Logan Wolfram

Enjoying Life for Dessert

Allume Pictures and Decor!

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I said the other day that I didn’t really have any pictures of the decor from Allume, and then ya’ll…sweet Anne from Authentic Simplicity sent me some!  So I wanted to share.  The best part of these is that they didn’t cost much at all!

This lamp set-up was on the stage.  We just asked attendees who were local to bring out some lamps, and they did!  It looked gorgeous to have the soft light and different heights creating a focal point on the stage.  So…even when noone was up there speaking, it was a pleasant place to look!  I created a tiered effect by placing one 6 foot table on top of 2 others.  We kept the cloth simple with the black linens on the tables and the black pipe and drape which was behind.

Burlap has been my favorite cloth of choice for a couple of years now because it’s cheap, easy to work with, and has fantastic texture.  We wanted to create a twinkle effect on the table as well, so we haphazardly strung christmas lights around the table and then covered the ugly cords with the burlap topper.  Just bunch it up and go, and enjoy the twinkle of lights peeking through!

The flowers were a variety called alstroemeria that I picked up at Costco.  These flowers have a really pretty vintage look to them, they are super cheap, and they have a really long shelf life once cut.  I knew that we weren’t going to have gads of time to go around watering flowers over the weekend, so I chose alstroemeria because I knew they could tolerate the neglect of a weekend.  They also come in different colors which added a bit of variety.  We used the creamy ones on this front display and pinks and reds on the tables.

For me, the piece de resistance were the clusters of GORGEOUS velvet pumpkins from the LoveFeast Table shop.  Oh my words ya’ll….look at these things!

image via LoveFeast Shop

I seriously adore these things!  I’ve seen junky knock offs at craft stores, but they do not begin to hold a candle to these handmade works of art!  Real gorgeous pumpkin stems, plush velvet, and they’re heavy and well made.  Seriously….swoon!  Anywhoo….LoveFeast let us use their gorgemous pumpkins to decorate and they gave some away too!  Uh-mazing!

I made tons of the tissue poms sitting in bed one night a month or so before the conference.  These things are SO easy to make and add a bunch of interest for very low cost.  As in…the cost of 10 sheets of tissue paper makes one.  High impact…low cost. SCORE!

I knew that I wanted the centerpieces to be sort of a vignette of different interesting things.  A mix of things old and fresh, texture, color, and interest.  Here’s how they turned out….

Dayspring was one of our biggest sponsors and not only are they a company who make gorgeous items, they have the MOST phenomenal people working for them.  Seriously…I adore the team of people they brought to make Allume a smashing success!  The lovely bird jewelry tree at the center was provided by Dayspring and at the end of the conference, 1 attendee from each table actually won the entire centerpieces!  Might I just suggest at this point that jewelry tree would make a fabulous Christmas gift for someone in your life!  So so pretty!

You can’t see it in this picture, but I found some vintage looking glittery tags of birds and butterflies that we hung from a couple of the branches.  My most favorite things of all were probably the incredible books I found.  Allume is a conference for women who love the Lord, but mostly all of them are bloggers and writers.  It just seemed appropriate to decorate with lovely books.  And I found lots of them with beautiful covers in all different colors that we used all over the space!  And if you’ll notice too….burlap table toppers….beautiful and cheapo!

Everything else was a mix of dried and real flowers….dried thistle and hydrangea, fresh alstroemeria, sticks, twigs, nests, small candles, and LoveFeast pumpkins…a hodge podge of stuff shifted and nudged to look haphazardly thrown together, but way too intentional to actually be such.

I LOVED the way these turned out and the best part of all was that SO MANY women commented on how beautiful everything was and how loved they felt because of the details!

Soon, I’ll show you how to make tons of really adorable vintage looking containers to put flowers in for a cost of next to nothing!

So excited to finally share a few pics with you!  There’s something so satisfying about seeing a vision actually come together…and even more satisfying that vision speaks love to others! YES! Success!

Jehovah Sneaky and The Element

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You know what, we should really just call a spade a spade around here and say that when my life gets crazy, my blog gets quiet.  I’m a writer (wow…feels weird to say that) but before that I’m a liver (and not the kind in your abdomen.)  I want to LIVE and hopefully lately, I’ll get around to writing about all that life happening around me.

So….alot of life has been happening around me.  Like this….

