My Creative Blog [about creative life] 

{If you didn't hear, The Real Housewives of Bucks County are now East Coast Creative (Get the story here). You'll still be getting all the DIY, Design, and Monica & Jess that you love, but change your favorites to www.eastcoastcreativeblog.com Thanks!}

You might remember that one of my 2012 goals was to make our family room reflect my style more this year. I still am convinced I don't really have a style… I more or less, just take lots of things I like and smush them all together, hoping it works out okay. Recently, I took one more step in the right direction for the room.

I was browsing on Etsy a few weeks back and came across a shop I loved! Project Type has so many graphic art prints that I immediately fell in love with. This one in particular caught my eye.

I had been toying around with the idea of vintage cameras in our family room and this picture was too cool to pass up. I contacted the artist to see if I could have a few custom tweaks made (it was vertical and I needed horizontal) and she said YES! I was so stinkin' excited when she agreed!
I ordered two prints and honestly even the packaging they came in was super cool! Now, you might remember what was on the wall already. My ginormous family picture with the smaller frame…

Well this time, I was going for the reverse. Tricky aren't I? Bigger frame smaller picture.
Once again I used my prized possession, AKA grommeter from Nate. I'll admit I was a tad nervous putting holes in fabulous artwork, but I wanted it to have the same feel as the large print.
Want to know how to use a Grommeter??

I keep my grommet tools in the little bin Nate gave me. Who knew one could love Tupperware?

Take one of the female grommets and determine your placement. I traced it with a pencil (a very fancy pencil I might add!)

Next place the cutting tool (might have an official name, but I don't know it) on your traced circle, and put the mini block of wood under it. The wood comes with your kit.

Give it a solid pounding with a hammer and you have a nice little circle cut-out

Pop the male piece through the opening. Make sure the pointy end is on the back of your artwork.

Now start stacking. Add the female part to the back…

Here' the order…The large metal ring goes on the bottom (part of the tool kit), then the male grommet, then paper, then female grommet, then the big mama tool (that's the really official term). Now Hammer, Hammer, Hammer. (Don't do it on your granite counter. I took mine outside in the garage)

Ta-da! Perfectly adorable grommet!

I took my art to the wall and hung it with plain nails. I'll use decorative ones to cover 'em up.

I added my chain, which again only cost me about $1.45 at Lowes

And vioila! I'm also going to add a fun door nob to the peak of the chain. I didn't quite get to Architectural Antiques this weekend as I planned to. Now, here's the question of the day… What should I put in the open gold frames??

Here's the room to give you the full picture…

Side note: Does anyone else have a weird husband that flips the cushions backwards? He does it when we don't have company over because the kids make a mess of the cushions. Sometimes I forget and then it's an awkward, mad rush as people are walking in the door. Weird. I know.
So let me know what you think of my retro camera art, and what I should do to finish off this wall!

Sometimes spring decorating stumps me. I'm always so excited to lighten and brighten, but since one day can be warm and the next day is rainy and cold, I never quite know how to decorate. This year, I came up with a super inexpensive idea that makes my decor really versatile and easy to swap out.

Enter the simple terra cotta pot. I bought it at Lowes for less than a dollar. I decided to create three completely different looks that I can swap out whenever it suits my fancy.

DIY Idea # 1- Washi Tape & Whitewash The first step for this option is to tone down the orange clay color. I watered down some white paint, applied a thin coat, and then used paper towels to wipe it off, which left me with a white, weathered look. I had this adorable ruler washi tape and thought it went perfectly with the idea of spring growth! I love washi tape because it's inexpensive and comes in so many fun patterns.

DIY Idea #2- Faux Metal Metal containers can be really expensive, but I love the industrial look they have. Using metallic spray paint, I was able to get the look of metal, but still spend under a dollar! I think a grouping of these in varying heights could look really neat!

