Go visit Liz over at Brambleberry Cottage for a chance to win a beautiful porcelain enamel house sign!
Who couldn't love a sign sitting on the beach? And is that a piece of green sea glass I spy???
I need this sign for my house. I LOVE IT!
Good luck!
Just in time for the holidays, the wonderful folks at CSN Stores are offering one of my readers the chance to win a Gift Certificate to be used at any of their over 200 stores!
Stumped on what to buy for a special guy in your life? I think these leather messenger bags are pretty fabulous! I'd love to get one for Ed, who uses a backpack to carry all his work gear, lol!
I think they're so stylish secretly, I LOVE the smell of leather, is that weird?!
Wouldn't it be great to win a $45 gift certificate to do a little shopping with?
Want to enter? Okay here's the deal, visit any of the more than 200 CSN Stores and then come back here and tell me what you'd use your winnings for and why.
For extra chances to enter you can: become a public follower of my blog, tweet, create your own blog post or add a button to your blog sidebar for this giveaway and leave a seperate comment for each thing you've done.
Here's a sidebar button to use if that's the option you choose. 
Dont forget to leave seperate comments for each entry!
Giveaway is open until December 7th, 2010 at midnight. Good luck!
"Out for delivery"
I get all giggly and giddy when I track a package online and discover that it's going to be at my house in mere hours! I have been busy shopping Etsy and eBay for the past two weeks buying pretty things for my living and dining rooms. If you saw my post about my old, ugly chair, you spied one of my new aquisitions sitting upon my fabulous turquoise throne!
Here's a reminder peek --------->
Once today's parcels arrive, I'll gather all my goodies up for a photo shoot and I'll provide links to the shops where I bought them in case my excitement oozes through the computer monitor and inspires you to add some pretty to a room in your own home!
And don't forget to visit my giveaway post!
Only 5 more comments needed before I add the next item!
Hey bloggy friends, it's GIVEAWAY TIME!
Okay, so I thought long and hard about what you all might want as a giveaway prize and I just couldn't decide on any one thing. So this is what I'm going to do. This is going to be a giveaway that builds and builds!
I'm going to start off by offering one of my cute little sea urchin snowman ornaments. 
He's the first thing to be included in the goodie package that one reader will receive!
Then how I'll work this is as follows:
1. For every 15 unique comments this post receives, I'll add another item to the giveaway.
2. What I mean by "unique" is each different person who comments. Anonomous comments will not be considered, nor will posts from people who appear to be trying to bump up the numbers by repeatedly coming back and saying one or two things to try to reach the next 15. Clear as mud?
3. The one exception to the "unique" rule will be those comments specifically left to receive extra entries.
4. Extra entries can be received by TWEETING about this giveaway (@scarboroshells) or grabbing my giveaway button and adding it to your sidebar, linking back to this post. 
PLEASE come back here and leave a seperate comment telling me what you've done.
5. All items included in the giveaway will be handmade by me and there will be a variety as I know not everyone celebrates Christmas.
6. This giveaway starts now and will run through Midnight EST December 1st, 2010.
7. Any questions, feel free to send me an email: tara (at) scarboroughseashellsdotcom
Have fun and thanks for reading!
EDIT:
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED, THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING!
I've been banging around what to do to celebrate my 200th blog post earlier this week and I decided it's giveaway time! 
I haven't decide yet what I'll give, but it will be something handmade by me and it will be announced tomorrow. So please come back and check what I've decided on!
Thanks for reading my little blog and keeping me motivated to keep on blogging towards 300!
Whew! Tons of stuff to talk about- it's been a busy two weeks! So sorry to leave you all hanging with no new posts, bad blogger!
First, a very happy birthday to my big boy, Aidan, who turns 7 today! We had his Super Mario Brothers themed party on Sunday and he had a blast! Here are some of the highlights
Today is his actual birthday so I left him a good morning message he couldn't miss!
A little side story first... Maybe you remember before, I had this really odd really odd wall thing in my dining room. Waaaaay back when, it used to be a window. And then the previous owners covered it up when they built on the garage addition. But they didn't just drywall it. For some reason, they left the window surround and the wife painted this tree thing in the middle of it. 