These are some of the crazy peeps I call my friends.  Not a one of them lives in my town, but I tell you what….my heart is knit to theirs.  These are some of the world changers that I had the chance to spend 4 days with at Allume in Harrisburg, PA last week.

In case you missed it, I had a load of stuff to do for Allume.  I was in charge of hospitality for the conference of 400+ people, mostly women, who all love Jesus first, and mostly all blog as well.

Here’s a little sneak peek of something I did (with the help of my incredible friend, Darlene and my new and super-powered friend Carey.)  The Allume stage.

This photo was taken by my sweet new friend, Mandy, from Biblical Homemaking. Oh my words…this girl, aside from having a heart of gold, has the most incredible hair I’ve EVER EVER EVER seen. I could have hair like that maybe…for like $700 worth of extensions….but then they’d fall out, and I’d be worse off.  Nevermind.

The table decorations were pretty awesome too….but you know what…I don’t have a picture of those either.  I’ll find one though….

Ya’ll….I didn’t have time to take a single picture beyond a bunch of silly ones in the Smilebooth.  I had too much to do….too many little details to take care of, too many tiny fires to make sure never got fanned to flame, and then honestly….I just had too much real life connection that needed to happen. One day I’ll take more pictures in the midst of too much fun….one day!  To make matters worse, my phone isn’t an iphone, so I don’t have instagram!  I know….and really, if you want to know what a tekkie fossil I am….I still have a hotmail account too.  Will you all still be my friends? 🙂

So let me tell you what happened at Allume that kinda knocked my socks off.

The first night I was set to give all of the announcements.  The boring kind though.  Stuff like….”please don’t take the table decor”, “if you need a special meal and didn’t sign up for one…sorry about that, but too bad”, “if your baby cries…it’d be awesome if they could do it outside of the room where there’s a speaker”, “some sessions are switching around a bit”….stuff like that.  None of it exciting, but all of it important.

Well, a funny thing happened while I was at the farm (what is that quote from?)  Somewhere in the announcements, I suddenly realized people were laughing at me.  Literally laughing.  My mind kinda jumped around to places like….is there broccoli in my teeth, is there toilet paper on my shoe?!  And then I had this strange moment where I realized that people thought I was funny…apparently really pretty funny because they kept giggling.  Let me just say that you don’t NOT notice when a room of like 450 people are laughing at you.  I think I even exclaimed my surprise out loud at how funny I thought it was that they thought I was funny. More laughing….

I have absolutely no idea….no earthly idea what I did or said that was so funny, so I just kept on doing the announcements.  When I came back to the table, Sarah Mae (my friend and one of the conference hosts) said that she thought that I was funny and that I just HAD to do the announcements the rest of the conference.  So I did.

And ya’ll, it was so stinking fun!  I had absolutely no idea that I’d enjoy speaking like that in public.  And somewhere in there, I found my “element.”

My friend Tsh said last year at the conference during her keynote that, “when we’re in our element, we feel the Lord’s pleasure on us.”  Another friend after the conference said how much he enjoyed watching me “do my thing” on the stage.  Ya’ll….I had absolutely NO IDEA until this past weekend that I even had a “thing.”  But there it was….

I never once felt stressed about the decorations, about the food, about any of the details that go into making an event beautiful, because I knew I could do that part.  And the best thing about all of that was that people noticed.  Not noticed in a “give me accolades” sort of way….but people noticed and felt loved.  Good food and pretty spaces make women feel special, and my heart felt full that I was able to do that for this group of amazing women.

I spoke in a session on Saturday, and I nearly threw up before I did.  I was SO nervous.  I’ve never spoken before, and now suddenly I was funny to all of these people for the past 2 days.  God had given me a real word to share though…one that was serious, and I was suddenly afraid that funny might not be able to do “for real.”  So I prayed with my friend Laura (who was speaking at the same time,) and I cried because I was so nervous, and then I went in and led a session.

And I think it went pretty well.

It’s not up yet, but once the audio file is uploaded, I’ll post here to let you know, so that if you want, you can hear what I had to say.

God didn’t stop there though….because He’s just bigger than all that we dare to hope for.  He’s given me the opportunity to pour into Allume even more next year and to be more involved in all that goes into this amazing thing.  So this coming year, I have more work to do for this conference that has taken residence in a place in my heart…and I couldn’t be more excited!

