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Today, those of us in PA enjoyed an early taste of summer! So, in honor of the beautiful weather, we're going to talk gardening! Ok, don't tune out on me yet… there are some cool things about gardening even if you're not"into it"…

Longwood Gardens My mother in law has an amazing green thumb, so anything I've learned is from her. I don't have extensive knowledge, but I've found plants that work for me and that I can manage… all that translates to "plants that are very hard to kill and can deal with being ignored!" Before I share some of my favorites and some recommendations, we need a little primer on plants. Annuals are plants that don't come back year after year… you have to buy them annually. Perennials come back year after year (AKA plants that Eric thinks are nice and practical!) Yes, that seems a little basic, but come on, most people confuse the two all the time!
Now for my favorites… Grasses- these perennials are wonderful as space fillers. They're inexpensive, indestructible, and grow like crazy. My favorite type is Maidenhair Grass (Miscanthus). They come in a variety of sizes and are nice and green all spring and summer.

In the fall they get these pretty wispy thingies (again, not very exact with my names!)

They also come in a variety of colors. I've bought this deep red before and it looks great in the fall.

Vinca- These annuals are my #1 favorite flower and my go-to flower for most beds and here's why… These flowers don't need a thing from me! They love full-sun, and thrive during a drought and heat wave. That's essential for me because, I spend full-sun, heatwave days by the pool, not watering my flowers!

They totally spread and fill out an area so nicely. Vinca = instant garden!

They're awesome for hanging baskets and again need little to no water. I rarely, if ever, water ones in the ground, but might water my baskets weekly or every ten days.

Now most people use Impatiens (which btw I thought were impatience until about 2 minutes ago!) but, the reason I prefer vinca is that impatiens need TLC. They need a lot of water throughout a drought and can stand the heat, but only with care. The two look so similar, that the easy peasy flower gets my vote for sure! These are impatiens- can you tell much of a difference?

Sunflowers- who doesn't love a sunflower? We go a little crazy with our sunflowers and try out tons of different varieties. My kiddos' favorite is the Mammoth Sunflower because it's enormous! Look at this random, adorable couple and their sunflower. They really do get this big!

Sunflowers don't have a super long bloom time, but if you stager your planting- plant a handful in the same area each week- you'll have a longer bloom season. This was the border of our backyard at the old house prior to full bloom.

Did you know they come in oodles of colors and so many of them have awesome fall tones? They bloom towards the end of the summer and get me all excited for my favorite season! This little fella was from our 2009 gardening.

Final note on sunflowers- they're super easy to plant and a great one to have the kids help you with! Can't mess it up!
New Favorite: Wildflowers- Thanks to Laura from Piggy Toes Photography in Norton, MA I'm hooked on wildflowers. I'm more of a clean lines, symetrical decorator and gardener, but was totally inspired by some of her pictures to enter the world of wildflowers. Who wouldn't want this amazing backdrop for photos right in their own yard! It was this picture of her son Atticus that made me contact her and find out more about these awesome flowers. Seriously Adorable!

These are super cute and will be making an appearance in our new yard. The company Laura suggested was American Meadows and I've already ordered three bags to plant in the next few weeks.

Although I'm partial to the cutie in the diaper, they're also great for more formal shots like this one from an engagement session. If you're in the MA area, make sure you check out Laura's website for great photography at excellent prices.

I can't wait to share pics of my kiddos in our wildflowers this summer!
Cosmos- While cosmos kind of fall under the"wildflowers" category, I've been using them for years. They're a bit more"wild" looking and unrully than I'd prefer, but they're awesome for cutting and really are pretty.

They come in so many colors and they also come in a variety of heights (learned the hard way when I had mammoth plants that all needed to be staked and still looked a bit sad.)

They're just so pretty and make beautiful arrangements that last for a while.

If you think you recognize them from somewhere… it could be from the AC Expressway in New Jersey. They're planted for miles between the highway and they're so pretty all summer on our drives to the beach!

So, I don't have any really amazing gardening tips for you, other than to find something that works for you and that you actually enjoy. If I planted things that needed daily attention it wouldn't be fun for me and they'd all end up dead!
So in honor of spring weather, and of the fact my husband sent me to Lowes tonight to buy this (my first ever John Deer purchase- I was a fish out of water) enjoy the warm weather and start thinking about what you might create outside this year.

A few weekends ago, my younger sister, Chrissie, my mom and I had the pleasure of throwing my older sister a baby shower. She is due on May 16th and I can NOT wait to lay eyes on that sweet little baby girl. My big sis does not like surprises, so she knew about the whole thing. We kind of went with a"sugar and spice" theme, although not everything fit into that box.

The shower was held at The Lucky Cupcake Company in Plumsteadville. This little shop is just too cute, and they serve some delicious cupcakes! Actually, the owner, Joanne, was recently on the show Cupcake Wars on the Food Network. We were even more excited to throw the shower here because her whole store is decked out in our shower colors- pink and gray. Score one for us! That means less decorating.: )

She even had a sign that fit the theme perfectly!

I haven't yet shared my love for Produce Junction on this blog, but now is the time! I seriouly love this place for fresh flowers. I got two dozen pink antique-looking roses for $6.50, big white carnations and some other purple flower things (I am sooo not a florist, as you can tell). All for about $10! These made about 8 arrangements, which were absolutely beautiful.

We purchased simple mason jars at Giant and then worked the flowers into them until they looked pretty. The plates, silverware, cups and napkins came from Dollar General. I was really impressed with their huge selection and really cute designs.

Joanne from the Lucky Cupcake made us a 5 dozen cookies in different varieties for our cookie bar favors. She made sugar cookies shaped as onesies (for the sugar part) and chocolate chip and oatmeal spice cookies (for the spice part) and each guest took a bag and filled it with their choice of cookies.

Chrissie had two friends with her that helped us out with the cute frames. I explained to them how to easily decoupage the scrapbooking paper to the frames (tutorial on that to come late- so easy!). We made one to hold the cookie bar favor instrucations and one for the scrapbook instructions. My sister took them home and will be able to put them in the nursery! Adorable and easy.

We bought the favor bags from Michael's, as well as the labels. Once home I printed the labels that said"Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice- Baby W 5-16-11". Then I folded the top part of the bag, punched holes in the front flap (so they could open them and put the cookies in) and threaded a ribbon through the holes and tied them in a knot.

We requested Joanne to make her pink champagne cupcakes-which actually have champagne and real sliced strawberries in them!- and they were to die for. She also included some vanilla buttercream cupcakes as well.

Our friend, Stephie, made my sister this diaper cake. The top held some of the sweetest little white shoes I have ever seen.

Loved all the details!

Some of you may know that the Lucky Cupcake store is now in the space where the Dream Dinners strore my mom and I started was. This pendant light used to have the DD logo on it, but Joanne had it changed to include her logo. So resourceful!

My best friend and awesome party-throwing partner!

And how could I not include a picture of my beautiful niece, Leah. I just love that face. Everyone went so well and I think Rachel had a great time. Time to come out, Baby W!: )
And now for the $10 Chubby's Gift Card Winner:

Congratulations, Chrissie Duncan ! (I promise this is not rigged!: ) She wrote: My fav kind of icecream is PB Cup Perfection…Coldstone.: ) Or anything that is edible.
Have a great Monday!

