Today is my birthday & some special promotions for YOU!

Hi friends! Today is my birthday, and to celebrate I'm offering two quick promotions for you!! 

First I'm offering 30% off in my shop today on all orders! Enter code: THIRTY at check out to get in on this deal! Visit my shop HERE. 

Secondly, I'm offering a FREE photo session on my photography Facebook page. GO here to like the status posted today and you'll be entered to WIN a FREE photo session. Entries will all be entered into a random drawing announced tomorrow on my Facebook page.

Feel free to spread the word to all your friends!

I'm so thankful today to celebrate another year! My hubby and I both took the day off I'm excited to celebrate the day together with Ava! Hope you have a wonderful day!

30B430: Have My Fave Blog Posts Put Into a Book

It's hard to believe that I've been blogging for almost five years! Writing in this space has meant so much to me these last few years. One of my goals this year was to take some of my fave posts and compile them all into a book that I could look back on and read over and over again.

No pictures. Just words.

My words about family, faith, obstacles we've overcome and the joy we've embraced during these seasons of life.

There's a lot of companies that do this for you where you can import your whole blog and they make you a book. I knew I just wanted a select few posts so I choose to do my book through Shutterfly. I did a regular photo book and just imported the text by copy/paste. This way I could completely control what was going in the book and how it looked. 

Plus Shutterfly is always running great deals, I got my book for $11 shipped. A lot better than some of the blog book websites I looked at. Twenty pages of my writing there in print was such a joy to have.

#14 crossed of the list, to see the full 30B430 list click here. 

A Bedroom Makeover {World Market's HGTV Pinspiration Campaign}

I've been dreaming of a master bedroom makeover for a while now. My biggest issue with decorating is being indecisive about things. I've changed my bedroom bedding about three times now in the last five years, but now I feel like I have a good idea of what I like and don't want for our space. We got brand new bedding at the beginning of this year which I really love, and slowly started putting some things together.

This room is in desperate need of paint, some window coverings and some awesome accessories. It's a blank slate, and it's become kinda of dumping ground for a lot of what we don't know what to do with since we live in such a small space. I'm excited to do a makeover on this room once we're in a bigger space and get our master bedroom back to the sanctuary status it needs to have.

Here's a few pictures of how the room currently looks right now;

The bedding is from Target, and I love it we bought it earlier this year. It will stay.

The night stands they are one of my favorite things about the room, we re finished them a while back. You can read more about them here.  

Our dresser is from Ikea and we've had it since we were married. Let's just get real it needs to be organized this entire area! All of this will stay in the room, but I'm dying to add some new pieces to spruce up this space. 

Here's some dreamy finds that I found at World Market.

1. French Script Charlotte Chair 2. Swing Arm Floor Lamp-brushed steel 3. Winter White Lurex Throw 

4. Champagne Calypso Curtian 5. Mirrored Cabinet 6. Taylor Bench w/ Bolsters

I'd love to do a little sitting area in our room with this awesome chair and reading lamp. I also want to add a bench at the foot of the bed for getting ready in the mornings and just because I love the look of it too! And remember those window coverings I mentioned? Yes, I love these shimmery Champagne curtains as well. I think they'll help brighten up the space a bit too since our bedding and a lot of other things are grey and black. 

I can't wait to get some paint on the walls and finally finish this room. It's going to be one of the first things on my list in the new house. 

Are you dreaming of a room/home makeover too? World Market has a special sweepstakes going on right now, check it out:

HGTV Passport to Style Sweepstakes

• Grand Prize package includes: A $10,000 World Market shopping spree and design consultation with an HGTV Designer
• There will also be 3 runner up prize winners that will each receive a $1,000 World Market gift card!
• The HGTV Sweepstakes runs from September 22, 2012 until October 26, 2012.
• If you share the sweepstakes with 5 of your friends (via FB share or email) you can receive 5 additional bonus entries. This is part of the registration process when entering. Users can also enter daily for more chances to win.
• Enter online at http://worldmarketsweepstakes.com/ or Enter On Facebook

I would also encourage you to join the World Market Explorer program and sign up to receive great rewards, promos and coupons.This is a customer rewards program where member earn exclusive perks, like coupons, offers, previews, and beyond.  Spend $100 on Gourmet Foods and Non-alcoholic beverages and you will receive a $10 reward that you can use to purchasing almost anything in store or online. You can also earn FREE COFFEE Rewards! (Buy 6 12oz. bags and your 7th one is free!)  Often times I save even more by combining these coupons with their sales. 

To find out more about World Market please visit their links below and get connected with this great company that offers affordable style on favorites for your home and lifestyle.

WEBSITE :: TWITTER :: FACEBOOK :: GOOGLE+ :: PINTEREST :: INSTAGRAM

This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™, but all my opinions are my own. I only recommend products, services or goods that I think are a great fit for my blog and readers.