So if you’re an Allume attendee, if you hope to be, or if you’re a reader here in this space, I’d sure love your prayers as I take on more responsibility to be a part of making this conference happen.  It’s a space where writers come together and get filled up so that they can pour out.  And I love every single thing about that.

Here I am, with Darren Rowse, aka ProBlogger on the final night.  He’d shared a really amazing story that morning about a mudcake that turned out to be one of those profound moments in life (my friend Elizabeth Esther shares really eloquently about the story HERE.)  We had a mudcake made for Darren and presenting it to him may have been one of the highlights for me of the conference….I do love a funny moment!  Darren got to have his cake….and eat it in front of everyone too….forkless!

I’m rambling now.  I woke up at 2:30 and won’t go back to bed until tonight.  My mind is racing and my heart still feel so so full.  God is so much fun, and as my friend Wendy says, sometimes he just shows up as “Jehovah Sneaky” and surprises us with something we’d never have thought of ourselves.  I found my element friends….and now I sure do wonder how the Lord will use it!

Calm the Raging Seas….

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I’m back from PA with loads of greatness to share about the weekend at Allume, but I just can’t go into all of that greatness without first sharing what woke me up in the middle of the night.  In fact…I’m going to pay the respects that are properly due and not even share it all in the same post.

At 3:30 am, I jolted awake in a panic.  My heart was pounding and I had to flip on the light to make sure that the place that my mind had just been as I slept wasn’t in fact my reality.  Whew….it wasn’t….for me, but it was for some.

My sister lives in New Jersey and all I could think about were the massive trees lining their yard with wind howling all around and water flooding over the banks of the river into homes there.  I thought about my new friend Darren who got stuck thousands of miles from his family (who are in Australia, no doubt worried that Daddy is stuck in the middle of one of the biggest storms in history.)  I thought about all of the incredible friends I made at Allume who couldn’t get home because of grounded flights, and I worried for my new friends who actually live in the pathway of this “Frankenstorm.”  I worried…..and panicked….and reminded myself that my God is big enough to calm the raging seas…even if he didn’t this time.

Four years ago, my family’s Christmas card picture was taken from this park that now looks just like a part of the river.

It was so real ya’ll….this dream I had.  I was at the beach in Florida with my family.  My husband often doesn’t come down until later because he has to work, so I was there with my parents and the boys.  The condo where we stay is right on the beach, and so when a hurricane warning was issued, my spirit went into get-out-of-dodge mode.  For some reason in the dream, my parents thought we’d be ok to stay, but it didn’t sit well with me, so I threw my boys in the car and started to leave the island.  The storm got worse and we eventually had to stop.  From the looks of things by the road, the random restaurant where we stopped seemed to be away from the edge, so we went in and took cover with the restaurant owner.  I looked out the window of the restaurant only to realize that it was even closer to the water’s edge than the condo where my parents were was.  I saw waves swelling to stories high and water already at the edge of the building.  We were worse off than if we’d never left at all.  I tried to call my husband, but the signal was down.  I clung to my 2-year-old who doesn’t know how to swim, and my 6-year-old knew that things weren’t good.  The water came in and the building began to fill up.  It was like that scene in Titanic where the ship levels are filling and people are trapped below.  We were about to drown…..

And then I woke up.  Panicked.  It wasn’t real.  It’s not real….it’s not real….calm down…pray.  And then I pulled out my computer because somewhere out there I knew that waters really were rising and buildings really were flooding.  And then I prayed.  And prayed some more.  I spent an hour in the middle of the night praying peace over those living a nightmare last night.  Prayed peace and supernatural wellness over babies carried by hand from the NYU hospital whose secondary generator failed.  Peace over parents who suddenly found themselves fighting for their tiny PICU and NICU babies’ lives.

Why didn’t God calm the storm?  Why is creation raging?  Why are homes lost and lives destroyed?

And the only answer that I can muster is that we live in a fallen world, but I do know…I KNOW THAT I KNOW that God is good….and he isn’t called Redeemer for nothing.

Join me in praying peace, blessings, and prosperity over the lives affected by this storm over the next few days and weeks?  I stand with the confidence that the God who created the seas can most certainly redeem the havoc that they wreak.

And tomorrow….tomorrow I’ll tell you about Allume.

Image Source :FoxNews.com

I’m Alive…I Promise! {And a Printable Recipe!}

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Friends,

Just so you know, I’m still here.  I just thought I’d let you know.

