Blog Swap w/ Handy Man, Crafty Woman

Hi everyone! I am excited to be swapping with Laurie over at Handy Man, Crafty Woman today! She has a great post to share with us! I don't know about you, but I was without internet access all day yesterday. We had a winter storm pass through and it messed up my internet connection. Now I feel like I am playing "catch-up" on my blog, emails, and such! Anyway, enough about my life! Let's see what Laurie has to share with us :)

Hi, I'm Laurie from Handy Man, Crafty Woman. Thanks so much to Lori for having us guest post on her great blog! Lori does the best renovation, craft and decorating projects. I am just loving her new kitchen back splash. Paisley Passions is one of the first home blogs I discovered when I first started writing our blog.

My husband Rob and I started our blog in 2009. We have one son, and we live in New England.

We've been married for 13 years, and the house we live in now is the third house we've renovated.

One of our favorite projects in our current home was renovating our stairway. We tore out walls, ripped up carpet, and rebuilt the whole thing! It was a lot of work, but we're not afraid of hard work.

Our first house was built in the 1830s; our second house was built in the 1860s. We pretty much gutted and renovated those two houses inside and out. We tore down plaster, sanded floors, put up new trim, and painted, painted, and painted some more. It's a good thing I have a "Handy Man". Our current house was built in the 1990s. Yes, this time we have a "new" house! However, it was quite a fixer-upper and a challenge.

The yard needed a lot of work, too. Over the summer, we put in a new stone pathway.

Handy Man also built a shed to store some of his tools and yard equipment.

We also renovated our kitchen. We put in new flooring, a new sink, new counters and painted the cabinets.

Yes, that is a "during" picture of our kitchen construction. It was a huge project. You can see more kitchen photos HERE. 

I love to scrapbook. Rob refinished a kitchen island as a scrapbook table for me.

There is always something to organize around the house, like our pantry.

We also like to share recipes on our blog, like this salad with spiced walnuts. I made this salad, but Handy Man actually does a lot of the cooking.

Thanks so much, Lori, for having me guest post on your blog. I really enjoy reading your blog.

WOW!  What a FUN post!  Thanks, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, for sharing with us today!!! 

REMEMBER!!!  Tomorrow is Wandering Wednesday.

Thursday is Thrilling Thursday.

Friday is Fun w/Food Friday.

Come join in on the fun!!! 

Blog Swap w/ Giggles, Glitz, and Glam

Time for another Blog Swap! Today we have a special guest post from Jana at Giggles, Glitz, and Glam.

Take it away, Jana!!!

Hello to everyone here at Paisley Passions! Hi, my name is Jana and I am the author of Giggles, Glitz & Glam. I am a 27-year-old, newlywed, who recently discovered the joy of blogging about crafting! I should go ahead and clarify that the adorable baby on my header is my beautiful niece, we look forward to our own baby but waiting on God's perfect timing!
Random fact, I modeled for the below photo for a photographers conference. Totally out of my element, but I had a blast!

I celebrated a year of marriage in November and work full-time as an Orphan Coordinator for a non-profit organization called Christian Life Ministries. In the spring, we started making Pillowcase dresses for the near 400 girls living in our orphan village in Kampala, Uganda and this is when I discovered the plethora of crafty blogs out there.

I grew to love making the dresses and embellishments as well as viewing all the blogs, so I decided I wanted to dive right into it myself. It started off slow until I discovered how much I really loved crafts and blogging. It first started with wanting to share with people my tutus and then grew to a love of all things crafts! Hopefully in 2011, I will craft a lot more and learn how to make different things.

Here’s some of the stuff I’ve created & blogged about!

As I've already said, I started this because of my tutus so here are a few.

Fun Christmas crafts!


Come check out the fun things I will be making this year especially since I got a new sewing machine for Christmas!!

Would love for you to join me on Tuesday for my linky party, Glam Party!

Thanks for having me Lori!

