To enter, everyone was asked to share their favorite holiday traditions. There were so many amazing responses and it was such a pleasure reading each and every one of them! Below is what each of the winners had to say:

Congratulations ladies! Bethany will be in touch with you shortly! Thanks to everyone that entered and thank you again for sharing all your great traditions! Happy holidays to you all!

Congratulations Allison! You’ll be hearing from the lovely ladies at TapeSwell regarding your prize soon.

Thanks to everyone for entering and don’t forget, you can still get 10 % off your TapeSwell order by using code: T&T at checkout. Also, if you haven’t already seen it, be sure to watch this short clip including 7 tips for how to ship your holiday gifts. Happy shipping everyone!

Images by Emily Steffen

As if the Cup of Cheer cup sleeve freebie from Bethany of b*spoke weren’t enough, we’ve got another giveaway to kick off today! Bethany is generously offering TWO readers a pack of printables from her Emmy Lu Printable Shop. The winners will receive printables of their choice including a calendar, a set of notecards, recipe cards and gift tags.

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To enter: Visit the Emmy Lu Printable Shop to see all her beautiful goods then come back here to answer the following question:

The holidays are all about friends, family and traditions. What’s your favorite holiday tradition and why?

Be sure to include your email address along with your first name and last initial. Only one entry per person please!

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Giveaway closes Wednesday, December 15th at 10pm PST. One lucky winner will be randomly selected from the comments and announced Friday, October 17th. Best of luck!

As many of you know, I and three other bloggers were featured in the October issue of Better Homes & Garden’s magazine. We competed in a four part contest where we each had to submit a project based on a fall theme. At stake, a full page feature in the 2011 fall issue.

The competition was amazing and it was so inspiring to see how we each interpreted the challenges. The other bloggers competeing were Nicole Balch of Making It Lovely, Elizabeth Owen of Mabel’s House, and Suzonne Stirling of Urban comfort. We just got word on the final tally of votes so I thought I’d share the results.

For the first round, we each had to create a Halloween mask using a simple plastic mask form as the base. I created a peacock inspired frock and made the feathers entirely out of paper. Sadly, my mask was not well received and I came in 4th place.

Clockwise from top left: 1st Place: Butterfly Mask by Mabel’s House, 2nd Place: Earthly Girl mask by Making It Lovely, 3rd Place: Fairy mask by Urban comfort, 4th Place: Peacock mask by Twig & Thistle

For round two we had to make a home decor item using real or fake leaves. I took ordinary floral leaves and spray painted them different shades of purple to create a gradated decorative wreath. I did better in this round and came in second place.

Clockwise from top left: 1st Place: Phone Tree by Mabel’s House, 2nd Place: Purple Wreath by Twig & Thistle, 3rd Place: Leaf Table Runner by Urban comfort, 4th Place: Leaf Napkin Ring by Making It Lovely

The task for round three was to create another home decor item but with pumpkins this time. This was my favorite project of the bunch and I made glittered candle holders from foam pumpkins. Came in second again!

Clockwise from top left: 1st Place: Pumpkin Placecards by Mabel’s House, 2nd Place: Glittering Pumpkins by Twig & Thistle, 3rd Place: Hole-Filled Pumkins by Making It Lovely, 4th Place: Fabric Pumpkin Leaves by Urban comfort

The fourth and final round proved to be the most difficult for me. We were tasked with decorating an outdoor space for fall or Halloween. My address pumpkin was my favorite part and I came in second once again.

Clockwise from top left: 1st Place: Silhouette Door by Making It Lovely, 2nd Place: Fall Decor by Twig & Thistle, 3rd Place: Trick-or-Treat by Mabel’s House, 4th Place: Swag and Lanterns by

This was an incredible experience for me and I’m so glad I got to share it with everyone. Thank you again to all that voted for me and cheered me on. This was one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done. The timeline was insane and I was shocked at how incredibly time consuming and difficult each of the projects were. From trying to come up with something I hadn’t seen before, to executing and then photographing each step, it was quite the undertaking!