I’ve been working my fingers to the bone to get everything ready for the Allume Conference this coming weekend that I’m a part of putting on.  I’m in charge of all the decorations, food, some gift baskets, a man room, and a few other things.  In addition, on Saturday I’ll be speaking on “Using Your Blog for Real Life Discipleship.”  WOAH!  It’s a lot, but I’m so thankful and excited to be a part of it.

In addition, I’ve mostly finished the little boy’s room I shared with ya’ll awhile back.  A couple more finishing touches when I get back from Allume, and then I’ll share the real deal pictures with you all!  Have also been working on a Master Bath renovation as well as a dental office re-do.  All to say….I’ve been doing my best to keep it together as mommy and wife as I’ve been so insanely busy.  I’ve been a bad friend to my dear ones here over the past month, and clearly, I’ve been a horrible blogger too.  SOMETHING had to give though.  I do hope you won’t think me the worse for it!

So….I just wanted to check in with ya!  And….for fun, because I created it for something I’m doing at Allume….I figured I’d share with you the printable recipe card that I created with my all-time favorite sugar cookie recipe!  I made 2 of them with different backgrounds!  So….print for your files and now, you have something fun to add to your Christmas Cookie collection!

I’ll be back next week!  And in the meantime, I sure would LOVE your prayers for me as I’m working the conference this weekend.  I’m asking the Lord for supernatural efficiency and rest while I’m there.  I’m also praying that my words will be straight from the Father as I share in the session on Saturday morning!  Calm nerves too!  I’ve never done this before!

And if you’ll be at Allume….well then, come give me a giant hug!  Can’t wait to see you!

Super Pretty Pennant Banners!

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home bannerI’ve been quiet around here lately.  No really deep reason, just that I wanted to live without putting pressure on myself to write about it all the time too.  In the past week or so, I’ve spent some good time at home and loved playing water guns with my kids (among other games), refinishing a gorgeous depression era buffet and 2 twin beds, and working on 3 different decorating jobs.  I also met with a reproductive endocrinologist to try to figure out why I’ve miscarried so much, and basically now am weighing what it looks like to consider pregnancy again with Lovanox (blood thinner) shots daily to prevent clotting.  It’s a lot to think about since I’ve already had 2 c-sections and the thought of too much dangerous bleeding freaks me out, but in the meantime… I’ve been busy in a way of just really living.

Yesterday, I spent time with one of my dearest friends and we crafted!  There’s something so therapeutic about crafting for both of us…even when our kids are outside playing “picnic” and we look out to realize that in their raid of the pantry to get applesauce, granola bars, pretzels, and apples….they’ve also apparently gotten a bag of mini chocolate chips.  We didn’t know about those til we peeked out to check on them happily playing and noticed they both had brown around their mouths and on their hands.  AHHH…..unidentified brown can be dangerous!  When we discerned that the brown was from a bag of chocolate chips dumped onto the ground and eaten along with natural earthen grit, we grabbed the remainder in the bag and told them to carry on with the gritty ones.  Chocolate and dirt!….to my knowledge, there’s probably more to be concerned about eating what’s in processed chocolate than in the dirt that God made.

Anywhooo….I digress.  My friend Em and I made these adorable pennant banners that were inspired by my lovely blogging buddy Myra last week.

home banner

I see no reason to reinvent the wheel and give you my own tutorial when you can get the gist from Myra’s tutorial here.  I of course made some changes…because that’s what I like to do….put my own twist on things.  I found fonts I liked instead of free-handing letters, we didn’t have lace, so we created our own fringe by folding a piece of fabric we liked in half and making small slits to make it look more fringy/lacy-ish.  The best part of it all was spending time with my friend, but seriously, look how incredible these turned out!

grateful banner

I posted this picture on facebook and had a request to buy one!  So, I got to work and changed it up a bit and came up with this next slightly different one.

grateful banner

If I had a better camera instead of the one on my phone, you might could enjoy these more, but you get the idea.  Different font here, different fringy stuff….still super lovely!  So….I sold one (she actually wants several), and figured that if anyone else is loving this and isn’t the do-it-yourselfer, I’m delighted to make and sell them to you too!  I’ll do any word you want for $5 per letter.  I’m thinking Thanksgiving words like “thankful, harvest, autumn.”  Christmas could be “Merry Christmas, joyful, noel, Peace, Silent Night”….you get the idea. List is going on and on!  So, if you or someone you know might be in the market for a banner, let me know!  Just send me an email to Logan at LifeforDessert dot com and we can get rolling!

