Giveaway and a new Sponsor: Swanky Outlet

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Today I have a new sponsor to introduce you to.

Swanky Outlet offers some of the most unique selections of hard to find, end of season, and closeout Designer Merchandise from the Top Department Stores and Boutiques in the United States. They specialize in Luxury Bedding & Linens, Womens Clothing, Handbags, Shoes, and Accessories.

Just look at these bedding sets!

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Right now they're offering a special just in time for mother's day and free shipping on orders over $100.

But the best part is they're giving away a Martha Stewart Full/Queen Ivory Cotton Bed Blanket!

Soft and simple, this 100% cotton blanket from Martha Stewart Collection features a traditional basketweave design for a causal look you'll love to cozy up to.

• Cotton
• Machine washable
• 90 x 90
• Color is Cream

Wouldn't this make a great Mother's Day gift for a special Mom?

Here's how to enter:

1. You must be a follower of BMA. Leave a comment here telling me you want to win!

2. Follow Swanky Outlet on facebook and leave a comment here telling me you're a follower. Make sure you tell them I sent you :)

3. Post about this on your facebook profile
4. Follow Swanky Outlet on Twitter

Each comment MUST be a separate entry in order to count.

Giveaway ends Monday, May 7th at midnight.

Make sure you visit Swanky Outlet!

Don't forget, if you're interested in advertising with BMA, click on the advertising tab on the top or email me at lisa(at)beforemeetsafterblog(dot)com.

Market your Biz and Giveaways

Sour Cream Chocolate Chip cake

As I mentioned the other day, it was my birthday!

Last weekend was my Father In Law's bday so we got together and celebrated April birthdays!

I made this cake, and it was suuuuuuuuper easy!

It's a recipe I adapted from Southern Living and it only needs a few ingredients.

1 box chocolate cake mix
1/2 c. water
1/2 c. oil
1 (8 oz.) sour cream
1 (6 oz.) pkg. chocolate chips
3 eggs

The Southern Living version makes the cake from scratch, which I've done before, but I didn't have time this time around.

Mix together cake mix, water, oil,  sour cream and eggs. Add chocolate chips and stir. Bake at 350 degrees in a greased and floured bundt pan for 1 hour.

After I took the cake out, I made icing and drizzled it on the top with a spoon. I think it made it look so pretty. I then sprinkled it with remaining chocolate chips.

It was so good!

The best part, it's completely fat free and has 0 calories!

Haha! A girl can dream right?

Distressed desk and chair

First off, I wanted to say thanks for all your Disney suggestions! Y'all are awesome and I'll definitely be looking into all the great websites!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I celebrated a birthday. (The year will go unmentioned!) I'm going to past later this week about a delicious new birthday cake recipe I tried!!

Besides having too much fun, I did have to do a little work :)
I finished up this desk and I just love it!

You may have seen a sneak peek of it in my dining room makeover, but it was just there temporarily.

It started out as a dark wood sofa table.

I gave it a few coats of ASCP in Old White, but it still wasn't exactly what I was looking for.

Enter the cute little chair.

It had seen better days but it fit perfectly under the sofa table...hence the new desk!

My mom helped recover the chair cushion and now I love it!

I kept the original hardware and used sandpaper to lightly distress.

I just love when pieces that were once used as something, can be changed into another!

I've seen people cut down the legs of tables to use as a coffee table! The possibilities are endless when you can take a piece and give it a new use.

Here's the Before Meets After!

Have you ever changed the use of something?



The happiest place on Earth!!

Last year we didn't go on vacation because we owed a crapload of taxes. Yeah. No. Fun.

So this year I ddecided to surprise hubbs with a trip!

Can you guess where we're going?

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I'll be spending some time with this big guy

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It's only the happiest place on Earth!!

Hubbs also  LOVES Harry Potter (hence my dog's Halloween costume) so we'll also be making an appearance at Harry Potter World at IOA and Universal Studios.

Needless to say, he is so excited and he was really surprised!

That being said, my head is spinning with Disney choices.

I decided we'd stay on Disney property to get the whole experience and to make traveling from park to park quick and easy.

But this is where I need your help!

Any insiders tips? Where to eat? What to do? What can we absolutely NOT miss?? How much time do 2 adults need at each park?

Help a sista out :)

A love affair

I admit it. Some people have a love affair with shoes. Some with diamonds. My love affair is with furniture.

I am giddy with delight when the Pottery Barn summer catalog arrives in my mailbox. It's like my car can't even make it into the garage before I've dived into it.

Here's why....

Yes I'll take one of these!

And this! The chippiness makes my heat flutter (ok that was too much wasn't it???)

I couldn't bring myself to have this table outside....but inside...yes please!

For my bedroom...why not?

 

A girl can dream right??

(all images borrowed from potterybarn.com. No, they did not pay me for this, but they can if they want me to buy their stuff!)

Paparazzi party

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We spent it doing more house work and visiting with some family and friends.

