Better After

291 In Uncategorized

$75 Linkel Designs Giveaway! (now closed)

If you’re still searching for that perfect Christmas gift, I’m happy to say that I’m about to make your job easier.

(And if you’re just in the mood to do some shopping for yourself, I’ve got you covered too).

Because today I have a $75 gift certificate to Linkel Designs to give away!

Yessir, that’s $75 smackeroos to spend as you wish at one of my etsy faves: Linkel Designs, your one-stop-shop for all things glam and girly.

They have a HUGE selection of handmade jewelry – quirky, vintage-inspired and one-of-a-kind.

You’re sure to find something for every good little girl on your list.

Aren’t these lockets fun? I love the deer head trend that is happening lately, (although I need a different name for it than ‘deer head trend.’ Surely there is something better. Stag bust trend? No. Let’s keep thinking).

I shared this chevron necklace on my Christmas wish-list last year, and I still love it this year.

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So, want to enter to win a $75 gift certificate to Linkel Designs now? Of course you do!

Entering is easy –

Simply leave a comment here!

That’s it!

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(The link to the comment form is at the top of the post, in case you don’t see it. Tablet and feed readers can click HERE).

If you want to get shopping right away, you can also receive a 15% discount at Linkel Designs now with the code Better15.

Good luck, I hope you win! Winner will be chosen at random on Monday, 12/16. (UPDATE: winner is Chelsea T. Congrats!)

If all this jewelry-viewing has you excited to add to your collection, you might want to check out my DIY jewelry storage solution project too!

1 Pink vintage jewel necklace
2 Geometric diamond necklace
3 Holly berry vintage jewel earrings.
4 Wire wrapped gemstone earrings
5 Gold leaf necklace
6 Deer locket
7 Bicycle locket
8 Hot air balloon locket
9 Brass chevron necklace
10 Silver lace earrings
11 Crystal blue and copper Swarovski crystal earrings
12 Pink opal vintage jewel earrings

December 11, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

30 In chairs/ottomans/seating

Chair up!

So as you may or may not know, I am eight months pregnant. This pregnancy has been way different than my other three, mainly because I’m pretty sure I am not actually pregnant with a human baby, but more like some kind of eight-armed man-beast wearing boxing gloves and a full beard. It’s a Renesmee situation up in here, if Renesmee was a non-fiction non-vampire male.

Anyway, my daughter had a nightmare in the middle of the night, and came flying into my room in terror and dove into my bed, straight into my belly. This woke up the man-beast (STILL IN MY WOMB, mind you) and he began his daily regimen of beating me to death from the inside, and I wasn’t ever able to fall back asleep again.

The point is, I’m tired. Here are some chairs.

Ericka and Kacey at The Posh Mumsy gave this thirsty chair a refreshing coat of aqua and a fun fabric seat. Because there wasn’t anything fun about it before. Literally the saddest fabric I’ve ever seen. Much better now!

Here was another chair with the sadsies. I picture it thinking very sad thoughts in an Eeyore voice. “No hope for me. Just leave me here on the porch. All the same to me.” But Beck wouldn’t have it and brought it back from the brink with a ton of stripping and a teeny bit of teak oil. Lovely! See more at Beckwith’s Treasures.

Sometimes life gives you lemons, and sometimes it gives you a pair of broken down outdoor chairs for free. Kelly made lemonade out of the situation by restoring them with nothing more than white paint and $7 worth of fabric! A fantastically frugal fix, and now I’m craving lemonade.

And here’s one last chair makeover from Carolyn at Carolyn’s Funky Furniture. And it lives up to the name! She did a fearless combination of funky colors with a hand-painted seat cushion of a big momma cat taking a nap. I’m not a cat person, but it’s so fun and quirky it makes me smile. I AM a nap person. I think I’ll have one now.

Super cool handcrafted jewelry – Just in time for Christmas!

December 10, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

10 In kitchen/dining

Picture of Success

Here’s a tip for managing stress during the holidays: begin a home improvement project days, or better yet hours before a large group of people are scheduled to arrive at your home. This will not help you in the slightest bit with your holiday stress, but you will get that project DONE.