Thanks for blog swapping with me today, Jana! :)

Blog Swap w/ Learn and Go!

Tuesday, which means another fun Blog Swap :) Today I am swapping with Polly over at Learn and Go. I am sure you are going to LOVE her :)

Take it away, Polly. . .

Hey there fellow bloggers! 

I'm excited to blog swap with Paisley Passions!
My name is Polly. I'm from Mid-Missouri and I'm excited to share with you a few things I've been up to. 

I love to craft, sew, paint, create and make things drab to fab. I document almost all of it on Learn and Go.

Feel free to take a browse on what I've been up to recently! Here's a taste of some of my projects:
Glider Makeover

 Owl Banner

 Lilly Pad Pillow

Bookshelf makeover.

My $8.00 Chair Face Lift

Mirror Makeover

Sewing Machine Cover

Repurposed Cabinet

Bean Bag Numbers

Owl Pillows

 Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to stop by Learn and Go and check out all the other projects I've been up to!

Thanks, Polly for swapping with me today!!!

Blog Swap with Boy! Oh Boy! Oh Boy!

SOOOOO happy to have Stacey from Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy! Crafts today!  Man, does she have some SUPER cute stuff to share!!!

Take it away, Stacey!!!!!!

Helloooooo there! I'm Stacey and I blog over at Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy! Crafts.

I'm so thrilled to be swapping blogs with Lori today. I love stopping by Paisley Passions to see what creative, new things she's up to. Her Thrilling Thursday's Linky Party is just that--thrilling. I'm so inspired by what I see there each week. Which leaves me a bit nervous for this swap because I know all of you, creative people, are linking up there each week.

So. About me? I was an Elementary school teacher for 8 years and hope to be again in the near future. I met and fell in love with Mr. Boy in our freshman year of college. We now live overseas, moving every 2 years or so. I never imagined when we were dating that our life would be this exciting. I like to sew and craft. And, oh, yes, I think I forgot to mention . . . I'm mom to three boys, ages 5, 2, and 7 months. Which means no matter where we're living, my life is full of spice. And noise. And dirt. My blog started, just over a year ago, as a creative outlet and motivation to get me away from the TV (not so relaxing when you have to translate everything that's being said) and doing something productive after the kids are out for the night. It now has me waking in the middle of the night (hmmmm, or could just be the nursing infant) in order to write down an idea before it slips away. What types of posts can you find at Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy?

Things I make for my boys.

Handmade gift ideas. This year was heavy on the new baby gifts and since it was the summer of the boys, baby boy gifts were a plenty.

I enjoy planning parties, making seasonal decorations for our house, and getting crafty with the kids.
And, um, apparently I have a pillow obsession because the number of pillow posts is staggering.

I also adore all things I-Spy, so you'll see a bit of that as well. I'm currently sitting among heaps of I-Spy squares waiting to be mailed back to my swap participants which means more I-Spy projects to come.

I also post weekly for Wednesday's Wickedly Awesome. I feature one blog each week from the best of blogland. Well, from the point of view of a mother of boys, anyway. I'll admit that my bloggy attention is usually grabbed by things to make for my boys and our home. There are so many amazingly talented people out there that I'm constantly adding new friends to my blog roll.

Thanks for letting me stop by and introduce myself today! I'd love to see you again around my neck of the woods.

Blog Swap with A Little Knick Knack.

I am SO happy to FINALLY get Meg from A Little Knick Knack over here on my blog to swap! She has had to put up with A LOT from me to finally get this post on here! First of all, I had a computer crash, so I didn't reply to her for AGES! Then, we finally got the swap scheduled and her HTML went to my spam box, so I didn't think she sent it. SHEESH!

Thanks, Meg, for hanging in there and swapping with me today!

You are all going to LOVE her blog!!! Show her some love and check her out.

