Rachael Clegg Handmade Soap Giveaway~

Meet Rachael!

Rachael has been making homemade soap from her home for the past 9 years,

and in my opinion has perfected the art!

 Rachael sent me a couple bars to try....

Can I just start by saying

I LOVE HOW THIS SOAP SMELLS

Okay, seriously folks...and I am not usually one that even enjoys scents. They are usually too artificial,

 but Rachael's soaps smell REALLY REALLY GOOD!!

They also leave you feeling really clean!
I've enjoyed them quite a bit,
and I'm pretty picky when it comes to soap because I have really sensitive skin.

I chose and would totally recommend:

Black Raspberry Vanilla
{{My personal favorite! I love the feel of the poppy seeds!!}}

And

Cranberry Orange
No dyes or perfumes! Just all natural essential oils.

Another one of her most popular is the 

Peppermint Wake Up bar. 

She sells out of this one FAST!

People will order a full batch{{16 bars}}

Rachael's soap is absolutely wonderful and I love the charming look of the bars.

At $3 a bar, it's very affordable and would make such a lovely spa gift set for a friend, 

or a perfect Mother's day gift!

Yes, you heard me correctly, only $3 each or order any 4 for $10!

Rachael is generously giving one of Poppies at Play readers

their choice of 

3 Soap Bars!

To enter:

 Visit Rachael's Etsy shop and add it to your favorites!

{{Let me know which soap you would enjoy trying!}} 

For a second entry "Like" Rachael on facebook!

**U.S. entries only please!**

Rachael is also offering a 

free face scrubby 

with every purchase made during the duration of the giveaway!

enter "Poppies at Play" in notes to the seller!

Give it a try! I'm sure you will love it as much as I do!
Giveaway winner will be announced on Friday, March 4th!

Lucky Printable

Are you feeling lucky?

I am.

Also available in Vinyl

Family Home Evening Chart Printable

When my sweet sister was here last summer,

she wanted to make a Family Home Evening Chart.

Unfortunately we didn't get around to it. 

My next grand plan was to make one for her birthday!

But then I thought, "What if they already have one, or they decide have another baby?  Should I wait?"

Since her birthday is on Sunday, there's not a chance I could get one mailed in time anyhoo,

so I thought maybe a printable would work! 

Easy to trash if a newbie arrives!

Stick the printable in an 8''X10'' frame with glass

and you can write the names or initials with a dry erase marker!

You may already have one Coke, but if not....

Have the best birthday ever.
 You are amazing and beautiful and I'm so lucky to have you in my life!!

Novica Gift Certificate winner!

Congratulations to Stephanie from Scrapfancy!

 She is the lucky winner of the $50 Gift Certificate to Novica!

Thank you for entering and have fun shopping!!

Also, just a reminder that Saturday the 26th is the last day

 I will be accepting entries for the wild card positions in the

Parade of Homes

Get your pictures sent in by tomorrow if you are interested!!

Thank you to everyone who has already submitted pictures! You have such beautiful homes!!

Meet me back here on Monday for a chance to win some amazing handmade soap from Rachael Clegg!!

Have a great weekend!

Finally, a place to put towels in the downstairs bathroom!

I must apologize to everyone that has stayed at our house in the past six months.

The Joe worked like crazy to get the basement finished over the summer, 

and then I kind of dropped the ball and didn't ever get around to doing the non-essentials like towel racks.

I guess I was too burnt out from painting.

Yesterday, I finally got around to it!

I hesitate to tell you how much the beadboard for this project cost.

I don't like to insight jealousy, but I can't help but be super excited about it!

I got two huge pieces in the scrap bin at The Home Depot for $1.01 each.

Ahhhh!! What a screamin deal!!!! 

It was pretty insane, but I wasn't about to complain!

I tacked the sheets to the wall in the basement

and then drilled holes in a 4'' board to put on top of the beadboard.

A little too tall for this little girl, but she mostly bathes upstairs.