Here’s one more peek….

home banner

Fun huh?!  I am loving them!

What have you all been up to lately?  Any fun project you want to share?!

Critter Keeper {Birthday Week Giveaway}

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So, today is the last day of my Birthday Week giveaways, and ya’ll….it has been fun!  I’ve loved sharing the week with you.   Introducing you all to these phenomenal people and artists I’ve featured this week has been just the most fun!

I met Randy, the Critter Keeper, recently at a friend of ours’ son’s birthday party. Ya’ll….this was THE MOST FUN boy birthday party I have attended to date. (I’m sorry to all the incredible moms of other boy birthday parties we have been to.  Yours were fun, but this one was seriously, incredibly cool.  I’m even confessing I liked it more than parties I’ve done for my own kids.  So there…does that make you feel better?)

Randy has a knack for critters.  In my world, most of these critters of Randy’s belong in the “no way in hell that’s coming into my house” category.  But Randy brings them into your house….or your yard….and kinda makes you like them.  Now, I’m still having a few night terrors about roaches the size of a newborn baby’s foot, and watching my son holding a scorpion, but by the same token, I have found myself feeling kinda proud of the fact that I held a snake so large that when it squeezed my hand backwards, it hurt for the next 30 minutes.  Yes friends….I totally was chosen as the adult helper, and I got to hold the bulk of a yellow Burmese Python named Julius Squeezer.  Julius did squeeze…and even as I type, I’m feeling a bit of glee at recollecting my own general awesomeness to hold and to be sore from holding a snake this hard core! (PS. You’ll have to forgive that the pictures I have are totally cruddy….I didn’t realize we were going to a party that would be this cool, so all I had was my camera on my non-iphone phone.)

The official write-up about it says this….

The Critter Keeper provides memorable entertainment, education, and reinforcement of traditional values to children of all ages through “bug”-themed birthday parties, classroom presentations, and other venues where children can be introduced to critters. Kids love meeting Julius and Cleo, the albino Burmese python and boa constrictor; Flash and/or Skid, the iguanas; Mr. Beasley, the large Australian Bearded Dragon; Clyde, the Savannah Monitor; Rosy, the Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula, as well as other reptiles and arthropods from all over the world. Entertaining and exciting, surprising and sometimes a little scary, the Critter Keeper will captivate your children with interesting facts, entertaining stories, appropriate life applications, and of course, all his critter sidekicks.

Look at the kids’ faces above!  I know it’s a bad picture, but seriously, you can tell how engaged they are!  Let me just say this…

It was SOOO Fun!

All of us moms and dads there were just as captivated as the kids by Randy’s hilarious tricks and fascinating creatures.  I learned things I didn’t know before.  He taught us about snakes (did you know that on their markings if “red touches yellow it will kill a fellow?!),”  showed us bugs the size of your hand (which have been the source of my own personal eww-factor), as well as entertain the kids with magic tricks and general funness!  I watched almost all of the kids overcome their fears and hold scorpions, snakes, and even pet a hedgehog.  And then….I earned serious cool factor with my own kids as the grown up Python holder.  I AM AWESOME!  I hold pythons!

I just had to share about the Critter Keeper with ya’ll!  I realize that this giveaway isn’t going to work for you if you don’t live in Upstate SC, because Randy only does shows in the Upstate (think Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson metro areas.)  Honestly though, I just personally had such fun at this party, my kids had a blast, and it’s so much different than anything I’ve been to before as well.  I think it’d even be fun to have a bunch of families pitch in and have Randy come for a super special surprise for your kids and a bunch of their friends too!  Normally, to book a party with the Critter Keeper is around $250.  He spends a solid hour entertaining and teaching, has time for kids to pet and touch a lot of the animals, and also spends some private family time before the party with the birthday boy or girl (so they can investigate the critters a little more closely before the festivities begin.)

Randy has agreed to give away 1 party to a lucky Life for Dessert winner at a hugely discounted rate!  Instead of $250, he’s allowing me to give a party away for just $125!  50% off of the regular price.  Now, I realize all of you like winning something completely free and clear, but Randy has to feed and care for these animals, and transporting them is no small feat either.  It’s a big deal to haul all these guys around and to put on the incredible show that he does!  You will LOVE the Critter Keeper…and $125 is a steal for this fabulous show!  Enter to win below!!!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

PS.  The winner from the Rustic Elegance giveaway is Taryn Jones!  Congratulations Taryn!  Looks like you need to figure out a space to put the Salvage Chic Message Board that you loved!!