DIY Idea #3- Chalkboard Paint Oh, how I love chalkboard paint! Did you know I actually have chalk paint as my kitchen back splash? It's pretty awesome. I love the matte finish it gives the pot and I was able to add a fun little doodle. If you're thinking of planting any starter plants or herbs, you could use chalk to label what you're growing. Here's an insider tip… to get the crisp, clean writing lines like I did, use a chalk marker. You can order them online or from restaurant supply stores. They are much easier to draw with and still wipe off with water!

Don't get me wrong, I'm all about big room makeovers, but sometimes a simple project like this one can make me just as happy!

The options are endless with this one- which one do you like best??

We're excited to share this week's Fab Find with you. Some of our very favorite bloggers have created an e-zine that will be published quarterly. It's full of amazing home photos, awesome ideas and lots of inspiration. This is the very first edition and we were thrilled to see that there were some great free downloads and direct links to the products and designers that were featured. I wasn't sure about an e-zine, but after my first issue, I'm hooked! You can read this month's House of Fifty {here}.

I have to mention that the cover of this issue is a photo of Janell's house and it inspired me with my own foyer. I love her style and am a faithful reader of her blog.
So, let us know what you think of the e-zine and bookmark the page to check it out in the Fall as well! Happy Friday!

I mentioned Eric's Honey-Do list in my last post, so I thought I'd give a little project update. We made these bathroom hooks in our old house and I wanted to be sure that we added them to the new house as well. Here's how we did it…

You can buy these little wooden plaques at Michael's for about.99 each.

I used leftover dark brown paint (I'd recommend a different finish if you have one.) Once they were painted and dry, I used a clear spray paint sealant with a satin finish.

I picked up four hooks at Lowes for about $4.00 each. The installation was Eric's job, but he tells me that all he did was level the wood on the wall and use one screw in the middle. Then, he used the holes on the hook to add two more screws. Easy Peasy!

Four little hooks all ready for my kiddos wet towels and whatever else they stick there!

The towels looked good, but they were missing something…

I ordered the kids' names from Uppercase Living

They came horizontally, but I wanted to put them vertically, so the first thing I did was to cut the letters apart

These are my very professional tools… laser level (a must have for any DIYer), a wooden spoon from my kitchen, and scissors.

When working with vinyl decals, you first need to flip them over and rub the back so the letter temporarily adheres to the thin paper backing.

Now comes the high tech tools…

I found the centerpoint and then used chalk from Kaden's chalkboard to create a guide… I clearly was a little wobbly with my line, but I had the general idea.

The thin paper backing is sticky and you can position the letters and reposition them until you have it"almost perfect"

Then, I brought out the professional tools again and just rubbed the letters on the wall

The thin backing pulls off leaving the vinyl. Sometimes you have to do a little more rubbing on the corners.

Kenzie's… as I said,"almost perfect"… I didn't gett all crazy with measurements, I just eyeballed it.

And Kaden's…

UGH! My son's name is not K-A-D-N-E… I am a moron! Here I am taking pictures and thinking of blogging my project and I can't even spell his name. So, the moral of the story is… if I can DIY… ANYONE can!

I was able to peel off the N and E and fix his name. I'm happy with the finished product! Now, I just need to find a shower curtain. If you recall, Kira spilled an entire gallon of the yellow wall paint, and I had to throw out the curtain that I loved… Here's one option I found- what do you think?

While it makes me laugh, I think I'm gonna pass on this curtain. I did find one curtain I loved, but it had a hefty pricetag!

So much to Eric's dismay, I've added another DIY project to my list and I'm going to recruit Grandmom Bunney to help me make a patchwork curtain of fabrics I love. I can't wait! So what's on your Honey-Do list? What DIYs do you have up your sleve?

I've decided that it's about time I dedicated some of my decorating/reorganizing energies to our master bedroom. I am in love with our Nautica paisley bedding (a Christmas gift from my parents), and I even like the paint colors in the room, but the artwork, flooring and disorganized closets are just not working for me. Let's start with the artwork, shall we? Nothing in our room says"Kevin and Jess". It doesn't capture our personalities, or even our design style. Most of what I have hanging on the walls were gifted to us for our wedding, and while they are lovely, almost seven years have gone by and I'm ready for something new.