Here's what Meg has to share with us today :

Hi all! I'm thrilled to be here at Lori's blog! She is so kind and creative. I love checking out her site everyday. My name is Meg and I'm A Little Knick Knack! I love to offer you guys fun ideas, reviews and giveaways. I'm having TWO this week, so I hope you can come check them out. And, I host a weekly link party on Fridays called, Everything but the Kitchen Sink, where the rules are---there are no rules! I'd love for you to join!

Want a fun Valentine's Day idea? Well, I don't usually make a fuss over V-day, but I thought my girls would get a kick out of doing a little tea party with their friends. Then, I could wash my hands of the whole thing and call it good. So, we invited a few friends over for some festivities. We decorated paper hearts, played dress up, and ate a yummy lunch. It was lots of fun and I think the girls had a great time!

Our friend came all decked out in a beautiful dress and....

...some 'prom' hair! She looked very cute, so we had a photo shoot.


Then we moved on to decorating our paper hearts. The girls really got into it and came up with some fun little designs!






The dining room was super fun to decorate. I went nuts at the $1 Store and I think it shows!


After the girls finished their heart decorating, it was time for the tea party! I found these little sticks with foam hearts on the top and the girls used them as their magic wands! They got to take home their plastic cups covered in hearts and each paper plate rested on a lovely heart-shaped doily!

On the menu was heart shaped PB&J, heart shaped cheese slices and heart shaped strawberry slices! And for dessert, Little Debbie heart snack cakes! (I don't know who had more fun with this, the kids or me....I apologize for the pics...this was when I had never heard of good cameras or learned how to take better pics!)
All in all, it was a very successful tea party and we all had a great time!

I hope you had fun at our "tea party!" Stop by soon at A Little Knick Knack to say hello!

Thanks, Meg, for swapping with me today!!!!

Blog Swap w/ Eat, Pray, Homeschool

Before we get started with the fun blog swap today, lets take care of a few things around here :)

1. Have you entered my GIVEAWAY for a FREE 3 Month Subscription to E-Mealz? You should! E-Mealz is a WONDERFUL way to save time, save money, and eat healthy.

2. Tomorrow is Wandering Wednesday Blog Hop. Come by, link up, make new blog friends :)

3. Thursday is THRILLING THURSDAY Linky Party where YOU get to link up YOUR creations, and be inspired by the creativity of others.

4. Friday is the NEW Fun with Food Friday Linky. There will be a linky party for YOU to link up your food related posts AND a special guest post. You won't want to miss it!

I think that is it :) Let's see what fun Nicole with Eat, Pray, Homeschool has is store for us today. Take it away, Nicole!. . .


My First Ever Blog Swap, and what a talent to be paired with.

A HUGE thank you to Lori for having me over today here at Paisley Passions, she makes me want to pull up a chair and spend hours looking around. I was not sure if I wanted to be featured on her blog, or have her come over, decorate my house and teach art classes to my children.
She is so amazing and you should read what she had to say over at Eat, Pray, Homeschool about all she has planned for her wonderful followers.

I am Nicole, a blogger with only 7 months behind me and almost 6 blogs between our little family of four. Blogging is a wonderful tool for your children and since we homeschool our children, we decided it could count for creative writing too. Having people come along this homeschool journey of our's sounded like a whole load of fun and so our homeschool blog Eat, Pray, Homeschool was born.

They say a family that prays together, stays together.
Well, tough one with an atheist in the house,
but the rest of us pray for him, so it should count for something.

They say that a family thats plays together, stays together.
Not an athlete amongst us, nary a one.

So how about a family that blogs together, ok, what rhymes with blog?
Anyway, here are the links to the blogs all written a'la Morgan
and in spite of whatever we may say on them somedays - we all love eachother very, very much :)

The Mothership as Wiki calls it is my blog where I ruminate, muse and sometimes complain and whine about life ...
By Word of Mouth

Miss Wiki has two blogs, she is cool like that ...
Wise Words by Wiki
What's Cooking with Wiki

The Princess is all aglow with her brand new blog ...
Princess in Pajama's

Mr 51% should inspire the men in your life
because us girls know that nothing is sexier than our man in the kitchen ...
Guy's Guide to the Gastronomic G-spot

This is us, and this is where it


all began ...

