beautiful deLoop

One of the prettiest artists on etsy, deLoop, has a shop filled with beautiful hair and head accessories that are perfect for spring or weddings! 

I just love her take on life:

 " My passion for all things pretty and whimsical comes from my love of the theatre, music, art and nature. We are our own canvas to create ... why not make it beautiful ... Life is too short to live in grey."

I think you will agree with me that these items are fabulous!

Great for ladies young, old and every age in between :)

One special reader will win a $25 gift certificate to deLoop's shop!

To Enter:

1.  Mandatory: Visit deLoop and come back to tell us your favorite item

Optional Entries (be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry in order for them to be counted multiple times)

2.  Tweet about it (Click "tweet" button at top of post)

3.  Share on facebook

4.  Blog about it!

***You must be a follower of this blog in order to participate in giveaways!

*****Interested in having YOUR item featured for a giveaway on The Patriotic Peacock?  Email me: RetroGalUSA@aol.com

Have fun and best of luck!!!

Winner will be chosen April 5th!

Modeling Time

My very sweet, fun and talented photographer friend, Jessica (who owns Capture Photography in Columbus Ga) asked me if Caleb could be a little model for a friend of her's who makes adorable mustache hats (and a ton of other cute things!)  Of course I said "Yes!"

So, off we went downtown to a super cute studio on 2nd street and Jessica "captured" these oh-so-cute photo's of my little man.

I may be bias, but I'd say he's a natural :)

WIWW- What I Wore This Weekend

Actually, I should probably say, "What WE wore this weekend" since Caleb wiggled his little way into just about every picture...he makes me laugh so hard, unless he's yelling "STOP IT!" at me, then it's another story that's not so funny...but I will save all that for another day...anddddd moving on.

Saturday:

Excuse the sleeve that is stuck up...I promise the dress had two matching sleeves.  

I won tickets to see "The Little Baby Snoogle Fleejer" downtown at The Springer Opera House, so we dressed up a little bit.  Caleb is wearing seersucker blue and white striped pants, rolled up and a pale blue button down.  I am wearing a grey, knit dress with pearl-like baubles around the neckline and clear jelly shoes.  A few of you asked me last week where my clothes came from and I have to be honest and tell you that most of them are second hand...this one included.

Caleb's escape plan

Sunday:

 I channeled a modern Lucille Ball with a full, black and white geometric print, high waisted skirt, a black tshirt and bejeweled sandals.  The little man is sporting a rugby striped Ralph Lauren romper (one of my fav's!)...from ebay...even Caleb isn't safe from the second hand queen!

What did YOU wear this week?

I am still trying to get Seth involved with "Outfit of the Day". He asked me, "What do you win?" Hahahahaha! Imagine his dissapointment when I told him, "nothing".  He's not competitive or anything.

A little bit of good ol' talent

I've mentioned before that I graduated from Liberty University- an amazing school in Lynchburg, Virginia...the largest Christian university in America and the best college in the world (although I may be slightly bias)...but seriously if you are trying to find a GREAT school for yourself or your kids or your niece, nephew, cousin or grandma, this is the place to be...not even joking...like, fo ril yo....okay I'm ready to move on from raving about Liberty.  Anywho, twice a year they have a huge event they call "Coffeehouse".  Students have the chance to try out for it and if they make it through, they are able to perform their "act" for the event.  It's a talent/variety show of sorts and let me just tell you that some of these students are super duper talented.  Here are two of my favorite videos from this years spring coffeehouse.  Just a couple of fun videos for you on your Sunday afternoon :)

If you don't have time to watch the whole 5 minutes of this one, just fast forward to about the 4 minute mark where it gets really good.

Just a little Sunday check in! I hope your weekend has been fabulous.  Sunday's are always bitter sweet for us because Seth has to go back to work tomorrow, but we still have the day off!  Trying to enjoy our last few hours of laziness :)

Feature Friday: A few of MY favorite craft blogs

It's so funny how the blogging world is so huge and yet so small.  I feel as though some days I am overwhelmed by the amount of really cute, creative bloggers I find out there and then to my amazement, I will realize that they follow a blog that I do,or they are featuring a blog that I have been following for a while, or someone I follow is advertising on their blog...and in some way or another, all of us bloggers seem intertwined in one way or another.  I have a few crafty queen blog favorites that I follow faithfully and I thought it would be fun to share a few with you!

Smile and Wave

Sparkle Power

MADE

Tatertots and Jello

k.f.d. designs

There ya have it folks! Who are some of your favorite bloggers?

What time IS tea time?

I had tea time at about 3:30 this afternoon.  I know it's spring but my new favorite tea flavor is Harney and Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice.  The cinnamon is so naturally sweet that I don't even add sugar.  I pulled out my teapot and went all fancy.  It was just me and my tea.

And....have you seen my new blog buttons?