Artwork above bed: BEFORE

Baby on the left is my daughter at about 1 month old, and baby on the right is my son at about the same age. (The colors are sort of wierd- must have been a different time of day. The colors on the right are more true to life.) The babies are adorable, but take a look at the artwork. Too country-ish. And the picture really is a nice picture of lilies, but I was over it. (Also, if you are wondering, my husband made our headboard from an old door that he cut down, painted and mounted to the wall. I love its simplicity and the fact that it was FREE, since we had removed the door from another area of the house to open it up a bit. It's a really easy DIY project for those of you looking for a headboard.) Right before Christmas, Monica and I went to Hobby Lobby, which, sadly, is all the way in Easton. If you are in to crafting/decorating, you will want to plan a day trip to this store. We planned a special trip where we had dinner and then meandered throughout the store for hours. I was so giddy at the checkout counter that I rambled on and on about my love for Hobby Lobby and how far we travelled to get there. I'm sure the lady thought I was crazy and wanted me to move on, but I didn't even notice so high was I on all the possibilities of this amazing store. Anyway, one my purchases was two chipboard letters, a K and a J. They cost $1.77 each, and I knew I could use them for artwork above the headboard.

The first thing you may notice is that I'm extremely impulsive. I didn't really think this project through, and so I took many, many steps to get to the finished product. But I'm a trial and error kind of girl, and I've accepted that. My first thought was to decoupage a really cool french script paper to the letters. They looked awesome and I was thrilled. Until…

…I held them up against the wall. I hated the color of the paper against the color of the wall, and it wasn't working hung next to the awesome brassy-gold ampersand that I also bought at Hobby Lobby.

So, I decided to rip the paper off, and try spray-painting the letters in a metallic finish. Turns out that ripping off paper that has been decoupaged is no easy task, so I decided to stop that, and sand the paper (really? Sand paper? Yes, I told you I'm impulsive and not always sure of what I'm doing.)

The metallic finish was equally awesome, but again I didn't like the finish of it against the wall, in the dark brown frames, or next to the brassy ampersand. So, what did I do? I painted the darn things the same color as the headboard.

Artwork above Bed: AFTER

I love it! It's just a touch modern, which is fun against the more traditional lamps and bedding. And you can't tell from the picture, but the"&" really brings out the goldish color in the bedding. I'm super happy with the finished product.

Just to keep it real, here's an up-close picture of my bedside table.

Eeeeww! Dust much?
I have a few other projects up my sleeve for our master bedroom that I hope to start in the next few weeks. (I guess I should add dusting to that list.) It may take some smooth talking and the perfect timing to get the hubby onboard, so we'll see!
Next up: the floors

We have disgusting carpet that was disgusting before we moved in, and is even more disgusting now since we've lived here for 3 years. We are planning on ripping it out and then painting the subfloors, ala Ashley. Not exactly traditional, but it's cheap and pretty!

We won't be doing an elaborate stencil, though. We're thinking big, broad horizontal stripes in muted colors. I can't wait and I'll keep you posted on the progress. I also have a few other ideas for art for the other walls that includes some of my favorite photos of the hubs and me. Time to get crackin'!

So, we're one step closer to ma king the master our own.

Well lookie here… a new blog name and a whole new look! {Eeek!} Let us tell you that this has been one crazy journey. If you’re new around here or missed the drama he’s the low down…
We’re a DIY and home décor blog. We’re Housewives. We’re Real. But, now we’re East Coast Creative… the bloggers formerly known as “The Real Housewives of Bucks County.” Hey, if Prince can do it, so can we! Change stinks, but we love our new name! So, our name is different, but everything else is the same. We’ll still be bringing you awesome DIY projects, cool design trends, and plenty of goofy Monica and Jess tossed in. Here’s where you come in… 1. We need help letting people know that East Coast Creative is still us! Facebook it, Tweet it, give us a shout out on your blog, whatever it takes. We want the world to know we’re still here!
2. For now, the old address will work, but (as soon as it's functional, hopefully sometime today) try to get in the habit of using
www.eastcoastcreativeblog.com
*will be working soon!
3. Let’s all just put RHBC behind us and move on. {Excuse us while we weep in the corner}
On another note… none of this would be possible without the amazing talent of Kim at 733 Designs. She put up with a lot of our crazy ideas, slight breakdowns, and was super helpful and fast in making this all happen.
Finally, we are so thankful for all of YOU! The positive feedback we get from you (especially in response to yesterday’s post) is so encouraging. We love this blog no matter what the name,(wait… what’s the name again??) and we’re so glad you do too.

