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!

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

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!

Happy Monday to you all! I have two really exciting things to share today so I’ll get right to it. The first announcement has been so hard to keep quiet but I am so thrilled to announce that yours truly will be part of a Halloween/Fall feature in Better Homes & Gardens! Three other bloggers and myself were asked to contribute and take part in an online contest where we’ll each create four designs based around a specific concept. Our first project (sneak peek above) is scheduled to appear in the October issue due on newsstands September 5! Each project will be voted on by online readers and the Better Homes & Garden’s Staff to select an ultimate winner. The blogger that wins the entire contest will then be featured in next years issue along with another Fall themed project.

I have some seriously talented competition and am beyond humbled to be part of this exciting event. I never, in a million years, thought I’d be featured in such an iconic magazine nor be competing with several of my favorite bloggers! The other three are: Nicole Balch of Making It Lovely, Elizabeth Owen of Mabel’s House, and Suzonne Stirling of Urban comfort. I’ve already seen of what they’ve been up to and I can honestly say that the butterflies are starting to flutter. These ladies have got some skillz so it will be a challenge for sure! I’ll be sharing more about each of the projects as I go and shamelessly asking for votes as well. I hope I can live up to the task and maybe win one or two rounds. Keep your fingers crossed for me and stay tuned!

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The next bit of news is about the posts for this week. I will be taking some much needed vacation and have asked my good friend Tara Lee to hold down the fort while I’m away. You probably all remember her ADORABLE circus themed letterpressed baby shower invites from awahile back. Well, she’ll be here starting tomorrow, sharing more of her creative projects and design inspiration for the rest of the week!

Tara is such an inspiration to me creatively and she really is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever known. You’ll be in great hands so please join me in welcoming her to Twig & Thistle! Check back tomorrow for Tara’s first post.

I’m completely delighted by the turnout for the Pom Pom Giveaway! A huge round of thanks to Orange Kisses for providing the wonderful prize! And congratulations to Molly for winning, I’ll be in touch shortly! For everyone else make sure to check out their Etsy store for all your pom related needs!

Today is my birthday (Woo Hoo!) and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than finding out that I was a finalist in the DIY Wedding Crafts Contest with Etsy and Martha Stewart Weddings. The Sparkler Cards that I entered are one of 19 other finalists and one winner selected. It’s a huge honor to be a part of this fabulous collection and I couldn’t be more thrilled! The winner and finalists are featured in a slideshow on Martha Stewart Weddings. A BIG ol’ Thank You to Etsy and Martha Stewart Weddings for making this one of the most exciting birthday’s ever! You can see the adorable winning Cake Topper here and the rest of the finalists here.

If any of you are curious, I am now selling a downloadable PDF template for the Sparkler Cards along with coordinating Coat Check Tags in my Etsy shop. I’ll be sharing more details soon but feel free to check it out in the mean time. I’m taking the evening off from blogging to spend some computer free time with my husband so I’ll see you all back here Monday. Have a great weekend everyone! xoxo

It’s time for another contest! To celebrate their one year anniversary on Etsy, Cotton Candy by Natalie is generously giving away one of her cute reversible camera straps! These charming straps are each handmade and come in a variety of fabric patterns. It was hard to pick just one to feature but this orange one above is so delightfully summery!

To enter, just leave a little note in the comments with your name and last initial by Thursday, June 11th no later than 5pm PST and we will randomly choose a winner and annouce it next Friday the 12th. Good luck everyone!

NOTE: THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

Abby has since asked me to be a contributing DIY editor on Style Me Pretty. I will be submitting projects on a monthly basis so check back for updates!Â

DIY Hot Cocoa and Marshmallows, DIY Custom Matchbooks, and DIY Custom Sparklers