My Creative Blog [Search results for Blog] 

When we opened submissions for Creating with the Stars on February 4th, we had no idea how how incredibly amazing the submissions would be. Really, we knew we'd get some good ones, but this was out of control! You guys made choosing so.incredibly.hard! We want to thank all 361 of you that took the time to enter. It has already been a great start to our first season!

Without further ado, let's get down to business… Introducing the Contestants for CWTS2013 (In no particular order)

1. Janel

#23 Boys Bedroom Makeover on a Budgetand her Blog Star is… Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl!

2. Jourdan & Ashley

#33 DIY Barndoor Headboard

and their blog star is…
Beth from Home Stories A to Z!

3. Sarah

#48 80's Chandelier to Glass Mirror

and her blog star is…
Brooke from All Things Thrifty!

4. Jane

#75 DIY Plank Wall

and her blog Star is…
Jamielyn from I Heart Naptime!

5. Amanda & Corey

#131 Handmade Dining Room Light

and their blog star is…
Beckie from Infarrantly Creative!

6. Nancy

# 137 Owen's Nursery Makeover

and her blog Star partner is…
Kari from U-Create!

7. Jessica

#164 Anthro-Inspired Inventor's Bell Jar Lamp

and her star is…
Mandi from Vintage Revivals!

8. Sarah

#223 Herringbone Metallic Artwork

and her blog Star is…
Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chick!

9. KariAnne

#243 Shutter Wall

and her blog stars are…
Ashley and Whitney from Shanty 2 Chic!

10. Nat & Holly

#281 Living Room Makeover

and their blog star is…
Jane from Tatertots & Jello!

11. Ann Marie

#344 Mom Cave Makeover

and her blog star is…
Shaunna from Perfectly Imperfect!

12. Melissa

#345 Bedroom Reading Corner

and her blog star is…
Sherry from Young House Love!

Aren't those projects amazing? It's going to an incredible season! The first week's challenge is a fun one. Week 1: UPCYCLE

You Can Play Along with CWTS Too! Now, if we could have chosen all of you, we would have. We still want to showcase all of your talent and project. For every weekly challenge, we're going to have a link party where you can link up one of your favorite projects that fit in with the weekly theme. We'll pick our favorite project each week and we'll feature our favorite here on EC2. Get your Upcycle DIY projects ready for week one, starting next week!
And we're sure don't need reminding, but just incase… we have an EPIC prize package! The 2013 CWTS Prize packages Total over $4100!! A special thanks to Homes.com, HomeGoods, HomeTalk, and Home Depot for their generous sponsorship of CWTS. We're so honored to have them!

The Grand Prize Winners (Contestant and Blog Star) will each receive:
$500 from Homes.Com $500 Gift Card to HomeGoods Project featured by HomeTalk

All contestants that make it to Week 4 will be given a $100 Giftcard to HomeGoods to use during the week 4 home decor challenge!

The Semi-Finals Winner will receive:
$500 Gift Card to Home Depot (Contestant & Blog Star) $100 worth of Martha Stewart supplies from Plaid Crafts $125 Gift Card to Lucent Lamp works Project featured by HomeTalk

The Week 2 Winner will receive: $100 Gift Card to Royal Design Studio A pair of $120 Robert Allen pillows from Chic Decor Pillows Project featured by HomeTalk

The Week 1 Winner will receive: $50 worth of 31 Gifts products $60 worth of Twysted Yarn products $70 of Henle Headbands products $100 Blog Re-design from 733 Design Project featured by HomeTalk

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!; )

{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!}
Last week we got real with you all and shared some of the struggles of a PTB (Part-Time-Blogger). You can check out the post here, but basically we're trying to figure out how to write a successful, growing blog, when it's not yet your full-time job (Notice we say"yet"… girls can dream right?!?) Due to the huge response we got from so many PTBs, we thought we'd share some of what we've learned along the way.

Pre-plan your posts. We spent about 6 months blogging by the seat of our pants. Ex: 10pm on Monday one of us would be DIYing a project for Tuesday morning. That still happens occasionally, but planning out projects ahead of time, helps us balance out the type of posts per week (DIY, Design Trends, Recipes, etc). It also helps cut down on our time shopping for materials. When you know what projects you're working on for the week, you might be able to cut your Lowes trips down to 2 or 3… sometimes, it used to be 5 or 6!

Using a simple Google calendar is a must for us because there are two of us that need to know the plan. Seeing the month or even two weeks at a time planned out makes things seem nice and manageable!
Check your Memory Card. Don't check to see if it's working, check to see what's on it. Jess and I have commented numerous times that we take more pictures of projects than anything else. Before blogging, I was a camera junkie. I had it with me all the time and we had awesome pictures of our kids. About a month ago, I decided enough was enough. Blogging was getting in the way of family pics. This is a peek at my April 2012 photos in Picasa.

Not one single picture of any of my kids, or even a single human for that matter. Ugh! I made a decision to be intentional and take more pictures of people than things! Here's a peek at May 2012 so far (and yes, I started May's folder about a week early)

I'm happy to be more balanced in this area, and really it's not about the pictures, it's about where my focus is and what memories I want to preserve… projects or people?? I'm choosing people.
Find a Blog Mentor. Officially or unofficially, having someone that you can ask blog questions to is so helpful! Beth from Home Stories A to Z was the first blogger we were able to reach out to with questions. She was always so helpful, even if our questions were silly or kinda obvious.

Having someone that knows the ropes and is willing to give you support when you need it is essential. Don't be afraid to reach out when you have questions. (You can even ask us, but we're still technically considered rookies)
Recently, we got an"Official" Blog Mentor. We write once a month over at Beckie's blog, Infarrantly Creative. That started a relationship that has helped us more than we ever could have imagined. Once a week we conference with Beckie about all things blog related. This lady is amazing! We give her a topic we want to talk about and 60 minutes later we have about 5 pages of notes and are so invigorated and full of ideas and things to try!

