:: A House Update & A Giveaway Winner! ::

A fair bit has been going on in our little cottage since I last time talked about it. The last time I posted photos of our house it was when I was on a huge cleaning mission in an attempt to make this house feel a little prettier. It's no secret that I'm not a fan of the colour scheme the previous owners used on our house. The outside colours are a yellow-cream, dark red, and dark green. This is a lovely heritage colour scheme when done properly, but it hasn't worked so well on our house. On the inside we had a lovely mish-mash of colours - yellow, red, blue, dark teal, brown - so pretty!

In the last six months we've slowly made some changes around here - one of those being new paint inside! We've also finished grassing our backyard, our new roof is almost complete, and our bathroom renovation starts in a few weeks! Exciting times in the Lavender household! I suppose it will come as no surprise that the colour we chose for our interior is green. I'm kind of predictable. But, it's a lovely grey-based green and is actually the same colour my parents have in their house. Their house has been that colour since before they bought it back in 1993 and the colour hasn't dated yet which is a great sign that it is a perfect for colour for houses as old as ours (95 years old!).

See the lovely red trims? (The walls in the before photo were actually a yellow-cream colour)

The house feels so much bigger now - cleaner too! I can't wait to show you bathroom before and afters in a few months.

I also have a giveaway winner to announce - congratulations to the lovely Felicia!

PS. The colours we used were Pale Vellum (the green) and Clotted Cream (the trims/doors).

:: Sparklingflora - Etsy Giveaway! ::

Apart from Pinterest, it's pretty safe to say that my favourite website is etsy. I love buying unique things for myself and as gifts. Knowing that my money is going to someone who is doing what they love is awesome - and I get something cool in return!

And now I'd like to give YOU something awesome from etsy! My gorgeous pen pal Astrid has a super cute little etsy store called Sparklingflora. Astrid sells cute homemade journals and jewellery. Astrid has so kindly offered three of her gorgeous journals and a necklace to give to one of my lucky followers!

Love the fun colours inside!

Super cute, right? I love the rainbow journal. I own this cloud necklace from Astrid's store and I love it. I also love her bunting journal!

"How do I enter?" I hear you ask. Well, all you need to do is go to Astrid's store and then come back here and tell me in the comments what your favourite item is. Don't forget to leave your email address so I have a way of getting in contact with you. The winner will be drawn on the first weekend of March, so you have two weeks!

Bonus entry: Favourite Astrid's store on etsy and come back and tell me in a separate comment.

Good luck! (And may the odds be ever in your favour!)

:: Future Niece Update and a Giveaway Winner! ::

Hello lovelies!

It would seem I am overdue for a blog post! Life has been crazy busy lately with the painting of our house well underway. I cannot wait to show you before and after photos! The house is nowhere near finished yet, but the difference is already enormous! It's amazing how much difference a clean coat of paint can do! Our lovely red trims are still in place at the moment, and I cannot wait to see them go!

As you all my know my little sister is pregnant, and let me tell you she is HUGE! She is currently bigger than every other pregnant lady on our floor (we work for the same company), but they are all due before her. Girls in our family carry quite large, so I can't wait to see how big I'm going to be one day as I am the shortest!

Here she is at almost 27 weeks.

Massive, right? She is a lot bigger now! I can't wait to show you just how big she gets by the time she's full term!

And, exciting news! My sister-in-law is also pregnant! She is due three days after my birthday (early January!). It's definitely baby season in our family. I will share some photos of my sister-in-law very soon.

And now for my giveaway winner - congratulations Rachael! I'll contact you for your postal address soon.

Thanks to everyone who entered :)

:: 100 Followers Give Away! ::

Give away time! Yay!

A little while ago I hit 100 followers and I promised you a giveaway as a way of saying thank you, and here it is!

The lucky winner will receive some fun coloured fine tipped pens, a cute pair of earrings, a floaty coral flower hair pin, some confetti from Papered Thoughts, a cute sticker pack from Joey Design, some fun envelopes, a card pack so kindly donated from my gorgeous blog friend over at Lucent Imagery, a Napoleon Perdis compact (with three eyeshadows and two lip glosses inside), and a conversation hearts pencil case!

♥ The giveaway will end Friday 29th of June, 2012
♥ The giveaway is open internationally
♥ I will be selecting the winner using a random number generator

Mandatory Entry:
♥ Follow my blog and leave me a comment to let me know what your favourite piece of stationery is (I love stickers and washi tape!)

Extra Entry:
♥ Blog about this giveaway and leave me a separate comment with the link.

And that's it! Simple, right?

Good luck!

