Drum Roll Please!

What an exciting Friday! I won't waste any time, and just get straight down to business with the winners of my very first giveaway on First Time Fancy!

Thanks to Brittany from Pink Peacock Paperie, three lucky winners will receive digital copies of the print of their choice from her shop, which can be printed up to three times! (I'm all about three times the fun!) So let's get to it shall we?

The whole process of picking a winner started with associating a number with each of the entrants. I did it in the order that your comment appeared on the post, and the three who entered and then tweeted about it, had additional entries at the end (number's 9, 10 and 11!)

Yup - Fancy! Hand written and picture care of my Blackberry!

Then random.org came into play and picked three of you wonderful people! So here we go....

WINNER #1

Congrats to Sharstin, who loves Buble & the I*Heart*You print! If you haven't before - go and check out Sharstin's blog. Why? A) because she's a super talented photographer B) she has the most adorable little one's, with another on the way C) she's always making cute things for the kids & her adorable little neice!

WINNER #2

Our second winner is a brand new follower - The Prickly Pinecone, who was a big fan of Brittany's version of ever popular Keep Calm and Carry on Print. Thanks for joining in on the fun, and I'm glad to have you as a follower!

WINNER #3

Our last and final winner is Janice from Life Begins at Thirty, Right?, who was a fan of the I*Heart*You print! Janice is a fellow Torontonian, who shares a ton of great home projects on her blog. I'm sure by now most of you are familiar with Janice - if not, head on over and say Hi!

Congrats again to the three winners! You will be hearing from Brittany shortly, so keep an eye on your inbox for your prize! I would love if you'd share some photos of your prints once you have them up!

Also, a big thank you to everyone who entered and who comes by to see what's going on! To continue the fun on this Friday, Brittany is offering up her popular I*Heart*You print for only $5 to First Time Fancy readers!!! Head on over here to get your print before the sale ends on Sunday night!

Before now, I never understood when other bloggers talked about how much fun they had doing a giveaway on their blog. After doing one myself - I'm all about it. So, because of all of the fun that I had - I'm thinking I'll be doing another one soon. Next month seems appropriate seeing that it will be:

1) First Time Fancy's 1 year blog-iversary

2) me and B's three year anniversary

3) my 25th birthday

Do I sense a connection between the #3 and my giveaways? Maybe... so make sure you check back to see what I have up my sleeve for September! Also, make sure to come back a little later today for some more Fancy Friday Lovin'!

Don't Forget!

Today is the last day to enter my giveaway! Click here to check out all of the details and enter. Contest will close at 11:59pm EST, and I will announce the THREE winners tomorrow! Best of luck!!

The Fireplace Dilemma

As you know, we've been renovating our basement. You probably also know that I've been pretty slow to share any more progress. WELL, that would be because there has been very minimal progress since my last post. We're at a bit of a standstill. For one, I think we're still a little burnt out from that week that we went full force and accomplished a lot last month. We're also just giving our bank account a bit of a rest. 

Now, I think we're just about ready to get back at it, but the one thing we're a little caught on, is what we want to do with around the gas fireplace that B purchased to keep our basement toasty. Right now it currently looks like this...

I love that it looks like a wood burning stove, but I want to do something rather than just have it stand on some tiles.

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Though we are pretty sure we'll use some sort of tile on the ground (or maybe a nice concrete slab like the one B poured for our shower bench), we're trying to decide what to do on that wall behind the fireplace.

My first thought was to get some lovely stacked stone veneer and run it up the wall behind the fireplace. I'm leaning more towards a white or ivory. Something that would bring some texture and interest to the room, and act as a focal point.

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The other thing that we have considered (and is in the lead as it's the most cost effective) would be to purchase or build a wood mantel to frame around the fireplace. Kind of like this...

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My only concern with the last option, is because the gas fireplace that we bought is so wide, I'm afraid that the mantel would just sit behind it, rather than really frame it in. We also need to be sure to be safe, and do it right if we do decide to move ahead with this mantel idea. If we do it properly though, I think that it could turn into a really great focal point in the room and make it look really cozy.

I'm interested in what other people think though? How would you tackle the wood burning stove? Do you like one of the two options I'm considering, or would you go for something completely different?

No Rest For the Wicked - Weekend Recap

WHAT A WEEKEND! What can I say? I feel like I barely had a chance to breathe, but boy was it worth it!! Friday I headed out right from work with a few of my girlfriends to celebrate one of the girls birthdays...

We had a fantastic night. Saturday was a morning/afternoon for taking it easy before B and I got ready and headed to the North end of the city to watch these two men compete for a chance to head to the finals of the Rogers Cup...

Yeah, I took those pictures. They aren't as clear on here as they are on my computer. We had awesome seats though. It was exciting right up to the end and Federer came out victorious. However, luck was not on his side in the finals on Sunday. Murray ended up winning the Rogers Cup for a second year in a row... incredible!

Sunday I was up bright and early and on the road. 2.5 hour drive to make it to my girlfriends bridal shower near London, Ontario. It was great to spend the afternoon with her and only has me looking forward to her wedding that much more. She'll be getting married on September 25th... my champagne birthday! Overall, exciting event coming up.

I'll leave this one short and sweet. What excitement did everyone else get up to this weekend?

