Giveaway! // Certain Something Vintage and Handmade

EDIT: Thanks to all who entered! We have a winner - Birgit! Congrats!

Happy Monday! I love starting out the week with a giveaway. This one is with my friend, Kat, who runs Certain Something Vintage and Handmade on Etsy. I love gazing through her shop because she finds the neatest vintage things and also creates her own sweater clips and shoe clips. Her shop will spice up your wardrobe in no time! She is kindly giving away one of her adorable sweater clips today! First, a little about Kat!

"I'm Kat, a 25 year old gal living in heart of the Mitten State. I work during the day as a receptionist, but I moonlight as a photographer, artisan, and vintage aficionado. (I'm also a crazy cat lady and self-proclaimed fashionista).

I grew up in a small town in a house that has been in my family for several generations, and it is full of all kinds of relics from the past. I was always intrigued by old things as a child and was constantly asking my parents about every single thing I found in the house, and that interest only grew stronger as I got older. 

My mother (and her mother, and her mother...) is a very creative lady, and also a very talented seamstress. I'm quite thankful for that having been passed down to me! We spend a lot of time together looking at vintage fashions and exchanging ideas. She is a great source of inspiration for several of the things that you will find in my shop. I love that so many times, when I show her one of my latest vintage finds, she'll look at it and say "Oh! I remember those!" and go on to share all kinds of nostalgic memories with me.

I get so much excitement and exhilaration from traveling around in search of those rare vintage items that have that special "certain-something." Every once in a while I find an incredible piece that jumps right out at me and nearly makes my heart stop--and those are the items that find their way here! My vintage hunts and research also fill me with countless ideas, and the other half of my love of all things vintage is creating accessories inspired by styles of the past. I'm constantly inspired and overflowing with ideas, and I am always so excited every time I have a new one to share!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Get this gorgeous 1970s Polka Dot Ruffle Dress here!

You know how much I love owls! It's available here.

P.S. Kat is offering Lovely Llorys readers a 15% discount during the giveaway! LLORYS15 is the code! She also will be putting most of her jewelry and shoe clips on clearance this week, so definitely head over to her shop!

Good luck! The giveaway ends this Saturday at 11:59pm and is open worldwide!

Giveaway with Katie from The Little Things

UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who entered! The winner was Alessandra Lalla. Enjoy your prize! : )

Today's giveaway is with Katie from The Little Things. I instantly fell in love with her shop, as she makes jewelry and trinkets featuring some of my favorite things - cameras, foxes, owls, mushrooms, gnomes, and more!

Here's a little about Katie!

"My name is Katie, and I am a 23 year old student currently living in the Washington, D.C. area.
Two years ago, I made the spontaneous decision to move to Portland, Oregon with a group of my closest my friends. While I was there I discovered this huge world of amazing artists and handmade crafts that I had never known about. At the time, my work space was constantly covered with cute little things I had made that had just been accumulating with nowhere to go. That's when I discovered that I could share all these things with everyone!"

That's extra amazing, Katie, because I just started watching Portlandia. It is way goofier than I thought it was going to be! Anyway, the winner of the giveaway gets to pick their favorite item in Katie's shop! It's a difficult decision - I guess I would go with the fox earrings since I'm trying to start a fox collection, but everything is super adorable!

On to the giveaway! I had a rafflecoptor widget up, but I'm not totally sure it's working, so let's just do this (leave a separate comment for each entry, please):

1. Mandatory entry - Like The Little Things on Facebook

2. Visit The Little Things on Etsy and tell me what you would pick if you won!

3. While you're on Katie's Etsy page, favorite it!

3. Like Lovely Llorys on Facebook

4. Follow Lovely Llorys on Twitter

5. Follow Lovely Llorys on GFC (right side of this page)

Good luck! (Open worldwide, ends 1/19 at 11:59pm, I will contact winner)

Spotlight on (and discount for) Three Little Cats Shop

Today I am featuring an Etsy shop from one of my favorite countries, Italia! Francesca's shop is called Three Little Cats Shop and she has lovely hand-painted trinket boxes as well as brooches, cross-stitch patterns, and necklaces. I fell in love with the owls and cats, so Francesca let me feature her! She is offering my readers 10% off with the coupon code LLORYS10, so take advantage of that! Below are a couple of my favorite items from her shop and a little about Francesca!