Also, I’ll be announcing the Red Letter Words and Critter Keeper giveaway winners on Tuesday.  Ya’ll all have a happy Labor Day holiday weekend!

Red Letter Words {Birthday Week Giveaway}

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I first shared with you guys about Red Letter Words over a year ago when I first discovered Dee and her incredible gift for making words into art.  Since that time I’ve collaborated with her for my decorating projects, and her work has played an integral part in most specifically an Opthamology office that I decorated here in Greenville.  We had the best time coming up with loads of custom prints for Southern Eye Associates!  I tell you what too, those custom prints have made all the difference in the overall aesthetic of the office!

Check out a few of them!

This particular print was custom-made using the name of the practice, but orienting the letters to resemble a Snellan Eye Chart used in ophthamology for an initial vision test.

I also had the idea to use a bunch of eye related words in the lobby areas.  I’ll be honest and say that much beyond words like “retina, cornea, eye, and pupil” I didn’t know any good eye words.  We had to enlist the help of the docs for these babies, but they sure did turn out great!  Um…can someone please tell me what a YAG is?

We also created prints focusing on the locations where the doctors work. We made one print highlighting different areas of Greenville and a couple more with the international locations the doctors have visited to serve.  This group of docs is incredible.  Check out some of these locations they’ve gone on mission trips to do surgeries and eye exams.

 I LOVE the Greenville print ya’ll and even have one in my home!  It’s chocked with places around town that are familiar and notable.  If you have ever visited Greenville or have lived here, then this list is most certainly familiar to you!  And…bonus is that even if you don’t happen to be the winner of today’s giveaway, but you’re in love with this Greenville print, you should still buy it!  A portion of the proceeds of the sale of each Greenville print will be donated to Southern Eye Associates’ non-profit organization called Surgeons for Sight that provides free surgeries and eye exams to the needy both here and abroad!

Dee has way more awesome stuff on her site ya’ll.  Oh have mercy…here are a few more of my all time favorites!

Ahhh…. I LOVE that!

I’m a fan of scripture in my home anyway, and Red Letter Words makes it so lovely, and eye-catching, and tasteful looking. As much as it does for my decor, it does more for my heart to walk by and be reminded of the truths and encouragements that God has for us in Scripture.

Red Letter Words has loads of beautifully printed scriptures to choose from! Seriously…lots!

Maybe you wish you had a print as awesome as the Greenville one, but you’ve never been here or heard of it….not to worry, Red Letter Words has an entire Travel Collection!

There’s even a collection inspired by hymns and songs…..

 

 

 

 

 

Whatever you’re looking for, there are plenty of beautiful things to choose from. And if she doesn’t have what you want, not to worry, as you’ve seen above, Red Letter Words does phenomenal custom orders!

Dee is SUPER AWESOME and has agreed to give away 1 print of your choice valued up to $195!

WHOOP WHOOP! Have some fun looking all over the Red Letter Words website and then let me know which print you’d want and what size!  (This giveaway is open to US residents only and does not include custom orders)

Happy Entering!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

PS. Southern Eye images above were take by and used with the permission of Kim Deloach Photography ( I just love that woman!)

** Adding Tuesday’s winner at 8:30 this morning, but this is HILARIOUS!  I swear to you that all I did in the rafflecopter widget was to click on the button that makes it pick a winner.  Hilarity is that Rafflecopter selected Kim Deloach (my portrait photographer friend) as the winner of the Bogle Photography print!  Got to love people of the same profession admiring one another’s work!

Bogle Photography Fine Art Photos {Birthday Week Giveaway!}

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I kicked off the week with a little present o’ fun from me to celebrate my life and birth, but now on the date of my actual birth, August the 28th, I’m gonna throw back to my childhood for some gifting greatness.

I met Jeff Bogle at some point between 1st and 3rd grade at Oakwood Elementary school in Hickory, NC.  By 3rd grade, I somehow managed to wrangle him into becoming my first “boyfriend” for a few weeks even.  It was pretty serious for an 8 year old ya’ll….I gave him a present!  I don’t remember if it was Christmas or Valentine’s or his birthday….but at some point, my mom let me make Jeff a batch of chocolate chip cookies, and my dad gave me a mini wooden Lane cedar chest to put them in.  Jeff told me he still keeps his keys in that box years later!