That’s what Linda did when she decided to hang picture frame moulding in her dining room the week of her child’s baptism, and after inviting nearly 40 people over to celebrate. It may look like a quick and easy project, but there is maths involved, so you never know. At least for me. I’m scared of the maths.

Anyway, it looks great and makes the wall look twice as tall, and was completed in the nick of time. I’d call that success! See it on her blog Burlap and Blue.

Save now on beautiful handcrafted jewelry – Just in time for Christmas!

December 10, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

19 In tables/dressers

Faking it.

Fake eyelashes. A fake smile. Faking a call on your cell phone when those sea scrub kiosk workers at the mall are trying to accost you. These are things it’s ok to fake.

Some things that you should probably not fake: a driver’s license. Your death. A pregnancy. You might want to reconsider the direction of your life if you are faking any of those. Just some words of advice from Auntie Lindsey.

But here’s something that’s a-ok to fake: details on an otherwise plain-jane dresser! See how Amanda at One Girl in Pink mimicked the scalloped edge along the bottom of this dresser across all the drawers as well? Just paint! Genius.

Save now on beautiful handcrafted jewelry – Just in time for Christmas!

December 9, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

19 In bathroom

Going Private

Believe it or not, this was not previously a public bathroom. You don’t believe me. You are looking for the automatic hand-dryer. It’s the truth I tell you! In fact, this room didn’t even have a toilet! This was the point where Kate started when she began to renovate her home’s master bathroom, or shower room technically, since it didn’t have a … you know.

But it’s absolutely gorgeous now. And fully functional, if you know what I mean.

Here’s the view looking in from her bedroom. Not that the green wall-to-wall carpet wasn’t … er … festive, but I’d call the new look a mega major improvement.

For being covered in stone, it looks so warm, doesn’t it? And clean! She stores her daily essentials in those big concrete planters under the sinks, check out her blog Kate’s Creative Space to see where she hides everything else!

Save now on beautiful handcrafted jewelry – save 15% with code BETTER15

December 9, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

8 In Uncategorized

Mimi’s New Menu

I’ve got a different kind of before and after to share with you today. If you follow me on instagram, you may have noticed a recent event I attended at Mimi’s Cafe. They invited some local bloggers to come and to check out something they think is Better After: a whole new menu!

I love Mimi’s Cafe, so I was happy to attend, but also apprehensive. New menu? Did they do away with my beloved buttermilk spice muffins? DID THEY DO AWAY WITH THE MUFFINS? I WILL FREAK THE FREAK OUT IF THEY GOT RID OF THE MUFFINS.

I’m happy to report, they have kept the muffins.

The big changes have come thanks to the new addition of head creative chef, Katie Sutton. She was a delight to talk to, and totally passionate about the changes she’s spearheaded at Mimi’s. She says they had drifted away from their focus of casual french food, and their old menu was all over the place.

“For one thing, we got rid of the Chinese chicken salad,” she said. “It wasn’t us. If you want Chinese chicken salad, that’s great! You just won’t find it here!” Ha! She was a hoot, and even talked my seafood-a-phobe sister into trying a mussel for the first time in her life.

A new appetizer: apple baked brie. Holy yumness. Katie taught us how achieve ‘the perfect bite’ by layering each ingredient just so. Brie, apple, then chutney on a hunk of buttery baguette. So, so good.

I had the Bistro Bavette Steak with mushroom infused au gratin potatoes. Both amazing, but those potatoes were something else! You can’t tell from the picture, but it was one towering heap of thinly sliced potatoes stacked together and covered with cheesy goodness.

They surprised us with breakfast for dessert, Bacon Apple Waffles and Strawberry Waffle Perdu, two new selections from their breakfast menu. I couldn’t even pick a favorite, and I’d happily eat them for every meal.

There is a lot more to enjoy at Mimi’s Cafe, check out their hashtag #mimisnewmenu on Instagram and Twitter to see the delicious new changes they’ve already rolled out! (Warning: don’t look if you’re hungry.) (Or do!)

This post is in collaboration with Mimi’s Cafe, all opinions are, as always 100% my own.

December 7, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

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