It's Feature Friday - today's Special Guest is Linda from GlitterNGrunge Studio

Linda Pinda is a mixed-media/abstract artist who lives in the heart of southern New England. Linda's work often reflects her faith, love of children, and the wonder and whimsies of life. Her husband and business partner, Michael, is a musician. Together, they are raising six children in their humble home, which has come to be known as Glitter and Grunge Studio. Their children have all inherited musical and artistic talents, and every day becomes quite the melodic, beautiful mess.


The signature of Linda's work is the texture and grunginess, which represents for her all the gorgeous age and history of life and the world about her. But it is touched ever so gently with a hint of glitter representing light and love.



Linda's work can be found at

http://www.etsy.com/shop/GlitterNGrungeStudio
http://www.glitterandgrungestudio.com/
Blog: http://glitterandgrungestudioart.blogspot.com/
Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/GlitterNGrungeStudio
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GlitterAndGrungeStudio
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/GlitterNGrunge

Raise your hand if you l.o.v.e ORANGE!

I do, I do! Luckily for me, orange has always been a color that I love and I wear . . . a lot! So, take an evening perusing Pinterest, monkeying around with PicMonkey, here's my what to wear this weekend file. ORANGE! Don't you just love orange???

It's Feature Friday - today's special guest is Liz Bradley

A little ditty about me:

My name is Liz Bradley, and I own two shops. One is called LuLu's fine home furnishings and the other is Little LuLu's. I opened LuLu's in 2005, naming it after my great grandmother, whom I have such fond memories of. She passed away when I was quite little and I wanted to honor her by naming my store after her, but I also wanted my store to reflect her effortless grace and flawless taste. So, the name just fit. Little LuLu's is a children's shop, and it was born in the late fall of 2010.

In addition to the shops, we also offer decorating services, and staging.

I have a hubby that still takes my breath away, two girlie-girls with the biggest personalities you have ever experienced (this is sometimes good and sometimes bad~like when you get a call from school or a get out of my room kind of battle).

I have a blog, which is where I like to share all the goings on at the shops and the cottage that we live in.

You can also find me twice a month on our local tv stations and in articles I write monthly for our local publications. And just to round it all out, we also participate in shows near and far including the Country Living magazine fairs and the Nashville Garden and Antique show. Check our website for dates and times.

My passions are spending time with my family (I could seriously not leave the house), decorating our cottage and making it a home, junking (not shopping, there is a BIG difference), music, entertaining our friends and family, and ironically photography and cooking (ironic because I can not do either very well at all, scratch that, I am terrible at both! But that doesn't take away the passion.) All of these things that I love to do, whether they turn out good or bad, I prefer to do in boots and statement jewelry.

website: www.lulusfinehomefurnishings.com
Blog: http://mylovelylittlelulu.blogspot.com/
Etsy: www.mylittlelulus.etsy.com

And, we have a Winner . . . no, 2 Winners!

Happy Friday Everyone! I know it's Father's Day Weekend, but I think I'm going to make a couple of girls very happy tonight. So in a very unscientific way, I had my son Kellan help me out with picking the names of our lucky winners tonight. I asked him to bring me a hat; he brought me his prized Washington State University baseball cap. And so, I dumped all 32 names into the hat. I asked him to pick the first winner who will get to pick a Bottlecap Necklace, followed by the winner of the Blessed Bracelet. Without further ado,

the winner of the Bottlecap Necklace is . . . Sherri Boyce

And the winner of the Blessed Bracelet is . . . Stacey Curry!

Congratulations girls. Please send me your choices and your mailing address to: tippystockton@aol.com

If you didn't win, I'd like to offer you all a 20% off coupon for my website. Use coupon code, SUMMER20 at checkout. Coupon expires 6/30/12.

Thank you to everyone who participated. I had a blast reading all of your comments, and I think hands down, the most liked Bottlecap Necklace is the Raspberry! Mine too :)

Let them eat CAKE!