I bumped into him randomly, a dozen or so years ago, when I was visiting and he was living in Vail, CO.  Was fun catching up with an old friend, and he even offered to teach me how to snowboard.  Poor Jeff has the patience of a saint, because the man witnessed me slide down an entire mountain on my butt or on my face with a snowboard dragging behind.  I tried, really I did….but it didn’t happen for me.  To this day, I have never tried snowboarding again. #MassiveFail

Maybe it’s that same level of patience though that has taught Jeff how to stop and appreciate the things around him, or maybe it’s the adventurer in him that has drawn him into photography.  Whatever it is, Jeff Bogle has clearly found his calling behind the lens of a camera.  Whether he’s waiting for the right moment to capture sunlight pouring through the trees, or noticing the way a stream bubbles across mossy rocks, Jeff manages to capture nature and life at it’s finest.

In both perspective and technical skill, Jeff’s work has caught my eye for sure.  He’s spent time photographing all over, but his pictures in and around the Blue Ridge mountains and beaches of the Carolinas are certainly among some of my most favorite.  He graduated from Brevard College with a B.F.A. degree in Fine Arts, with an emphasis in photography, and for the past 12 years has recorded a myriad of images – from snowboarding’s elite in the heat of competition, to political rallies, family gatherings, business functions, and the outdoors. If you ask me (or anyone else who’s seen his work), we’ll tell you that Jeff is one talented fella!

And since ya’ll now know that I’m a gifter too, I wanted to do something for this old friend of mine to spread the word about his business and talent.  I’ve always been pretty clear that if I don’t believe in something, I won’t advocate it… but I do believe in Jeff and his work, and I thought you all should take a peek!  It’s only August, but certainly not too early to begin thinking about Christmas gifts.  Or maybe you love this area of the country and want to look at the beauty of the outdoors from inside of your home.  Or, maybe you’re like me and appreciate beauty when you see it and want to put it on your walls.  Lucky for us, Jeff is willing to make that happen for one lucky winner!  And if you don’t win, Jeff is offering 20% off of all print purchases through the end of this month! And did I mention that each print is signed?!

Check out a little sampling of his work ya’ll…..soo gorgeous!

I could go on and show you more….really I could, but I don’t want to completely spoil the surprises in store!  My personal favorite one is called “Follow the Blue Ridge,” and you’ll have to look for it when you check out his website!  Trying to decide where I want to put that one in my house….LOVE IT!

Jeff is getting super generous on us ya’ll and will allow one lucky winner to choose one of his prints from the available sizes (up to 12″x18.”)  My new handy dandy widget below will guide you through the contest entry process!  Share away too friends!

And, how about this….instead of even wishing me a Happy Birthday today, share the blog around SocialMediaLand for me?  Or also, I’d love to hear in the comments below….what’s your favorite Life for Dessert post ever?  One that made you laugh, or made you cry, or taught you something new….I’d love to know the post that sticks in your mind!

Thanks friends!!!  And Happy Contest Entering! (Don’t forget that you still have a little bit more time to enter the giveaway from yesterday too!)

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Custom Room Design and Vision Board {Birthday Week Giveaway}

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Tuesday of this week is my birthday!  Whoop whoop!

I LOVE birthdays!  Love having them, love creating parties for them, love giving presents, and admittedly, I like receiving presents too.  I’m a gifter.  As in, it’s one of my love languages.  Even when I get an invitation to something that says “no gifts please,” I totally disobey.  I think about the person and the kinds of things they like…and I have the best time choosing and giving them a present!  The end of one year and the beginning of a new one is something worth celebrating!  And I think presents are pretty celebratory!

So, celebrate we will this week with presents here on the blog!  I’ve picked out some of my favorite artists and people to share with you.  They’re all joining in the spirit of gifting, and each day, we’ll give away something from their collections to a lucky winner!  Would love for you to share the blog and the giveaways with your friends as well!  Spread the love!!!