If you want to take your PTB to the next level, consider reaching out to someone that you think would make a great blog mentor. It'll rock your world!

Prioritize.
This sounds so obvious, but believe me, once the blog world sucks you in (in a good way, of course!), everything else can take a back seat. Decide what's most important to you, and what things you're ok living without. Actually write your priorites out on paper. It helps! For example: I made a choice to stay home with my kids (I work 10 hours a week outside of our home), so I only blog during their nap time and after they're in bed. Truth be told, I barely open the computer until 1 PM. However, I've had to give up sleep (low on my priority totem pole) in order to keep my top priorities straight. Give and take, right?

Learn when to say Yes and when to say No. We're still learning this one, folks, but here's are our thoughts about it. For the entire first year, we didn't say no to anything. And we're happy about that. Our lives were absolutely crazy, but we firmly believe that to grow your blog (just as you would a business) you have to put yourself out there, put lots of time in and keep your face forefront in everyone's mind. Doing that for the first year gives us the luxury now of choosing what's best for us and our blog, and occasionally saying no when it's not a good fit.

Source: oprah.com via Marivi on Pinterest
Be Consistent. It doesn't matter if you plan on posting twice a week or five times a week, but be consistent. Our favorite blogs are the ones who post on a regular basis- it's what keeps us coming back for more! We don't like to guess when someone might be posting, and we figure you don't either, so we do our best to post five times a week. Side note: if you want to grow your blog, posting often is key! Readers will come back if the content is different each day. You'll definitely lose readers if you post once every other week. It's just the way it is.

Step Away from the Computer If you're anything like us, you'll understand why this is important. We are constantly thinking about new projects, upcoming posts and events, how we can better grow our blog etc., so we could literally sit for hours and hours and hours at the computer and STILL have stuff we want to do. One of the best things that happened this year was our Mexico trip- a forced time away from the blog. And guess what? It was fabulous! We both thought we'd miss blogging terribly and would go through withdrawal. Not so. Real life is so much fun, and you might miss it if you sit on your rear all day staring at the screen.

Stop Comparing Not gonna lie. We went through a slump where we compared our blog and projects to another fabulous blogger. No matter what we did, or how great our projects were, we still felt like they didn't measure up. It stinks and takes away all the fun of blogging. We realized that there are millions of amazingly talented people out there, and someone is always going to be doing something more creative than we are, but who the heck cares?! We do what we do because we love it, and from what we've heard, our readers are pretty happy with it too. Every person has a gift- use yours to the best of your abilities and move on!

Source: imgfave.com via Sarah on Pinterest

These are just a few things we've learned along the way. The PTB dilemma is still something we're working on, but it's come a long way from where we started. Who knows, maybe someday we'll have a Full-Time Blogger Dilemma! That would be wonderful!
So what other tips would you add to our list?

It's actually incredibly hard to believe that we are 2 years in to this whole blogging thing. Last year we celebrated our one year blogiversary with loads of talented guest posters, giveaways and fun facts about our crazy first year. This year, we have soooo much going on that we just couldn't swing all that, but we still wanted to recognize some of the funny, ridiculous and amazing things that have happened to us over the past two years. But before that we want to thank YOU guys, whether you're a brand new reader or have been here for the long haul, for your support and encouragement to us. We would be nothing without you guys!! So thank you. Now, for the fun part;

Three Posts We Wished We'd Never Written We seriously laugh out loud sometimes about the posts we wrote when we first started. Let's just say it took us awhile to figure out our niche.; ) I'm sure there are tons of other lousy posts, but these are a few of the ones we love to hate.
1. In our second month of blogging we wrote a post entitled, For All You Tomboys Out There about how to braid your hair. Ha! As if we are experts about anything related to hair. Hilarious. (Our friend, Jane, did the braid, and she IS awesome at doing hair, but us? Not so much.)

2. I threw an Angelina Ballerina-themed 3rd birthday party and posted about it way back when. The party was cute enough, but nothing over the top, and the pictures are pitifully bad. The funny part is that this is one of our most successful posts! I guess there aren't too many people throwing Angelina birthday parties??

3. Monica shared her adventures in trying to DIY a belt out of fabric in this post. Even her daughter was like,"Ewww…Mom, don't wear that." Love that.

Blog Design for Beginners We prided ourselves on doing everything by ourself- including our blog design. We did ok for novices, and actually have done everything related to the way our blog runs and looks ourselves until the last 6 months or so. Now, we happily turn our ideas over to Kim, at 733 Design, for our custom blog design. Anyway, take a look at the way things used to be…
Header 1… Designed at 12am the night we randomly decided to start a blog…

Header 2… About 3 months in…

Header 4… this one lasted about 2 minutes. We hated it!

Header 5… this one lasted for almost a year until we had to play the name swaparoo game…

Ahh… How much we love Kim and her design expertise. She"gets" us and did a great job on our logo and header!

Five Incredible Opportunities We've Received as a result of this Blog All that goofiness aside, we have been blessed to have some awesome experiences because of this little ol' blog and we're sure we're on the verge of lots more.
1. The Nate Show: Last year we had the priviledge of being on four episodes of Nate's 2011-2012 season and it was a blast. Nate is a sweetie, and we fell in love with live TV, for sure. This will forever remain as one of the highlights of our blogging careers.

2. Mexico: Thanks to our buddy, Nate, we won a trip for 6 days to Cancun, Mexico that totally rocked. We had such a blast with two other girlfriends and enjoyed loads of down time and really great food. Without this blog= no Mexico= sad girls.

3. HGTV Magazine and Ladies Home Journal

4. Feautred on Young House Love! I think every blogger wants to be featured by John and Sherry (if you're living under a rock, they are THE biggest and most successful home bloggers out there) and we got our opportunity with the Guest Room Makeover we did for a friend. Check that off the bucket list.: )

5. Creating with the Stars. It's crazy how things come full circle, isn't it? We LOVED being a part of this contest, and are even more thrilled to be hosting it this year! Speaking of CWTS, TODAY is the last day to enter your projects! Over the next week, we (with the help of the 12 stars) will be poring over the submissions to choose the best contestants! Don't forget- the contestants and their blog star partners will be announced next Friday, March 1st! Get excited, people, get very excited.