While I was at it, I thought I might as well put a few more things up.

I moved my DIY magazine rack from upstairs to give guests a little reading material.

And since we don't have a linen closet, I just stuck a basket of supplies on top of the toilet.  

I created a relaxing sign to put above the towel rack.

Yay!! You could totally hang 11 towels in there now. Not that we'd ever need to, but you never know:)

If you'd like to purchase the "Relax" vinyl, you can find it in The Market

Alrighty! We're ready company, come on over and use as many towels as you want!!

Entryway Revamp

A while ago we converted a headboard into this blue bench.

I've loved having it in the entryway,

 but I have had a hard time figuring out what to do with the space around it. 

It doesn't always look quite so sad and lonely.

I usually have something displayed, 

but I didn't snap a picture before I stripped it dry.

I really wanted something that gives a lighter, brighter feel when you walk in the house.

We made the green shelf, so I snagged an identical black one from another room and stacked them.

I painted them both the same color as the wall to give them more of a built in feel,

and decorated them with some white frames from Ikea.

I'm planning on filling them with black and white family pictures, but I didn't want to leave them empty while I waited to get the pictures ready, so I printed a few black and white images to look at in the meantime.

 I didn't realize how different the space looks until I saw these two pics next to each other!

I Love how a simple change can make such a difference!

Novica $50 Gift Certificate Giveaway~

Have you heard of Novica?

I'll let them take a moment to introduce themselves:

There is a nation of artist throughout the world-

a village of carvers in Bali;

a family of ceramists in Brazil who have handed down their craft

from generation to generation;

a farmer in the Andes who hand-weaves alpaca sweaters.

It is a community of artists who have been isolated

for centuries by distance, time and geography-

isolated from the very community of collectors seeking

their unique, inspired, and undiscovered arts and crafts.

Now, finally, there is a bridge connecting our separate 

communities into one worldwide nation-

this is the NOVICA nation.

Novica is a company associated with National Geographic working to open doors for crafters all over the world and give them the opportunity to sell to a worldwide market.

Today Novica is offering one lucky Poppies at Play reader a 

$50 Gift Certificate

to their site.

They really have an amazingly large selection of products to choose from. 

Check out their 

Corporate Gift Section

 Fair Trade Corporate Gifts

 And

Unique Gifts

I love the idea that artists around the world are given the opportunity to develop their creative talents and have their products reach a world wide market.

Think Novica has got the right idea?  Would you like to help with the effort?

Click here to find out how!

Novica gave me a $50 gift certificate so I could give an honest review of the company

I chose this lovely dress 

Made by Aruna Singh

Aruna from the legendary 'Pink City' of Jaipur.

Her desire to become a designer was sparked as a child when she would dress her friends for plays and performances. As she got older she loved making alterations on every dress she bought.

One thing I really loved about Novica is being able to read all the personal stories of the artists.

I love having my new dress! Thank you Aruna!

Now it's your turn to have a chance to enjoy Novica products with a 

 $50 Gift Certificate 

Here's how to enter:

Pop on over to NOVICA and then come back here 

and leave me a comment.

Tell me about something that catches your eye. 

That's all there is to it! You don't even need to be a follower of Poppies at Play. 

Giveaway will run through Friday, Feb. 25 2011

Have a wonderful President's Day!

Sisters Printable

I hope you're lucky enough to have a sister.

I'm blessed to have 3.

We all have different personalities, and yet we are all bound together by our garden.

Having a sister means you always have someone who loves you.

 You always have someone who understands where you're coming from, even if you're wrong.

Having a sister means you have someone who will laugh at you and with you 

and chuckle just thinking about you later on.

Having a sister means you always have a shoulder to cry on...

even if that shoulder is hundreds of miles away.

Now having 4 little girls of my own,

I hope I can cultivate a wonderful garden environment for them,

so that they will be able to grow in love 

and have a sisterhood bond that will last forever.