CSN Stores Giveaway!!

We are so happy to be hosting another CSN giveaway. One of our lovely readers will receive 30 dollars in credit to spend at one of CSN's many online stores!

What's so great about CSN is they have some of just about everything. Are you in the market for new bedding, shoes, a car seat for your little one? They have all that. They also have beautiful furniture like computer desks for home offices, upholstered headboards, and much more.

How to Enter:

1. The giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents.

2. Leave a comment telling me what you would like to spend the $30 on (you don't actually have to spend your winnings on that item).
3. Facebooking or blogging about this giveaway will give you an extra entry, but you must leave an extra comment for each, telling me you've done so in order for it to count as an extra entry.
4. It would be nice if you decided to follow us, but we won't make you...there is an extra entry in it for you though (please leave yet another comment telling us you already were a follower or that you are a new follower if that is the case).
5. One more chance to win, grab our button for your blog and leave another comment telling us you did so.

6. Leave me your e-mail address or make sure it is visible on your blog so in the event that you win this giveaway I can contact you.

Entries will be accepted until 11:59 pm MST on March 2, 2011. A winner will be chosen at random. I will notify the winner by March 3, 2011 via email (please respond within 48 hours). The winner will also be announced here on our blog. Good luck!!

Homemade Silver Polish

If you read my Valentine banner post, you know I am having some friends over for a Valentine's dinner. We have lived in our house for three years now and have only used our dinning room twice, both times were Thanksgiving dinner. So, I'm trying to say I'm pretty excited to have a little get together and use the room.

I don't have a nice set of silverware. I have found several sets I wouldn't mind owning but I don't want to shell out the money for them. My solution was to buy silverware as I come across it at thrift and antique stores. I paid between ten cents to two dollars a piece for my silverware. The only problem now is that every piece is pretty tarnished.
I remember using a rag to polish my grandma's flatware and not really digging all that work. I came across this super easy and quick way to clean/polish silverware:

Homemade Silver Cleaner/Polish:

• 2 tablespoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon salt
• aluminum foil
• glass dish
• hot water

Line a glass dish with aluminum foil and add your silverware. Be sure it touches as much of the foil as possible because the reaction to the foil is what removes the tarnish. Sprinkle the salt and baking soda over the silverware.

Now, carefully pour boiling water over your silverware, being sure all items are completely submerged. This part is fun because it gets all bubbly and fizzy. Your kitchen should now smell a bit like a sulfur hot pot (my husband walked in and blamed the smell on the dog). Let your mixture sit for 30 minutes.

Then pour out the water, rinse off your flatware, rub it a little with a clean cloth and...

Aren't you impressed?! It looks amazing and I didn't have to rub it with a cloth all day long!

I had no idea this spoon was engraved until I cleaned off all the tarnish. So cool.



Now I'm all ready for my dinner guests!

Valentine Crayon Hearts

My good friend Janette and her sweet little girls made these super cute crayon hearts with me.

We found the tutorial over at Martha Stewart's website and knew we had to make them.
This was a very inexpensive, yet time-consuming project. The girls seemed to love it though...they know their way around a box of crayolas! They got really creative with color combinations, adding a really pretty blue that I would have never thought to add to the mix. They also got creative with the shapes they cut out, making double and triple hearts. I played it safe and just cut out varying sizes of hearts.
We basically followed Martha's tutorial, except we used paper grocery bags rather than Kraft paper around the wax paper (mainly because I don't know what "kraft" paper is). I attached my hearts to baker's twine with a dab of super glue.
If you are looking for a fun project to do with your kids, this is a great one.