So, we've shared our highs and lows from the past two years, and again we want to say that we are so honored to have had you on this amazing journey with us. 2013 promises to be our BIGGEST year yet, so hold on tight, we're all in for a crazy ride! In honor of 2 Rockin' Years of Blogging, we're gonna open the floor for a little Q and A… Leave a comment asking us anything under the sun and we'll respond. It can be about blogging, life, our friendship, how to braid hair (haha!) or whatever you want to know. We'll comment back throughout the day! So… what do you want to know??

**Update: Submissions are NOW open! Click here to enter! You'd better be sitting down ladies and gents, because we're thrilled to announce that we are hosting the BEST, MOST AWESOME contest in all of blogland!! Remember that contest we won last year? Crafting with the Stars? Well, not only did we win it, but we also bought it! Tam, from Sew Dang Cute, took a leave from blogging and we jumped at the chance to run the contest that helped jump-start our blogging careers. We're hoping that we can help one of YOU jump start or boost your blogging career, too! Welcome to the new home of Creating with the Stars! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We're super excited because it's bigger, badder and better than it has ever been. In case you didn't notice, we've renamed it Creating with the Stars, which means no limits to the incredible stuff you can create. It's not just crafts anymore, people.

What the heck is Creating with the Stars, you ask? CWTS is the ultimate creative DIY competition that pairs 12 contestants with 12 of blogland's biggest stars to duke it out over 4 weeks. Only one team will make it to the end to claim the Grand Prize. The best part? You, the readers, choose the winners!
Here's a peek into our projects from the 2012 season…

One of our favorite parts of this competition is that contestants are paired with a super famous, awesome Blog Star! We've rounded up the best of the best and we know you all would LOVE a chance to work 1:1 with any of these bloggers!

Introducing the 2013 Creating with the Stars Blog Stars!

1- Sherry from Young House Love
2- Whitney & Ashley from Shanty 2 Chic
3- Brooke from All Things Thrifty
4- Jane from Tatertots and Jello
5- Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chick
6- Beckie from Infarrantly Creative
7- Mandi from Vintage Revivials
8- Jamielyn from I Heart Naptime
9- Shaunna from Perfectly Imperfect
10- Beth from Home Stories A to Z
11- Kari from U Create
12- Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl
That's some serious talent all in one place! And let me tell you, some of these bloggers are in it to win it-they're all about the competition!! Wouldn't it be so awesome to be paired up with one of them?!?

We also have some ridiculously awesome sponsors, who are chomping at the bit to give you some great prizes!
The 2013 CWTS Prize packages Total over $4100!!
A special thanks to Homes.com, HomeGoods, and Home Depot for their generous sponsorship of CWTS! We're so honored to have them!
The Grand Prize Winners (Contestant and Blog Star) will each receive:
$500 from Homes.Com
$500 Gift Card to HomeGoods
Project featured by HomeTalk

All contestants that make it to Week 4 will be given a $100 Giftcard to HomeGoods to use during the week 4 home decor challenge!
The Semi-Finals Winner will receive:
$500 Gift Card to Home Depot (Contestant & Blog Star)
$100 worth of Martha Stewart supplies from Plaid Crafts
$125 Gift Card to Lucent Lampworks
Project featured by HomeTalk

The Week 2 Winner will receive:
$100 Gift Card to Royal Design Studio
A pair of $120 Robert Allen pillows from Chic Decor Pillows
Project featured by HomeTalk

The Week 1 Winner will receive:
$50 worth of 31 Gifts products
$60 worth of Twtsted Yarn products
$70 of Henle Headbands products
$100 Blog Re-design from 733 Design
Project featured by HomeTalk

Here's how it all works:
Submit one project that shows everyone your best stuff into the linky party here on East Coast Creative that will begin on February 5th. Projects must have been made October 1, 2011 or laterand must be your own work. You have until February 21st to enter. From those entries, 12 of you will be chosen by the blog stars and us as contestants and will be randomly paired up to work one-on-one with a Blog Star, to duke it out in a four-week competition to see who's the most creative. The Star will give suggestions, ideas, encouragement, and help so you can come up with the best project possible. Each round will have a theme and the bottom three will be eliminated based on reader votes. Once the contest is started, weekly projects are anonymous, so big blogger or rookie, everyone's on the same, even playing field! Find your favorite project to link up and be prepared to put your best foot forward if you want to survive!

What to do Now!
Submissions are NOW open! Click here to enter!
Be sure to Like East Coast Creative on Facebook. We're going to be messaging reminders, sneak peeks, and lots of contest info via Facebook, so you don't want to miss out! Also, start deciding what one project you want to submit for your chance to be a contestant! The sky is the limit and we're so excited to see all the amazing project submissions! Anytime you tweet about the contest, make sure you use #cwts2013 to stay in the loop and see what everyone else is saying about the contest!

If you have any questions about the contest, please email us at
CWTScontest{at}gmail.com

We're so excited about our 1st season hosting CWTS and we hope you are too!! Spread the word, because it's going to be one awesome ride!

The day is finally here! Submissions for Creating with the Stars are Open! We are so excited to see all of your submission projects!