Last year, I was honored to be a part of an amazing gathering of a handful of famous cooks (Ree Drummond, Celeste Shaw of Chaps, Serena Thompson of the Farm Chicks, Molly Wizenberg of Orangette), and some not so famous cooks (ME). Yes, we were all part of the Where Women Cook Book, "Celebrations". It was an amazing time for me, one that I won't soon forget. I figured that I better start sharing some of my recipes here for all of you who haven't picked up your copy of the cookbook. Not only are the stories within the pages compelling, the recipes are out of this world.

So with Father's Day being this weekend and all, I thought I would share a recipe that wasn't included in the cookbook, but whose photo was prevalent on many of the pages within my story. This yummy little chocolate cake comes from my friend, Timi Weathers-Bottoroff of Ruffles and Rust fame. Yes, Timi can cook, and she makes a mean Kahlua Cake. I hope you enjoy this recipe. I'll be uploading a few others in the next coming weeks as my little bit in the book was barbecue fare. This is an easy and scrumptious cake; one that you'll make time and time again.


(pictured: Timi Weathers-Bottoroff, Me, Laura Madden)


Kahlua Cake
Timi Weathers-Bottorff

1 Chocolate Cake Mix (I like the Duncan Hines Triple Chocolate Super moist Cake Mix)
1 Pint Sour Cream
1 small package chocolate or vanilla instant pudding
2 eggs
¼ cup vegetable or canola oil
½ cup Kahlua
Chocolate chips optional

Mix all together by hand. Do not use mixer. It doesn’t have to be mixed until the lumps are out. Just mix until the cake mix is mixed in with all the other ingredients. Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes in a bunt pan. This also works well in cupcake tins. Frost with either chocolate frosting, powder sugar frosting, or sprinkle with powder sugar.
I like to make this cake in small bunt pans and give away as gifts with a plate of cookies for the holidays. It’s always a hit.

Giveaway Details

NEWSFLASH . . .

When I wrote my story for the Blog Blast by my Creative Girls, I had intended to give away a Blessed Bracelet; but because I finished these fun bottlecap necklaces, I'll be giving one of those away too. SO THERE WILL BE TWO WINNERS. I will be drawing a name on Friday, June 15 not August 15 as the blog post says :)

So, this Friday, June 8, my Creative Business Girls will be giving a shout out to Tippy Stockton. I think that along with this bit of blabbing going on, we should have a GIVEAWAY. To honor Summertime, I'm going to give away one of my famous and fun Vintage Bottlecap Necklaces. Here's the deal . . . it's open to anyone who stops by. So whether you're a new visitor, or a seasoned veteran, you'll have a chance to win. I'll draw a random winner on Friday, June 15.

Here's the deets . . . just head over to my Facebook page @ https://www.facebook.com/TippyStocktonJewelry. Like my page, then come back here and let me know which cap is your favorite (there's more on my website too @ www.tippystockton.com), and don't forget to leave me your e-mail address so I can get ahold of you if you're the winner. See, that didn't hurt, did it. If you really want to indulge me, you could sign up to follow my super duper blog. I've been asked over and over again to feature some of my tried and true recipes, so that will become a regular feature in the very near future.

I can't wait to see who wins one of these fun caps . . .

it could be YOU!

Meet Beth Cole . . .

Hello everyone . . . I am a self-taught artist/learner/maker. I live with my photographer/metal artist husband in a very, very, very small town in the middle of Nebraska. After seven years as a web designer I pushed back from the computer and picked up a paintbrush, something I have always wanted to do. I am inspired by the textures of living rural -- rust, peeling paint, old and pretty things -- and the values this life has given me -- family and simple living.

Giveaway:
I would like to give away an 8" x 10" print of my original Ride On painting to anyone who would like to have this little bit of bicycle cheer. Please leave a comment on my blog post referencing the giveaway and I will select one winner at random. Here's the link: http://www.bethcolehandmade.com/blog/2012/5/30/friday-with-friends-june-1st-bicycle-print-giveaway.html

Thanks so much for visiting and please come back soon!