This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of PartyLite Simple Pleasures Holiday Sweepstakes for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you’re a regular ‘round these parts, you probably remember me talking about PartyLite a few weeks back.  You can find that post here, if you need a refresher.

So, last Wednesday night I had a bunch of friends (who protested loudly about having their pictures taken) over to experience a PartyLite party first hand.

The chocolate fountain was flowing,

 
(Mmmmm…strawberries!)

Yvonne, my PartyLite consultant, was all set up,

the kids and BC were off on an adventure, and I was ready to sniff.

The first thing I noticed were the cute little logos on each scent.  They separated the scents into categories, so you didn’t waste time smelling stuff you were totally going to hate.  I don’t like flowery smells and they were easy to avoid with the logo system.  I could spend all my time sniffing stuff like Vanilla Citron (possibly my favorite), Apple Orchard, and Honeydew.

Friends started to arrive, some I haven’t seen in years, and we chatted and ate.

After a bit, Yvonne introduced us to the PartyLite products.  I liked that the candles are pure/free from fillers and that they burn away completely.  However, I don’t generally burn candles in my home on account of the little boys that live here and their potential to do very bad things with lighters/open flames.  (PartyLite also carries melts and warmers, if you have similar issues.  )

Many of the PartyLite holders allow for customization.  You can use them on table tops or with a floor stand.  The catalogs show them used as vases in addition to candle holders.  Some of the clear glass holders can be filled with flowers, confetti, garland, stones…the sky’s the limit.  (See the one all decked out for Valentine’s Day in the bottom right hand corner of the pictures above.)  After the initial investment in the piece, you could change the look seasonally very affordably.

So, would I do it again?  I honestly don’t know.  I love having people over and I love eating (ha!), but I get weird about them feeling like they need to buy stuff.  I’m also not sure this was really my style/their style.  I was impressed by PartyLite as a company and found the quality of their products to be to notch, I just like stuff a little more funky and unique, I think.  If you like hosting home parties, PartyLite would be a great one to check out.

To stay on top of the latest and greatest from PartyLite, be sure to check out the PartyLite Facebook  page or the Winter/Spring 2012 catalog (which came out December 15th).

PartyLite Simple Pleasures Holiday Sweepstakes

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I’m working on a few things today, including my new address book system (thanks to suggestions from some of you), which I will share soon.  I wanted to pop in for a second and mention that my Valentine’s Day mantel is featured over on BHG.com and it pretty much made my life.  The entire Valentine’s Day mantel slideshow is here.

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It’s 2012.

I need to get my crap together…and I need to be accountable.

(This is where you come in.)

As a semi-regular series here on Crap I’ve Made, I’ll be blogging my challenge for the day.  I’d love for you to join me in tackling the same project and report back in the comments or with a post of your own.  Or, if you’re already totally on top of things, I’d love for you to harass me.

Today’s challenge?

Papers.

I had some people over last night.  And, in an attempt to not lose my mind, I dumped all of my miscellaneous papers/mail/crap into a basket to deal with later.

Later = today.  I’m not letting this sit.

Do you have a pile of papers that needs your attention?  Let’s do something about it today and get our crap together.

Thing I could use help with:

How do you store addresses of friends and family?  Some of the mess in that basket is Christmas card envelopes I saved to update addresses.  I have an address book, but crossing stuff out makes it messy and annoying.  Saving them on my computer or phone scares me, because of the “losing everything potential”.  What works for you?

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Is it too early to decorate for Valentine’s Day?

Too bad, because I did.

My Valentine’s Day bunting and LOVE canvas from last year are back…

along with some festive Pyrex.

(So what if my Valentine’s palette is a little non-traditional?)

And then I decided I needed a pillow.

I could have sewed one, I suppose, BUT I discovered that Dollar Tree has 17” zippered pillow covers (HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS?) and so I used one of those instead.  I also cut out a cupid shape using my Silhouette and some Silhouette stencil vinyl.  You could easily do this with an Exacto knife as well.

I applied my stencil to the pillow cover and stuck something inside to prevent bleeding.

Then, I busted out my collection of Silhouette fabric ink

and mixed the pink and magenta to get the perfect shade.

Hint:  Mix way more than you think you’ll need.  The brush sucks up a ton and you DO NOT want to run out mid-project.  The chances of you recreating that shade exactly are slim.  Trust me.

I applied the fabric ink with a foam brush and then I peeled off the stencil vinyl and hung it outside to dry.

I stuffed it with an 18” pillow form, for maximum plumpness and voila!

Don’t worry…I bought SIX pillow covers at Dollar Tree.  You’ll be seeing plenty more of them ‘round these parts.

All Silhouette fabric ink supplies are 20% off through tomorrow (January 5th) using code “CRAP”.  If you don’t have a machine, you can purchase the machine and the fabric ink starter kit for $299 with that same code.

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Karen!

If your name is Karen, check your email.  You have 48 hours to respond or we’ll pick a new winner!

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First thing first:  YOU HAVE UNDER 2.5 HOURS LEFT TO ENTER TO WIN A SILHOUETTE CAMEO.  GO HERE (before noon MST).

Second thing second:  This month’s Silhouette promo (Cameo + fabric ink starter kit and/or 20% off all fabric ink supplies) runs through Wednesday the 5th.  Use code “CRAP” to take advantage of the deals.

Third thing third:  PartyLite party tomorrow night at my place.  If you’re in the West Jordan, UT area and would like to come, shoot me an email.  There will be a chocolate fountain.

If you follow along on Facebook, you know that I spent the day yesterday doing a major purge.  Am I the only one that gets this way every January?

I’d found the floor in my master bedroom closet before 10 am.

Macy might have said…”Wow…your closet is big!”  (It’s not that big, it was just *really* full of crap.)

And then I braved the playroom and found the floor there, too.

(My name is Char Coester and I love green walls.)

When I say “braved”, I mean BRAVED.  Check out the donation pile just from the playroom:

(Yes, I buy boxes from Lowe’s when I’m purging.  They’re just over $1 a piece and the sturdy-ness and stack-ability make them worth 10 times that to me.)

Next up?  The garage.  I need to move the fridge and freezer and relocate some shelving to make room for my Christmas present.

Do you get the urge to purge this time of year?  What organizing project needs tackling at your place?

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#11: Mod Podge Silhouette Canvas

#10: Spider Web Plate

#9: Wallpaper Pennant Bunting

#8: Dyed Doily Pillows

#7: Valentine’s Day Bunting

#6: Fancy Leather Cuffs

#5: Valentine’s Day Canvas

#4:  Name Art

#3: Reversible Sling Bag

#2: How to hem jeans

#1: Spiffy Scissors

THANK YOU to all of you for being here and make 2011 delightful.

Happy New Year!

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That’s a whole box of neighbor gifts packaged for delivery.  We took care of delivering most of them last night, but Macy got cold.  Perhaps she should break out the super cute coat she begged her mother for and now will not wear “because it makes me look like Big Bird”, ey?

I giggled when I looked at the gifts and realized that the tags were part Pick Your Plum (the name stamps) and part Silhouette (the brown tags).  The bakers twine is also Pick Your Plum.  The crinkly packing stuff was reused from a package Lowe’s sent me (more on that in the next week or so!).  And, I even used my Silhouette software to format the pictures of Jesus and print them the correct size.  Hope my neighbors enjoyed a very bloggy Christmas. 

I’ll be pumping a kid full of antibiotics (strep…whee!) and enjoying my family for a few days.  I hope you enjoy this holiday season with those you love.

XOXOXO

(And the Christmas cards will be late.  Ha!)

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