This group of blog stars is pretty epic! One of them could be your new partner in crime! 1- Sherry from Young House Love 2- Whitney & Ashley from Shanty 2 Chic
3- Brooke from All Things Thrifty 4- Jane from Tatertots and Jello
5- Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chick 6- Beckie from Infarrantly Creative
7- Mandi from Vintage Revivials 8- Jamielyn from I Heart Naptime
9- Shaunna from Perfectly Imperfect 10- Beth from Home Stories A to Z
11- Kari from U Create 12- Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Let's just recap CWTS a bit and then we'll get onto the How To details! If you missed the announcement post with ALL the details, click hereYou can submit one project that shows everyone your best stuff into the linky party below. Projects must have been made October 1, 2011 or laterand must be your own work. You have until February 21st to enter your submission. From those entries, 11 will be chosen by the blog stars and us as contestants and will be randomly paired up to work one-on-one with a Blog Star, to duke it out in a four-week competition to see who's the most creative. The Star will give suggestions, ideas, encouragement, and help so you can come up with the best project possible. Each round will have a theme and the bottom three will be eliminated based on reader votes. Once the contest is started, weekly projects are anonymous, so big blogger or rookie, everyone's on the same, even playing field! Find your favorite project to link up and be prepared to put your best foot forward if you want to survive!---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How to Enter CWTS: 1. Link Up your Project. Use the Linky below to submit your project entry *Reminder: Be sure to link to the actual project page, and not just your homepage. 2. Grab a Button. You need to add a link back to EC2 in your submission post. Even if it's an old post, just grab the button code below and paste it into the post.

</figure><figure><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj94gFCdkl5XvfYfY0cmc6bAe7QBJMLiECl-2TRMqt4zNyp-App9z1rXNO1gQXFI1Re3zJ4trv2YJiIwsAEnpzzwhi4X5BtSd7XKOcfQ5H864evyCgGXOy0V6z4GaAbt3dfmA4_B8Z3ML-y/s1333/CWTS+button+grab.jpg" alt="Creating with the Stars" /></figure><p><!--end button code box-->
3. Follow EC2 on Facebook. Make sure you LIKE East Coast Creative so you get all the updates and info we'll be sharing there as well. (This step is a requirement to your entry- sorry to be big, bad, rule enforcers- We promise we aren't mean!)

4. Start Spreading the Word! The first 11 contestants will be chosen by the Blog Stars and East Coast Creative, but #12 will be chosen by popularity in the link party. Get your readers to come over and give your thumbnail a click- yours could be the most viewed!! (Just don't act like some weird robot and click on your own entry a million times, that's lame-o!)

And, as if you need any more motivation to enter, we have the BEST.SPONSORS.EVER!! The 2013 CWTS Prize packages Total over $4100!!
A special thanks to Homes.com, HomeGoods, HomeTalk, and Home Depot for their generous sponsorship of CWTS.nWe're so honored to have them!
The Grand Prize Winners (Contestant and Blog Star) will each receive:
$500 from Homes.Com
$500 Gift Card to HomeGoods
Project featured by HomeTalk

All contestants that make it to Week 4 will be given a $100 Giftcard to HomeGoods to use during the week 4 home decor challenge!
The Semi-Finals Winner will receive:
$500 Gift Card to Home Depot (Contestant & Blog Star)
$100 worth of Martha Stewart supplies from Plaid Crafts
$125 Gift Card to Lucent Lampworks
Project featured by HomeTalk

The Week 2 Winner will receive:
$100 Gift Card to Royal Design Studio
A pair of $120 Robert Allen pillows from Chic Decor Pillows
Project featured by HomeTalk

The Week 1 Winner will receive:
$50 worth of 31 Gifts products
$60 worth of Twtsted Yarn products
$70 of Henle Headbands products
$100 Blog Re-design from 733 Design
Project featured by HomeTalk

Okay, enough talking, let's get submitting! We're so excited to have each and every one of you!! Good Luck and May the Odds be ever in your Favor (sorry, two Hunger Games lovers here!)

Last year Jess and I shared with you our 2012 goals for our homes, the blog, and our community. We did a pretty good job chipping away at our lists (more on that later). This year, we're going start with our goals for this little ole blog. We have some fun changes and some big aspirations for EC2 in 2013. This is kind of like"What to Expect When You're Expecting", but a blog version! Here goes…

For the first two years we've pretty much kept it all DIY projects and home decor on the blog. Occasionally we've shared some of our lives and what's important to us. From all your emails and comments, you like the inside scoop, so we're gonna give it to you! We plan to work in the occasional post about our friendship, how we survive as moms (did you know Jess' son is a super picky eater? Well, soon you will), and just life in general. Don't worry, we'll still be focused on DIY, but just injecting a bit of"Us" along the way.

Holy moly we are beyond excited about this one. Here's a BIG hint- we're going to be hosting a contest that we won last year! We purchased it back in October 2012 and will be giving you all the details soon. Think HUGE prize packages, some crazy famous bloggers, and you!

In 2013 we're going to invite you into our casas (I'm fancy because I took four years of Spanish… casa = house. Ha!) We'll be adding home tours to the blog. You'll get to see the layouts, finished rooms, rooms in progress, and the downright ugly, unfinished. Trust me, this will boost your self esteem! We hope to have these up in the next month.

Blogging can feel like a one-way conversation sometimes. We love interacting with so many of you on Facebook (don't already LIKE us? Go do that now, then come back and finish reading)

and other social media outlets, but we also want to have an intentional forum for Q & As. About once a month we'll be answering your questions (anything goes) and giving you ideas on your own design dilemmas.

We'll admit that we loved seeing our names and faces in HGTV Magazine and Ladies Home Journal in 2012 (ok, I-Monica-didn't love seeing my face. Can you say Bad Pic?) We've made it a goal to have a full article or feature in another publication. I was doing a little magazine research and do you know that these are actual magazines: Bacon Busters, Miniature Donkey Talk, & Girls with Corpses… Umm, I don't think you'll find us in those, but who knows, maybe Bacon Buster readers need some DIY help?

We never want to compromise our commitment to keeping it real here on EC2, but we do want to provide you guys with better pictures. We'd like to be more intentional about learning about photography and using what we learn to take it up a notch with our blog pics. Don't worry, we'll still take plenty of cheesy midnight pics that look so grainy you think they were taken in 1963.

