What does a new year mean? New products, of course!

What does a new year mean to you? For some it means more exercise, or less eating, maybe even more drinking (in celebration)! For others it means getting organized, starting over or changing bad habits. For many businesses its new-product launch season. And that's exactly what I have for you today - photos of some of our newest Simply Said products and designs!

A new catalog was released on Monday evening. It's awesome because for the first time ever, it includes designs suitable for EVERY SEASON of the year. So now you don't have to wait for spring or winter releases to plan for holiday decorating. AND the new release includes several new Printed Treasures - those are our items that come preprinted and can be personalized to celebrate special occasions - perfect for your gift-giving!

Check it out!

This is my favorite new Printed Treasure! I love the chalk board designs, and this with its patriotic pennant banner and message that salutes our troops - it really speaks to me.   

Another favorite in the middle!

Simply Said has many new designs for the bride and those celebrating an anniversary!

The overwhelming response by far tells me this will be one of the most popular of all our new items. This distressed board, made of real wood, is personalized with your names and wedding date!

Perfect for Thanksgiving and any time of the year when you want to be reminded of all that we are grateful for!

Those with a lake home can attest to this! We've got designs for the beach home owner, too!

A tribute to dad!

And we couldn't forget mom!

I'm loving the Printed Treasure on the left: Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass it's about learning to dance in the rain.

I LOVE the creativity of the design on the right above - this is absolutely a wonderful keepsake for the graduate! A Sharpie and you have a signed memento!

The distressed slotted boards are beautiful hung flush on the wall, or sitting on a cabinet top. 

They mimic the look of a DIY pallet, without all the work!

Here's a link to the new catalog if you would like to see more! http://simplysaidinc.com/catalogs/simplyseasonal/

For shopping and business inquiries, please visit my website: http://www.mysimplysaiddesigns.com/TRACINIESE/

And if you would like to earn free Simply Said products, consider having an in-home party, online party or catalog party. Give me a shout and I'll show you how easy it is!

Fun times to come in the man cave!

This week my husband's new girlfriend is set to move in. Admittedly, she's beautiful.

But, I'm not jealous.

On the contrary - I'm super excited. The new pool table is lovely to look at AND it comes with a ping-pong top. (I'm much more skilled at ping pong then billiards.)

So I foresee a lot of family fun in the man cave!

Our barely-used table of 9 years will hopefully be finding a new home at a local Boys and Girls Club. I'm awaiting a return call from them this week, hoping they will take our donation. Fingers crossed!

UPDATE 1/20/15

The new table arrived and hubby, Saxon and I have played some fun games on it already. The pool table is fast and plays great. But the real fun has been the ping pong! 

Now that my husband is home for a visit, we've been able to get the basement all squared away again since the flood renovation is complete. We've hung things back up on the wall and moved furniture into place, etc.  I made this bar mirror as a Christmas present for Damon, and I love how it looks on the wall!

And this week we think the Boys and Girls Club is coming to pick up our previous table! I like the idea that kids will be able to enjoy playing on it, and that it isn't going to sit in a landfill.

Now, I must go practice my serve! (Damon is really good at ping pong, and I have to step up my game.)

Christmas decorations!

This is starting to sound like a broken record - it's been a while since my last blog post. I was doing good there for a while with writing and keeping the content coming. But, life gets busy, and I get lazy. And my back went kerplunk in October (that's a whole other story)! So let's just move on and try to get back into the swing of things!

I can't let January end without a few shots of my home at the holidays. I LOVE Christmas decorations - LOVE them. And even though I was struggling big time between November and December, I still managed to get the house done - with a lot of help from my mother in law and son. Thank you to both of them - as well as my father in law and neighbor, Hudson, who helped set up my big tree and huff all the storage bins up from the basement! His wife, Tara, also strung the lights on my outside tree! You guys rock!

So here's some of my favorites and new items this year...

A countdown design from Simply Said. Saxon loved moving the magnet each day! 

Another Simply Said item - the "No Place Like Home for the Holidays" distressed board, next to a lantern from Pottery Barn.

I purchased this photo of Arlington National Cemetery locally, from photographer Gail Vitikacs.

The lights on these garlands worked last season, but this season not a one would light. Go figure. I was too incapacitated to really care, let alone go buy new ones. So, up they went. And honestly, I still love how they look.

My bestie, Sharon, came to visit after the holiday and brought me this sweet pillow.  I love it!

I found the doe at Anthropologie this summer and added a red bow.

Scored two of these adorable polar bears at Pottery Barn after Christmas last year. Half price baby!

A neighbor was selling this Willow House chandelier. I grabbed it and added the candles and greenery.

Here's my tree. I love this tree. She's so pretty!

There's still presents under the tree because my hubby comes home next week from Afghanistan. He'll be home for a few weeks and we'll be celebrating Christmas!

The last two years I have gone to Great Gatherings for ornaments. The day after Christmas they mark them down half price! Here's some of my fav's!

This one came from The Empty Nest in Warrenton last year. Still one of my absolute favorites!

The paper flowers and butterfly were from Cracker Barrel this year.

This Summer hubby gave me this Eiffel Tower ornament!

The bedding was purchased from Stein Mart this season- wow, it was super cheap! I think the King quilt was only $39!!

It's all staying up until after Damon comes home and we celebrate. Plus, I really need his help to take it all down and put it away. Since he was away when we put it all up, I think it will be nice to play holiday music while we take it down. I know that's backwards, but I want him to feel some of the "special," too.

