i’m off to spend some time with friends and family for the holiday- i hope you all have a safe, happy and wonderful thanksgiving! i’ll be back on monday with regular content but the lovely denise of d.Sharp will be posting at the d*s guest blog for the rest of the week. you can check out her fantastic posts right here. happy thanksgiving and i’ll see you monday. xo, d*s. [image via domino]

i’m not normally a perfume person but lately i’ve become obsessed with finding a signature scent. mostly because i’m a big believer in aromatherapy and the cost of small perfumes can more often than not be totally affordable. one of the brands i’m loving right now is sweet anthem perfumes. these handcrafted perfumes are made by meredith tucker in seattle (using locally brewed ingredients) and smell positively divine. and the simple, but cute, packaging is perfect for gifts- just tie a pretty bow around them and make someone’s day with a special scent. click here for more information and to shop online (perfumes range from $1.50-$4.00).

just a little friday morning eye-candy to start the day: i’m loving these beautiful tablescapes by lynn butler of the product gallery. i wish i was eating my morning breakfast at that table. [via ms weddings]

ps: click here to check out roseline’s great guest blog posts on plaids…

over night we made a few small changes at d*s and i just wanted to point them out quickly. if you look above this post you’ll see the top bar menu has changed slightly: in addition to a biz ladies page (new dates will be announced in january!) where our information docs are available to download, we’ve removed the job board (sadly it just didn’t generate enough interest) and added a new page: budget-friendly design.

with the economy being what it is, i know it’s important for everyone to have options that are easy on your wallet. so from now on i’ll be tagging posts that are budget friendly and they’ll appear on that page with a little thumbnail image to explain what the post is about. for me, diy posts are a great way to keep costs down, but i won’t be tagging them there because at this point there are so many on d*s that it would push everything else off the page. so the budget page will focus on cost-focused product roundups and posts that have a specific budget angle. i hope this will help with our tightening budgets. stay tuned for our budget-friendly holiday gift guides after thanksgiving!

also: we’ve added the “in the kitchen with” recipes and all d*s videos to the left menu bar (they havr the word “new” in bold next to them)

yesterday event designer wanwisa k. posner sent over this beautiful tabletop scene she created. i love the way she used an edible material to create such a beautiful macaron croquembouche. when the holidays roll around this is a great idea to try with all sorts of different materials. and when you’re done? you can eat the supplies for a no-mess clean up! click here to see more of wanwisa’s work at modern vintage events.

i just wanted to share these quickly in case you’re looking for a little extra reading material today. my new diy column for craft magazine is out and you click here to view the full article online. also, along with courtney from style court, i created a special full-page budget bedroom roundup for this month’s in style magazine (the one with beyonce on it). the in style is on stands now but you can also see it above.

i’m thrilled to welcome creede fitch to the d*s guest blog this morning. i’ve been a fan of creede’s site, grassroots modern, for a few years now and i’m excited to have his voice on the site this week. creede will be talking about home renovations on a budget and sharing the story of his own home renovation in utah. click here to meet creede and read his first two posts.

when i received my november issue of domino i had to do a double take when i flipped to page 39. to see my own silly mug grinning back at me was definitely one of the most surreal moments of the past 4 years. d*s was featured as part of their story on design blogs- you can click here to read the full-sized text and here for a little site makeover before & after. i just wanted to say a big thank you to domino and to all of you reading, it’s such an honor to have this job and talk to you every day. i don’t want to bug anyone with too much talk about the article (i know that’s not what you’re here to read), so instead i just wanted to welcome any new readers from domino and give them a quick overview of what’s happening at d*s these days.

weekly content: in addition to (4-5) regular daily posts on great new products, shops and designers, we feature at least one original article per day. here is a quick breakdown of the schedule:

• mondays: every monday we feature two “sneak peeks” into the homes of our favorite artists and designers. we try to focus on homes that are a good combination of inspiration and real-world attainability. click here to see the 170 homes we’ve featured so far.
• tuesdays: every tuesday we feature a guide of some sort, whether it’s a product guide or a city guide. we currently have over 36 city guides, 47 product guides (desks, dining chairs, etc.), and 10 misc. guides like a guide to letterpress designers, gift guides and wedding registry ideas (just scroll down to the bottom of the page)
• wednesdays: wednesdays are all about diy projects. our diy editors lauren and derek will post a fantastic new project on the site every wednesday at 1pm. click here for their archives
• thursdays: thursdays are for before & after furniture and home makeovers
• fridays: every friday we feature a recipe, called “in the kitchen with“, from one of our favorite designers or artists. click here to view the recipes we’ve featured over the past year and a half.

• other content: d*s features a weekly guest blog (where we invite our favorite people to talk about their passions), a regularly updated job board (with listings for jobs and job seekers), podcasts, videos, and mini-trend roundups