Giveaway: Our Humble A{bowe}d

** This Giveaway is Now Closed - Thanks **

Amanda from Our Humble A{bowe}d creates fabulous custom prints. I recently purchased 'I love You This Much' custom print from her to hang in our living room art wall. Not only does Amanda create amazing prints she also creates customizable stationary, silhouettes & she's a DIY blogger! Amanda and her husband Ben have tackled many projects around their home { built in entertainment center, bathroom re-dos & molding to die for and much more } Make sure you stop by her blog & check out her Esty Shop!

Amanda has created a lot of lovely artwork, look how amazing her prints look in her home & checkout the decor!

Pretty Prints for the Giveaway - ' I Love You This Much' print

'Bird Family Welcome' print

The Prize: One 8x10 print from Our Humble A{bowe}d, choose from either the 'I Love You This Much' print or  the 'Bird Family Welcome' print. Each print is customized with colors and name of your liking

How to Enter: Leave one comment on my blog and share which print you would like to win and the colors your print would be. Please include your name and email address your comment. The winner will be selected using Random.org

Giveaway Starts: Monday June 21, 2010

Giveaway Ends: Friday June 25, 2010

Number of Winners: One
{ Giveaway open to all Us Residents }

Feather for Our Nest

Do you remember the Doves we had nesting our front porch this Spring, thanks to them I was able to create some simple art. One afternoon my son and I where outside watering our plants on the porch when, he found a feather. I thought the feather would look really pretty framed { remember Nate framed a feather } and would be a reminder the Doves. I wanted to create a simple piece of artwork for very little money. I stopping in Micheal's and found a clearance frame for $ 1.99 and then bought a matte for $ 2.99. I sprayed painted the frame a glossy white, which is a nice complement for the clean lined frame.

For the background paper, I used leftover white linen paper from our wedding. When I placed the feather on the linen paper, it was just too much white. I decided to paint the linen paper a grey white from a left over sample paint we have.

I used a sponge brush to paint the paper. I love using sponge brushes for simple projects, they are super cheap and can be thrown away. I like the no clean up factor.

I wanted the paper to look more like fabric, so I gently applied one coat of paint horizontally and the next coat vertically. I didn't apply a perfect coat, so the background will look more textured.

Fifteen minutes later the paper was dried and the feather was ready to be assembled. The result a nice natural art piece for our home, that will remind me of the doves. I like that the art makes me smile. Next time you spot a feather think of its artful qualities.

Art Cost Breakdown:

$ 1.99 for frame

$ 2.99 for Matte

n/a - feather, spray paint, sample paint { hand on had }

$ 4.99

Eventually the feather will be hung on our yet to be completed art wall in the living room. Have you framed in natural elements for art in your home?

A Stack Here, A Stack There

If you walked into our living room, you would see stacks of books with their discarded covers on the floor. Over the weekend I spent some time in our garage, digging though containers looking for books that have been packed away since we moved to add to the books I've recently bought on the cheap.

I came across so many books I missed, including a ton of books my mom bought us. She bought us a ton of great books on gardening, home improvement, and party basics. Thanks again mom. I really glad I looked our garage, because I found a trio of books I really missed a , The Little Lady Agency books by Hester Browne. I love reading books set in England, so your looking for a summer read check this series out.

After removing the book covers on the books, I began sorting the books spine color. I ended up with a stacks of white books, blue books and black books. Out of all the stacks, I loved the colored stacks the most.

We have a good collection of hardback books and softcover books.

While I was looking for books in the garage, I came across a few few Jane Austen novels, I own - love her. I've always wanted to own a few of her books in hardback.  I decided to get to buy two of her books from Penguin Classics via the great deal from Amazon.com. I'm buying Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice for a mere $ 13.60 each. In the future I'll likely end up buying the The Odyssey, this is a classic I've yet to read and have been wanting to read it for sometime.

{ via design sponge }

Next I need to decide where the books will land on the shelves and apply some styling tips I mentioned today in this post. I'm pretty sure I'm heading to a thrift store tonight, you never know what you'll find there that just needs some paint.

Don't you just love the Penguin Classics book cover designs. So timeless and elegant. What's on your summer reading list?

Stylish Bookshelves

A couple of weeks back we added the Ikea Expedit bookcase to our living room to create more storage for DVDs and books and hey it adds interest in our living room. Before I start filling the bookcase with books, I had to find some inspiration & styling tips.


I love the bookcases below, the dark wood of the bookcases sets off the color of the bookcase spines in such a pretty way.

{ via here }

I also love this white bookcase, the owner filled the bookcase with books, pictures, candle holders and more. It create the perfect visaul interest behind the two charis.

{ via flickr }

The standout feature for me for the bookcase is the greenback ground it makes all the books & items really pop.

{ via decorpad }

Style Like a Pro:


Here are some bookcase styling tips from one of my favorite shelter magazines, Style at Home & Martha Stewart Living

1. Group books with the same color same color spine on a shelf


2. Stack books horizontally and vertically, its practical and creates a more dynamic display


3. Paint the back of your bookcase a vibrant color, or just line them with colorful paper to make the bookcase pop.

4. Don't be afraid to mix and match hardcover and softcover books

5. Layer in frames, vases and objects of varying textures to add visual interest on the shelf's with your books and ditch the boring bookends

6. Don't cram your books in, open space on bookcase help balance the overlook.

7. Books end to end look best on the bottom shelf

8. Group books together by theme

Here are a few Chic Little House tips, I've picked up along the way. Save money by shopping thrift stores for interesting reads on the cheap { read more about it here } remove the book covers and show off the colorful spines. Most importantly fill the shelves with books to love to read, I think a bookcase should be a personal relfection of your personalty.

Do you have any tips for styling a bookshelves?