Yes, we know the"Big Screen" refers to movies, but saying"be on TV" doesn't sound as fancy. Jess and I are both Big Idea people and when you combine the two of us, the combo can be pretty intense. We loved working with Nate Berkus on his show last year and we were surprised how much we enjoyed the process of working on a TV show. So, I'm happy to announce that we'll be taking over for Whoopi and Barbara Walters on The View! Ok, nope that's a total lie… we are however, in the early stages of pursuing our own TV show. We've gotten feedback from so many of you that you'd watch us again, so we figured we'd give it a shot! If you think it's something you'd want to watch, be sure to leave a comment or email us and let us know! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, tell us: What do you think of our goals? What would you like to see us do this year? What are your big plans for 2013?? As always, thanks for joining us on our blog journey!

Nope, the link didn't accidentally take you to Heaven… you're just on our newly designed blog! Isn't it awesome? No streets of gold, but yellow stripes are sorta close! Since we're quickly approaching our one year blogiversary, we thought it was time to freshen up a bit. We contacted Kim from seven thirty three — - — custom blog design and she was just the gal for us.

We still wanted it to look like the RHBC blog we know and love, but to be a bit cleaner, less"hello huge yellow header that Monica doesn't know how to resize" and yet still reflect our style.

I think we achieved that don't you? Now, don't worry, we're not going to be like the awkward girl that gets a makeover, becomes beautiful and forgets who she really is… We'll still be keepin' it real, and hopefully bringing you tons of cool projects that you (and we) love!

In other BIG news… we finally got our air date for our final Nate Show episode!
Watch us on Nate February 21st
And just to get you excited about it… we have a behind the scenes clip that you can only see here! This was from night 2, and we just barely avoided disaster!

Pennlyn is lucky that #1 she's adorable and #2 she cost a fortune… if that stencil was ruined she would have been in big ole trouble! (and of course the stencil is from Royal Design Studio!)
Finally, did you know that we're in final prep. mode for Mexico? I'm totally caught up on my Spanish… ¿Dónde está el baño (I think means where is the bathroom) and ¿Cómo se ve mi bronceado? (how does my tan look?) should be all I need. You were probably thinking we were leaving you high and dry for a blog-less week, but have no fear!
Introducing…

Yep, we've rounded up some of our very favorite blog celebs for your reading pleasure. Seriously, Jess and I were like giddy schoolgirls when each of these ladies agreed to guest post. (You might remember last year when Jess and I were both in Disney for a week and I had my husband guest post? Ha! Thanks love!)
Okay, so here's our group of amazingly talented, incredible women!

Tuesday- Beckie from Infarrantly Creative Wednesday- Hannah from Hannah Kate Flora Thursday- Lindsay from Living with Lindsay Friday- Tam from Sew Dang Cute
Be sure to give these ladies the Royal RHBC treatment while we're away! We'll be back next Tuesday to kick off an entire week of giveaways from our sponsors! I'm loving what they're giving away! Don't tell Jess I told you, but you might want to start checking out our sidebar sponsors because there will be some amazing products coming your way!
Have an awesome week, we'll be thinking of ya…

Gooooood morning, friends!We’ve got a special surprise for you today… who doesn’t love a little friendly competition and GIVEAWAY?!?! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The premise of this contest stems from the fact that all of us are guilty of Pinning an idea without ever checking the source… guilty as charged! But there are likely pins on your boards that are from your favorite bloggers, and you don’t even know it! (Are we right? C'mon, admit it.) And that’s where the contest comes in:

Here’s the line-up! Such an amazing group of bloggers that we wrangled!!

And below are projects from each blogger (including us!) that you’ve likely seen viral all over Pinterest!

Before we get to the rules, can we talk about how RYOBI is giving away $800 worth of POWER TOOLS? Just in time for Father’s Day!

Perfect timing if you ask us.

$400 RYOBI Giftcard goes to our randomly selected winner, and $400 RYOBI Giftcard goes to the first person to correctly match up all 16 bloggers with the correct projects! (there will be a randomly drawn winner in addition to the winner of the contest, so you should enter both ways!)
When you click on the Contest Form (at the bottom of this post), it will direct you to a page that will show you an image of the project, and a drop-down menu of bloggers. You just go down the line and select away! Some projects you probably know already, but some you may need to snoop around blog-land to find!We call this blog-hopping, and it’s highly encouraged in the blogging world.

Here’s the links to the home page of each blog (in no particular order). Now get busy!

1. Sawdust and Embryos
2. All Things Thrifty
3. Interiors by Kenz
4. Whatever Blog
5. Home Stories A to Z
6. Sarah M. Dorsey Designs
7. Twist Me Pretty
8. The Idea Room
9. DIY Village
10. Pretty Handy Girl
11. Domestic Imperfection
12. One Good Thing
13. Kara Paslay Designs
14. Nine Red
15. Vintage Revivals
16. East Coast Creative

a Rafflecopter giveaway

• One entry per person, per entry method.
• Winner of matching contest will be emailed, and publicly announced on Facebook.
• Winner of random-drawing giveaway will be announced on Father’s Day here on the blog, as well as Facebook.
• Be sure to hop over to RYOBI Nation and check out some amazing inspirational projects!
• Be AWESOME today!! (that’s a given)

This contest/giveaway is in NO WAY affiliated with Pinterest or Facebook, and we hereby release them of any liability related to this promotion, the receipt of prize winnings, etc. The giveaway prize has been generously provided by RYOBI Nation. All prizes will be mailed by the sponsor and all participating blog owners are not held responsible if the prize is not fulfilled. Giveaway starts Monday 6/10/13 at 5am est and ends at midnight on Saturday 6/15/13. Alternate entry available by sending your entry via email to wehopeyouwin@gmail.com. Winner will be announced on Sunday 6/16/13 and will need to respond within 48 hours to claim their prize, or another winner will be chosen.Winner must be 18 years of age or older and a US citizen in order to win. May the force be with you.
Good Luck, guys!! Thanks for playing along!