My quick fix was to paint it white and fill it with photos
A year of that was enough for me, and I decided I needed a change. I bought a pot of chalkboard paint and got to work. We now have this giant chalkboard the kids can color on and practice writing and math- two things they love to do! 
What do you think?
And finally, don't forget to enter to win this beautiful glass ornament- today is the last day!
Hello to all my vintage and retro lovin' friends visiting from Vintage Thingies Thursday over at Coloradolady! I've missed VTT these past few weeks and am happy to be participating again today!
I'm stretching the meme a little this week, because I want to share with you all a very special place... this is a photo heavy post, apologies to those with slow page loads!
Welcome to the Nutcracker Suite!
The Nutcracker Suite Christmas Shop is located on historic Mill Street in downtown Newport, RI. Since it's inception in 1981, it has been housed in the Thomas Brown House, built in 1860, a home on the National Register of Historic Places AND the Newport Restoration Foundation, founded by Doris Duke.
Today, the Nutcracker is run by shop owners, newlyweds and cherished family friends Cheryl and Kevin Whittaker, who purchased it from the original owners in 2009.
Cheryl and Kevin are a fun loving couple who clearly have a passion for what they do- in the short time since they have taken over the store, they have started a website, brought in tons of new stock and carried on the time-honored tradition of literally decking the halls (and the walls and the ceilings and the mantels) with the most beautiful displays of Christmas cheer you could imagine.
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To me, it doesn't matter if it's the hottest day in the middle of July- I step over the threshold of the air conditioned store and am immediately drawn in by the spirit of Christmas. 
They have decorations for every taste. From vintage and traditional to modern and flashy. Small and delicate to large and ornate! 
They have sports themes, music themes, snowmen themes, angels, Santa Claus, Carolers, Smokers, Nativity sets, Ornaments for bird lovers, wine enthusiasts, Newport/nautical themes 
and of course- they have Nutcrackers. Oh yes, they have Nutcrackers! 
One of the things that I love is that they are working hard to bring in beautiful ornaments made by local artists (of which I am but one). They have many talented RI and New England artists featured in the shop- they have hand blown eggs featuring paintings of famous Newport sites, striking ornaments made by RI company Chemart and a gorgeous sampling of other items hand painted, etched and engraved locally..JPG)
Shameless self horn tooting for a second here... 
And while I definitely want to encourage everyone who is local to Newport to go visit this amazing store, I really and truly most wanted to share with you the joy I feel every time I step through their door. It is impossible not to catch the infectious spirit in this place! I have YET to walk out without a newly purchase ornament in my bag.
My favorites in the store have got to be the glass ornaments made by Merck Family's Old World Christmas. I think these have all the charm of the true vintage glass ornaments I collect. 
A personal favorite is the glass pickle. Though no one seems to quite know the true origins of the pickle, they have been being manufactured and imported from Germany since the 1880's and it is thought to be a German (or at least German-American) tradition. The pickle ornament gets hidden deep in the tree and whoever finds it on Christmas morning is blessed with a year of good fortune. In my house, we have altered the tradition that the child who finds the pickle gets to open the first gift!
Old World Christmas has literally hundreds of glass ornaments each equally as beautiful as the next. I am collecting the nautical, sea life and bird pieces for our family Christmas tree. 
I can't wait to get them onto my tree this year and now -thanks to the Whittaker's generosity- one of my awesome readers gets to enjoy one of these beautiful ornaments as well! 
I am giving away this stunning Great Blue Heron ornament. He is approximately 5 1/2 inches tall and 1 1/2 inches wide with soft, shimmery blue wings and he stands in vibrant green marsh grass. Oh, I wish I had brought one home to put on my tree... hmmm... maybe next visit over to Newport?...
Anyway, to be entered in the giveaway, simply leave me a comment! Maybe about a tradition your family has or a favorite ornament on your tree? A special holiday collection you have? Whatever, just share with me and you're entered!
Now, because I'd like to give you all a few more shots at winning, I'll do the "extra chances" entries:
1. Become a public follower of my blog
2. Tweet or post to Facebook about this giveaway
3. Visit The Nutcracker Suite's website and tell me what your favorite item is.
This contest will remain open until Thursday, October 21st (Aidan's 7th birthday) at midnight. Winner will be chosen using Random.org.
Good luck!
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