Soooo…what do you think?!
With love, The Bloggers Formerly Known as The Real Housewives of Bucks County
** Other blog post titles that were considered:-How not to get sued-East Coast What???-The Housewives are Dead to us-Crap we need a blog name-A Case of Mistaken Identity

I didn't know Jess was going to mention one of our favorite blogs yesterday, but it was the perfect lead-in for my post today. Layla and Kevin from The Lettered Cottage have a wall that I love and want to create something similar to.

Now, their wooden walls were hiding out under the drywall, because they have an old home, but I'm going to have to bring in wood to create this look. Eric and I were talking about where to get inexpensive old, wood flooring, but then we thought about pallets. They're free, they're easy to aquire, and I think they just might work. Thus began my search for pallet inspiration.

This wall is not my style and I think the TV is completely out of place, but I was able to get some good tips from this DIY project. I'm pretty sure I want to whitewash or colorwash my wood.

Moma and Her Drill During my pallet search I found tons of other ideas and creative uses for pallets… I'm learning that they're all the rage right now! Children's Headboard

Apartment Therapy I really love this headboard. I'm not sure if I love the headboard or just the fact that it's in my favorite colors and my style bedding.

House Tweaking This reading nook is adorable! I need to find a spot in my house to create one for my kiddos! I might need to wait until we finish the basement, but I'm saving this project idea for sure!

Kojo Designs I'm not a big coffee table fan (perhaps because we have four kids and have had a toddler around for the last 9 years) but this is a cool idea and I think you could give it a rustic or very polished look.

DIY Ideas A Sweedish company makes interrlocking furniture that doubles as art. This is just a sample of their colors, but check out the link below to see how it's used functionally. So cool!

Sibylle Stœckli How fun are these bright outdoor chairs? This company sells them, but there are tons of DIY directions online. They would be fabulous in an urban backyard or patio.

Inhabitat Lastly, an adorable idea that my kids would love! Seriously, what little kid wouldn't love to play inside this… of course I'd add some fun accessories and a pop of color, but the idea is awesome.

Tiny Pallet House
What do you think of these Green building ideas? I think I'm all about it and I just need to decide which room I'm going to attempt it in… I'm between Callen's bedroom and the Master Bathroom. We're leaning towards Cal's room because the master bathroom has really high ceilings and is a much bigger project for the hubs. Currently"Pallet Wall" is about # 4 or 5 on the Honey-do-list… Eric's Honey-do-list… 1. Hang DIY hardware in kids bathroom (I'm pretty sure he's doing that now. I hear banging!) 2. Build Dining Room Table (we're in the planning and researching stage still, but making progress) 3. Assemble the kids' new swingset (a Christmas present, but we've been waiting for grass to grow) 4. LANDSCAPE this crazy yard (the builder is re-seeding this week and then we can start!) 5. Create Pallet Wall I'll keep you posted on our projects, and until we get to #5 on the list, I'll just keep being inspired by other people's DIY ideas. What cool Pallet Possibilies can you think of?

I figured this was going to happen at some point- me eating my words. I mean, with the hundreds of posts and millions of words we write, something had to come back and bite me. Last Fall Monica and I made this short little video for something and we're pretty sure we've never shown it to you. It's just a closer look at us, our craziness and our adorable kids. For the purpose of this post, please pay close attention to what I say at minute 1:00.