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

We thought we'd start the week off with the results of our 2013 Blog Reader Survey! You guys get to learn about us daily here on the blog and by watching Knock It Off, but we rarely get the inside scoop on you, so reader surveys really excite us!

Alrighty then… let's get started shall we?

We were thrilled to see that so many of you have stuck around for a while!! So, if you're new here, you totally should keep visiting, all the cool kids are doing it!

Okay, so maybe we added the flirty part, but… we think it's true! It's actually still kinda weird to me that we're in the 30-45 range too! 31 is like really grown up!

So, not the Al Bundy, Married with Children demographic, but the cute little family with kids kind.

We definitely still want to appeal to the masses, but it's good to know that kid-friendly decor ideas, kid crafts, and family stuff works with you guys! To be completely honest, I read a lot of blogs and there are a few I LOVE and sometimes I want to emulate some of their style, but then I remember I have 4 kids and my house needs to be livable. So, we think it's a good thing that you guys are cool with kid-friendly!

Okay, so this made us laugh! We know that we have about 98% girl power readers, but I know at least 10 guys that read and comment. So, we're just going to assume men aren't fans of surveys (on a somewhat girly blog) Trust us, we gave our husbands a hard time for not completing the survey! The Nerve!!

Now for the MOST important part… What you want more of from EC2. 1- We had lots of requests for videos- we're cool with that! We think they're fun to make, usually they involve a lot of laughing and ridiculous jokes that only we think are funny! Sidenote: Anytime you want to watch us, go and watch some episodes of our TV show Knock It Off by clicking HERE- lol! We know that's not completely the same, but if you need an MJ (Monica/Jess) fix, it'll do. We're going to try to do some home tour videos too! The only tricky part is getting our homes clean enough to show you!
2- DIY Home Projects- well, the good news is that we're a home DIY blog, so yup, we've got that one covered! We plan to deliver a solid amount of our home projects, and sometimes we'll just put KIO tutorials on our DIY page, so we don't have constant show tutorials. Some upcoming rooms we'll be sharing are Baby Bennett's Room, My"new" Living Room, My Playroom Makeover, and Jess' porch!
3- LOTS of Posting! Did you notice we posted like 6 times last week?? It was semi- accidental, but still awesome! Our goal will be no less than 4x a week- sometimes 5, but that will just be a surprise! We're glad you like regular posting, because we like having regular readers!
4- Letting you into our Brains! This was an interesting request that came through many times… You guys want to know what the process looks like as we plan and work through a room. We love that idea!! Although, this weekend my planning process involved me walking around my house, going to the pantry for a snack and staring because I didn't know what I wanted, walking more around the house, and then back to the pantry. Repeat 10x. But seriously, we're excited to share inspiration boards and ideas with you- thanks for the suggestion!!
We gathered lots more info, but this post might actually put you to sleep if I keep going. The bottom line is that, knowing more about YOU guys helps us to make this blog the best it can be! So thank you, thank you, thank you, for helping us out!!
Here's a peek at what we have coming up for ya this week… Bennett's Room Update A Perfect for Fall Chicken Chili Recipe and More!!

If you missed all the amazing projects in the first two weeks of CWTS, be sure to check them out below!

Round 1 Projects & Winners Round 2 Projects & Winners
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is so exciting, isn't it? We're almost into the final round of our first ever Creating with the Stars contest which is crazy! We know that the contestants are putting in hours and hours of work on their projects each week so that they are the best they possibly can be, and we just have to say that the caliber of their projects is blog star-level!

This week was Sponsored by The Home Depot, and isn't it amazing what a huge impact a little paint can have? Ah-mazing! Here's a little reminder of the epic prizes our Round 3 winner will receive…
$500 Gift Card to Home Depot (Contestant & Blog Star!!) $100 worth of Martha Stewart supplies from Plaid Crafts $125 Gift Card to Lucent Lampworks Project featured by HomeTalk

The votes were neck and neck again this week, with only a few votes separating the top two spots. Only three contestants move on to the finals, so the pressure is really on! Ok, enough of our chatting, let's get those results!

1. Amanda { Love and Renovations } and Beckie { Infarrantly Creative }
Painted Wall Mural and Dresser

This is Amanda's second week in a row in the top spot…for good reason! You just can't ignore that yellow dresser (Monica has a similar painted dresser in her dining room!) and set against that black wall, it's just stunning! Congrats again, Amanda!

2. Melissa { 5 foot 12 Creations } & Sherry { Young House Love }

Painted Chalkboard with Map and Games

3. Sarah { Sarah M. Dorsey Designs } & Brooke { All Things Thrifty }

Painted Desk and Accent Wall using Custom Stencils

Ack, this is just so hard to do (does it ever get easier?!!), but we have to say goodbye to these three amazingly talented women.
4. Sarah { While They Snooze } & Sarah { Thrifty Decor Chick }

Painted Map Coffee Table

5. Nancy { Owen's Olivia } & Kari { Ucreate }
Painted Couch featuring a Custom Horse Stencil

6. Janel { Nellie Bellie } & Brittany { Pretty Handy Girl }

Aztec Wonder Painted Rug

Seriously, we could cry about having to let Nancy, Sarah and Janel go! You guys are welcome back here anytime. And, now we know who to call when we need something awesome painted!
Here's the voting break down… the first and second place projects were separated by under 50 votes!! Insane!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok, it's the finals now, people- the last chance these bloggers have to show what they're made of!

The prizes are stinkin' awesome this round (and the Blog star gets them too!)
The Grand Prize Winners (Contestant and Blog Star) will each receive:
$500 from Homes.Com
$500 Gift Card to HomeGoods
Project featured by HomeTalk

Next week the challenge is Home Decor- so anything (even a room makeover) is fair game! Tomorrow we'll be sharing the tutorial for that amazing mural and yellow dresser! We'll be so sad when this contest is over and we don't have these incredible tutorials on our blog anymore!