Of course, if you've missed it - make sure to enter my giveaway for one of three prints from Pink Peacock Paperie. Contest will close at 11:59pm EST this Thursday, August 19th. The winners will be announced on Friday - so make sure to enter!

Fancy Friday Love

Another Friday is upon us... and I have another Friday of birthday celebrations planned! No matter that it's Friday the 13th... I'm not a very superstitious person. Looking forward to my extremely busy weekend and thought I would kick it off with lots of lovely things from this week!

Loved Rhiannon's DIY milk glass that she shared on Hey Gorgeous! She's so smart and did a beautiful job. Got the wheels turning for me on a few pieces I have sitting at home.

How adorable are these peas in a pod necklaces? Available in the shop sudlow on Etsy, I think these cute little customizable necklaces would be fantastic gifts for a new family, or even for a bride-to-be!

Kate Spade has started sharing the new arrivals for the Fall on their website. As soon as I saw the Darien Gloss Joyce it was love at first sight. Doesn't it just look absolutely buttery soft? I'm also a big fan of the oyster colour, I think it's great for the fall! There's an identical bag done in black as well, which of course, is just as gorgeous!

Mrs. Limestone shared this incredible recipe for Banoffee "Danger" Pie on her blog this past Wednesday. She picked it up while on a fabulous safari vacation in Kenya... yeah, I know! Anyway, you'll know exactly why I love it as soon as you check it out. So go... and make one this weekend and tell me how much YOU love it!

HELLO! I'm a huge bookworm... HUGE! Which means I'm also a big fan of beautiful books and bookcases. I'd say that these F. Scott Fitzgerald lovelies designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith, kill two birds with one stone! (Found via Merci New York) 

The other week, I shared some gorgeous travel inspired wedding invites. Well, yesterday I discovered these gorgeous Boarding Pass Save the Dates in Etsy's daily email. You can find them in the shop Serendipity Beyond Design. Whether you are having a destination wedding, or just a vintage travel inspired wedding, I think these would be perfect!

I have a jam-packed weekend ahead! Tomorrow evening B and I will be heading to the Rexall Centre for the Rogers Cup. Neither of us have ever been to a live Tennis event, so we're both really looking forward to it. Since it's the night prior to the finals, we're hoping to see some big names in action! Sunday I'm driving 2.5 hours (each way) to hit up a bridal shower for one of my dear friends from University! I'll try to get a recap up next week! 

I hope you all enjoy your weekend - oh, and don't forget to check out my first giveaway! Go here to get all the details and enter to win!

The Time Has Come - Giveaway #1!!

Feeling a little bleery eyed this morning. Spent last night with my Mom, my sister-in-law-to-be and this man...

I'm sure you can imagine it was absolutely fantastic. Perfect girls night! Mr. Buble wasn't the only eye and ear candy though. His opening act was beyond incredible! Blew us away! I've never loved an opening act that much before and we were THRILLED to pick up their CD and meet them after the show. Truly talented! Right, enough rambling... onto the real matter at hand...

For quite a while now, I've been thinking about what to do for my very first blog giveaway. I mean, I've started to gather some really great regular readers, along with some other great people who are popping up here and there with such kind words. I knew I wanted to do something wonderful to thank you all for stopping by. If it wasn't for all of you, First Time Fancy would've died off a long time ago! 
Finally the perfect opportunity came up for my very first giveaway and I just couldn't wait to share it! I'm sure by now (since you read my blog) you're all familiar with the extremely talented Brittany from Pink Peacock Paperie. If not, allow me to introduce you to her. 

Pink Peacock Paperie is an instant download art store, where you are able to purchase a high quality JPEG file of one of the beautiful designs created by Brittany. Each print comes with a licence allowing you to print it up to three times. Any additional prints require you to purchase the extended print licence.
 
I'm a big fan of Brittany's work. Not only is she the one behind my beautiful blog design, but I also have two of her pieces of artwork hanging in my home!

The I *Heart* You hangs in our guest room, and Count Your Lucky Stars will soon hang in my own little office space. She's talented, right? Well, now THREE of my lucky readers will have the opportunity to add some of Brittany's beautiful work to their own home as well! Here's the deal!

1. You must be a follower of my blog to enter and win

2. Any reader from anywhere in the world can enter

3. Go take a gander at Brittany's work over at her shop and come back and leave a comment letting me know which one you'd like to see hanging in your home!

4. For extra entries blog or tweet about the giveaway (make sure you @FirstTimeFancy or come back and leave a comment with a link to your blog so that I know!)

5. Contest closes at 11:59pm (EST) Thursday, August 19th. Three winners will be chosen at random and announced on Friday, August 20th.

6. Each winner will receive a digital copy of the print of their choice. You will then be able have it printed wherever suits you best!

Be sure to check back on August 20th for the winners and another little announcement! Good luck and, of course, thanks for being such great readers!

Casting Call Notice

The other day I received an email from Jennifer, a TV producer, casting for a new TV show that will be on the W Network. They are looking for "wacky, dynamic and fun extended families" with 3 seperate households that all need a little renovation help.

It sounds like a fun show and I was very happy to hear from Jennifer... I have sent my own submission for our family to be considered as partcipants! (I'll let you know how it goes). If you think you'd like to be on the show, please send me an email and I can forward along the details sent by Jennifer. Be sure to let me know if you're chosen! Would love to see some of my readers on TV!