<a href="http://iaminthearmytoo.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg298/sethandkathlyn/2011-03-222-1.jpg" border="0" alt="The Patriotic Peacock"></a>

<a href="http://iaminthearmytoo.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg298/sethandkathlyn/photo60-2.jpg" border="0" alt="The Patriotic Peacock"></a>

What I Wore this Weekend

I have recently come across several blogs that do "WIWW"- which means "What I Wore Wednesday".  I loved the idea and the weekends are the only days that I have a decent photographer with me (aka: Seth..haha) so I am doing "What I Wore Weekend".

What did you wear this weekend? Or, what will you be wearing this week?

March Sponsor Welcome!

Let me just start off by saying how excited I am to introduce you all to my new sponsors!  I have had the joy of getting to know these crafty, talented and hardworking people and they have some pretty amazing products.

So get ready to be impressed!

Vaalia Lelek

This is a GREAT skin care line!  All natural products, handmade and custom to fit your skin care needs, whether that be a renewing eye serum  or a face wash for sensitive or acne prone skin....she has it all!  Make sure to keep checking back this week because Vaalia Lelek will be hosting a giveaway of one of her all natural face products...I have been using them and I can personally say that you will not be disappointed in these products.

Paris Market Soaps by Earthway

This shop is the perfect Parisian lovers dream.  Filled with soaps, body butters and and chic French gift bags, you will have a hard time deciding what to get! Perfect for gifts or for pampering yourself.

Bella Fleur

I can't even explain the cuteness of this shop!  

My all time favorite is the Peacock Feather on White Headband...if ever I have a baby girl, she will be wearing this one!

From light pink satin to yellow, teals and feathers, you are sure to find a great headband to match any outfit for your young one.

Bella Fleur is offering all of you a special free shipping coupon for US residents...simply type: FREESHIP at checkout!

Sweet Sally's Soaps

You can never have enough soap...especially handmade, beautiful and great smelling soap!  

Soaps are great for gifts, guests in your home, sticking in drawers for great smelling clothes....

Sweet Sally offers a great variety from gift baskets to lavender and chamomile to coffee butter sugar scrubs.

Sweet Sally's Soaps is also offering all of you free shipping with the code FREESHIP at checkout!

Saltbox Scents

This shop is filled with amazing smelling things!  Home fragrances, candles, tarts will have your home or business smelling delicious!

With names like Iced Lemon Danish and Lilac Fields, this shop is sure to draw you in and leave you smelling yummy :)

The Floppy Cow

This is such a chic shop! Featured in Country Living magazine, this shop owner is one talented lady and after you browse through her fabulous items, like her Chicken Wire Cloche, Chicken Wire Egg Basket and vintage items you will feel as if you took a step back in time.

Lelia Mae

This shop is special to me because it is my mama's!  She is so talented and has some very pretty items in her shop.  She is a pro at working with burlap and needle felting.  She has the sweetest bride and groom door hanging signs that are perfect for any wedding and summery, starfish ring bearer pillows plus a ton of other neat things.

Stella & Dot

My friend Jessica Taylor is a Stella & Dot consultant.  The jewelry speaks for itself.  Great quality and beautiful items!

Happy Monday everyone!  Mine has been pretty productive already...just hoping for another 8 more hours of productivity and I will feel pretty good about this Monday :)

Play Dough Time

We made play dough!

I have been wanting to get Caleb some play dough for a while and then I decided it would be much more fun if we just made some.

Here is the recipe I used although I ended up adding a lot of flour and a little salt to make it not "gummy".  That's the great thing about this recipe though...you just keep adding more flour or water until you have a good dough.

2 cups flour

2 cups warm water

1 cup salt

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon cream of tartar (optional for improved elasticity)

food coloring (liquid, powder, or unsweetened drink mix)- I used liquid to make brighter colors

We mixed all the ingredients together...adding more flour and salt here and there.  I had a good, ready and willing helper.

Step 4 takes the longest-adding the food coloring and kneading the dough reallly good to get the color a good solid color.

Next I stuck it in the fridge for about 20 minutes to let it get good and set...and then it's time to play!

Caleb had a lot of fun...and for that matter, so did I!  I stuck the playdough in a tupperwear container when we were done and he can play with it over and over!  I am waiting for some lavender essential oil to show up in my mailbox so I can mix some of that in the dough...and then I will let Caleb play with it before bedtime in hopes of it relaxing him.....a mama can dream, right? ;-)

In other news, I found out yesterday that some of my etsy items were featured in a contest on HGTV.com!

Here is the link if you are interested in looking:

http://www.hgtv.com/dress-up-your-design/package/index.html

Scroll down under the photo of the kitchen and click on "See Vanessa's Picks for KellyAnn".

You will see my "EAT" letters, Black and White Peacock Teapot and Shabby Chic Platter.

I am still beside myself about it...very big news for this small town girl...now I am just waiting for the news that someone at hgtv made a huge mistake ;-)