If we win, Homes.com will give Worthwhile Wear Five Thousand Buckaroos! For a new organization like theirs, that could be a major game changer and we really hope we can win it for them! (If you want to skip the project and just vote you can! lol Click HERE to Vote)
You can read all about our project first, but then you have to pinky promise to follow the voting directions at the bottom of the post okay? Ok! Thanks!
Wood Shim Wall Art I (Monica) have had this project in my mind for a few months now. It was inspired by a printed pattern I had seen in the window of a shop. I couldn't remember exactly where I saw it, but I was pretty sure it was a cool shop we had passed when we were in London in November. Great story right? Crafty DIY project inspired by a European city… Then, two weeks ago it hit me… It was JCrew at our local mall! I just about died laughing when I put it all together! Well, JCrew or London, I sure am glad it inspired me…
For under $20 we created the coolest DIY Wood Shim Wall Art

(You could go vote NOW since you've seen it! Click Here!)
I wanted something with BOLD color, and a modern feel, that married well with a bit of industrial flare!

How's that for a Before and After?
Who knew our dumpy oak piano could be such a show stopper?

Here's a peek at the details- the DIY light isn't my entry, but man I love how it works with the Wood Shim Art! (Light tutorial coming soon!)

(Or you could vote now?)

Want to know how we did it??
You've gotta head over to Homes.com for the full tutorial (but only after you've voted!)
Click HERE for the full tutorial

There were a lot of DIY elements around our Crafting for Charity project, and we'll post about all of them over the next week or so!

And now for the really important stuff! We're blogging for a charity that we love and are so proud to support. Worthwhile Wear was founded by our close friends Dan & Steph and they've committed their time and talents to make it their life's work.

Jess and I both have daughters and we couldn't imagine any of them having to endure human trafficking. We love Worthwhile Wear's mission…
Worthwhile Wear exists to rescue and restore girls from forced prostitution, and more importantly help prevent girls from ever entering it. We target highly trafficked areas both internationally and domestically, and offer women the opportunity to overcome two primary factors which are at the root of sex trafficking; poverty and lack of education. This solution is offered through vocational training centers which teach women how to make wears, such as jewelry, handbags, and clothing, which are sold to provide them employment. Additionally, the women are offered free education, a safe place to stay, and restorative programs geared toward encouraging personal growth and re-establishing self-worth.

We had the honor of working on the planning committee and doing all the decor and design for Worthwhile Wear's launch in 2012. The following images and statistics were used as artwork at the launch benefit-A Worthwhile Evening.

Those beautiful faces are not stock images. They're from Dan's last trip to India a few months back. The work Worthwhile wear is doing is critical and we hope you'll check out their site and follow along with them on Facebook.
Now it's Time to Vote!
There are 8 bloggers in this competition and some of them have a lot of followers, but none have the amazing fans we do! We know you guys have our back!
All voting will be done via Homes.com's Facebook Page
(On their Facebook Page, there's a little button that says Crafting for Charity. Click there)

Click HERE to Vote

A HUGE Thank You to Homes.com for sponsoring this awesome contest and for spreading the word about amazing charities like Worthwhile Wear. If you'd like more information about the organization and how you can help, click here.

Thanks so much!
Now, Go Get Your Vote On!

Well, I'm not sure how this could possibly be true, but my little girl turned three a few weeks ago.

I'll leave all the sappy stuff to my personal blog, but I wanted to give you a glimpse of the details of the party. Campbell is really into Angelina Ballerina and, a few weeks before her birthday, decided she wanted to have an Angelina birthday party. I scoured the internet and could not find really cute Angelina party supplies, so I decided to be creative and make some of my own and decorate the way I wanted to.

First off, Kevin and I created a"party room" in our basement. We decided to use the area of the basement that normally houses our ping pong and air hockey tables. We just moved those aside and got to work. The color scheme was pink, silver and white. We created a fun entrance to the party room, but hanging a streamer garland across the doorway and then hung regular streamers from the garland so the kiddos had to walk through to see the rest of the room.

Then, we hung pink and white balloons, as well as, paper stars that I had cut out of stock paper and embellished with glitter paint, from the ceiling. This was actually really easy, but a little time consuming. We used large plastic pink tablecloths to cover the far wall, and to create a backdrop for pictures and a few of the games. The round tablecloth on the floor helped the kids easily sit in a circle for the"Pass the Ballet Slipper" game, and was a convenient spot for them to eat lunch and not make a mess all over our carpet!

I made the favor bags using regular old paper bags and a tag that I created on Picnik. I punched holes in the tops of the bags and threaded sparkly ribbon through to close them. These are so simple and cheap, but looked adorable!

I found an awesome tutorial on DIY printable cupcake toppers, which, again I embellished with some silver glitter paint.

The very simple menu consisted of pigs in a blanket, mac & cheese, carrots, fruit salad, cheese puffs (Campbell's request), and snickerdoodle trail mix. The star on the far left was an indestructable pinata that none of the kids could open. Kevin ended up breaking it over his knee.

One of the games was"Pin the Mouse Ears on Campbellina". I mounted an 11x14 picture of Campbell on poster board. Then I framed the picture with a pink polka-dot ribbon.

I made sure to take a picture of each guest with Campbell for a sweet thankyou card we sent after the party.

I just had to include a picture of the pretty ballerina herself!

And this is the best picture of the day, taken by Monica. Jane B., you need to frame this!

Happy 3rd birthday, sweetie! We love you.


We briefly interrupt this CWTS week because it's now officially spring and I'm not sure if you know this, but it has been SNOWING the last 2 days here in PA. We thought maybe the snow was due to the fact that we haven't been posting about anything spring?? So, just to make sure spring isn't offended, and stops the snow business, we proudly present you with a spring post! (CWTS Tutorials will be back in full swing tomorrow, but you can check out the Round 2 projects and winners here and here.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You all know that HGTV has a special place in our hearts. We got our very first magazine feature in their November 2012 Thanksgiving issue (remember the fun leftovers station idea?) So, of course we were game when HGTVGardens asked us to give their new website a whirl!

We started off by becoming HGTVGardens community members (which was easy peasy), you can check our our profile here.

I added a few of my own outdoor posts to my photo album.

If you're a blogger, this is a great way to get some new local blog readers, because HGTVGardens suggests content based on your zip code. So people right in your hometown will see your posts. It's also really cool because those people live in the same gardening"zone," so I won't be shown a bunch of posts of plants that could never grow in PA!

Then, I took some time to explore the site! You know I don't have an especially green thumb, but I do love to make our yard look awesome in the summer and fall! I have my go-to annuals, but I really want to find more perennials that I like. With 4 acres of land, annuals get really pricey! I couldn't believe how simple HGTVGardens made searching for the right plants! Check this out… they already had my zone, so I just clicked Perennial, then Partial Sun and Boom!

I found this adorable flower!! I don't know about the name, seriously,"Sneezeweed??" but it looks awesome, will come back each year, and Bonus… it attracts butterflies! I really love the Plant Finder tool and see many more new and awesome flowers making their home with us this year!

Another thing I loved about the HGTVGardens site was that the articles were super relevant. It wasn't like Uncle Bob's Random flower that only grows in Texas or anything like that! I was super excited to stumble upon this article about Meadows. Two summers ago, I started trying to get a meadow going and each year I'm getting closer and closer!

