Burford Designs

Who Wants to Win a Trip to Paris?

I know that I surely do.  Of course visiting Paris is on my "dream list" but I really want to visit and have someone along that "knows" the place, at least for part of the trip and that just happens to be part of this prize package (check out the link below where you can enter and get all of the details).

Jordan is a party planner and letterpress printer from San Francisco who currently lives abroad with her husband and children.  This is what she had to write about why she decided to give this fabulous prize away, "As a thank you I am doing a giveaway for a 7 DAY TRIP FOR TWO TO PARIS, FRANCE! It’s true. I’ve put together a major giveaway that includes 7 night stay at Mama Shelter, the hippest boutique hotel in Paris. Roundtrip Airfare from the continental United States to Paris, France. And on top of that I will personally host* the winner for two days and take them around to my favorite spots in Paris."

If you want a chance to win as well (and there are four different methods of entry which means four different chances to win) all you need to do is head on over to Oh Happy Days.

Bonne chance everyone!

(Although I am already off to plan what I'm going to take with me.)

Grosgrain Shoe Sugar Month Happening Now

This Grosgrain post is, amazingly enough, not about a giveaway (although I guess I should mention that Kathleen is having a major giveaway on her site… a Sizzix Big Shot).  I wanted to let you know that Kathleen is doing a month of posts titled Shoe Sugar Month.  Shoe Sugar Month is all about making fabulous adornments for and decorating your shoes (or your daughter’s or a friend’s shoes).  Right now she is on Day 15 (here is her Shoe Sugar Month Click on Squares to see all of the days that have been posted).

Last spring Kathleen began a Total Shoe Redo where she posted a few ideas for redoing shoes, this one is for adding cherry clusters.  To see the others simply check the link within below her post or type in Total Shoe Redo on the right hand side of her blog.

 

Kathleen recently finished Embellish Knit Month where she showed various ways to, ahem, embellish you knits.  Day 30 was one of my faves.

And just so you know, the winner of the giveaway (for the Sizzix Big Shot) will be announced (over at Grosgrain) at the end of Shoe Sugar Month which will be on Day 30.

Magpie Patterns Guest Giveaway at Grosgrain

Happy Thanksgiving!  I thought that I would let you know about a couple more giveaways over at Grosgrain (in addition to the one from yesterday) to help start the Christmas season off right.

 

This first one is a pattern giveaway from Magpie Patterns.  There are many patterns to choose from just take a gander.

This is what Kathleen had to write:

 

“I love giving away patterns on Grosgrain. You seem to love them too. Magpie Patterns is offering one Grosgrain reader a $50 gift card to their shop! And it's good. Have you heard of the "Lady Grey" pattern? It's been all over the sewing blogs. Magpie Patterns offers this fabulous pattern.

 

But if you're looking for patterns of a 'teenier' variety you can also find many sweet children patterns for boys and girls.

 

This is a giveaway you just can't pass up.”

Grosgrain Giveaways can be entered by any ONE of four ways:

1) By linking about this giveaway (to your blog, Facebook, or any other site) button is below.
2) By leaving a comment on her post.
3) By FOLLOWING Grosgrain using the link in her right sidebar.
4) *NEW* By following her on Twitter 

Just remember to please leave her a comment telling her what you did so that she can go back and look for your entry. Either give her the link that you posted for the giveaway to or tell her that you began to following her.

Finer Ribbon Personalized Ribbon and Giveaway Over at Grosgrain

This is the other giveaway I was writing about.  I love the idea of using this ribbon and would love to win it too!

 

I’ll let Kathleen explain:

 

“I just got 100 yards of my personalized Finer Ribbon in the mail and I couldn't be more thrilled! It is sooooo cool. At first I thought it would be great to use to wrap the giveaway items that I send to winners but then I realized it is PERFECT to use as clothing labels. What could be more fitting for Grosgrain than a ribbon label? So as you can see I'm using them for this. And it looks sooo good.

I can't wait to sew them into a bunch of handmade garments! And it's actually a WAYYY more affordable alternative to getting woven labels made. Only $25 for 100 yards!!

