Social Salutations is One!!

Well, it's here!  One year ago today I launched Social Salutations, and what a wonderful year it's been!!  There have been many ups and downs in my life over the past year, but one thing that has been a constant comfort for me has been all of you.  I have met so many amazing, talented people this year and have developed many friendships with people that I otherwise would never have met.  Crafting is my outlet - I seriously think I need it to stay sane.  To be able to share this passion here, and to share it with those who have similar passions is just amazing.  Thank you for everything - you are what keeps me motivated to keep writing and sharing my life and crafts!!

To celebrate I want to show my appreciation by doing a fun giveaway!  There is one amazing blogger in particular - Anne from WobiSobi, who has been my biggest supporter from day one.  She was my first follower, and has become a great friend.  If you haven't been over to WobiSobi before, you need to head over there.  Anne shares some amazing DIY re-styling tutorials and projects.  She pulls together some pretty amazing styles AND makes incredible jewelry.  In fact - she has offered to giveaway two of the bracelets you see in this photo - any two - your choice!!  Just leave me a comment below telling me which two are your favorite, and I will announce the winner on Friday!!

OK - Let's take a trip down memory lane now, shall we???

One year ago, I was laid off from my job as an Advertising Account Manager.  It was at that time (and I had a lot of time on my hands) that I decided to focus on building up my stationery business and thus started this blog.  That was it - the blog was a way to market my stationery.  Since then - it has become so much more than that!!

In the beginning, I needed a way to keep up the blogging and crafting - a reason to be held accountable. I also had a ton of projects on my to-do list that needed to get crossed off - that's where the 30 Day Craft Challenge began.  Some days, the crafts came easy - and others - I struggled a bit.  Here were some of my favorite projects from the challenge:

Anthropologie Knock Off Necklace

Yarn Wrapped Pencil Holders

Etched Glasses

Learning to Sew

 Valentine's Day Flowerpots

Mod Podged Playroom Table

This year, we had some bad news.  My mom (my best friend) was diagnosed with Stage 2 Cervical Cancer.  She underwent chemo and radiation, and is finally out of the woods.  She is a fighter and I admire her positive attitude and drive to beat it.  I spent a lot of time in NJ in the first half of the year, and in a way - being out of work at that time was a blessing in disguise.  It gave me the ability to go up there and help her through her medical treatment, and also the ability to help out with my sister's baby shower (my mom just didn't have the energy to do it all)!

BUT - amongst the bad was also good!  My sister had her first baby - a beautiful girl named Brooklyn!  Throwing her shower gave us a much needed distraction from everything else that was going on, and my mom and I ended up having a great time working on everything together!

 Nicole's Allstar Baby Shower

In May, I started my new job, and this blog suffered a bit - but I think I have finally worked out the scheduling.  Of course once this baby boy arrives, I will need to shuffle things around a bit again!  There are so many wonderful projects that I have done since then - here are just a few of my favorites:

Custom Bat Mitzvah Scrapbook

Numbered Kitchen Chairs and Kitchen Makeover

Summer Front Porch Makeover

Bright and Cheery Headband

Summer Mantle

 

Custom Thank You Cards

Addison's Birthday Crown

Thanksgiving Tablescape

Ruffled Tree Skirt

The best part of this year by far though has been finding out we are expecting our second child - a boy!!  We feel so blessed and are so excited to meet this little guy in a few short months! 

Thank you again for all of your love and support!  I can't wait to see what the next year brings for Social Salutations!!  Don't forget to enter to win those awesome bracelets!!

XOXO

Friday I'm In Love AND Inspired!!

It's the New Year, and a great time to start getting your 2012 bucket list together.  My list?  Let's see...  Finish the office, Decorate the Nursery, Paint and Organize the laundry room, frame the downstairs bathroom mirror (that was on my 2011 list as well) - the list goes on.  My picks today are all just projects I found where talented bloggers either kick started their 2012 To-Do List, or just inspired me to get a move on mine!!

The first is Betsy Speert's Kitchen Makeover on a budget.  She helped a friend give a fresh new look to her kitchen by removing her cabinet doors and creating open shelving.  Beautiful!!

I absolutely  LOVED this Vintage French Script Fruit over at Confessions of a Plate Addict.  Debbie took some time to cross a fun project off her list, and the outcome is awesome (and FREE)!!