Honestly, to start my meadow, I just went to American Meadows and picked the flowers I thought were pretty… this article would have been really helpful about two years ago! Ha! Now, I know which bags of seed I'll be ordering this year, and I'm pretty sure they'll do a lot better than the"Monica Random Picking Method."
I knew I was a big HGTV fan, but the HGTVGardens site really impressed me. I added it to my Bookmarks bar… people, that's a big deal in my world! Take some time to check it out and I'd love to know what new plants and ideas you find (they have a whole section for crafts and fun outdoor ideas too!)
And just because I love it a lot, here's my Go-To flower. It's perfect for the lazy gardener… loves sun, doesn't need water, comes in tons of colors, and makes me look like a much better gardener than I really am!

Happy Spring, now if the East Coast could get the spring memo and stop snowing, I could start getting my gardening groove on!

**This post brought to you by gardening crew at HGTV, but all opinions belong 100% to yours truly!

If you missed the announcement about which nine contestants made it through to Round 2 of Creating with the Stars, click here! We're dying to see what those ladies come up with for this week's Knockoff theme!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are some nice end tables out there, but this one ranks way up there on the coolness scale (is there such a thing? If not, we just made one.) We love how Sarah, from While They Snooze, used something free to create something totally fabulous for her home. Booyah to pricey furniture everywhere. Let's take a look at how she made this bad boy…

On a run a week or so back, I passed a house in my neighborhood with 6, count 'em 6, old tires on the curb (Where you at HOA??). My slightly hoarderish brain immediately tried to think of projects I could use them for. Alas, as Beyonce blasted in my ears, I thought of nothing and ran past. Fast forward a few days to when the Creating with the Stars announcement was made and I learned theme one was Upcycle. In the midst of picking my jaw back up off the floor, I remember those grimy tires. Early Saturday morning, still bra-less and in my PJs, I drove to that house and hurled the one tire that was left into the back of my car. Let's hope the morning fog prevented most from seeing that. Don't be fooled, though the kids look excited, they are confused as to why mommy threw garbage in the car.

As the tire lay in my garage, it dawned on me that it was the perfect size/shape for a side table. 24" round. Just needed some legs and some (a boat load of) prettying up. Here's what I did.
Supplies:

• Old tire — Mine still had the rim… it will still work if it doesn't.
• Plywood — One circle for the base and one for the top. My plywood is 1/2" thick.
• Legs — Get creative! I used wood but you could use an upside down flower pot, metal, or buy pre-made legs from Ikea. This tutorial will show you how to make wood legs.
• Rope — to disguise the tire. I used 350 feet (yikes!) of 1/4" sisal and manila rope sold in little bags at Home Depot.
• Glue/Screws/hardware to attach the legs — This will vary depending on what legs you get.
• Construction Adhesive — To glue the tire to the base and the rope to the tire. I used Liquid Nails.
• Basic tools - This will vary depending on what your base is made from. I used a jig saw to cut the circles. A chop saw, table saw, and jig saw the cut the legs. Drill to attach the legs.

Step 2: Cut out two plywood circles. First circle should fit in the center of your tire to make a flat surface to form the table top. I measured, then nailed a piece of string into the center of my plywood, attached a pencil, and drew the circle. I had to sand the edges of the circle here and there to make it fit in the tire. The second circle is the base that the tire will sit on. Trace your tire and cut the circle one or two inches smaller than that.

I bribed the hubs with lunch so he would cut them out for me.: )

Step 3: Cut out some legs. Since this table will be replacing another (ugly) table in my living room, I measured the height of that existing table. It was 20". The tire is 9" high, so I needed 11" legs. Side tables vary in height though. They should work well with the seating they will be next to. So measure your tire and then figure out how high you need your legs.
I must confess, my husband came up with the idea of using the rocker slats from our rocking octopus, cut in half, for the legs.

Since I didn't want to destroy the octopus (poor Ollie!), we took them off, traced them onto some scrap pine from the garage, and cut them out. If you don't have rocking octopus legs to trace: ) rectangles would be fine!
Trace.

Cut out.

Cut in half and sand smooth.

Step 4: Assemble the legs. Take your larger base circle and arrange the legs equally spaced around the perimeter. To make the table a little more sturdy, I cut some small blocks from the scrap pine to use as supports for the legs. I glued the blocks to the legs with wood glue and clamped overnight. Once they were dry, I glued them to the wood circle, attached L brackets, and put a screw in through the top of the wood.

At this point I stained the legs and the rim of the base circle. However, they didn't turn out that great. I'll fix that in a minute.

Step 5: Glue tire to base. Once the legs are secure and dry, flip the base over, apply generous blobs of construction adhesive, and set your tire in the center.

Step 6.: Glue smaller circle to top of tire. The smaller circle should fit slightly inside the inner curve of the tire so when it's in place, the whole surface is flat… or close to flat. Since my tire has the rim, I just glued to that.

Step 7: Glue rope to tire. Attention: hot glue does not stick to tires just incase you were considering it.: ) I tried… no go. Stick with the liquid nails. Bonus: Liquid nails is the same color as rope. Some of it bled through. You can't even tell. Turn the table over, start around the base, and work your way to the top of the table.

Keep going! Once you get around the lip it's e asier if you flip it back over. I used a combination of sisal rope (the lighter color) and natural manila rope (the dark color). Both are sold in 50' sections at Home Depot.

Once you get to the top rim it gets tricky. The rope kept wanting to pop off so I had to keep it taped down with painter's tape as I went until the adhesive dried.

Then, when I hit the plywood, I switched to hot glue. Much easier! (Does anyone else have toys mixed in with their projects?)

Step 8: Paint the legs. Remember how the stain on the legs came out kind of meh? Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chick had the great idea to"dip" them. Basically, I painted the bottom half of the legs bright citrus yellow. Not meh anymore!

And that's it. You can put the rope down. You're done. I can't wait to have people over and see if anyone knows it's an upcycled tire!

My staging assistant.; )

And so you know last week was one CRAZY week… here's a lovely shot I took of myself, gluing rope to a tire at midnight while the rest of the family snoozed. Enjoy.

Ahhh, so fun! You guys have to see the behind the scenes look at Sarah's round 1 project. You know we love it when people keep it real! Sarah is super talented with a sewing machine, but we totally dig these fun DIY Chevron Curtains she made from Ikea curtains.

Be sure to check back tomorrow to see how Sarah created that who-would-have-ever-thought-you-could-do-that-with-egg-crate-insulation light fixture. Omw. Soooo creative. Also, do you want to be a part of Creating with the Stars yourself? You can link up your favorite upcycle project right here until tonight at 10 PM EST for a chance to win a great prize package and be featured on EC2! Happy Friday, friends!

So, this isn't a DIY or design post, BUT it will save you so much time that you can work on projects to your heart's content!

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Confession Time: I don't make the lunches in our house… my beyond awesome husband does. Yup ladies, sorry he's taken! Anyhow… being the thoughtful wife that I am, I wanted to find a way to make it easier on the hubs so I suggested we try making a whole weeks' worth and freeze them. Eric was skeptical, but it worked like a charm… i.e. the kids didn't notice! Since I'm a wild woman, I suggested we get a little crazy and the next week we made an entire months' worth! It's a small change that has rocked our making-lunches-with-four-kids world! Lunches are now as simple as grabbing a sandwich and snacks- easy peasy (or so it seems when the hubs is doing it!)
The Once a Month Lunch Secret! Make a Costco run and buy lots of supplies. (It really doesn't take two peanut butters or anything, but you never know when Michelle Duggar is reading our blog! Hi Michelle!)