As you all know there are a lot of issues going on right now with blogger and I wasn't immune to the snafus. For a week I wasn't able to do anything on my blog and that left me a bit manic. I kept trying to tell myself that my blog didn't matter, it's just a computer but the truth of the matter is my blog matters to me. It's something that I've put a lot of time into and shared parts of my life openly, my blog is me. But the most important part are the friendships I've made over the last year, people I've come to know far and wide who are sharing their daily life. The good news is thanks to all of you for your help and advice I'm now back on my blog so thank you my friends for all your support and help, you all mean the world to me!

Happy Monday, everyone! We are working our tails off this week on lots of Fall projects and fun blog stuff, so to help us out, we've asked a few of our bloggy pals to share some of their projects with you. But get ready, because next week, we'll be back in full force!: ) We're so pleased to introduce you to Rebecca from My Girlish Whims. We've been communicating the past several months through email and were fortunate enough to share our top wedding planning tips with her readers in February when Rebecca was busy getting married and going on her honeymoon. Rebecca is a really talented jewelry designer (make sure you check out her anthro jewelry knockoffs!), but we're in love with this Paper Fan Banner she made. Isn't it darling?

Ok, take it away, Rebecca!

Hello East Coast Creative Readers!

My name is Rebecca and I blog over at My Girlish Whims

My blog is all about beading, crafting, and general life as a girl!

I'm so excited to be guest posting over here today, because I live very close to Jess & Monica! We haven't met in"real life" yet but I'm sure one day we will: )

I just got married in February and have been trying to repurpose a few of the items I DIYed for my big day so I don't waste them! I had a ton of these fabric flowers left over:

Which I had made to hang off the pews in the church.

My hubby and I recently bought our first house and so I've been working on collecting/making some home decor accents. I thought I could use the silver flowers from the pew cones for up in our bedroom, which is eventually getting a grey/silver color scheme.

I got this bucket from the"as-is" section of IKEA for $1.50. There was nothing wrong with it…I think they just aren't selling them anymore!

I spray painted it silver with leftover spray paint from another wedding project

I poured in some glass marbles (that were actually left-overs from my bridal shower!) and then stuck in my fabric flowers (this post has a full tutorial on how to make them if you are interested)

Here's the finished product:

Yay! I think it turned out so cute, and all it cost me was the $1.50 for the bucket!
I put my little flower bucket up in our bedroom on our IKEA TV-holder-thing-a-ma-whatsit. Yes, that is the technical term.

Other side has a picture of us from our big day: )

And there are the flowers!

Slowly our house is becoming more decorated…and slowly I'm using up some of my wedding decor too: )

Thanks so much to Jess and Monica for letting me guest post! Please stop by my blog sometime to say hi, I'd love to meet you!: )

Thank YOU, Rebecca! You can't beat a cute project with that price tag!

Well, Monica and I have been putting in some late nights trying to improve our blog, increase functionality, and perfect our"look". We're pretty happy with it so far, but it will continue to be a work in progress. (Feedback would be lovely, thank you.;) So, here is What's New on our blog!
Page Tabs : Underneath our header you'll see we've added a few new pages for you to browse through. Make sure you check out the ever-growing list of blogs we love and sneak a peek at our cute and crazy families! Also, we'd love to hear from you, so if you have questions, feedback or just want to chat, send us an email through our"contact us" tab.
Post Finder: We've made it easier than ever for you to find a post according to topic. Just click on any of the titles to the right and you'll be taken directly to all of our posts that are related to that topic (ie: DIY).
Follow Us: You can follow us by clicking on the tabs to the left, either by email or via RSS. And, please, please, please"like" us on facebook. We're a new blog and are trying to spread the word about it! We are ever so grateful for your help!: )

And now, we are so excited to announce our first contest: Design Challeng{ed}! Please read all the details below. (*A page has been created especially for this contest, so feel free to come back and check the contest tab as often as you need to!)

We've created this icon for you to grab for youselves once you've entered. Add it to your facebook profile, your blog, or email it to all your friends and family. Remember, the most votes win, so do whatever you can to get those votes!

Now go forth and be challeng{ed}!
Good luck!

Okay, so we weren't really"gone, gone," just kind of in overdrive and really, really swamped with about 1000 things going on at once. The good news is that even if we weren't technically"gone"… we're BAAACK (just like Twinkies!)

Yesterday we finished up seven straight weeks of filming for Knock It Off with only one week off during that time. Yeah, it kicked our butts! Our schedule won't always be like that, but we wanted Jess to be able to take a nice long maternity leave break, so we did tons of episodes close together.
This is how we looked at the beginning of our 7 weeks…

And this is how we looked at the end!

Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but not by much!: )
We're off for the next 20 days (woo-freakin'-hoo!!!) then we have one more episode to film, and then we have a long baby break! Here's a little peek into some of the fun things we have planned and what you can expect the next few months here at EC2!

For the first two years of our blog we posted 5 times a week and were the queens of consistency. Throw a TV show into the mix and it messed with our game! Our goal is to get back to 4 solid posts a week. We actually have SO many things we're excited to post about- including Jess' baby nursery (coming soon!!)

Remember how we hosted the biggest DIY contest in blog land- Creating with the Stars?? Well, believe it or not- we're already in the planning stages for our 2014 season! We don't want to tell you all the details yet, but we're going to have a fun fall/winter series that will win one lucky blogger a coveted spot in the 2014 season of CWTS!

Not only will we be blogging more, we're super excited about having some time to work on fun projects in our own homes! We've done 14 complete room makeovers in the last few months (which equals about 150+ projects) and we're so ready to DIY in our own homes for a bit! We'll also be sure to keep on posting all the KIO tutorials for projects we've done for the show!

Tomorrow night we're honored to be the guests at a Ladies Night Out event raising money for Worthwhile Wear. In 90 minutes we'll be completely transforming a blah, ho-hum room and doing it in front of 450 people! DIYing on TV is one thing, but doing it live and hoping every project turns out as planned and that everything can be completed during the 30 minute intermission just might be crazy town! We're honestly so excited about the challenge and we're looking forward to challenging the women there to use what they've got in their homes and also in relation to the gifts God has given them.
We'll be sure to have tons of pics taken and we'll share the projects on the blog next week! Here's a hint… think cheetah print, ikat, and teal! So, that's what we've got in store for the blog! We're excited to share all of this with you guys!! Do you have any special requests for us over the next few months?