I’m glad I had the opportunity though and I’m thrilled that I was able to compete with such talented ladies. Congratulations to Elizabeth Owen of Mabel’s House for the BIG win! I’m disappointed that I never made it into first place but at least I’m consistent and stayed in 2nd place after the first round. I’ll definitely be looking for Elizabeth’s feature come next October!

Congrats to Mckay on winning, you should be hearing form Minted soon! If you didn’t win, don’t despair we have a few more fun giveaways before the year is out!

Congratulations to Britta, I will pass on your email to Lindsay and she will be in touch with you shortly.

For the rest of you, I still have some exciting news! Lindsay is offering a Twig & Thistle readers $10 off for the month of November on any custom or template designs. Just enter in code “Twig” at checkout to receive the discount.

I hope everyone is liking all these giveaways because I’ve got another big one to announce today! Minted, known for their sophisticated and customizable cards and paper goods, is offering a $100 gift card to one lucky T&T reader! With a huge selection and amazing designs to choose from, there’s a card for everyone. With the holidays around the corner, this is a great opportunity to get those cards you’ve always wanted.

I received a sample pack and got to see a lot of these cards up close and I was so impressed! Each one comes with the option to add a coordinating envelope liner, wrap around address label and back-of-card design. You even get to choose from a selection of colors, fonts and paper weights!

As if that weren’t enough paper goodness, Minted just launched a new line of photo calendars! These would make for a creative and fun family gift. You can even mix and match calendar themes or pick your favorite layouts for each month.

To enter to win:

1. Visit Minted to view their Holiday and Christmas card selection.
2. leave a note in the comments saying which Minted card design is your favorite.
3. Be sure to include your email address along with your first name and last initial. Only one entry per person please!

Giveaway closes Tuesday, November 16th at 10pm PST. One lucky winner will be randomly selected from the comments and announced Friday, October 19th. Best wishes to everyone!

As I mentioned earlier, I have an exciting giveaway to announce today. Lindsay Nicole Design, one of our lovely new sponsors, has offered to award a lucky winner one free Blogger template ($40 value). *Note: Templates are for Blogger/blogspot blogs only.

Lindsay specializes in custom and template blog designs. From design concept to installation, she creates a blog that fits both the authors personal and written style. The winner will receive:
• A fully-funtional, unique blogger template – they can choose any template from her collection!
• Complete Installation of new template
• Customization of pictures and blog title in blog header
• Specialty fonts on header and post-titles (as shown in template preview)
• Setup of standard widgets (About, Archive, Labels, Followers)
• Unique background pattern (as shown in template preview)
*The winner can also choose to add-on extra custom features at their own expense (available add-ons listed here)

This is a great prize and a fantastic opportunity if you’ve wanted to revamp or start a blog of your own and don’t have all the skills or tools to design one.

To enter to win:
1. Visit the Lindsay Nicole Design Studio to see her template shoppe.
2. Leave a comment at the end of this post telling us what your favorite blog is (not including Twig & Thistle – obviously! wink!)
3. Include your email address along with your first name and last initial. Only one entry per person please!

Giveaway closes Friday, November 12th at 10pm PST. One lucky winner will be randomly selected from the comments and announced Monday, November 15th.

Good luck everyone!

Everyone’s stories of who they’d take in a hot air ballon if given the chance were touching, hilarious and inspiring. I enjoyed reading each and every comment and I honestly think this was by far the most entertaining giveaway yet. Thank you to everyone who entered! And now, for the winner…

Congratulations to Tanya, you are one lucky lady! I will be in touch with you shortly. If you aren’t Miss W., you can still purchase your own print or cards through the Small Talk shop and get updates by visiting the blog.

First of all, I just want to thank everyone again for all your kind words and votes over the last few weeks. The Better Homes & Gardens contest has been a ton of work and loads of fun but it’s even better knowing I have so much support!

Today is the beginning of the forth and final leg! For this round, myself and the other three bloggers, were asked to make an outdoor display for the fall season. I wanted to create a pretty arrangement with a hint of Halloween spirit. All it took was a mix of store bought items, a few cans of spray paint and some simple arranging. Below are the materials and instructions to create your own.

