I'm a wife, stay-at-home mom, crafter, and blogger living in rural New England. As seen in Martha Stewart Living, Food Network Magazine, and more! | Tutorials, DIY, crafts, parenting tips, recipes, money saving tips, product reviews, local product features, New England living, intentional living, and more! |
New Year means time for new Resolutions. Usually they boil down to a lot of the same things, and a big one for us is always saving more where we can. Every year everything gets more expensive - groceries, gas, clothes, healthcare, etc but our paychecks always seem to stay the same. I decided to compile some of my best blog posts on saving money and I hope it will help you jumpstart your savings too!
Just made good on our promise to donate a percentage of yearly profits to charity. In addition to the donation we made to Susan G. Komen, we also made donations to Amazima Ministries (who provides desperately needed medical care, food, and water alongside ministry work in Uganda) and Disabled American Veterans (which provides services and support for disabled and wounded veterans and their families).
Giving back more is something I want to continue and grow, and I'm looking forward to being able to do more in 2017.
Just a quick reminder that today is Giving Tuesday - a great day to remember to give back to charities and community, not only today but everyday. Earlier this year, I decided that I wanted to make the effort to give back more too - after all, every little bit helps and we want to be a part of it!
Starting this year, we will be donating a percentage of our profits at year-end to charity(ies) of our choice. The charities will be chosen at the end of each year. We all need to remember (myself included) to give back more when we can, and I hope we can inspire other businesses and individuals to do the same.
More information about how we plan to give back can be found here.
We're celebrating Plaid Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday all weekend long! Enjoy 20% off everything in our Etsy shop through midnight Monday with the coupon code "20PLAID".
Quantities are limited at the moment, so shop sooner than later. Thank you all again for your support and shopping small!
Look what came in the mail today! New Hampshire Magazine's December issue along with their 34-page Holiday Gift Guide (available to magazine subscribers only), packed with ideas of local places to shop, products to buy, and fun holiday events to do. And we're so excited to be included - you can find Birch Landing Home right on page 12 in their "Master the Yankee Swap" Gift Guide.
Make sure to check out all their great local selections in the Gift Guide, and if you're not a NH Magazine subscriber the guides can also be found online here.
And did you hear the news of our upcoming sale?
We'll be hosting a sale all this weekend for Black Friday/Plaid Saturday/Cyber Monday (whew). The sale code will be posted online Friday, but subscribers to our Newsletter will get the code Thursday night - if you don't want to miss out on the sale be sure to sign up now!
Correction: There is a misprint in NH Magazine's writeup. While I have in fact been featured in Martha Stewart Living Magazine, I haven't been featured in Yankee Magazine (yet anyways - hopefully someday soon though!) :)
It's been a long time coming, but we've finally moved our little one up to her "big girl room"! Decorating and organizing this space has been a challenge since it's such a tiny room. And while arrows, deer, and gold polka dots are all the rage right now, we wanted to get the biggest bang for our buck and go with a timeless, classic theme that our daughter can grow into. | This post contains affiliate links |
We decided to go with a blue, white, and yellow color scheme (which always reminds me of Cape Cod) and just a few decorative touches that can easily be changed out as our little one grows and tastes change. Keeping everything pretty light in the room helps make it feel just a little bit bigger too.
The bed and dresser came from Ikea and were very reasonably priced. In fact, these were my first purchases from Ikea EVER (gasp) and I was very impressed with the quality and sturdiness of them. While not shown in these photos, we have under-mattress bedrails that are typically on the bed so she doesn't roll out.
The bedding was one of the most reasonably priced quilt sets I could find and came from Amazon (*at the moment it's listed for double what I had paid, but Amazon pricing can change often so hopefully the price will come down again soon). I just love all the different blues, greens, and creams in the bedspread! It keeps with the Cape Cod color scheme and adds a country touch.
The "love you to the moon & back" sign was made by me and will be coming to our Etsy shop soon ;)
This little dormer was the perfect spot to tuck the dresser in as well as some decorative touches like the wooden oar, which was a freebie find. The custom name puzzle is from Amazon, and both the lamp and the curtains are from Wal-Mart.
We also added this Personalized Alphabet Printable from my Etsy shop as well, and our daughter loves finding the letters from her name in it.
This Moon Bed was a custom creation from my brother and sister-in-law as a gift for our baby shower - it makes the perfect spot for snuggling up with a good book and some stuffed animals. The starfish watercolor painting is by New England artist Jen Scully of Mack & Ro. I love how it compliments this corner with the "moon and stars" theme but also fits in perfectly with the overall coastal vibe of the room.
What's New England without a farm? This little Pottery Barn table was a yard sale find (score!) and makes the perfect spot for a barnyard scene. The wooden barn is from Melissa and Doug but the animals are Little People (all yard sale finds again). The woven rope basket to hold accessories for the farm adds a coastal touch. This rope basket is old, but I've linked a very similar one here.
This room has a very shallow alcove and to make the most of the space I built custom book rails in it for storage and display. I debated on putting one more rail down lower but decided against it since I know our toddler would try to climb it like a ladder. Instead, I made a custom narrow wooden crate to sit on the floor and hold her heavier books that I didn't want to put up on the wall.
The book rails make for great storage that doesn't take up a lot of room, as well as gives us a chance to show of some of our current favorite books (including some fun New England-themed ones).
And last but not least, possibly the most important addition to our daughter's big girl room, the
Ready to Wake Clock! I was a bit skeptical at first, but this clock really has been a lifesaver (and no, this is not a sponsored endorsement). Our daughter used to get up between 4-5AM everyday, but once she learned that she needs to stay in bed until the clock turns green she now sleeps to the decent hour (6:45AM) that we set her clock to (thank goodness!).
I've tried to link all my sources for the room but if there's anything I'm missing that you have a question on, please send me a message.
About a month ago I decided to start something new for Birch Landing Home - after all, every little bit helps and we want to be a part of it!
Starting this year, we will be donating a percentage of our profits at year-end to charity(ies) of our choice. The charities will be chosen at the end of each year.
We all need to remember (myself included) to give back more when we can, and I hope we can inspire other businesses and individuals to do the same.
More information about how we plan to give back can be found here.