Lay out all your bread. We divide it up because we have one fluff lover in the house.

Okay ladies, do your husbands do any simple tasks so weirdly? Now, Eric is a dreamboat for making lunches, but he holds the knife and slaps the peanut butter on in such a strange, caveman-like way! Oh well, I guess I can live with caveman PBJs.

Here's the most important step… you have to peanut butter both sides! The one time I did the lunches, I of course didn't see the importance of this step, so I skipped it and we had soggy sandwiches. Mommy fail!

The hubs tells me that squeeze jelly makes the process even faster!

You might notice some of the sandwiches only have peanut butter in the middle… well, here's why!

This tool from The Pampered Chef is so inexpensive and awesome! It turns our normal sandwiches into homemade uncrustables! I pick my battles and I guess I'm still not convinced the edges are any more healthy! If you want to order one, contact our Pampered Chef blog sponsor Jane.
Ta-da! Awesome, complain-free sandwich!

We are left with a lot of crusts, and there are some times that we use them in meatloaf, and I've debated trying them as a french toast bake… although, my logical husband reminds me that it's only about $1.89 worth of waste, so sometimes they just become duck bread!

Another important detail… Get really good freezer bags. It makes a difference and keeps them nice and fresh!

Pack 'em in and you're done! Yup, it's that easy!

We keep a few bags in the freezer and all the rest in our deep freezer in the basement. Eric's new favorite midnight snack is grabbing a frozen sandwich and eating it cold. Weird if you ask me, but he loves it!

So there you have it. Our little family secret revealed! Maybe everyone has been doing this all along, but it's rocked our world and I strongly suggest you give it a try if you haven't. Who knows, maybe your hubs will think it looks so fun that he'll take over!

PS- We can't believe it, but we were nominated as one of Apartment Therapy's DIY blogs of the year. However, we need some serious votes. We're kind of getting smoked by the big blogs! It definitely takes a minute or two to vote, but we'd sure appreciate it. Go HERE to vote! Thanks so much!
Linking to: TipJunkie

First of all, our guest poster today, Hannah, is stinkin' adorable. She is the only blogger we've met IRL, (in real life) and totally exceeded our expectations! Funny story: When we met Hannah, we were in NYC getting ready for our Nate Show taping and she had just finished hers. Needless to say, she looked amazing, and we looked like we had just rolled out of bed (what can we say? We hadn't been to hair and makeup yet!:) Take a look at what I mean:

Note: Faces appear blurry to protect the innocent.
Secondly, Hannah is soooo talented. She has been featured twice on The Nate Show and has impeccable taste. She chronicles her designs and awesome street finds in NYC on her blog, Hannah Kate Flora. (And ohmygoodness, you HAVE to see the kitchen table she just made! Unbelievable!) So, without further ado, here she is!

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Hi there! I'm so thrilled to guest blog for my sweet new friends, the Real Housewives of Bucks County. I met these darling girls backstage while we were filming seperate segments for the Nate Show. I told them, cheesy as it is, I'm so encouraged by them! Such strong, faithful, clever women! I racked my brain on what to post and was politely reminded by Brooklyn Boy, my soon to be husband, that I should write about Street Merch — left behind furniture found on the streets of New York (or anywhere for that matter) that just need a new life! You see, I'm a Texas girl who's lived in New York for the past 4 years. It's always been important to make my home (i.e. tiny apartment) feel warm, personal and lived in, but I haven't always had the budget to go crazy. But I noticed something living here, when you live in New York and move apartments or get rid of things, you don't have a car to throw your stuff in for a Goodwill trip. No sir. The street is your own personal Goodwill. Whatever you can't fit in your apartment goes to the curb. To put it plainly — this means you can find amazing pieces on the street, with nothing wrong except that there wasn't room for it in its previous home. There's one piece I want to tell you about in particular — the bar cart.

I had just wrapped an interior design job on the Upper West Side, when I saw this on the street curb..
and this cell phone conversation with my mom ensued: Hannah: Well I just had my final meeting with Erin and it went really great! Mom: Oh good! I can't wait to see more pictures. I'm glad everything worked out! What are you doing now? Hannah: Me too! Oh, I'm just walking home and wait… what is… hold on mom… Mom: What is it? Hannah: Well I think… hold on, let me move the bags of trash… Mom: What??? Hannah: Street Merch. Mom: Oh! What is it?? Can you take a picture? Hannah: Yea. Hold on, let me just get this bag of trash moved over. Sick. Ok. It's a retro looking bar cart. Or a really crazy overhead projector cart thing. Hm. Shoot. Should I get it? Mom: Well?? Maybe. Do you see a cab? Hannah: No. I have to get it, don't I? Ughhhhhhhh. (At this point, my mom is dying laughing at me. These Street Merch phone exchanges happen all the time between us.) Mom: Hahaaaa. Just get a cab! (I rustle around and end up manhandling the cart.) Hannah: Well now I've picked it up and am walking down the street. Damn Street Merch. I feel RIDICULOUS!!! Mom: Hahahahahahahahahahaha Hannah: Why do I always do this?! I look like a freak carrying this cart under my arm, down the street, in the freezing cold, while I'm on the phone. Mom: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaa Hannah: Goodness gracious. TAXI!!!!! gottagoloveyoubye!!!

And here's my cramped view of the bar cart on my lap in the cab. No big deal.
Anyways — I believe that everything has a purpose and I knew this piece had potential. My plan was to revive it with new paint & fabric! First step was to prime it. Don't worry about the sketchy area I'm spray painting in — you have to make do with cramped cement courtyards when you live in Manhattan.

I chose Navy Blue Spray Paint in high gloss. I gave it two even and thorough coats of paint.

And here it is all dry and sitting in our foyer! Apologies for the iphone pictures, these images are pre new Canon camera.

For the two shelves of the cart, I decided to use some preppy and bright Robert Allen fabric from fabric.com.

After measuring the fabric to fit neatly inside each shelf, I painted a coat of Matte Medium (which you can find at any craft store) directly onto the shelf. Then I laid the fabric onto the shelf and painted a 2nd coat of Matte Medium directly on top, wipping excess clean. I made sure there were no bubbles and the medium was equally distributed.

Once totally dry, I loaded the cart up with goods!

This bar cart has taken on many different forms — sometimes we use it as a side table and sometimes we use it for drinks and treats during parties! It's very functional, and has casters that make it easy to move.

Thats it!! Bonus: This piece was featured on my first Nate segment which you can watch here! Thanks Real Housewives of Buck's County! Loved visiting.
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That looks awesome, Hannah! Thanks so much for sharing your project with us. And best of luck with your wedding and new married life: )

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Duck Brand provided by ShurTech Brands, LLC. All opinions are 100% mine.

Thursday night we're hosting a fun cookie decorating party for some friends and their families. Even though we're in the middle of filming two episodes of"Knock It Off" I still want to do all of the fun holiday festivities that we normally do… I just don't have a lot of time to do things like umm… decorate! LOL. I just needed to remind myself that hosting a Christmas or holiday party doesn't have to take a ton of time, and it doesn't have to cost a lot! I decided that I would make it my goal to decorate for the party with Duck Brand® holiday design duck tape. With just one roll of their fun little penguin holiday design tape, I took care of place cards, candy containers, cookie take-out bags, and a fun little pennant banner. Not too shabby for just some tape 'eh?