Stay tuned for what's next in our great room - it's got me a little "grey!" And not in a sad way, either. 

Our Man Cave Renovation - time to redecorate!

As many of you already know, we recently had a plumbing fail in our basement, and my hubby's newly finished man cave suffered a big loss. All the flooring had to be ripped out, the drywall had to be cut out, and a lot of the electronics and decor got wet and damaged.

Thus, we're now in the process of getting ready for a major renovation. With that in mind, its fun to take your mind off the sucky part of this experience, by imagining how we might redecorate the space.

Coincidentally, I was just invited to participate in Man Crates Gifts for Men's "Man Cave Makeover" campaign. Man Crates is an online source for sending your guy a gift he'll laugh at, brag about, and probably grunt over while breaking it open with its included crow bar. Yup, they come with a crow bar! Highly covetable, these wooden crates come filled with things guys want - beer, beef jerky, grilling gadgets, barware, sweat-inducing spicy snacks, survival gear (in case of an zombie apololypse of course), golf goodies, and products for the poker player or old-school video gamer.

Man Crates asked me how I would decorate a Man Cave, and I have to say I would do exactly what the hubster and I did the first go-around - with an industrial aesthetic. You can check out this previous post that shows a lot of the items we used in our basement, like Edison light fixtures, stainless steel, etc.

For the purposes of this post, I'm thinking pie-in-the-sky, money is no object...and making a list of what I would do, if I could, without a budget or a hubby to stop the madness!

First, I love exposed brick...so I'd give one wall that treatment.

Next, there'd be a lot of exposed ductwork, beams and track lighting with grey walls. Black beams though (which is exactly what's in our man-cave now)

I'd choose a comfy grey upholstered couch, and pair it with some reclaimed wood pieces, like a coffee table, console or media center.

There is no lack of cool industrial light fixtures available on the market today. I love cage lights, vintage barn lights, and even big mercury glass globes. Oh how to choose!?!

And of course, any self-respecting man-cave needs a game table - especially a pool table. Check out this baby (from Great Gatherings)...oak hardwood, mortise and tenon construction, decorative metal bolts...I think I can hear my husband moaning with pleasure already!

A bar is another given for a man-cave, and these bar stools make my heart go pitter-patter.

As for artwork, I'd do vintage maps...especially city maps, like this...

So there ya have it, my vision for an ideal man-cave - a place where he can enjoy solitude with his Xbox, or a Sunday in front of the big screen with his buddies!

Thank you Man Crates for the invitation to participate in your campaign.

Now back to dealing with the insurance company!

Halloween decorating and making your own spell book

I hate scary movies, but I love creepy Halloween decorations. Go figure. 

So every season my son and I dig out the skeletons, skulls, and other creepy-crawlies to liven up the front yard. I really wanted to do something different this year - less cheesy. Less cheap scare, more Fall, with a touch of the hair-raising, in a subtle way. But, it didn't happen. I had hoped to have a hoard of time and money to shop for new things. Neither happened. So, we went with our usual. 

The only part of the outdoors I am really happy with are the crows. Why? Because the pizza delivery guy told me that this one scared the hell out of him! I don't blame him. (Have you seen Hitchcok's The Birds??)

Here's a couple of the indoor vignettes...

The only real fun I had with decorating for the 31st has been the "mad-scientist lab," as I like to call it. I saw this idea on Pinterest and more or less just stole it!

To think I bought these apothecary jars for a baby shower I hosted last year! This one now holds my son's rubber snake!

These lovely cloches were scored at Great Gatherings during a 75% off sale! I got such a deal on them! And doesn't the skull look creepy in there!

I found these jar labels online. Gotta love free printables! I can't remember where I found these. If you Google search images for Halloween printables, you're bound to find them!

Another snake in a jar, with little mice scampering over things on the table!  I wish I had a realistic looking frog! How can a household with a 7-year old boy not have a fake frog??

My only real project was making this spell book. This was also an idea found online - and easily recreated! Below are the simple steps (so simple you don't really need steps, but I'll list them for you all who insist on complete tutorials)!

I bought this big dictionary at a local used bookstore. Only $1.00!! And fortunately for me, it already had a black board cover. Look for a thick book - it doesn't matter if its old, you can make it look old.

1) Find a big, thick book, with black board cover. If you can't get a black cover, paint your cover black.

2) I used a wet sponge to moisten all the edges of the pages. Let it dry. 

3) Design two sheets to look like an old spell book. Again, there's a lot of wording examples on the net. I found both of these "recipes" on the net. I used an old-fashioned gothic style font and designed using Adobe InDesign. I downloaded the free skull and snake images from The Graphics Fairy. 

4) Next, open to the center of the book. Spray each side with spray-mount glue and stick down your newly designed sheets.

5) Then, I antiqued the page edges and two new sheets with Annie Sloan's dark wax. I just brushed a small amount on with a paint brush and it looks beautifully old!

6) I took my wet sponge again and went over the edges of the pages and started to roll them with my fingers. They dried slightly rolled up and look great!

7) Last, I grabbed an old black ribbon, cut a forked end, and just draped it across the open book, and tucked the other end under the book. I didn't even attach it, as I don't expect anyone will be touching this evil-looking thing! (insert bewitching laugh here)

And that's it - the hardest part was driving 30 minutes to the used book store!

Now that the house is all decked for Halloween, I can't wait to take it all down and start putting up my Christmas things! Damn, two more weeks until Trick-or-Treat.