I wanted to share with you about my latest Paparazzi Party! Last week I had the opportunity to go to my sisiter's school and set up the amazing Paparazzi Accessories.

I made a sign out of an old frame and my Cricut and used some black and pink fabric to drape over the cabinets in the teacher workroom.

The old cabinet door once looked like this

A little black spray paint and a flipping of the hooks now makes for a great display!

I had so much fun at her school! A portion of the proceeds went to Relay for Life so it was a great day :)

If you're interested in hosting a Paparazzi party and live in the Atlanta area, let me know!

Dining Room!!!

So wayyyyyyy back in January I mentioned my house goals for the year. One was to make over my dining room and FINALLY put paint on the walls. (yes, a year and a half after moving into this house).

Well if you follow me on facebook, you got a sneak peek of my dining room.

I am in love.

I never knew what a little gallon of $25 paint could do!

It's hard to capture the exact color, but it's kind of a blue/gray. It's called Cosmic Rays and it's the new Olympic paint and primer in one from Lowes.

I loved how smooth it went on and how it covered so easily.

When we got engaged, hubby painted on the walls in our brand new house!

Ever since then, it's been a running joke that whenever we painted a room, we had to write something on the wall.

Since this was the first wall in this house that was painted, we had to write on the wall!

I still have a few touch ups to do and I haven't completely decided if I'm going to put up my gallery wall I worked so hard on! 

 But I have figured out a way to include all of you in my dining room makeover!

It's going to be done over time, but I thought with this being an election year that we could do a vote for various things to include in the room!

Have you ever seen those TV shows where the people plan their entire wedding based on viewers votes? I thought that would be fun to do with my dining room! You decide the rug, furniture, art work etc.

I plan on the first vote in the next few weeks, starting with the floor! I am so excited to have your input on this. Look for Dining Room Decisions 2012 soon :)



Thrifty Thursday: Target Rugs

You know I'm frugal. I don't like to spend money unless I have to. And if I have to, I want it to be a good deal!

I've been looking for a new rug for our kitchen under the sink area. Just a small floor mat about 2X3. I've been eyeing some super cute rugs at Target, but they were 29.99. I didn't want to pay that much.

Yesterday I stopped by Target, and in an end cap of the rug section, they were calling my name!!

That red Target clearance sticker gets me every time!

They were both marked down to 8.98!

So what's a girl to do but buy them both and try them out at home!

Which one do you like best?

Sponsor Love

Today, I'm highlighting one of my sponsors Robin, from The Creative Nest.

Robin has some amazing fabrics at prices you don't see in traditional fabric stores.

I am in LOVE with this one!

She's built up an amazing repertoire of fabrics in her etsy shop, many are only 7.99.

Make sure you stop by and check them out!

If you follow The Creative Nest on facebook, Robin also offers discounts throughout the year!

If you're interested in advertising with Before Meets After, I'd love for you to come join. Click on the advertising tab at the top or email me at lisa(at)beforemeetsafterblog(dot)com for more information!

Mission Organization: Kitchen Desk

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! Ours was spent with too much food, good family, and friends:)

I'm back to the daily grind again today! I know many of you didn't get a lot done on Spring Break because you were traveling or have kids at home, but mine was the opposite. I was able to get so many projects done while hubbs was working. A Lot. So much so that we didn't get to go to the beach with friends :( But hey, I got a lot done. so it wasn't a wasted week!

If you missed my mission organization project, go here and here.

I've got one last organization project I completed, and this one has made my life SO much easier.

We have a desk area in our kitchen. Oftentimes it becomes the dumping grounds for mail, papers, to-do lists, etc.

And forget the cabinets above. You open them and have to duck for fear of something falling on you!

Enter The Dollar Tree. Love that place!

I bought a bunch of clear bins and reorganized the top. I used these instead of their cute colored bins because I needed to be able to see what was in each bin because the shelves are so high!

It looks so much better now!

I've been on the hunt for some baskets for the little cubbies at the bottom. I've bought 3 different sets and none worked. The last set I bought I was sure would work, but no. Womp, womp, womp :(

I measured and everything but they were just too tight! So if you know of a good place that sells weird size baskets, send it my way!

The biggest thing I wanted to get accomplished in this space was all the random manuals, handbooks, directions etc for various "things" in our house. Before, all these items were just thrown in the desk drawers and cbinets. If we were lucky. Sometimes I'd find them in other drawers around the house too! When our vacuum cleaner broke, we couldn't find the manual. When the blender wouldn't turn on, we couldn't find the directions!

I got a 2 inch binder and some plastic sleeves. It's not the prettiest thing, but it does the trick.

Just the other day I was looking to clean out the filters in our vacuum cleaner and couldn't remember how. I just pulled out my binder and there were the directions. It helps to keep this in the kitchen as a lot of the papers in here have to do with kitchen appliances.

So there you have it. My last mission organization project.

I can go back to work today with a clear conscience and knowing there's only 6 more weeks of school left!

Bring on Summer!!