Crafts

Gold Accent Picture Frame with DecoArt Dazzling Metallics

1 · Apr 30, 2013 · 4 Comments

Gold Accented Picture Frame with DecoArt // I have fallen in LOVE with gold accents! They seem to be all the rage right now, and I am totally jumping on the trend bandwagon. Yesterday I had the opportunity to take DecoArt’s Dazzling Metallics for a test drive while I dressed-up an old picture frame…

I had this old frame from Target that I had spray painted blue (another new fav) but it needed a little extra love. Recently I had added some gold accents to an old wood bowl and thought it would be fun to dress-up the frame the same way. The lovely part of this project is that it was soooo easy! You know me, nothing too challenging here. I chose DecoArts Dazzling Metallics Champagne Gold for my paint and set to work…

The frame has flower like petal grooves that were carved out and would act as a perfect natural place for a gold petal accent. Carefully, I filled in the grooves with the metallic paint…

That’s all there was to it. I filled in all the grooves and let it dry and then added a second coat. After a few hours of drying time, my new frame was ready for display!

I added one of my favorite Instagram photos of my sweet Emily and her friend and put it on display with my gold accented bowl. They make a perfect pair!

Do you have anything laying around the house that could use a little gold pick me up? You’ll be surprised how much it can add to a room! And if you happen to have real gold items — maybe old jewelry or décor pieces — and you’re curious how much your gold is worth, you can use this scrap gold calculator to estimate its value before upcycling or repurposing it! Check out DecoArts full line of Dazzling Metallics for all kinds of inspiration.

21 Friday Flair Features

1 · Apr 29, 2013 · 7 Comments

Friday Flair Features // Happy Monday everyone!! I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend. I corralled my family on Saturday to do some yard work in preparation for the lovely Spring and Summer months. Living in Las Vegas for almost 9 years, we haven't had a real yard, much less a place to play outside. If you don't have a pool, you really don't hang out in your tiny yard, ever. If you want to spend some time outside, you go to a park. When we moved to Lincoln I was soooooo excited to finally have a house with a fun yard!! I've been working on gathering some fun yard furniture and festive decorations to make it a magical place to hang out during the warm months. I found a table and a set of chairs on Craig's List and I started painting them Saturday…

I also started my herb garden, another first for me. I can't wait to have fresh herbs that I grew myself!! I have a plan for a hanging herb garden in order to keep the critters away. I'm sure as soon as my seedlings are ready I will post about my fun plan. For now, I planted the seeds in little pots and used some wooden spoons from Sweet Baking Supply shop to mark the types of seeds that I planted. The just look so cute!

Another project from this weekend was a new printable for the Printable Club later this week. May's theme is Cinco de Mayo so I created a colorful Fiesta sign for your celebrations. I've had a sneak peek at the rest of the printables and they are fabulous!! Make sure you come back on Wednesday, you'll have access to all of the stylish Cinco de Mayo printables.

Now for this weeks Friday Flair Features! If you haven't had a chance to check out all of the post to the party, you have to run over and check them out. There were a ton of fabulous ideas, especially recipes that will be a great addition to your collection. Here are a few of the projects that caught my eye…

1. true belgian waffles // 2. wrap bracelet // 3. cream filled sugar cookie cups

4. cookies n' cream cookies // 5. diy towel bar // 6. strawberry ice cream soda

7. nursery makeover // 8. cupcake topper // 9. pin cushion

10. monogramed garden rock // 11. faux leather frame // 12. weathered wood sign

13. washi tape plant signs // 14. strawberry tart // 15. personalized notebooks

16. cinnamon twists // 17. smoothie garden // 18. french macarons

19. diy board & batten // 20. tomato bisque // 21. dressed up butter dish

Aren't they all fun?! Make sure you visit all of your favorites and pin away. I can't wait to see what you guys are working on this week.

