Giveaway: $15.00 Gift Certificate

My first giveaway of the new year!!!  

$15.00 Gift Certificate to my shop on Etsy, a Children's Boutique.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/lillollipopsdesigns

Want to know how to win???

Here are the things to do, if you have not already:

- Follow me on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lil-Lollipops-Designs/114328484791

-Add my shop to one of your favorites on Etsy and or one of my items http://www.etsy.com/shop/lillollipopsdesigns

-If you are on Pinterest, pin one or more of my items in my shop

-Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/lillollipops

-Come back to this post and let me know what things you did.  One entry per action you complete for a total of 5 entries.  The more entries you get, the more you have chances to win!

Giveaway will end Friday, March 9 at 10pm Eastern Time

Who would like gift card for $15.00?????!!!

Stay tuned....in a few days I will be having a giveaway for a $15.00 gift card to my Etsy shop Lil Lollipops Designs!! 

Shabby Chic Studio Makeover

 So...we moved to Eastern MA in June and my craft room/studio became my "crap room" for awhile.  I am sure some of you can relate.   It was filled with thread, fabric, boxes and trash.  It was quite embarrassing when my Mother In Law came out to visit and she commented on the room and said "Let's go clean it up."  God love her!  She was so sweet to walk into the abyss of my room and start cleaning it.  That led to me wanting to make my new studio as cute and functional, if not cuter, than my one in Savannah.  It is a work in progress.  I will share with you some of the things I have added to it thus far.  I would love for your suggestions or pictures on your studio that you may want to share in regards to style, or organization or any other tips you have that you have used on your craft room/studio.  You can email me at lillollipops@gmail.com and send me photos of your spaces and I will share them here on the blog.  Let's help each other out!  Also, if your studio is a crap room...send your picture and I can maybe give you some advice as well as our readers here on the blog!  Here are some of my room additions that I love and it adds to my shabby chic vibe.  I will update you more later as the room comes along.

This is a shabby chic mirror I found at Hobby Lobby and a key with a Paris sign I also found there.  I put a picture of me and my husband...for inspiration :)  and a dress that inspires me.  It is important to have inspiration you can see in your studio.











This is a great shabby chic clock I found on Etsy.  This seller makes great clocks out of vintage plates.  VERY shabby chic!  http://www.etsy.com/shop/makingtimetc

 This is a great vintage stained glass window that I have on the wall, but am going to move it to hang in my window.

These are two cute lil doors I found in a vintage shop.  They were painted black on one side and white on the other.  On the black side I painted them light pink and sanded them down to look shabby.  I had my husband attach two hinges to them. I hammered some nails into them and hung these cute lil knobs and hooks to hang things from.  I found the knobs at Hobby Lobby and the cute hooks from this great shabby chic Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/ShabbieChicHome.   This is a great element in the room and I can take it to any shows I do and they display my work great.



This is also a find from Etsy.  The lady I bought them from made them custom for me.  She shabbied the edges, but you can't see it much in the photo. Check out her shop...she does cute things! http://www.etsy.com/shop/MemoryBeanDesigns  If her shop is vacation, which I think it is at this moment, click on the shop and then on sales to see other things she has made and sold.

This is the cutest worn down table I found at a flea market.  I sanded it, painted it pink, sanded it again to shabby it up and then the front flower is a furniture applique I found from a shop on Ebay for a few bucks.  I just hot glued it on.  I know, it is a small computer table, but it is really cute.  Maybe if I find a bigger shabby desk, this will be used for something else in my space.

SOPA & PIPA...should you be concerned?

I am joining sites like Etsy, Google, wikapedia and more to protest PIPA and SOPA that is trying to pass through congress. contacting my local Representative and Senator and anyone else I can to protest SOPA and PIPA. I just contacted my senators, representatives etc. to tell them how I felt on this. If we don't speak out...others will make decisions, we may not like, for us. Go to http://www.house.gov/ to find your local rep.  and go to http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm  to find your local Senators.  

 Here is a list of great, unique items from etsy you can get to help support the cause and get the word out:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/Nzc4NTcyNHwxODU1MTE1OTUz/sopa-and-pipa-take-a-stand

You can read about Etsy's stance on this here: http://www.etsy.com/protect-innovation  

You can read firefox's stance on it here:  https://donate.mozilla.org/page/s/SOPA?source=snippet

You can read google's stance on it here: https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

 Wikapedia's stance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act  More of an explanation of SOPA.

 

According to google:

More about SOPA and PIPA

Members of Congress are trying to do the right thing by going after pirates and counterfeiters but SOPA and PIPA are the wrong way to do it.

1. SOPA and PIPA would censor the Web

The U.S. government could order the blocking of sites using methods similar to those employed by China. Among other things, search engines could be forced to delete entire websites from their search results. That’s why 41 human rights organizations and 110 prominent law professors have expressed grave concerns about the bills.

2. SOPA and PIPA would be job-killers because they would create a new era of uncertainty for American business

Law-abiding U.S. internet companies would have to monitor everything users link to or upload or face the risk of time-consuming litigation. That’s why AOL, EBay, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Mozilla, Twitter, Yahoo and Zynga wrote a letter to Congress saying these bills “pose a serious risk to our industry’s continued track record of innovation and job-creation.” It’s also why 55 of America’s most successful venture capitalists expressed concern that PIPA “would stifle investment in Internet services, throttle innovation, and hurt American competitiveness”. More than 204 entrepreneurs told Congress that PIPA and SOPA would “hurt economic growth and chill innovation”.

3. SOPA and PIPA wouldn’t stop piracy

To make matters worse, SOPA and PIPA won’t even work. The censorship regulations written into these bills won’t shut down pirate sites. These sites will just change their addresses and continue their criminal activities, while law-abiding companies will suffer high penalties for breaches they can’t possibly control.
There are effective ways to combat foreign “rogue” websites dedicated to copyright infringement and trademark counterfeiting, while preserving the innovation and dynamism that have made the Internet such an important driver of American economic growth and job creation. Congress should consider alternatives like the OPEN Act, which takes targeted and focused steps to cut off the money supply from foreign pirate sites without making US companies censor the Web.