Did you catch that? I made a claim I never should I have claimed. And this is why:

Eeeeek. Can you believe that? No, neither could we. We thought we were completely done having kids after two- we even sold all of our baby stuff last year. But God has other plans for us. I'll be honest, at first, this was really hard for me to get excited about. I know, that sounds terrible. And I'm really sorry if I offend anyone, but it's true. It's just how I felt. We're just hitting our stride with our two kids- they're old enough that we aren't stuck to a schedule every day and we're finally out of diapers! Plus, Monica and I are doing some big things and it just felt like the timing couldn't be worse. However, this has reminded me that I am not in control. God knows what I need when I need it. Clearly, He wanted this baby to be a part of our family at this point in time and I can happily say that I am getting excited now! I'm due early in October and so am about 18 weeks along already!.: )
You know what else? I get to design and decorate another nursery. Woohoo! Trust me, I'll keep you in the loop with all my plans and will most likely even ask you for advice!
Have you guys ever been surprised by a pregnancy? Please tell me I'm not the only one who has had to eat their words.

Ok, it's time to get really real with you. About us and our blog. It involves a little something we like to call:

We recently received a very nice comment from a regular follower that prompted us to write this post. Before you read it, I have to say that we were very grateful for this reader's honesty, and the sweet way she voiced her concerns. There's nothing we love more than good, honest feedback from the lovely people who visit our blog every day!

Ack! She nailed our current dilemma right on the head! Let me give you a little back story…when we started this blog a little over a year ago, we did not anticipate it interrupting our lives at all. It was just a place to throw all our ideas and projects. We literally thought that only our moms would read it. Then came Nate (not once, but four times!),

Crafting with the Stars…

local TV coverage, newspaper articles (you get the point) which equalled rapid blog growth. AND WE LOVED IT. All of these amazing opportunities meant that we were doing loads of projects, pouring hours of our time into the blog, and spending a lot of money to keep it all together. The blog is the most important, most rewarding and most fun thing we do (yes, even more than the Nate Show! It's our first love.), so we make every effort to put 5 great posts out per week. We LOVE this blog and it has become bigger and better than we ever expected.

But here's where our dilemma comes in: In addition to the blog, we both work other jobs, raise a bunch of kids and try to be good wives, friends, daughters, sisters etc. Realistically we could not possibly keep up the pace we had been going for the first year, even though we would like to. Not only did this little blog take a lot of time away from our families, but we also spent a lot of our own money to do all those projects! We need to find a better way. We are trying to adjust our own expectations (which, believe me, are sky-high!) and are experimenting a bit with our posts.

So what does all this mean for the blog you love to read?
1 You'll probably see only a few DIY projects a week from us. Instead of scrambling to come up with a DIY project just for the sake of having one to post about, we're being more intentional about our projects so that they're well done, and have a purpose in our homes.

2. We'll be highlighting our wonderful sponsors every once in a while to expose you to their awesomeness and also, to express our gratitude for their support of our blog that allows us to keep doing our projects. Don't worry we won't be throwing them in your faces at every turn, and we promise to only accept sponsor whose products we absolutely love!

3. We might host a guest poster, or highlight other blogs we feel like are worthy of notice! The design blog world is like a family, and we want to promote other people, like others have promoted us!

4. We'll keep bringing you our thoughts on all those fun, crazy and fabulous design trends out there, and how we're incorporating them in our homes!

So, in conclusion (are you still there?), we are crazy about this blog and all of you, and hope to continue doing this for a long time, and even (crossing our fingers) turn it into a full-time job. We hope you'll stick around for the long haul, and be understanding as we try to find balance and a system that works for us.
And now, a question for all you bloggers/mothers/wives etc. out there: How do YOU find balance?

P.S. We'll be doing a follow-up post on our top tips for Part-Time Bloggers, so get excited!; )

Thanks for all your great comments about my new front door color. Valspar's Spritz of Lime paint might be a new obsession for me! I gave you a little sneak peek of the door numbers yesterday, but today I'll give you the full low down. Adding numbers to a metal door can be tricky, but don't worry, I made all the mistakes for you and can save you some time!