Friday Flair Link Party // Mother’s Day Glitter Edition

0 · Apr 26, 2013 · 35 Comments

Mother's Day Idea // It's FRIDAY!! Wowza, April is just flying by. It probably doesn't help that I've been traveling like crazy with my Whatever Craft Weekend and SNAP events. I'm ready to slow down and bit and start work on dressing up my backyard for Spring. I have big dreams for the little red barn, we'll see if I can make any of it happen. I can't wait to have those lovely summer evenings out in the yard, slowing down, cooking over the fire and enjoying family time together. Let's see we have Mother's Day coming up quickly. Do you have plans for your Mom yet? I thought I would share of simple idea for dressing up your Mother's Day Brunch this year from The Sweetest Occasion…

img source // glitter vases from the sweetest occasion

You can make up a bunch of these lovely glitter vases and line them up down the middle of your table with some beautiful spring flowers and it will look lovely. Then, you can send the vases home with your guest as a party favor… total win, win!! Speaking of Mother's Day crafting, don't forget TODAY is the last day to take advantage of Silhouette's April Special and their big vinyl blowout!

Let's Get the Party Started!!

Creating Joy with the SNAP Conference Crew

0 · Apr 25, 2013 · 14 Comments

SNAP Conference // Have you ever walked into a room and had the feeling of… I'm HOME! That's the way I feel when I attend SNAP the blog conference for us creative types. Each year SNAP has an inspiring theme, and this year's theme was…

Create Joy, what a fabulous theme for the year. I think more than anything, those of us who love to create, are looking to create joy each time we make something special. Whether it's a new recipe to share with our family, a wall display, a new quilt, a gift to share with a friend in need… We are ultimately looking to create joy. With that theme we embarked on three days of inspiration, learning and FUN!!

left photo // brooke . me . amy . mandy . jen – right photo // emily . jamie . rhonna . me

When I started blogging almost three years ago, little did I know the kind of journey I was starting. I've have the chance to meet some of the most amazing people through blogging. Seriously, some of my dearest friends are from all over blogland. The sad thing is that we don't have the chance to get together very often, but when we do… WATCH OUT!! We spend our days working hard, learning our craft and then the night is reserved for all kinds of crazy fun!! Let's just say, hotel security is not a huge fan… but we will work on a fun project to help them get over it!!

I wish I could tell you about everything, but I'm going to have to just share some highlights.

I was thrilled to meet some people in person that I've admired for some time. I've been a huge fan of Lisa Leonard for YEARS. Even before I started blogging, I followed Lisa's blog and drooled over her creations. She was one of the keynote speakers this year at SNAP…

I may have dorked out a bit when I went to introduce myself. We've followed each other on Instagram for a while, but you know how it is when you've admired someone for so long, you become a little overwhelmed when you get to meet them in real life. I was also, super excited to meet Jessica Sprague. She's another one of those talented ladies that I just adore.

She was just a doll! I also had the chance to meet so many of YOU!! It was so fun to meet all of the creative faces behind all of your amazing blogs. I can't tell you how much it means to share a connection with someone who you've never really met, but you can tell you are kindred spirits because of this crazy creative life we live. One of everyone's favorite things to do at conferences is to exchange business cards. We all spend so much time coming up with the most creative business cards, so if you are attending a conference anytime soon, you can find some great deals at Vistaprint, so make sure you don't over look this detail!

I also had a ball meeting old and new brand friends! SNAP has some of the best sponsors around and without them this conference and this community would be very different. Thank you, thank you to all the sponsors. You guys are all amazing!!

img sources // natalme.com // cricut . decoart . homes.com . forrent.com . moen . lowes . world market . familyshare.com . scotch . annie sloan unfolded . modern yardage

I had a ball working with some talented ladies on a Lowes creator challenge on Saturday. We had one hour and a table full of supplies to make anything we wanted. Our team created a fun tent for the kiddos and won the Fashion Forward award…

When it comes to blogging, there isn't a big book telling you the magic formula to create a successful blog. The way you learn is from other bloggers who have worked hard to hone their craft. This is why blogging conferences are so valuable. Yes, they cost money to attend, but if you are there for the right reasons, you will for sure have a large return for your investment. SNAP pulled together some amazing classes that taught everything from creating printables to advanced blogging. Jamielyn from I Heart Nap Time and I taught a class on Pinterest and how to better utilize this Pinterest world we now live in. We taught in this huge theatre which was a bit intimidating…

This is Becki from Infarrantly Creative teaching advanced blogging in the same room. Crazy huge, huh? You Can't see the IMAX size screen that's right behind her. Not all of the classrooms are ginormous. Here is another class on creating printables by the ladies from Paging Supermom…

All in all, attending a conferences like SNAP will take your blog to the next level.

