Shopaholic in Alabama

It's my first time, so please be nice to me. Today I'm linking up with my friend Daphne over at Flip Flops & Pearls for (Semi) Wordless Wednesday. In addition, I am sharing the fruits of my labor - the Coastal Holiday Tree!  After countless hours spent glittering, crystallizing (is that a word?), and hot gluing for the past few days - my tree is now up and decorated. Unfortunately, I didn't have a tree topper that went with the coastal theme. My solution? Take a roll of ribbon up to the florist and have them make me a pretty bow!  As you all know from my previous crafting, I started by just making starfish - then I made a few sand dollars. After finding a huge bag of sea shells that I'd forgotten about, I decided to experiment with making some of those into ornaments. What do you think? I must apologize in advance for the photo quality (or lack thereof), I could not get the lighting right to save my life. It probably didn't help that I was taking pictures ...

In a move surprising to my family and close friends, I have embraced my "crafty" side. Note that I never even knew I had a crafty side...I've always been one of those people who couldn't design a room, couldn't arrange a vase of flowers, etc. Now if you asked me how to help you fund those same purchases, that I could do. I can help you write the business plan to open your design business, but I can't design my own bedroom. Go figure. A few days ago, I decided I was going to try for a Coastal Christmas decorating theme. Of course this is a wee bit of a problem, as I don't have any coastal holiday decor. So with limited resources here at the beach (read: no Hobby Lobby, Michael's, etc locally - just Target and Wal-Mart), I had to get creative. I went to the local souvenir store and bought a bunch of starfish and sand dollars - and have started decorating them.  Glitter, Swarovski crystals, a hot glue gun - they are all my new BFF's for this pro...

Hello my fellow Shopaholics! Happy Socialite Sunday, and welcome to DAY SIX of Shopaholic Giveaway Days to celebrate Mother's Day!!! Today I'm so excited to feature "At The Blue Barn". At The Blue Barn is a scrapbooking store in beautiful and sunny Malibu, California. My creative and oh so talented friend Jennifer is the brains behind the operation! Jennifer is inspiring me to try scrapbooking. I am almost ashamed to admit I've never scrapbooked anything, and in general I'm not a very creative or crafty person. However, she promises me it is easy and I can do it!  And as you can imagine, I have tons and tons of old photos and other items that would probably look great in a scrapbook. So I'm going to give this a whirl! Jennifer has a website where you can purchase the coolest kits and supplies. You can access the website HERE . One neat item on the website are the "Send A Kid To Japan" kits.  With any purchase of tho...