LA Plates Giveaway

By now I think we all know how much I adore a great monogram.  Something sits still long enough in this house and I’m likely to slap a monogram on it.  As I indicated yesterday, one of my favsies ladies, the genius behind La Plates, is having a fabulous giveaway and a great 10% discount on ALL appliqued items here.  I, for one, am in love with literally everything on offer as La Plates is THE place for all things monogrammed.  I know a certain little girl in mi casa that would adore one of those gingham applique pillows.  And I know this girl would love this or this.

Go here to enter.  During this giveaway week, use discount code PILLOW10 by 9/29/13 to get 10% off your appliqued pieces.  So many great gift ideas.

BTWs, Can't say enough great things about owner Lara Shelton.  Not only is she a dear friend and sorority sister but she has been a great mentor to me and an all around 'you go girl' cheerleader of Chez V from the very beginning.  Love ya, La!!!!

Tell her mrs. V sent ya!

kisses,  mrs. V

Where the Heck Have I Been?

Oh hey.  Hi.  Where was I?  Smack dab in the middle of Summer is where and then whammo – off the grid without so much as a c’est la vie or by your leave or see ya on the flip, drip... Sorry.  It has not been a complete undocumented mess over in Chez V land as I am never too far from my phoney phone and an Insta trail tends to leave clues about where I have been and what sorts of shenanigans are occupying my time.  Our Chez V code of conduct these days as evidenced by IG:  

Then I sent my little off to kindergarten.  On a bus.  In a uniform.  Feck.

Tomorrow, I return with news of a fab monogram giveaway from one of my favorite ladies and a story about how a company managed to successfully lose my business for life and longer.

kisses,  mrs. V

Now It's a G Thing

Because I’m Pimpin’ Some Goods

Drat!  Frickemfrackem rickemrackem!  Much like Ralphie, I have been screaming less then pleasant expletives because our internet decided to take a dump - ONE WEEK BEFORE MY OPEN HOUSE!  Puts a major cramp in my G style as I am trying to get everything ready AND share it all with you as a I go along.  I need my printer to produce templates for all the etched glass stuff as well as all of my paper goods.  It's a wireless printer.  No internet, no printy.  For one hot second, I even considered doing the 31-day blog challenge this month, but with only a day’s notice followed by internetcrashmaggedon, that plan got dashed rather quickly.  Welcome to crazytown.

Now that I am back up and running this evening, I can finally share that I will also be featuring the monogrammed amazingness that is LA Plates at my Open House and here on my blog.  In addition to my designs and some pretty fantastic vintage jewelry, I will have LA Plates samples on hand for people to order at the Open House.  And for those who aren’t local, don’t fret.  You can order to your monogrammed heart’s content right here:

As y’all know, my love for monograms knows no bounds and LA Plates does them like no other!  So this is where I start pimpin.’  For those who have been with me for a while, you know I don’t typically pitch stuff here UNLESS I absolutely LOVE it - like in a ‘this is the cat’s pj’s/bee knees I simply must have this’ kinda way.  I jumped on the chance to be an affiliate of LA Plates for two reasons:  1.)  Lara Shelton, the owner of LA Plates, is a dear friend and my kind of broad (we go waaaay back to the Miami U/Kappa/Atlanta days); and 2.)  I want every single item on her website.  So, if I am pimpin’ it here, that means I want it, bad.  Just take a gander…

Hey, ain’t no shame in my game.  Now go getcha some!

kisses, mrs. V

A Few More Thoughts on Manners, Pinterest and Online Platforms

Welcome, Again and the Thing About Online Communities…

Wow. First, let me start by saying hello to those of you who are new around these parts.  Welcome to Chez V.  Make yourself at home and take a look around.  You can find out more about me and Chez V here, here, and here. 

And let me say how touched I am by all the wonderful comments and phone calls and pep talks I have received on yesterday’s post about chasing pipe dreams.  If I could, I would kiss each and everyone one of you!  I have a head full of plans for turning my pipe dreams into reality thanks to some invaluable counsel from this wildly successful gal behind La Plates.  She is a dear friend and sorority sister from back in the day.  You might have seen her stuff featured, um, everywhere.  

via

In the spirit of those darling Avetts, I am going to go be it!

I made this as part of a graduation gift for my cousin

Of course I would be insanely remiss if I didn’t mention the Pinterest Manners post.  Great conversations are happening and I just feel lucky to be part of the dialogue.  Really.  I am learning firsthand that this wonderful world of blogging and social media is truly built upon support, spontaneity, risk taking, community, and collaboration.

the picture that launched a 1,000 words...

 

After 4 years of avid blog reading I am still just as inspired today by all the great stuff happening out there as I was when I stumbled upon my first design blog.  So glad I finally joined the party.  It is just so ding dang exciting I could pee myself!  Sadly, or hysterically depending on your perspective, it has been known to happen.

photo of our Chez V family by Merrilee Luke Ebbeler

But I want to share one more thing about Pinterest and online communities.  As shocked as I was about silly, negative comments on someone’s pins, mr. V was not the slightest bit surprised.  He is a long, long time online gamer and tech blog reader before they were even called blogs.  He is used to the vitriol that comes with online platforms.  He actually chuckled and said, ‘wait until you get your first troll.’  Why would someone make it their mission to purposefully cause fights?  I am not talking about differing opinions here.  If we all agreed on everything the conversation would get pretty boring.  I am talking about malice with intent.  Or even unintended malice.

It is my hope that the next time these folks decide to post comments on other people’s pins or walls or what-have-you, they will ask themselves if they are contributing constructively to the conversation or just being a troll.

Back tomorrow with a quick and delicious weeknight dish!

kisses,  mrs. V