Here’s how it all went down…

I have plain white bowls, that I accented with tape and then I’ll toss all the various cookie decorating toppings into them. Easy Peasy Right?

I liked the colors in the penguin pattern tape, but Duck Brand® has a great selection to choose from if you’re still putting together some holiday DIY projects; there are holiday bows, a snowman print, a candy cane stripe, seasonal sweets and pretty holiday colors to pick from as well.

For the place cards, I used an ornament ball, leftover card stock, and then accented the side of each with Duck® Tape. Here’s a trick… if you need to get your ornaments to stand straight on a flat surface, all you need to do is put a glob of hot glue on the bottom and then press it down onto some scrap paper. The glue will harden flat and then you can pull it off and then you’ve got a flat-bottomed ornament.

Since we’re having the kids decorate cookies, I needed to think about take-out bags. I mean we’ll definitely sugar them up, but we don’t need them eating all of the cookies! I had a bunch of plain white bags leftover, but wanted to fancy them up a bit.

I cut the tape in varying lengths and then tiered them like a Christmas tree. It’s nothing fancy, but perfect for quick party decor!

Finally, I wanted to make a little backdrop so I tried my hand at a Duck Tape® pennant banner.

Here’s what I needed:

Baker’s Twine

Duck® Tape

Scissors

Cut a 4″ length of tape and place the sting in the middle of the tape.

Lastly, just use scissors to cut it into a triangle shape. I can’t believe I haven’t tried this project before. It was SO stink in’ easy!

I set out to prove to myself that I could keep it simple, not spend a ton of cash, and decorate for this party just by using one roll of Duck Brand® holiday design tape! And I think that it worked! I’m super excited about our party Thursday and am pretty relieved that I have everything pretty much good to go!

For more ideas of what you can create this holiday season check out Duck Brand® on Twitter and pin your own crafts using the hashtag #DuckTheHalls!

So, how will you Duck the Halls this holiday season for last minute, easy peasy DIY projects?

I know, I know, you haven't even stuffed yourself with turkey and stuffing, or gone Black Friday shopping yet, and here I am talking about beginning a Christmas countdown. But let's be honest, once Thanksgiving is over, December is pretty much here and it's time to bring out the ol' Advent calendar. Our family had an advent calendar growing up, and I remember running downstairs and arguing with my sisters about whose turn it was to move the mouse from it's current pocket to the next day's pocket. Ahhh memories.

Last year was the first year I thought about doing our own Advent calendar because my daughter was at the perfect age, but I literally pulled the whole thing together at midnight on November 30th, so it wasn't perfect by any means. We ended up stringing it up on the curtain rod above our slider door, which was SO not convenient since we open those curtains every day. I did love the numbers, (which I downloaded for free but can't remember where-sorry!) and the little bags, so I wanted to reuse them this year. You can easily create your own numbered circles on Picnik using this tutorial. So here's what I came up with for this year:

It love the simplicity of this Advent calendar, and how easy it was to make!
DIY Advent Calendar I started with an empty frame, some jute twine, mini-clothespins, and my trusty hot-glue gun:

I laid out the bags in five rows in the frame to figure out the placement of the jute rope.

Next, I measured the opening of the frame so that I could space the rows evenly. For this frame, I placed the jute every 4:5 inches apart.

(Ignore the pen pointing to 7 inches! I wasn't thinking when I took this pic!)
As usual, I used my hot glue gun to adhere the jute rope to the frame. You could also do this with a staple gun.

I clipped my cute little bags to the rope…

And added fun activities to do as a family and leftover Halloween candy to the bags!

Finally, I hung it in our entry hallway for a touch of Christmas! It will also be the one of the first things my kids see when they come downstairs and head into the kitchen.

I love that you can see our Advent calendar as soon as you open our front door! (And no, my house is not decorated for Christmas yet, I just have a winter wreath on my door from our last Nate Show project- more on that later this week!)

My daughter can hardly wait to get started counting down the days until Christmas! I also scoured Pinterest for other fun DIY Advent ideas and found these for your viewing pleasure (click on the link to go to the tutorial):

Source: blogs.babble.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: davidandcarolineparker.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: modpodgerocksblog.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: budgetwisehome.com via Jessica on Pinterest
I'm totally doing that last one: wrap a Christmas book to open and read each day. However, I'm doing the 12 days of Christmas books so I don't have to spend a fortune on books! (Tip: Your local thrift store probably has LOADS of Christmas books for sale)
What do you do to count down the days until Christmas?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to our newest sponsors, Scout & Nimble and CJS Eco Chic! Check out these fabulous ladies and tell them we sent you!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Fossil for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
Well, you guys know by know that my style is pretty neutral. From paint colors in my home to what I wear, you'll find me loving up anything that is classic and timeless. Nothing too flashy in my world. That's what I'm absolutely in love with the new Fossil Vintage Revival Handbags. They're gorgeous bags with impeccable detailing and come in several different color leathers. I mean, these babies will never go out of style. This post is a little out of our daily norm, but Fossil asked us to take a look at their bags and come up with a few outfits that represent our style and incorporate a few of these beauties. Sounds fun, doesn't it? Here's what I came up with for my ultimate daytime look:

Sweater: Ralph Lauren Shawl Collar Cardigan ($1500! That's why this is a DREAM outfit. Just think how many decorative pillows I could buy with that!) Jeans: H&M Super Skinny Jeans ($19-now that's more like it!) Boots: G by GUESS Hyderi Riding Boots ($99) Bag: FOSSIL Vintage Revival Flap Bag ($198) I totally heart this outfit and would wear it all the time. Comfortable, but still stylish, without being super trendy. You listening, hubs?; ) Ok, so now for my nighttime look:

Dress: Rebecca Taylor Sequin Cami Dress ($198) Jacket: Maxmara Samovar Jacket ($1,188) Shoes: Jimmy Choo Cosmic Leather Pumps ($695) Earrings: Ylang Rose Gold Textured Featherd Earrings ($795) Bag: FOSSIL Vintage Revival Frame Mini ($115) Ok, so it turns out that I have really expensive taste, but this is just a dream, right? And in your dreams you can wear whatever you want! I'm so into rose gold, sparkly things and nude pumps right now. I know, wierd, but somehow this whole outfit still reads neutral and classy to me. I wish I had a fun holiday party to wear this to! Go ahead and feel free to invite me, if you're having one! Want to know something SO awesome?! We're GIVING AWAY A FOSSIL SMALL FLAP HANDBAG to one lucky reader! Wouldn't that make an incredible Christmas gift for you or someone you really really like?

Here's how you enter: 1. Create a pinboard on Pinterest of an outfit you'd pair with your Vintage Revival Handbag and include #FossilVintageRevival in your Pin. 2. Leave a comment here on our blog sharing your pin with us. (make sure you include your email address so we can contact you if you win!) Want more info? Click here for official rules and an upclose look at the bags here;. We can't wait to see what your style is all about! Does your home decor style mimic your personal style like mine does?

So, you all remember that little ol' magazine we were in last month? You know…HGTV magazine? Umm, yeah, it was a really big deal for us. You can find us on page 92 of the October 2012 issue sharing a super practical idea that your guests for Thanksgiving are really going to appreciate!