We're in a bit of a transition phase here at EC2. If you didn't hear the news, we were signed for another TWO seasons of Knock It Off (woohoo!!) and we also want to grow the blog and get better at managing our day job (TV host) and authoring the best blog possible. Hiring new peeps (like Diana) onto the EC2 team was one of the first steps on our to do list. The second order of business is hearing from YOU! We want to know about you, know what you like about this blog, know what you want more of, less of, etc… So, Do tell!!

Thanks so much guys for all your input- We LOVE learning more about our readers!! We'll be sharing our results next Friday!!
We have to thank Jones Design Company for some of the question ideas. Emily did a reader survey and we loved many of her questions, so we borrowed some!

To take the survey, just scroll through the questions and click submit at the end.

Did you know that we've been writing this blog for one whole year now? I honestly don't know where this past year went, but it has been amazing. We've met incredible people, done some things we never thought we'd ever do (hello Nate!), and grew this little blog into something bigger than we thought possible. Granted, we still have a lot of growng to do, and trust me, we have big plans for RHBC, but we're proud of what we've accomplished. We thought it would be super fun to look back at the past year in stats. Every day this week we'll share something new about our blog with you that we've never talked about before.(Darn that we didn't start tracking our stats until May 2011!) So here we go:

Phew! That's crazy! And we just have to say a big thank you to YOU for spreading the word about our blog and for faithfully reading and supporting us through our successes and failures. We wouldn't want to do it without you!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And now, for our first giveaway to celebrate our blogiversary! You've heard us talk all about our love for Garnish, and we think you'll love their stuff too! Garnish sells totally customizable products that will make your event or gift memorable and spectacular.

To enter: (This giveaway is now closed)

1. To enter, go to the Garnish website, pick your favorite product and comment with your pick. 2. Extra chance to enter by"liking" the Garnish Facebook fan page, and leaving a comment saying you did so. 3. Additional chance to enter by liking the RHBC Facebook page, and leaving a comment letting us know.

Good luck!

We all love Pinterest… there are so many ideas and cool people to be inspired by. I wish I took the time to do more of the projects I see, but honestly this lil' old blog takes a lot of time, so I don't do as many as I'd like to (sounds weird that a DIY blog would take time away from DIYing, but it's true!)

Today I'm excited to introduce you to two people I adore. Meet my adorable sister-in-law Kelly and my awesome brother-in-law Bryan. This cute couple lives in Ohio, so we miss them 24-7, but we have a blast when we're together.

I also have to introduce you to their little stud Jax. He's our one and only nephew and we think he's the best!

Okay, so why are we having this Mangin Family blog reunion?? Well, Kelly is not just a Pinterest addict, she actually does what she pins! {Gasp!}
On our recent visit to Ohio, I felt like I was walking through a Pinterest Museum. It was too awesome not to share. Kelly has some creative friends and family, and between them all they have done so many fun projects for her home. So without further ado… Welcome to Kelly's Pinteresting Home! State Artwork Kel is from OH and Bry is from PA.

Aqua Painted Pedestal Table Kel got her table and chairs at goodwill for $75 total. Add aqua and white paint and you have an awesome statement piece!

Funky Pendant Light This was one of the first changes Kelly made to her kitchen when she moved in!

Crossword Names Takes 2 seconds, but is so cute as an accessory. It's just a frame turned chalkboard.

Kitchen Office Space She removed the wall cabinets, added open shelving, and did some adorable accessorizing. Kelly claims she can't decorate, but I'm pretty sure you'd all beg to differ!

Spray Painted Faux Antlers Kel is super lucky to have a Hobby Lobby right around the corner. These beauties came from there and got a coral spraypaint treatment.

Simple Printables She doesn't just PIN free printables, she actually uses them… imagine that! A simple piece of twine, some clothespins, and voila!

Modern Painted Chandelier Bye Bye Brass, hello funky green. The circle bulbs are just right and add a cute modern flare.

Window Frame Kel found this awesome salvage shop in Springfield, OH. They have windows galore!

Family Rules and More Printables Kelly and Jess both have the Be Happy print. You can get it at Sprik Space.

Magazine Paper Frame & Vase These two were purchases, but I liked them too much not to include them. If you're patient enough you can make your own!

House Numbers and Hooks There are so many things you can do with frames, and digital paper. Our favorite site is Moo & Puppy!

Yarn Wreath You know I'm the"anti-wreath," but this one is really cute! I love the homemade pompoms

Paper Flowers Kelly's friend Amy made these for her and they match her aqua table so well. Jones Design Company has tons of paper flower tutorials!

Clip Hooks Are you seeing a clothes pin trend? They're affordable, easy to use, and cute!

Fabric Lined Shelves Kel took plain bookshelves from drab to fab with this blue fabric. Her shelves always look so cute! Her sister gave her the frame with the subway art and has it loaded up with a print for every season/holiday.

Unique Gallery Wall These cool rounded frames are from Ikea and the doorknob is from Hobby Lobby.

Growth Chart I love this growth chart that Kelly's sister made for her. It's exactly like this one from Miss Natalie. No time to make one? You can buy one on Etsy for $56.00.

Last but not least, check out this fabulous fabric choice for a DIY headboard!

What do you think? Are you inspired to go look at your pin boards and actually do a project? I know I have a list a mile long that I want to do now! I also have to tell you that Kel had no idea I was snooping around her house taking pictures, so none of this was staged or cleaned… this is real-deal, everyday life and I think it's great!
Have you turned a pin into a project? Share the link, we'd love to see!

Only following on the blog? You're missing out. Use the buttons below to join in on all the fun!

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!