How gorgeous is Linda's Entryway Makeover??  I am a sucker for board and batten and a dark gray paint color. You have to check out all of the before and after pictures over at It All Started With Paint!!  

This is a project I would love to make - maybe even for the nursery.  I spied some of these wooden crates at Michaels last weekend and tried to figure out what I could do with it.  Jackpot!!  LOVE this storage idea from Kara at June and Bear!!

And finally - I just thought these champagne cork magnets that Missy from Lookie What I Did were adorable!!  I would love to make some of these for my office (I guess I need to by a magnetic board, huh?).  Too cute!!

Hope you enjoyed looking through these inspirational projects as much as I did!  If you were featured, feel free to grab a button from my sidebar.  Have a great weekend everyone!  Mine will be spent crossing some more projects off my list - can't wait to share them with you!

XOXO

11 Weeks to Go!!

No craft to share today - but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy!  I have been cooking - well baking actually...a bun....in the oven!  Yes, I'm a dork I know!  I'm 28 weeks today, so by my calculations I only have 11 weeks to go!  We had to schedule the birth this time - and the date is March 23rd.  So, unless this little boy decides to come early - there are only 11 weeks left!

There is so much to be done - he still needs a room - and a name.  We cannot decide on a name!!!  I like Benjamin the best, hubby likes Christian.  Then, there are the floater names that keep popping up a lot - Dylan and Reid.  What's your favorite? Help us choose!!

Here I was at 26 weeks - getting bigger!  Don't mind the rats nest bun on top of my head!!

And here I am now - at 28 weeks.  This little boy is growing and active - very active - and I'm loving every minute that I get to feel him move around!

So, what do you think about the names?  Leave me a comment and tell me your favorite.  Hopefully if there is an overwhelming consensus it will help us decide.  You guys are the best!

XOXO

Fresh Start to 2012

As much as I loved my holiday decor, I was surprisingly very excited to take it all down.  I couldn't wait to redo my mantle and built ins to just my "everyday" look.  I wanted something simple - something that could stay up for awhile.  Something tells me I'll be pretty busy over the next few months and I need something that can extend until at least spring.  Valentine's decor (at least for the mantle) probably won't be happening this year!

I kept it simple - and kept the window up there (I know its getting old), and added a mirror and some other stuff like candles.  Easy peasy, black and white - can't go wrong, right?

And for the shelves - same color scheme.  I was surprised to find all of the black and white stuff I had lying around the house just waiting for a home.  Love that nothing had to be made for this - it was already done!

I made the shadow box awhile ago to decorate my old office (my office when I actually worked at a company office that is).  The other black frame was decorated and used there as well. along with the european frame and black and white box (which I purchased at Hobby Lobby)

Love it - and done.  Fresh start for 2012!

Linking Up To:

Home Office Makeover - Work in Progress

Well....at long last - my office is almost complete!  I have been wanting to make this room over for almost a year, and with the baby coming we finally got a swift kick in the butt to get it done!  Basically we had some major re-arranging of rooms to do.  You see, the baby's nursery was my craft room (you may remember this room), and we had to move all of that stuff out of that room and combine the craft room and office into one space.  I am actually very glad we had to do this because I was constantly having to run up and down the stairs since my computer was in the office and all of my craft supplies upstairs.  I always ended up bringing my craft supplies down and working in the office anyway!

So - this weekend, we got to it.  It starting with the painting of the room - a much needed change from the builder grade paint we originally had.  I chose Sherwin Williams Zircon 7667.  I love this shade of gray - it's the perfect neutral but brightens up the room a ton!!  Then, Hubby built me some custom shelves to give me some much needed storage.

Here are the before and after photos.  Like the taxidermy?  Aren't I a nice wife for letting hubby hang his deer in my office?

I still need to hang some artwork and organizing stuff over the desk - that's this weekend's project!

Didn't hubby do a great job on the shelves?  I love them!!

These hanging file boxes are just those cardboard ones you buy at the office supply store.  I decided to cover them in decorative paper, and love the gray and green color combo!

That's the office - what do you think?  I am so happy with it so far.  Now I just need to finish decorating over the desk and the window treatments and I'm all set!!  Ahhh - feels good to have one project crossed off the list.

Linking Up To:

Link it Up Wednesday @ Junk in Their Trunk