Game Day Pasta Salad

My husband is a huge college football fan! Our Saturdays during college football season are spent watching his favorite team the Oklahoma Sooners! While we were dating I knew about his love for college football and everything Oklahoma but it wasn't until we were married that I truly saw his passion for the team shine through. Let's just say he's a BIG fan!

A couple years ago they plated in the Fiesta Bowl here in Phoenix and he was able to go watch with some friends. In just a couple weeks I'll send him on air plane to go watch the team live again. He's excited!

A couple months ago my Mom sent us this Game Day pasta in the shapes of the team logo & mascot. I thought it was so cute I had to make it one of these Saturdays for game day. The pasta is from a website  called The Pasta Shoppe (www.pastashoppe.com) if you'd like to order your team's as well.

I cooked it according to the package directions, they also have a vinaigrette mix recipe that I mixed up as well according to the directions. 

There's so many variations of pasta salad you can do I added in 3 stalks of celery, 1 carrot, 2 tomatoes, and 1 small onion and a handful of blue cheese and pepperoni into the salad before tossing with the sauce. 

Toss with the sauce mixture and then plate it up for your guests to eat! Hubby loved it, and I'd say I should get wife of the year, don't you think?! 

Love the "OU" shapes!

I think this is such a festive and fun idea for any college game day. Linking with Mom Endeavors Tailgating Saturday, go check it out and get other game day inspired treats. 

{DIY} Easy Burp Cloths

With nesting in full effect here, I'd love to show you an easy way to spruce up some plain burp cloths. I believe every baby needs a few new things of their own. I really love taking plain onesies and burp cloths and adding a little something extra special to them to make them personal for each child.

To get started I wanted to say this is just a method, you can choose to use any type of fabric or pattern to make them. Dress them up even more if you like by adding ribbon or any other embellishment. Now, let's get started!

I choose to cover some burp cloths that I had that were Ava's. They are plain white Gerber cloth diapers actually. I love these ones because they are nice and thick and you can get 4 to a package. I washed them and pressed them before starting.

First take you fabric of choice and measure how much you need before you cut it. I choose to only cover the middle section of my burp cloth. I measured how much I would need allowing for a half inch seam on each side.

Next I took my iron and pressed a half inch seam on both sides of my piece of fabric. I did all four pieces before moving on.

Next, you'll want to take your straight pins and pin down the fabric to the middle of the burp cloth. I do this so that the fabric doesn't slip while sewing.

Then it's time to sew your fabric down. As you run your burp cloth through the machine remove the pins as you go. Do each length side first and then do the shorter sides after. Repeat till all four are done.

And then you'll be left with some awesome burps ready for your baby! 

Sharing with: Sundae Scoop, Overflowing with Creativity, Weekend Wrap Up Party, Create & Inspire

30B430: Read Every Nicholas Sparks' Novel

I don't read a lot of fiction, most of the books I read are either inspirational, self-help, cook books, or parenting/child related. But, Nicholas Sparks is one of my fave writers. When I do read fiction his books are the first that I gravitate towards. 

So as a goal this year I wanted to finish off the last of his books that I hadn't read. Here's a list of the ones that we're on my reading list this year:

The Best of Me

Safe Haven

The Choice

At First Sight

True Believer

Three Weeks with my Brother

The Lucky One

This was the last book on my reading list and I finished it a couple months ago, just in time for the movie to come out on DVD. Books are always better than the movies, don't you think? But, it was fun to see the characters come to life and play out the story on screen. 

#26 Crossed off my list. To see the full 30B430 list click here.

Fun Holiday Hostess Gifts with Lifestyle Crafts

This week Lifestyle Crafts released their new Wintertide Collection. I love Christmas time and it's never to early to start thinking about gift giving! Today I want to share with you a fun easy hostess gift you can give to your friends, this would also be a great gift to give co-workers. I'm always looking for small fun gifts to show appreciation.

You know I love a good cup of coffee, or anything to do with coffee right? 

Using the Drink Sleeve Die I cut out two of them with my letterpress machine. I also cut out some banners to add to the front of the cuff. 

Using some foam stickers I added them to the backs of the banner dies to make them pop and give them a 3D effect. They will look like this when you're done:

I bought my disposable cups from Target. Put your sleeve together and slide it onto your coffee cups. 

Next I used some crafts sticks, and some green glitter stickers to write "stir" on the sticks and put them inside the cups. 

To finish everything off I placed a hot cocoa and tea bag inside each of them along with the stir sticks. You could also add marshmallows, Christmas candy or any other small items to complete these coffee gifts. 

View the entire Wintertide Collection here. 

Use code: WORLEYHOUSE for 20% off your purchase as well.

Sharing with: Sundae Scoop, Overflowing with Creativity, Weekend Wrap Up Party, Create & Inspire