimsy has done it again!   This decoupaged bedside table is so adorable!!  She used pages from old books, and really added some whimsy with some Winnie the Pooh pictures.  So cute!!

If you were featured - feel free to grab a button from my sidebar.  Thanks again for linking up!  Can't wait till next Saturday!!

Sunday Features from Saturday Social

Thank you to everyone for linking up!  To those of you who have been here every week - thank you a million!!  For those of you who were new this week - thank you for joining, and please come back next week!!  The more, the merrier!!!

Once again, choosing my favorites was tough!!  One thing to mention - each one of these projects has an awesome tutorial posted - make sure you check them all out!!  Since I'm late posting these again, I'll get right down to it - no more jibber jabber! 

These Leather, Feather Earrings from Wobisobi are to DIE for!!!  Anne is seriously talented - and I NEED a pair of these earrings!!!

I attempted to make a sign a few weeks ago - you haven't seen it on my blog (and there is a reason for that!!)  Vivienne from The V Spot made this awesome Vintage Lake Sign.  This is on my to-do (or redo) list for sure!!!

How good does this Bacon Apple Bruschetta look?  My mouth is watering looking at it!  I love me some savory dishes!!  Laura from Storybook Reality posted the recipe - this has already been pinned by me to make for my next get together!!

Carole at The Jubilee Circus has a great tutorial on how to make Corker Bows.  I have been wanting to try this for awhile, but wasn't quite sure how.  This was her first attempt - what a fantastic job!!  Thanks Carole!!

Great projects this week!!  Join me again next weekend!!  If you were featured - grab a button from my sidebar!

Oh, and by the way....a fellow blogger has a huge giveaway going on right now, and one of my tutus is included!!  I'll tell you more about it tomorrow!!

Featured Links from the First Ever Saturday Social!!

I want to start by thanking everyone who linked up to the very first Saturday Social!  I was so afraid that nobody would show up to my party (especially with the holiday weekend)!!  BUT - you came, and even braved the TEENINSY thumbnails.  I apologize for that - mama said you learn something every day, and in this case, it was the size settings for the thumbnail images.  As soon as the first link came in, I was emailing McLinky to find out how I could make them bigger (now!!).  I found out that it's possibly in the middle of a party, but at the expense of the first linkees - their images would get crazy pixelated.  So, I decided to leave them as is.  I promise though, next weekend, they'll look much better!!

All projects that were linked up were great, and I contemplated featuring everyone, but I thought that might take the fun out of the party.  In the end, I decided on my three favorites (this is way harder than I thought it would be - it's like choosing which child is your favorite!!).

The first is from Grey Luster Girl.  This baby girl (and mom) gift is amazing.  A beautiful onesie, matching hair clip, car seat canopy, bag, thank you cards an more!  Really amazing - I would love to receive this as a gift!!  

The second are these beautiful satin hairbows from Blissful Whimsy.  They look so soft - I just want to run my finger over the satin!  

And finally, these faux built-ins from Windgate Lane.  The stenciling is beautiful, and the shelves were transformed (and at a great price!).

Thanks again for linking up - come back next week!  I will have bigger thumbnails, I promise!  Can anyone recommend the best size to use??

Feel free to grab the button below for your blog if you were featured!




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Have a great Memorial Day!!  I'm off to the lake!