When I was in Roanoke last weekend, my friend Raquel came over for an afternoon of crafts, catching up, and a couple glasses of La Crema Pinot Noir. It was the perfect early Valentine's (or should I say Galentine's) Day celebration!

We put together some homemade valentines using dip-dyed card stock. The end result was really lovely--and even kind of professional-looking! I was pretty proud of them.

This post is brought to you in partnership with La Crema. Be sure to stop by their blog today for my dip-dyeing tutorial!

Photos by Sarah Gatrell of Photo + Love for Freckled Italian.

It's taken a full five months for this apartment to start coming together (and there's still a long way to go). I've developed a bit of a love/hate relationship with Ikea (mostly love though, let's be honest) and came home the other day with this awesome Kallax shelving unit that I wanted to turn into a bar. I'm totally obsessed with it.

I'm always amazed at what a small investment can do to a space--just 65 bucks and a couple feet of empty space becomes a really nice place that starts to make an apartment feel like home. I also finally hung a vintage wine rack that my parents' neighbor gave me and I love the way it looks when it's filled with bottles (and it's become the perfect excuse to stock up on La Crema's Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, my new favorite).

I'm sharing some organization tips I've collected over the past few years of apartment living over here, so check them out and leave me your own tips and tricks while you're at it!

This post is brought to you in partnership with La Crema. Photos by Justin Smith for Freckled Italian.

If you're feeling the post-holiday blues, fear not! I have a little pick-me-up for you: Lavazza has given me a couple of $20 gift cards to give to two lucky readers. Entering is super easy, and you can unlock a few bonus entries while you're at it! I'll choose two winners next week and send you the gift cards myself. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is brought to you in partnership with Lavazza.