My front door is heavy, and metal or something like it… bottom line, it's not wood. I didn't want to make any holes in it. I found these clean lined, modern house numbers at Lowes. I had big plans to DIY numbers out of MDF, but for $4.99 each, I decided these would work just fine. I'm all about the DIY, but not when it makes more sense to just buy em!

So… metal numbers on a metal door… hmm… I'm smart (or so I think…) so I decided heavy-duty, double sided magnet was a perfect non-permanent solution. This way, depending on what wreath (or not) I have on my door, I can move the numbers around! Pure Genius!

The magnet has adhesive on one side, so just cut little strips and stick it to the back.

Like this!

Umm… Guess what?? I guess my door isn't really metal and doesn't work with a magnet. DARN! Would have been nice to check that out first. Oops!

They work great on my fridge! So if you even need house numbers on a fridge, now you know how!

Okay, plan B… off I went to Lowe's with plans to get double sided adhesive. I asked the nice man where the industrial strength tape would be found. Of course he asked about my project and had a better idea. He suggested industrial velcro.

It's nice and heavy duty, so I was swayed from my plan and gave it a try.

Apply it the same as the magnet…

Because this stuff is sticky, I wanted to be sure I had it straight. Look how muddy my level is… not really sure why…

Peel the plastic off the adhesive and firmly press on…

Wait 30 seconds and…
watch them fall to the ground. ARRRGGG! This is the point where I started to get a wee bit annoyed. Then I started to laugh… why would I think velcro was a better idea than just double sided adhesive? I must have had temporary brain loss.

Here's the winner and what I should have used from the start. So, if you want to add house numbers, just begin here and skip the other methods I tried!

Finally! There they are. Nice and permanent (well sorta, if I want to remove them I can pull them off, and I'd just need to touch up paint)

I love the way they look against the green/yellow!

And just as a reminder, here's what else I have planned for my porch!

There ya have it… 2 ways NOT to add numbers, and 1 way that works like a charm! Aren't you glad you have me to do all the trial and error for you? Do you have numbers on your door? Do Tell!

Well, we returned home from our Disney vacation on Saturday, so it's back to the grind here at our house. I just thought I'd share a little recap of our fabulous time together. There really is nothing quite like spending a whole week with the ones you love most, with no responsibilities to weigh you down. It's so rare, which is what makes it so sweet. Obviously, this is not a personal blog, so I won't go on and on about the trip, but I'll just say this: Disney World really is a magical place and I loved it just as much as the kids! (And just for the record, we travelled to Florida with my in-laws, and one of Kevin's brothers and his family, but you won't see any pictures of them here. I don't like to post pics of people without getting permission first, but it was so much fun being with them!)

My babies had such a blast and behaved so well, even on less sleep than normal!

Campbell dancing in front of the World of Disney store in Downtown Disney

We met lots of characters, but the princesses were Campbell's favorites. If you have a daughter, seeing their awestruck wonder is too precious to miss.

My fam in front of Mt. Everest in Animal Kingdom.

Just threw this one in because it's so cute. Cam didn't even know who Peter Pan was, but of course, she wanted his autograph and a picture with him. And does anyone else find it wierd that we now have all these pictures with"characters" who are real people, but who we don't know?

Hot days call for cool treats.

My main men with one of the army soldiers outside of Toy Story Mania in Hollywood Studios.

One of the highlights of our trip was my date night with my handsome man at Magic Kingdom. I love being with him.

My beautiful princess.

This is one happy child.

Too bad he won't remember this trip.

He became a champ at napping in the stroller.

If you're interested, you can see our Photopass pics here. If you have no clue what Disney's Photopass is, click here.

Just wanted to share the blog that I am most inspired by: The Lettered Cottage. I absolutely adore the way they've decorated their house and would love for my house to move in that direction, style-wise. Here's what I'm talking about:

These rooms are the same room! They recently redesigned their guest room (the first photo is the after photo, and the second two are the before photos), and guess what? I would take either one of those rooms and never leave.
Happy Monday! I hope you can find a little bit of magic throughout your day today!