The other key component to SNAP is the PARTY!! The fun is both big and small. The SNAP crew puts together several amazing events throughout the weekend. The event was kicked off by a fun pajama party…

Yea, we can't ever do anything without totally dorking it up!! I'm working on my best Sylvester Stallone impression here. We gathered in the big barn at Thanksgiving Point in our PJ's, had some cookies and milk and crafted with some of our amazing sponsors.

We had amazing meals all together where we were inspired by several different speakers,

My favorite was Julie de Azevedo Hanks who closed the event with an inspirational keynote about creating Joy.

The whole conference is capped off by the craziest dance party that was hosted by Homes.com. Let's just say, our mom hats come off and we rocked out the night. My daughter Emily asked about some of the pictures on my iPhone and was rather confused, "are you dancing Mom? Like, how did you dance?" I showed her my mad skills and she almost died of embarrassment right there. More than anything it's a fun opportunity to have a blast together with some of your best friends… and boy do we do it well!!

What I took away from SNAP was to make sure that no matter what I do, or how I do it… Take every opportunity to create joy. Joy for me, joy for my family and joy for my readers. I also learned to not be so hard on myself…

img source // mique from 30 handmade days

This is a quote from Julie's closing keynote, "Joy is in the CONNECTION, not the perfection." This is something that I need to remind myself daily. I LOVE blogging because of the connections I make with all of you and I can't wait to make even more connections as I work to CREATE JOY this year!!

Thank you to Tauni and the entire SNAP team for making an event that's worth it's weight in gold for so many reason!!

12 Fresh New Spring Printables

12 · Apr 24, 2013 · 23 Comments

12 Spring Printables // Alright, raise your hand if you are ready for some warm weather! I certainly am. We're mid April now, and we're still wearing heavy coats here in Lincoln. Back in Vegas we would already have our air conditioner on. Maybe Mother Nature needs a little boost with some fabulous Spring Printables!

I've teamed up with 12 of the most talented printable creators out there for a fun new project this year. It's called the Printable Club! The cool thing about this project… Each month you will have 12 brand new FREE printables to choose from. These will be everything from printable signs for home decor, calendars, lists, tags, cards, games and so much more. You will have so much to choose from, you'll be in Heaven! Here's our offering this month…

Aren't they all so fun?! I'm lucky number three with my April Showers, Bring May Flowers sign…

It's a fun snippet of color to add to a wall or vignette. You can frame it or hang it as is. All you need to do is download it from the box below.

Click on the arrow to download or the printer to print directly from here.

Looking for some more Spring inspiration? You have 11 more printables right here at your finger tips.

The Dating Divas– A fun, flirty, and FREE printable card to give to your man this Spring.
Somewhat Simple – The Earth Laughs In Flowers: Free Printable art in 3 colors to choose from.
Whipperberry – April showers bring May flowers printable sign for your Spring home decor.
Crafting Chicks – A Spring Time Fun Checklist to check off your spring time plans!
Tatertots & Jello – "Happy Spring" (Neighbor) gift tags
L'il Luna – Spring Cleaning Prints
My Sister's Suitcase – "Bloom and Grow" tag that is perfect for a gift of Spring Flowers!
I Heart Nap Time – A darling tag that is sure to dress up any gift – big or small!
The 36th Avenue – "Spring is in the Air" Printable and cute gift tags.
Paging Supermom – Say "Hello!" to Spring. Frame and embellish this cheerful printable, available in three sizes.
The TomKat Studio – Simply pretty printable Mother's Day card + gift tags.
The Idea Room – Homemade Lemonade Gift Kit with free labels and printables.

Head on over and check them ALL out. You'll be so inspired and the best part, you can have all the fun to yourself for FREE!! Join us again in a few weeks for Cinco de Mayo inspiration.

Crafts

Let's Get the Party Started!!

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