I recommend treating with Scotch Guard and fray spray (or fray check) if you plan to use as labels.

I think I'm going to get one in every color to go with a whole color palette of clothes which will be easy since they have 106 choices of ribbon colors to choose from.

Making the label was easy. I simply went on their website. Followed the step by step instructions, uploaded my logo, entered payment and shipping info and that was that.

Actually, my logo's image dpi was a little low so they redrew it in high resolution EPS format and sent it back to me to use at my convenience. How thoughtful!

And just to prove how thoughtful they really were, Finer Ribbon thought to offer one of you, your choice of personalized ribbon!”

 

As with all Grosgrain giveaways you need to go to the original post and following the instructions at the end.

Good luck!

Grosgrain Silhouette Machine Giveaway

Silhouette has teamed up again with Kathleen from Grosgrain to offer ANOTHER Silhouette machine to another lucky Grosgrain reader as well as an amazing offer for the rest of you!

This would also make a REALLY great gift for me or for a crafty spouse or for me or for a friend!  I know that I love it.  Even though the machine itself would make a great gift it also MAKES really great gifts! Use your machine to save money on all those expensive greeting cards, package tags and decorations.

Kathleen writes: “First off I want to differentiate this from the Cricut which IMHO has nothing on the Silhouette. The major difference being you DON'T have to buy EXPENSIVE cartridges which (to me) makes the Cricut cost prohibitive. You have the freedom to create whatever you want. Whatever font you have installed on your computer, you can cut out with the Silhouette machine and your computer.

You can cut images that are 39" long! That's long enough for a life sized birch tree vinyl cutout. Speaking of cutouts you can make your own images! Want to make a silhouette of your family's profiles to frame over the mantelpiece? YOU CAN with the Silhouette.

And here's another great part. If you want to purchase something from the Silhouette library (which has some GREAT boxes BTW) you can purchase them individually online for only 99 cents a piece. Compare that to Cricut which charges you $60 per cartridge with about 50 images you may or may not want and one font AND you'd have to drive out to the store to buy it.

I can't tell you how invaluable it is to have a machine make a store-bought looking card in a matter of seconds when a birthday or holiday catches me off guard.”

To check out the deal and sign up for your own chance to win, then hop on over to the Grosgrain post here.

Shabby Apple Boysenberry Pie Apron Guest Giveaway

Here are a couple of quick posts for today to let you know about Kathleen’s (from Grosgrain Fabulous) newest giveaways.  The first up is a guest giveaway from Shabby Apple; an online store that I first learned about from Kathleen a couple of years ago.

This particular giveaway is for an apron of their choice from Shabby Apple from their new collection of retro style aprons.

Here is what Kathleen had to write:

“Each and every one of their new lines are unique and fun to look at. And their newest addition, Boysenberry Pie, is no exception. It's a collection of retro aprons in colorfully printed poplins, with a perfect mix of nostalgia and mod.

And for one lucky Grosgrain reader, Shabby Apple is offering an apron of their choice. Look cute in curlers. Or over the stove in messy cupcake batter.

Choose from a half size or whole body. Which ever apron best suits your homemaking needs. I think my favorite is the wildberry pie.”

All of the aprons are named after a delicious desserts like Blackberry Pie, Blueberry Pie, Caramel Apple Pie, Key Lime Pie, Wildberry Pie, Carrot Cake, and Strawberry Shortcake and the photos are pretty cute to boot.

As with all Grosgrain giveaways all you have to do to enter is visit her post here and follow the directions.

The Oregon Rail Frock Grosgrain Giveaway

The second giveaway from Grosgrain is one made by Kathleen’s very talented hands.  Since she made it I’ll let her words describe it all.

“I made this frock from Burdastyle's Wenlen Blouse and altered it to be a dress. Buy the pattern and see my ENTIRE tutorial for this frock on Burdastyle! It is the featured project of the week.

With the collar, neck ties and skinny pencil skirt, I thought the end look was a little 1940s.