:: Spring Giveaway Winner! ::

My oh my, I have been away for so long! A long list of mishaps have meant the announcement of my giveaway winner is a tad (ie very) late! We have no Internet at my place, so I have snuck off to my parents house to post this because it's ridiculous how long I've made you all wait!

Okay, so here we go ...

The winner of my giveaway is (dun, dun, duuuuun!) ... Karina! Congratulations!!

The winner of my surprise second place is ... Felicia! Yay!

And because I was so late in posting this, I'm having a third place too. The winner of the surprise third place is ... April! Woot! :D

Congratulations guys! Your prizes will be in the post asap :)

:: Spring Giveaway! ::

It's been far too long since I've had a give away for you guys.  My blog's first birthday came and went without any sort of celebration, so I'm having a Spring Giveaway instead!

This giveaway includes a selection of some of my favourite things! Nail polish, decorative tape, glittery pens, a pencil, lip gloss, mini cards and earrings from Gracie's etsy, a cute eraser, and an adorable pencil case to hold it all in! There will also be a few little surprise extras :)

(Note the nail polish colours - lavender and green. Oh, I am so hilarious!)

How to Enter:
1. You must be a follower of my blog (this is open internationally)
2. Leave a comment telling me your favourite piece of stationery (I might include it as a surprise!)

Extra Entries:
1. Post about my giveaway on your blog and leave a separate comment with the link.

Entries close midnight on Wednesday the 12th of October, and the winner will be chosen randomly.

And that's it! Simple, right?

PS. There may also be a surprise second place gift too!

:: And the winner is ... ::

A big thank you to everyone who entered my Christmas giveaway! Ladies (and gentlemen?) we have our winners!

The winner of this adorable spotty make up bag/pencil case and goodies is Gracie from GracieBellaButterfly!

The winner of the cute tartan make up bag/pencil case is Chloe from Chloe in Reality!

Congratulations ladies! I'll be sending you an email shortly to get your postal addresses.

Thank you all for your generous comments on my wedding invitations. I'm glad you all like them as much as we do! We are currently working on our Orders of Service and a survey for our guests to fill out about us!

:: And so this is Christmas ... ::

So, I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but Christmas has crept up on us quite quickly once again! Mr LG and I put up our Christmas tree a few weekends ago and I think it's quite cute. We chose red as our accent colour this year, but we plan to change the accent colour every few years. This weekend we will start wrapping our presents! I can't believe that in two weeks time Christmas will be here!

To celebrate Christmas I have decided to have another giveaway. This time there are two prizes up for grabs!

Giveaway number one is a cute spotty make up bag/pencil case, some gel pens, an assortment of sticker seals, a pearl and glass bead bracelet and a shimmery lip shine!

Giveaway number two is a cute tartan make up bag/pencil case, a little notebook, an oversized paper clip, an eraser, some lip shine and some hand repair creme.

Here are the rules as to how you could win one of these prizes:

♥ The give away will end Friday 17th of December

♥ The give away is open internationally

♥ I will be selecting the winner using a random number generator

Mandatory Entry:

♥ Follow my blog and leave me a comment containing your email address and tell me what your favourite part about Christmas is.

Optional Entry:
♥ Blog about this give away and leave me a separate comment with the link.

To top it off, each prize will also contain a little surprise from Gracie's adorable etsy shop!

Good luck!

PS. Isn't my Mum's Christmas tree to die for?

:: Spring Give Away Winner! ::

Ladies, we have a winner! Krystal, the lovely lady behind the blog Village, won my Spring Napoleon Perdis give away. Her favourite Spring look is using bronzer for blush. If you haven't already, you should definitely check out her blog - it's one of my favourite reads. Krystal, check your inbox, I've sent you an email!

Thanks to all who entered!

:: Spring Giveaway! ::

Today was the very first day of Spring and I couldn't be more excited! I am a huge fan of warm weather, longer days, the fun clothes and accessories that are filling the stores, and not to mention the fact that my baby nephew will be born any day now! To celebrate, I thought I would have a little giveaway.

Here are the rules as to how you could win this great Napoleon Perdis lip gloss and 'Boudoir Palette' (which contains three eye shadows and two lip glosses):

♥ The give away will end Wednesday 15th of September
♥ The give away is open internationally

♥ I will be selecting the winner using a random number generator

Mandatory Entry:

♥ Follow my blog on Google Friend Connect and leave me a comment containing your email address and tell me what your favourite Spring make up look is

Optional Entry:
♥ Blog about this give away and leave me a separate comment with the link

This give away not only coincides with the first day of Spring, but also with Spread the Love week over at Oh, My Darling. And so, dear readers, I encourage you to pay it forward and spread the love a little this week. Who knows, you might make someone's day?

Good luck!