Even though the photo they used was awesome, we didn't get to style the products ourselves for the magazine, so we wanted to show you how WE would put together an awesome Thanksgiving leftovers station. One major advantage to hosting Thanksgiving dinner is that you end up with TONS of leftovers! One major disadvantage to not hosting, is NOT having any leftovers to make a turkey sandwich with! So, we came up with the idea of setting up a little leftovers station for thanksgiving guests – think of it as self-serve take out!

Here's the idea… Before guests arrive have an area designated as the leftover station. You'll need it to be in or near the kitchen, and have enough space for packaging containers and 1-2 food bowls at a time. How to Create a Leftovers Station:
Step 1- Gather fun containers to hold food for your guests. There are so many cute take-out boxes available at craft stores these days. We plan to pop a plastic sandwich bag inside each one so we don't have any messy leaks.

Step 2- Provide labels and markers. Your guest can put both their name and the contents of the container on labels. It drives us crazy when we order Chinese food and then have to open every container to find what we're looking for. Labels are helpful and to be honest, we think they look so cute! We're loving the mix of plain, functional and decorative labels.

Step 3- Have serving utensils available. Guest will be scooping all kinds of yummy leftovers, so just make sure you have utensils handy for them.

Step 4- Provide stuff for quick cleanup. Leftovers can get messy so make sure to have something on hand for easy clean up. We gave our roll of paper towels a fun look by suspending them from a basket using a tree branch. Now our guests can clean up in style!

STEP 5- Provide bags to hold each family's leftovers. Our plan is to let each family pack what they want and then put their containers into a bag, and we'll keep them on a shelf in the garage where they can stay cold until guests leave. Inexpensive brown bags from the craft store work great look awesome when stenciled with fun messages.

I'm really excited to try out the leftover station and we;re hoping it's one of those projects that our guests love AND one that makes the day even easier and stress free!

Will you be trying out a left over station this year? Have you ever done something similar for your guests?

One of the things we're most grateful for is our friends. We've talked about them a lot here on the ol' blog, but we try really hard as a group to stay connected and do fun things (we all went to see the premiere of Breaking Dawn together yesterday!). Last year I (Jess) started what will hopefully become an annual tradition with oour girlfriends: a Favorite Things Party! What is that, you ask? We made a little video to tell you all about it…

Basically, you ask your closest gal pals to purchase their favorite thing for under $10- one for each girl coming to the party. Then, dress it up with some fabulous wrapping paper and come bearing your gifts, and of course, your favorite appetizer (or dessert, but I'm partial to apps, so because it's my party, that's what we do. ha!) Here's a peek at last year's gift from myself and Monica:

Last year, I threw the party together at the last minute, but because I want it to be a special night for our friends, I decided to create some invitations. Chalkboard typography is THE biggest thing on Pinterest right now, so I decided to hop right on board the bandwagon. I kinda love it.

I also made a blank template so you can add your own information.
Download it here:

I made the entire invitation in Picasa with the following FREE fonts: 1. Bergamot Ornaments 2. KG Makes You Stronger 3. Handy George 4. Kraft Nine 5. Peach Sundress
Ideas for Appetizers/Desserts/Drinks:
My favorite part of the favorite things party is the food, of course!
I'm crazy about seafood and this party gives me a good reason to sample these Crab-filled Crescent Wontons.

I'm going to give this recipe for homemade hot chocolate in the crockpot a try, for sure:

And then it would be really fun to dress up that hot chocolate with lots of yummy fixin's (yes, all of the sudden, I'm Southern.)

Hot Chocolate Bar
And ohmygoodness, my friends might just receive this Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark as their present AND dessert. Ha!

Ideas for Wrapping:
Monica's favorite part is the wrapping. Did you know that in addition to an obssession with socks, she's also abnormally passionate about wrapping paper?
I'm already ahead of the game (Monica) for my wrapping this year thanks to The Plaid Barn. It's a daily deal type site that I'm addicted to! Honestly, I have to do the whole wants vs. needs thing to resist buying a deal every day! However, this wrapping deal was too good to pass up. It has bags, wooden tags, stickers, clips, and everything I'll need to make sure I have the cutest packaged presents. Mwhahah! (Slightly competitive BFFs, but totally kidding!) I got 45 pieces for $7.42! Major SCORE!

Click HERE to get the Holiday Packaging Kit holiday wrap pack or to see what other goodies they have for sale today!

Here are a few other fun wrapping ideas we found for ya!


Typographic Gift Wrap

Gift Wrap Envelope (For the record, we do not endorse the buying of the wrapping paper used for that envelope.)

We can't wait for the Favorite Things Party next month! After we have it, we'll reveal what our 2012 favs were and share some fun pictures from our night!
So, are you ready to host a Favorite Things Party? We'd love to hear if you're thinking of planning one now too!

Do you check out the dollar bins at Target like I do? Seriously, even if I've been there 24 hours before, I just HAVE to walk through those aisles and make sure there isn't something new!

I was there with my daughter this week and we loved up the new Christmas items. So, I thought it would be fun to share with you what we found and hear what you would use them for or how you could DIY them. Next week I'll share my ideas with you!
So here's what we found for $1… Little Pursey thing

Manger…

Holiday boxes…

Monogramed Notes…

Adorable boxes…

Letter Stickers…

Fall container

Love this! Gingerbread headband! lol… And felt bags…

Sparkly Boxes…

Okay, so what are your ideas? Leave us some comments and/or pictures and we'll share your ideas and ours next week!

P.S. We're headed back to NYC tomorrow to visit our bestie Nate! Hehe.

I waddled out to the grape vines with Hubby early this morning. I had to lean over quite a bit to find my boots in the beautiful autumn confetti.

The grapes are finally ripe after several months of hot summer sunshine and crisp fall air.

While Hubby searched through the curly vines for bright purple clusters, I documented our fall harvest tradition with photographs (which is another way of saying, I watched).

We only picked a colander's worth because we plan on making smoothies with them in the blender. Our plan to make wine and jam....well, it will have to wait until next year. We're using all of our extra time to prepare for the babies.
But the grapes freeze really well. I pluck them from their stems, wash and lay them out to dry. When dry, I put them in zip lock freezer bags and freeze them. They're easy to dip into for smoothies throughout the year.