Then, just like Clifford the Big

Red Dog who grew with love,

so did we.

Now we are the Morgan family!

We are currently living in Boca Raton FL, but we have a pretty

global history. Ian aka Mr 51%/Big Dog was born in London

England, Nicole was born in Liverpool England. We met in

sunny South Africa, married in the Chesapeake Bay MD, US of

A. and have since winged our way around several States.

Wiki made her way into the world in Pittsburgh PA and The

Princess was born in Houston TX . She does not have a Texan

accent even tho she insists that she did when she was a baby

(she lived in TX for a mere three weeks)


We have so much to share with you, the dreaded infertility

rollercoaster, the road to adoption, our path on homeschooling,

our travels of the world, and to be honest, the day to day

ramblings from inside of my head, tend to feature big time!

So here we are:

My No. 1 Mom role:

Wife to one Incredible Guy, Mommy to two Wonderful Girls, Homeschooler, Zookeeper, Office Manager, Mediator, Creative Director, Travel Agent, Chauffeur and sometimes Master Chef ... all boils down to the World's Best Job!

No. 1 Dad role:

Husband to his No. 1 wife, Daddy to his two Favorite Chicks, Hands down the Best Chef, Provider of the Best Life has to offer us, and all round Great Guy who is Pretty Darn Cute!

Right now he is a wannabe blogwriter, but so busy being a Corporate Road Warrior that he has one lonely post sitting in his blog.

Our Wonderful Offspring:

First born:

Kind
Thoughtful
Beautiful as you can see
So smart her little sister refers to her as WIKI
Lover of all creatures
and fab Assistant Chef!
Uber-talented blogwriter, be sure to follow her at
Wise Words by Wiki

The Baby of the House:

The Princess

Sweet and Witty

Artist of note
Dramatic, of course
Fashionista Extraordinaire
and Absolute Princess!
Creative writing 'class' at her blog
Princess in Pajama's


Hope that you enjoy getting to know us,
we have an awful lot too share!

So thank you to Lori for letting me tell you about us today, I do hope that you will stop by and visit us at this plethora of blogging we invaded the blogosphere with. We do lots of arts and crafts at Eat, Pray, Homeschool so keep us in mind. We also do believe that the World is Our Classroom, and hope you stop by and share our travels around the globe. Love to all xxx

Thanks, Nicole for swapping with me today!!! It is always fun to meet other bloggers out in blogland :)

Blog Swap w/ My Modish Mood

Today I am happy to introduce Taylor-Ann from My Modish Mood. You are going to LOVE her creativity! She has an amazing blog and is super darling to boot! I am sure you are going to be glad you found her. So, leave a comment here or on her blog and say "Hi!". Take it away, Taylor-Ann. . .

Thanks Lori for hosting another blog swap today....

Hey there...My name is Taylor-Ann and I am from My Modish Mood and I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas. I now I sure did...(I got a Sihlouette machine and crafting table that I just L.O.V.E.)

This is my first blog hop so I'm a bit nervous... My little ole blog is all about crafts, and life (my life). Some days I talk about this handsome lil fellow...

other days its all about crafts...

Like this Necklace...

or this wreath...(Hi..my name is Taylor and I'm a wreath-a-holic)

Or this wreath...

I also blog about crafting cute cards like these...

I also have some recipes that if I try and they work out (sometimes I follow the recipe to the T and they don't) I will post about them..

Like this soccer cake I made for lil mans soccer team

Or these spider cupcakes...

Well, that wasn't to bad...my nerves are gone...thanks for tagging along and checking everything out. And Thanks again to Lori for hosting another wonderful blog swap.
~ Taylor-Ann

Taylor! You did great!!! No need to be nervous :) Thanks for sharing your wonderful blog here on Paisley Passions today.