When I was 12 years old I took my first long distance trip beginning at this exact train station. Before that, I had never been further than New Jersey. The trip went from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Portland, Oregon....by train....by coach class. I spent four days on a train without a bed, without an ipod, without a friend, without much of anything at all. For a 12 year-old it was misery.

Funny thing is sometimes I think it would be cool to do it over again....not by coach of course. Even though I was twelve and bored to death I have to admit there were some really cool sites. The train had a special car made entirely of windows. It was like riding in a bubble. I remember traveling through the Cascade Mountains, over the famous Gassman Coulee Trestle bridge, along the Mississippi, across endless North Dakota wheat plains and through Montana Canyons. I ate spare ribs in a moving restaurant and sipped soda in a downstairs bar and roamed freely from car to car....I also watched Back to the Future II for the first time ever. So it wasn't all bad.

So in tribute to that experience I'm calling this the Oregon Rail Frock.”

I, of course, like the name simply because I love trains/train stations and Oregon is on my list of top places to live.

As with all Grosgrain giveaways all you have to do to enter is visit her post here and follow the directions.

Grosgrain Giveaway: The Reporter Frock

Seriously, I just do not understand how Kathleen (from Grosgrain) finds the time to whip up all of these gorgeous frocks, especially when she has three beautiful little girls at home.  I get a lot done during my days and nights but I guess it’s different for me because I’m not making clothes like she does.  I also wonder what her own closet must look like since she gives all of these beauties away on a pretty regular basis.  That would be a great post for her… what’s in her closet (like what she actually had/ keeps).  I just love how generous she is. 

 

This giveaway is for this beautiful frock named The Reporter Frock because Kathleen thought it reminded her of “something a reporter from the 50s or a secretary from Mad Men would wear”.  I concur.

For me, the devil is in the details and I adore the collar and armhole pleating on the top of this dress.

It is so pretty and something that would be fun to wear to work, no matter what your position may be.  Funny enough, I’m working on a little hat that I think is almost an exact match to this olive top.  Of course if I won, I’d beg Kathleen for any scraps she might have (from the blouse part and or the skirt part) to add to my hat.

As with all Grosgrain giveaways, please see the original post and follow the instructions to enter.

Good Luck!

Check it Out: Biscuit’s Blog-A-Palooza Giveaway!

So many prizes and so many different opportunities to win... check it out when you have a chance (the blog button is also on the left hand side so just click it).

 

Just thought you would want to know.

Grosgrain Giveaway: The Naiad Frock Giveaway

When I was a little girl Mommy had a beautiful black negligee that I thought was the prettiest thing in the world.  It was very 1960s (although we were in the 80s when she had it) it was a definite throwback to a different era.  This beautiful frock reminds me of that. (And it doesn’t hurt that Kathleen and the photos (courtesy of her hubby Brian) are absolutely gorgeous.

 

Here’s the 4-1-1 from Kathleen:

 

“The dress is made of fine nylon chiffon, a lot of it, 7 yards to be exact. I gathered the neckline and lower tiers by hand and then I used elastic thread for the fluff at the bottom. It might look like it is see-through but I have sewn a nude colored opaque slip into the dress.

As you can see the dress is sloped to one side. Almost impossible to wear a bra as it dips very low in the back and is one-shouldered. I used packing tape for support (not the best option), but if you used an adhesive bra you might feel better protected. Also, because of its poofy shapelessness I made the dress very short to show off the legs...again please keep in mind that this is NOT an everyday house frock so please no comments about immodesty. I realize, it's showy. Though I should point out....no cleavage:)

 

In Greek mythology, the Naiads (Ναϊάδες from the Greek νάειν, "to flow," and νἃμα, "running water") were a type of nymph who presided over fountains, wells, springs, streams, and brooks.

The Naiad was intimately connected to her body of water and her very existence seems to have depended on it. If a stream dried up, its Naiad expired. The waters over which Naiads presided were thought to be endowed with inspirational, medicinal, or prophetic powers. Thus the Naiads were frequently worshiped by the ancient Greeks in association with divinities of fertility and growth.”

 

As with all Grosgrain giveaways, please see the original post and follow the instructions to enter.

 

Good Luck!