Did you know we have some amazing sponsors that help make our little old blog possible? Yup, they're amazing and I (Monica) wanted to tell you why…
********************************* Stuff See that funky, fun header at the top of our blog? Well, that takes you to the website of one rockin' furniture and accessory store. One of our blog readers checked it out this month and thought it was pretty awesome too! With the holidays approaching, head over and get something fun for your house before company comes! (My personal favorites are the farm house tables and cool accent chairs)

RT. 309 | 927 Bethlehem Pike (3 Miles North of Montgomery Mall) Colmar, PA 18915 Tel: 215.716.3325Fax: 215.716.3431 Email: info@stuffcloseouts.comstuff Open Friday, Saturday & Sunday
********************************* Jet Upholstery So one DIY that I pretty much don't ever plan to attempt is reupholstering furniture. Way outta my league! Thankfully, I have Jet Upholstery right around the corner in Bucks County. Their work is amazing. Today, I hit a thrift store on the hunt for a cool chair to have Jet refinish for me! I'm still looking, but I know that when I find it, they're going to make it amazing! They also have an amazing selection of designer fabrics and can get just about anything you want. I just found this chair on Craigslist… and I've been drooling over this fabric…

So, give Jet Upholsty a call or check out their website. Go find an ugly chair for pennies and let them make it fabulous for you! JET Upholstery3102 Bedminster Road Bedminster, PA 18910 215-795-0881 215-220-3443 fax Store Hours: Mon-Thurs. 9-5 Friday 9-4 / Sat 9-12
********************************* Mandy Hajel, 31 Gifts

So, you probably know about 31 Gifts and how it's taking the world by storm. If not, stop right now and go check out Mandy's site. Really… GO! There are so many reasons to love 31… adorable fabric options, super cute bags, really fun parties, and it's a business that is based off of the Proverbs 31 woman. Rather than going on about the products, let me tell you a bit about Mandy (she's one of my bffs!). You see, Mandy and I used to teach English together… that is before she joined 31. She's been with the company for 1 year and in that time has made enough money to replace (and more) her teacher's salary, she's earned a family vacation to Disney World, a romantic trip for two to Mexico, a Dell laptop, an Ipad 2, a huge Best Buy giftcard, an XBox, and more. Do you think I earned all that as a teacher?? Umm, Nope. So, if you're looking to make a little side money before the holidays, give Mandy a call, she'll hook you up and teach you her secrets to success! Amanda Hajel Phone: (301) 791-3579 Email: hajelfamily@yahoo.com Website: http://www.mythirtyone.com/hajel/ ********************************* Blossom Bands So, what are your kids wearing for Thanksgiving and Christmas? Ok, maybe it's a tad early to know 100%, but you need to get thinking! The only thing you need to be sure of is to include a Blossom Band for your little ladies. I bought a Halloween one this month for Kira and she loved it! Bethany has tons of ready to sell items as well as custom pieces to match whatever outfits you're planning. You know how in decorating it's all in the details?? Well, a Blossom Band is the perfect detail to make your holiday outfits fabulous!

Bethany Lander Etsy: Bands Etsy Store Email: Bethany@BlossomBands.com Website: http://www.blossombands.com/
********************************* Jennifer Black, The Pampered Chef

If you read Jess' post on her amazing Apple dessert, then you know that we LOVE Pampered Chef products. Did you know that I only use stoneware to do all my cooking? Really, I have almost every stone they sell. It's definitely one of my favorite things. With thanksgiving coming, you should peruse their catalog and see what you need before cooking for the masses. I actually never buy something without hosting a party because the benefits are insane. I'm a huge fan of the catalog show because # 1- I don't have to find a date in my crazy schedule and # 2 Did I mention the amazing incentives and FREE products? So, call Jane, host a catalog party, and get a bunch of free stuff! Ok, even if you don't do the party thing, you must own at least one piece of stoneware and Jess recommends the apple corer slicer! Jennifer BlackPhone: (410) 952-1179
Email: Janeniferjblack@comcast.net
Website: http://www.pamperedchef.biz/jenniferblack
********************************* The Land of Nod I've loved Crate & Barrel forever (we actually registered there for our wedding) so of course I LOVE their sister store, The Land of Nod! You'll definitely want to check them out for holiday decor and Christmas presents.

Here is one Must Have item if you have elementary aged kids.

It's the BEST doodle book ever! Taro Gomi draws the coolest Japanese doodles to get your kiddos thinking. Each page usually has a picture and a prompting question. Ex: An empty plate and the question… The Queen's coming for dinner, what do we feed her? My kids ADORE this book and fought over the pages enough that I finally bought a few more! The Land of Nod has offered our readers FREE shipping on most Holiday Toys, so click the pic below to take advantage of it! LMK if you buy a fun doodle book!

*********************************

Did Jess and I mention that life has been a wee bit crazy lately? Each week we keep saying that"it should slow down next week", but so far it just keeps on being awesome and crazy! Dream Dinners has been a total savior in this area! The other night I was over and asked Jess what they were going to do for dinner (because I had nothing planned for my family) and she just pointed to an amazing looking Dream Dinner thawing and ready to pop in the oven. Even if you love to cook, it's so wonderful to have some DDs on hand for the unexpected busy day. Give Kris a call and bring your friends- it's so fun to make meals together!
Kris Petrich, Owner 309 at Advance Ln 262 Bethlehem Pike, Ste 101 Colmar, PA 18915 Tel: 215-822-4055 Email: 309advanceLNPA@dreamdinners.com Website: http://www.dreamdinners.com/
A BIG Thanks to all of our sponsors! Thanks for taking this crazy journey with us! Now, go show them some RHBC love!
If you have a business or a product that you think our readers would love, contact us to talk about becoming a blog sponsor. Thanks!

Even though gold jewelry is back in style, a dated, brassy fireplace can put a major damper on the style of a room! Updating your fireplace can seem overwhelming, but let me tell you it's not as hard as it seems and if you're really determined (like me) you can get it done less than 24 hours!

Here's the story behind this makeover… One of my best gal pals was moving into a new house, so I trucked on down to Maryland to help move and to try to tackle a few fun projects. The fireplace wasn't even something they had thought of me working on, but the moment I walked in, it was SCREAMING for some DIY love from me.

Here's the order of my steps: 1- Whitewashed the brick2- Painted the mantle and built-ins3- Painted the brass surround****************************************** How to Whitewash Brick:

Whitewashing brick is really simple! You'll need an inexpensive paint brush, a plastic container, a rag, water, and paint. I mixed the paint and water with a ratio of 1 part paint to 3 parts water. If you want more coverage, increase your paint and for less coverage increase the water.

Start in one corner and work in small sections. Your paint mix will be really thin, so you'll want the rag in hand to catch any drips. Brush your paint mix on a 1x1 area and then immediately use your rag to rub it deeply into the brick and then remove any excess. The process goes really quickly, but I'll warn you it's a little messy. The grout can be a tad sandy, so you'll definitely need to vacuum when you're done. The whole fireplace and hearth took me less than 30 minutes. The difference in color is awesome!

After whitewashing and painting the shelves and mantle, it was time to get rid of that brass! My exact words to my gal pal Mandy were,"Do you trust me?" and I'm so glad she did! How to spray paint a brass fireplace surround: There are some key items you'll need to do this project right: Frog tape, craft paper, disposable plastic drop cloth, and Rust-oleum High Heat Ultra Spray Paint

We started off by taping off the brick right around the surround. Make sure that you get it as close as possible. We were lucky enough that the tape could slip behind the surround, so there was no chance of bleeding through. Once the edges are take care of, you'll want to use the craft paper and tape to make sure all of the brick is covered. It's sorta like wrapping a really big, awkward present!

Once the brick was covered, we cut a section from the plastic drop cloth and wrapped the mantle in it. We were really careful to make sure we'd taped it tightly, so no paint could sneak in.

For the glass doors, we used more tape and paper. I found that if I used a spatula, I could get the tape really close to the edges for a perfect, crisp look.

Now it was time for a little craziness… Making a spray paint cocoon! Since we were spraying in the house, we needed to seal off everything. Basically, I got in, and we sealed the drop cloth all around me. WARNING: the fumes will be very strong. I recommend a face mask. I didn't have one, so we used a towel.

Thankfully, this paint is awesome and doesn't require more than one solid coat. I, on the other hand, required about 3 showers before all the black paint was off my face and hands! It was totally worth it though!