"My name's Francesca; I'm 21 years old, and I live in Tuscany, Italy. I love art and the handmade world. I enjoy a lot doing handmade stuff that I create in my free time. I have always had a passion for crafts since I was a child. Creativity is a big and magic world to me, making me feel nice. I like to always try something new, new techniques, new things... I love to learn and experiment, creating unique ooak (one of a kind) stuff. My biggest inspirations are animals; I also always try to have an artistic vision of everything that happens in my life. I can't live without my imagination, it makes all things better!

I currently work as a graphic designer. My love is not limited just to traditional handmade stuff; I'm also a digital art lover! In fact, I create custom graphic designs and digital cross stitch patterns. I also have a passion for photomanipulations. I'm known as "DeadLulu" on Deviantart. I have an independent short movie productions company with my boyfriend, the Frozen Lake Movie Productions. My boyfriend is my life. We are two loving birds. : )

What I love: art, crafts, cinema, music, cooking... And I LOOOOOVE cats! =3"

Aw, two loving birds. I like that. Thanks, Francesca! Keep up the adorable arts and crafts!

Giveaway // October Native

**Update: The winner of the giveaway is Elise from Black Ant Beads. Thank you everyone for entering, and keep Beckie's shop in mind for Christmas gifts!!**

I can't think of a more perfect way to start off the beautiful month of October than with a giveaway! Beckie from October Native (how appropriate) is giving one of my readers a gorgeous button ring that she has created. Beckie's etsy shop is full of vintage and handmade items that were inspired by her grandfather's travels around the world. She has lots of treasures! This forest green button ring can be yours if you leave a comment telling me which item you like the most in her shop! There are a lot of other ways to win below!

First, a bit about Beckie!

"I am from Florida, born and raised, and I currently live in St. Petersburg. I was just blessed to be able to move into a house with my husband and cute little choweenie puppy, which is ever so peaceful compared to apartment living! I work part time as a companion for those with disabilities and I am a full time volunteer as a team leader for a non profit called Young Life Capernaum - a club for those with special needs. In the midst of all this I get to indulge in my crafty and eclectic obsessions with my etsy shop!

I started collecting vintage when I was a kid. My grandpa was a big traveler, going all over the world and bringing back amazing unique items. I loved to go to antique shops as a kid and look for notes in old books, imagining who those people were. I have always been fascinated by the fact that those notes were written by ordinary people, and that maybe one day my scribbles could have an impact on someone in the future. I love the timelessness that vintage items hold. I also love crafting - that excitement and challenge of working on a project and coming to the point when you've finished and it looks amazing! The feeling never gets old.

My shop stands out because I have vintage items that will have a new life, and I also have items that I have worked hard on bringing to life through my crafting. My shop's tagline is "Bringing Fragments in Time to Life."

Now onto the giveaway! Good luck everyone: )
(GFC refers to Google Friend Connect and that is located under the ads on the right side of my blog!)

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I'm Looking Through You

it's been a week at least, but i am not giving up on my blog! promise. so these are pictures of my new craft venture - pop up cards. i have only made 5 so far and probably spent about $35 on paper and cutting supplies, but i figure i can at least save money on buying cards for occasions by making them myself. i made an early mother and father's day card, a thank you card, a card for andrew's mom's 60th birthday, and the first was a card for andrew for valentine's day. i like it because while it is creative, it is also structured. not to mention how thoughtful it is!

SO, this week. andrew and i booked plane tickets from toronto to venice, italy in june. we are going to croatia for two weeks and it was about $400 cheaper to fly out of toronto than detroit or chicago. we are going to spend our last couple of days of the trip in venice, since we have all been to italy, but not to venice. exciting! i am so ready for gelato, gondolas, exploring a country up until now i knew absolutely nothing about, and just traveling in general.

florida is in a week and two days! we pretty much have our itinerary set - a day in miami, a day at disney's magic kingdom, and some other excursions like a detroit tiger's spring training game. it will be a nice low budget get away since we didn't get to go anywhere last year (if i haven't already mentioned that).

other than that we have just been busy working and trip planning. andrew needs to get everything set up to start taking classes at ferris GR to get his degree after all these years. i have found a mentor at steelcase who is trying to help me find a job more suited to my skill set. i am really appreciative for her help and hoping for an exciting opportunity here in grand rapids. i was so ready to up and move to chicago (but andrew can't join right now so that's not ideal) but if i can find something here, that'd be great! i will keep you updated.

happy oscars! who do you think will take home that golden man tonight?