So here’s how it’ll work.  I’ve found this handy dandy new way to host giveaways that’ll be in the bottom of each post (thanks Rafflecopter!)  It’s easy to enter, and it’ll help me keep better track of everything.  I’d love for you to like Life for Dessert and all of these fab-o artists this week on facebook, and for sharing on your own facebook pages, twitter, and however else you like to share… that’d be just extra awesome of you (as well as gain you extra entries!)  Help a girl out…share the blog as a present to me for my birthday??

Each giveaway will run for 48 hours.  I’ll announce the winner the day after each giveaway ends and you’ll get 48 hours to claim your prize!  It’s going to be fun fun fun!

To kick things off, I’m going to get in on the fun myself!  I think ya’ll know by now that I work as an interior decorator (secondary to being a full-time mom.)  I’ve had the pleasure of decorating nurseries, kids rooms, living rooms, dens, bedrooms, bathrooms and offices.  Basically, if you start to think it, I’d love to help you create it!

Once long ago, I heard a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson that said “A love of beauty is taste, the creation of beauty is art.”  I LOVE beauty, and perhaps as much as I love it, I love to help other people achieve it in their own homes.  I would love to help you make a room that reflects your personality, style and taste.  It’s nothing for me to put my own spin on something, but to create something that feels like you….that’s my greatest achievement in design!  So…that’s what I am going to do for one lucky winner!

Here are a couple of vision boards and spaces that I’ve created for different clients! (So you know what you’re getting into.)

If you win, we’ll have a consult (as in, we can email or call) to discuss your room and ideas.  I’ll get some info from you, and then I’ll create a design vision board especially for you!  No strings attached…just a fun, free-and-clear design consult and vision board!  I love doing this and I will love to engage with one of you readers in this super fun and creative process!

Enter to win below!  I’m so excited and I hope you are too!

*In case you happened to notice the incredible typography artwork in the Southern Eye Associates office pictures above, make sure you come back every day this week, because you just might be able to snag some of that eye candy for your own home one day! 🙂

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Design Board: A Boy’s Room

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Friends, I have been so excited to share this super fun thing with you that I’m working on.  In fact, I have 3 projects I’m working on for different clients.  The fun part is that they are each totally different.  I’m decorating a 6-year-old boy’s room, redecorating a dentist’s office, working on a Master Bathroom renovation, Kitchen updating and decor, and an entirely new look for a den.  Whew….it’s a lot, but oh how I love it.

I thought you might have fun seeing the design board I put together for the little boy’s room.  Of course, this is my idea of general direction, so based upon budget and whatnot, things will change….but you can get the jist.  I’ll share more projects with you as I complete the vision boards and start pulling things together.

boy room design

I LOVE this room.  In fact, my son said to me the other day….”This is a really cool room.  Can you make me a room that cool?”  I agree.  Some things have already changed, like instead of this cool metal and wooden side table above, I found a neat vintage crate with an awesome label on the top that we’ll use as a bedside table.  Just something sturdy enough to hold books in it and a cup of water on top.  Biggest score was that the crate was just $18! I also got a steal on an old printmaker’s tray that I’ll use for the little boy’s display area.  His design plan was to create a room around Lego Ninjagos… his mom had a few other ideas that did not involve focus on a toy he will likely tire of in a year from now. LOL!

The vintage print tray should be a perfect way to display his little Lego men, while still maintaining the overall look of this room! (The tray I found is similar to the one on the left that you can snag off of etsy if you can’t live without one now.)

I am SUPER pumped about this throw pillow that I found that says “How will you change the world?”  Love that thought in a little boy’s room.  Sort of a quiet impetus to break out some awesome on the world as he grows!

So, what do you think?  Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

And one last thing…regarding yesterday’s post, I want to clarify to make sure that you all know….I’m doing ok. Really, I am. I just felt like I needed to share yesterday’s post as part of this journey I’ve been on. I think so often when we journey with a person through something hard, it can get to a point where no-one wants to ask anymore how they’re doing…feeling like we’re dredging up someone else’s junk just by asking and forcing them to deal with it more. I think most of the time, even months after something hard, most people can appreciate that you’re still thinking about them. And for me, and anyone, I think it’s wise when we see areas that could get hairy in our lives, that we address them in wisdom and love and patience. So, that’s what I’m doing. My fear is that it may have been read and then left a pity party feeling at the end. That was NOT my intention. My heart is just to say…sometimes life is hard and we all know that, and sometimes it’s just good to have a “little help from our friends.”  And….truth be known, someone out there just might need to hear that it’s ok to need help.