Here's the finished product. Doesn't it look so much better?

I'd love to show you a perfectly styled mantle, and all the doors on, but we were on a tight time schedule, and I had to get back to PA. So this was DIY on the fly!

I was so pleased with the update and loved that the entire project took about 4 hours of work time and cost less than $30.00! If you have a fireplace that you were wishing you could change, I totally recommend doing it yourself! The impact it can have on a space is incredible! And if you missed it, Jess transformed her fireplace with some paint and a stencil this past summer. Two updates= no excuses not to get rid of those dated fireplaces, people!

And, I just have to add, that only only is Mandy one of my very favorite people in the entire world, she's all a rockin' sponsor of this very blog!! She's our Thirty-One Gift's Consultant and hooks up our readers for all kinds of giveaways and deals! Christmas is coming people, head over to Mandy's website HERE and check out the awesome products they have in the current catalog! I'm so loving the new Metro bags! Tell me, do you or someone you love have an outdated fireplace that's in need of an intervention?
**UPDATE 7/13/13: Due to the popularity of this post and lots of reader questions, I thought I'd answer a few of the common questions here.Q: What kind of paint did you use on the brick? A: We just used white paint we had on hand. It was eggshell and worked fine. I really think any finish would work okay because you're watering it down anyhow.
Q: What color did you use on the mantle and shelves? A: Ahh! I wish I knew! I am calling my friend now and will see if she still has the can. I do know it was from Lowes: )

These are our good friends, Dan and Steph:

They are always good for a laugh, strange health-food items and a helping hand. Not only that, they have really big hearts. Recently, they decided to start a non-profit organization to help rescue young women from human trafficking. It's called Worthwhile Wear. Here's what Dan and Steph have to say about it:

Worthwhile Wear exists to rescue and restore girls from forced prostitution, and more importantly help prevent girls from ever entering it. We target highly trafficked areas both internationally and domestically, and offer women the opportunity to overcome two primary factors which are at the root of sex trafficking; poverty and lack of education. This solution is offered through vocational training centers which teach women how to make wears, such as jewelry, handbags, and clothing, which are sold to provide them employment. Additionally, the women are offered free education, a safe place to stay, and restorative programs geared toward encouraging personal growth and re-establishing self-worth.

A big part of their mission is to provide items that these women produce, to us, here in the States. The women are given a fair wage (30-40% higher than the average paid person in their area) so that they can protect themselves from ever having to go back to their old lives. And the stuff is gorgeous!

But here's where we come in: Dan and Steph and the board of Worthwhile Wear are hosting a huge kick-off party for their new organization on November 17th at Calvary Church in Souderton at 7 PM and they've asked us to decorate. Yee-haw! Using our talents and what we love to do to help others is our idea of a good time (we like to call it a"Helping Hobby"). The theme of the night is"Celebrating the Richness of India", and we can't wait to try out some fun ideas.

We're planning on incorporating this Indian Paisley Damask Stencil from Royal Design Studio in some fabric wall treatments, and possibly some art.

We, of course, want to include the rich, vibrant colors of India like you see in this Inspiration Mood Board from Limn & Lovely. Don't those colors knock your socks off?!

Did you know marigolds are one of India's national flowers? Were going to try and get our hands on some for a splash of color on the tables and around the room. This Inspiration Mood Board from Marigold Events inspired us to add in some fun yellow and orange tones!

Here's where YOU come in:
We are hosting a table of 10 at the event and want YOU to join us! Wouldn't it be so fun to hang out with fellow blog junkies, while supporting an amazing cause and experiencing the culture of India? Tickets and more information can be found here. Make sure you let us know that you'll be there, so that we can be sure to save a spot for you. Hurry to buy your tickets!

 If you can't make the event, then go ahead and start your Christmas shopping on their website! Don't want to come to the event or shop, but still want to help? Donate here to help save young girls and give them the hope for a future. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We are so excited about Worthwhile Wear, and so proud of our friends, Steph and Dan! We hope to see you at A Worthwhile Evening in a few weeks!

These tags make great personal touches for gifts, or, if you're a crafty, use them in altered art and scrapbooking projects. If you sell your work, use these as jewelry cards or hang tags for your handcrafted items, as I have done above.
Supplies needed:
Manila hang tags 'available at office supply stores, or if you prefer you can cut your own from cardstock. I prefer to use the purchased ones, just because it is more time efficient for me.

Teabags and hot water to brew some strong tea (or you can use coffee)

Other Optional supplies & embellishments:
Spray bottle (optional)

Ribbon scraps
Carnival tickets (office supply stores, Walmart, and Party supply stores)
Misc. ephemera
Glue stick

STEP 1
Brew a strong pot of tea and when cooled, pour it into a medium pot (I keep the teabags in). You can brew the teabags right in the pot on the stovetop. I use about 6 teabags per every 4 cups of water. If you prefer you can use coffee instead of tea.
STEP 2
Submerge and soak the manila tags in the cooled tea until stained and saturated. They do not have to be evenly stained. The less-even the stains are, the better. You can either just dip them for a lighter look, or you can allow them to soak for a while for a deeper shade. Experiment until you achieve the look you like.
STEP 3
When the tags are the color you like, remove them from the tea soak and lightly blot them on an old tea towel. Next, arrange them on a cookie sheet and bake in a warm oven (about 200-250 degrees F) until they begin to dry. Watch them carefully so that you do not burn them. Then remove them from the oven.

when dry, your tags should look like this

STEP 4
This step is optional, but I like to go the extra mile for the look: spritz the tags with a spray bottle filled with tea or coffee to add some extra, darker stain marks. If you don't want to use a spray bottle you can just randomly drip the tea on your tags. This step helps them look old and worn or grungy: that is the look we are going for. Bake again for just a few minutes until dry and remove from oven.

I love drip stains on my tags!
STEP 5
Embellishing: Once your tags are completely dry you can rubber stamp them with designs. Using the rubber stamp and stamp pad, stamp your tags with whatever designs you desire. Some nice stamps that I like to use are seasonal designs and nature designs. You can stop here and use your tags as-is, or read on for more embellishment ideas.
For Those Who Want More * Thread a few scraps of ribbon through the hole in the tag and tie for a colorful look (see below).

Just thread the ribbon through the hole...

....and then tie in a simple knot

I coordinated these earrings to the ribbons to complete the look!
Getting Fancy
* Use rubber stamps to decorate carnival tickets, punch a hole in each with a hole-punch and then attach these with ribbon through the hole on the tag (as shown above). Or, if you prefer, use a glue stick and glue the carnival ticket directly to the tag.

You can buy carnival tickets by the roll

use a simple, small stamp on the carnival tickets

a colorful, whimsical look
A Few Other Ideas
* Distress the edges of your tags by running the edge of the tag along the stamp pad or by tracing along the edge of the tag with a marker.
* Add some color to your rubber stamp designs by coloring with colored pencil.
* Add vintage ephemera to your tags with a glue stick for an altered art look.
* Good idea: If you're using these as tags for items you are going to sell or as jewelry cards, use the reverse side to write pertinent info about your item (such as materials used, etc), or, stamp the reverse side with a sticker or personalized rubber stamp to advertise your business name and/or website. I had a custom rubber stamp made by Etsy seller terbearco, and I love it!

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