What's in the Bag!?

*Don't miss yesterday's giveaway alert!*

If you can't tell already, I am pretty sick of the weather. It's been cold and rainy. Don't get me wrong, I like a nice night shower once in a while. We turn the lights off, pop in a movie (and now light a candle!) and enjoy the excuse to not leave the house. However this constant downpour/cold is getting to me! Every bone in my body wants to go ouside and plant something. Le'sigh. Looks like signs of light will come this upcoming Monday. Cross your fingers for us?

I thought it would be fun to play a little game called "What's in the bag!? 

With the rain and cold keeping me inside, I have had about enough of cleaning the house and decided to clean out my bag. After all, the very sweet gift Joey gave me for Christmas is in fact a Winter bag, and it's time to move everything out and into a Summer bag. 

After going through my purse, I realized I had some pretty weird things in there. For one, I carry a hand scanner around with me. I am always on the hunt for inspiration for the home, and a lot of times I will simply just scan some fabric, a page from a book, or even tiles. It's pretty handy. I also seem to always carry an umbrelly and a planner (even though I have an iPhone with a planner in it).

So what's in your bag? Any tricks for organizing inspriation on the go? Do share!

It's Give-Away Time! You don't want to miss this!

***This Giveaway is now closed!***

Well, hello there! Did you start the week off great? Well we have a little something for you, it's going to make you smile!

The fine folks over at Chesapeake Bay Candle sent us over a couple samples to try out after we took their Fragrance Personality Quiz, and boy Spring is in the air at Casa Katsaros! We landed on Orchard Guava and Turquoise Waters, and it fit us well. Let me explain.

The Orchard Guava is a sweet scent, but not in a sugary nauseating way. It was the first one I tested out because, I'll be honest, I like pink. Silly, I know. But anyway, the moment I lit it, I didn't want to put it out. It sat on our coffee table all night, and glowed romantically as Joey and I watched TV, and I fell asleep next to him. I hadn't done that in a while, and it was nice. I was surprised the next day when I thought I had wasted my candle, but it looked like I had barely used it. Score! Not only does it burn well, it smells great, and looked pretty! I was very pleased. 

The next day I lit up the Turquoise Waters while running around the house doing this and that. At first I didn't really pay much attention to the fact I had a lit candle on the dining room table, then all of a sudden.....I kept getting a whiff of clean. Ahhh...the candle. That's the best way to describe it. It made our home smell clean, and I like that. Even if the candle wasn't pink, it was still great.

Here's how Chesapeake Bay Candles Explains it, more gracefully;

“Our contemporary botanical blends and fresh, transparent notes infuse a room with aromas

so sheer they will enhance your atmosphere—rather than overwhelm and overpower. Evoking

a lifestyle of complete clarity and awareness with such a simplistic approach, this type of

transparency is sure to change more than just home fragrance and décor.”

So why do you care about our candle experience? Um, because we wanna share, not because we want to brag! Get your hands on your own super smelling pretty lookin' candles in today's giveaway!

          Giveaway Entry Info:

• Prize: A candle of your own from Chesapeake Bay Candles, of course! Candle value is $20.
• How to Enter: (1) Friend Up with Chesappeake Bay Candle on their Facebook page (click the thumbs up button/like button) + (2) Post on their facbook wall the name of the fragrance you would like to win (see here for choices) + (3) come back here and leave a comment to let us know you did!
• If you want to be fun: Tell us if you light candles all year. We use to only in the Winter, but that's changed!
• Giveaway Ends: Wednesday April 27th at 9:00pm EST
• How Many Lucky Winners?!: Two (2)
• Ships to: US Only
• Also: Please only enter once. We select our winners using random.org and will announce with winner on April 28th right here on this very webpage, so check back to see if it's you. 

***IF YOU USED THE FORM TO THE RIGHT*** it will NOT count for this give-away

Just so you know...we weren't paid to write this post. We were given two candles to test out to see if we liked. And we did. Hence, we decided it would be a great giveaway. Hence you are reading this and hopefully entered. Smooch baby, we're keeping it real! I am going to go make some tea and light my candle right now. 

Perfect Pom Pom Curtains + Giveaway Winner!

Happy Monday Lovelies! Hope the weekend treated you blissful! It's been a bit cold and rainy here in New York, not exactly what we were hoping for this weekend. We apologize for the lack of posts last week. It's been quite busy to say the least! I suffered from a migraine earlier in the week, and it set us back big time. Look how backed up we are with a weeks worth of sourcebooks and magazines.

Losing a whole day took three days to make up. Whew! Don't forget to check back tomorrow for a *very special Spring Giveaway*! Want to know who won the amazing custom art piece + limited edition Des Artiste Tee Shirt?

Now on to more good stuff! Remember when we were chattin' about the kids room, and those beautiful pom pom curtains which cost a pretty penny?

After much research and seeing high price tag after higher price tag ($150-$550!) we decided to make a few pairs of these for the kids room. I thought it was going to be super simple. Sew some pom poms onto some curtains, and voila! Cheep and chic for the kids room. Well let me be honest. It was as simple as just sewing some pom poms on some curtains. However working those little pom poms with the sewing machine was almost nightmare-ish. I had to stop about every foot to readjust, it took a while to do.

I bought some awesome white curtains on the cheap at Ikea (a PAIR for $15!), and ten feet of vintage black pom poms on ebay, and got to work.

Even with the complications of sewing, it was super worth it. We now have one valance for the kids room, plus one finished set of curtains.

So all in all we spent:

$15 for the SET of curtains from Ikea X 2

$5 for the rod (we spray painted black, but it will be hidden by the valance) from Home Depot X2

$10 for the 10 feet of pom pom's

Total: $50 for both window ($25 per window)

Can you say, SCORE!

The valances cost about $10 per yard of fabric plus scrap wood, so if you really want to get technical per window: about $40 per window. This makes it 80 bucks for the totally custom window dressing for the whole room. We did way better in this room, considering the livingroom cost a lot more. Whew! Don't feel so bad about that anymore! 

Have you gotten away cheap with some window dressings? Please share! Something unique you came across of have? Dish! We have a lot of rooms to tackle before Winter!