See what the other bloggers have been up to and vote for your favorite at bhg.com! And don’t forget, you can vote once a day!

Materials
Pumpkins in varying sizes
Matte Black Spray Paint
Gold Spray Paint
Black Vinyl Sticker Numbers (Found at local art supply stores)
Spiky Plants (I used 2 Cordyline Plants)
Black Halloween Wreath (Found at Target)
Black Urns (Found at Target)
Black Ribbon

I shared my third project for the Better Homes & Gardens contest yesterday and today I have all the materials and instructions you’ll need to make your own. With just a few simple steps, you can make any foam gourd into a pretty and natural looking fall accessory. Have fun!

Supplies
Styrofoam Pumpkin
Candle
Drill
Hole Saw Attachment for drill (found at hardware stores)
Craft Glue
Glitter

Instructions

Things are moving fast and furious now as we get closer to the holidays and this week is the third leg of the Better Homes & Gardens contest. For this round, I, and the other three bloggers, were tasked with using either real or fake pumpkins to create a home decor item. I ended up creating large and small candle holders out of foam pumpkins.

I would have loved to use real pumpkins for this round but sadly due to the unseasonably cool summer here in the northwest, there were no pumpkins to be found in early September. I had never used a fake pumpkin so carving into foam was a bit nerve-wracking but I’m thrilled with the result! The best part, this project will last for years and seasons to come.

To add a little sparkle, I ended up coating the pumpkins in simmering gold glitter before placing the candles inside. I love the charm they add to a tablescape and how the light reflects off the glitter. Paired with the DIY Pumpkin Place Cards I shared earlier, you’ve got an autumnal table fit for entertaining! Check back tomorrow for the complete how-to instructions.

And don’t forget, you can see the rest of the projects and vote for your favorite at bhg.com!

I’ve got an exciting giveaway today to brighten your Tuesday morning! This one comes from the incredibly talented Alyssa Nassner of Small Talk Studio. You might remember me gushing about her craft inspired prints. Well, Alyssa’s recently added some new prints, cards and notebooks to her Etsy shop.

To give back, she’s generously giving away alimited edition Up and Away Print along with a set of  Delightful Foxes Cards. How charming are both of those?! I just love those two foxy foxes!

To enter to win:
1. Visit the Small Talk Studio Shop to see all her beautiful goods.
2. Leave a comment at the end of this post telling us who’s the one person you’d take on a hot air ballon ride if you got the chance.
3. Include your email address along with your first name and last initial. Only one entry per person please!

*Contest is now closed Giveaway closes Tuesday, October  26th at 10pm PST. One lucky winner will be randomly selected from the comments and announced Friday, October 29th.

Good luck everyone!

Today marks the second leg of the Better Homes & Gardens Home for the Holidays Contest! I have been so excited to share this project with all of you, as I had so much fun putting it together.

The task was to create a fall home decor item using real or fake leaves. I ended up making a wreath by spray painting fabric leaves from a craft store in gradated purple tones then pinning them to a foam wreath form with craft pins. The wreath ended up being quite versatile and I found it worked well as a traditional door decoration, above a fireplace and even a dramatic centerpiece. I’ll be back tomorrow with the complete list of supplies and how to instructions so stay tuned!

In the mean time, I would love your votes! You can vote once a day from now until Sunday, October 17th. I didn’t fair well in the last round so I’m stepping up my game this time with a link at the top of each page for voting convenience. Thank you all so much for voting for me so far, it means the world to me!

Congratulations Kiki for winning the giveaway, I’ll be in touch shortly!

For those of you that didn’t win, you’re still in luck! Silhouette is offering two great discounts (see below for details). The first is good from now until September 30th and the second from October 1st through the 4th. Enter code: TWIG at checkout. Thanks for playing everyone and thanks to Silhouette for a great giveaway!

I’m signing off early this week to attend a going away party for a friend. I hope you all have a great weekend and see you next week! xoxo, Kathleen