My Creative Blog [Search results for Blogging 2 Better] 

We've been keeping a secret from you. And it's a good one. But don't worry! We're about to let you in on it…ready??…ok, here goes: Six weeks ago we asked several amazing bloggers to join with us in a collaboration group we called Blogging 2 Better. We're a bunch of like-minded home, DIYand crafting bloggers that want to learn as much as we can about blogging, while also sharing ideas, encouraging one another and sharing each other's awesome projects as much as we can. We're so fortunate to be part of a blogging community that encourages sharing! (If you write a blog, we strongly suggest getting a group of girls together to learn from. No one understands all that blogging entails except for other bloggers! You can find more about that in our Part-Time Blogger series here.)

Anyway, these girls are really, truly talented and it was a lot of fun getting to know them better. For our final week, we had Beckie from Infarrantly Creative give us a list of materials that we all needed to incorporate into an awesome project. It's like our version of a Nate's Crate Challenge! Woohoo! And today is the day we get to see what everyone's been up to!! Once you finish taking a look at what we created, make sure you hop over to the other gal's blogs to see what they made.

Here's the list of the supplies from Beckie:

And here's what we came up with:

We struggled to come up with a clever name for it, but basically it's a rustic/industrial storage bin. A very easy project that turned out adorable, if we do say so ourselves. You know we love a good pallet project (we've done several here and here), but we also keep loads of barnwood on hand, too. We picked one that was already the perfect length (yay! no extra cutting required!)

We also scored these three wire bins at HomeGoods for four bucks a pop! We didn't love the color, but knew immediately that this is where we could use coral! We spraypainted them with Valspar's Hacienda Tile- the perfect coral.

Next we found a font that we liked and printed number 1 through 3 large on regular, old paper. With a pen, we traced the number while pressing down to leave the outline on the barn wood.

Have you tried paint pens yet? They're so easy to use, but they still looks like paint. We carefully filled in the stencilled numbers with a black Sharpie paint pen.

Once the paint on the bins had dried, we brought them in and laid them down in front of the wood to determind the placement. We measured the board, divided it into thirds and then marked where the hooks would go.

Monica drilled pilot holes where we had previously marked and then we screwed in the eye hooks …Six hooks for three baskets.

Then I gently sanded down the numbers to distress them a bit.

Monica whitewashed the entire board with a mixture of paint and water to give the piece a little more depth. (Side note: working as a team makes the project go faster! We're so fortunate to have each other.: ) (I totally Agree! -Monica)

The last step for the wood piece is to add a coat of water-based polyurethane (water-based won't change the color of the wood!).

To hang it, we took chain, cut it to the length we wanted with wire cutters and screwed threw one of the links directly into the wood. Make sure your screw isn't so long that it goes right through to the other side!

Then we hit a creativity wall. Booo. We could not for the life of us figure out how to incorporate fabric into this project. We toyed with lots of different ideas, but finally decided on a cute hanging pendant banner for one of the baskets. Recently we came across a shop called The Finest Kind and we couldn't get over how cute their stuff is! We decided to purchase three of their typographical tags to use on our pendant. You'll probably catch the significance: EC2.: ) First, we spraypainted the little cuties blue.

Next, we took apart three 2x3 frames so that we could use the cardboard backing. Wierd, I know, but there's always an untraditional use for everything!

We wrapped the fabric around the cardboard and mod podged it right on.

Before the Mod Podge had dried, we stuck our tags on, and voila! An adorable pendant honoring our blog for the basket!

We were thrilled with the finished product, and it has now made it's home in my dining room. And just so you know, it totally inspired me to rearrange my living room and gave me the motivation I needed to start our dining room makeover!

To be completely honest, we liked this project better without the fabric banner, but do think it makes a super cute accessory!

And now for the REALLY fun part! We were so excited to see what our blogging buddies came up with using the same materials, and they did not disappoint!

Please stop over at these amazing ladies blogs to see what their projects. Share the EC2 love with them and tell them we sent you!
Clockwise from top right:
Kim from Sand & Sisal: Surfboard Pallet Art
Brook from Being Brook: Fabric Wall Map
Allison from House of Hepworths: Dangle Earring Frame
Jenna from SAS Interiors: Monogrammed Chevron Pallet Tray
We had SO much fun putting this project together and consider ourselves lucky to be in the company of these awesome bloggers. If you don't already follow them, shame on you! But it's not too late, go ahead and do it now.: )
We want to know: What would YOU do with those materials?

** And if you're loving up all the wood ideas, this one is one of our favorites! Check it out!

**If you're visiting from one of the other bloggers' projects, thanks for stopping by! If you like what you see use the links below to stay up to date with all of our projects and ideas!

You want to know what we learned this year at the first ever Haven conference? There are so many talented people in the world. It's true. Every single blogger we met has unbelievable talent, was super cute (I'm not lying when I say that Monica and I left feeling old and frumpy!), and could not have been nicer. It totally felt like a huge family reunion (except that we had never met before!) Seriously, though, we attended some inspiring sessions, chatted with some of our favorite bloggers and enjoyed really fun BFF time, too! It started out with a smooth flight, a pricey cab to the hotel (60 bucks, one way!) and the discovery that the hotel had overbooked and that our confirmation was actually a pending notification. Booo. But the guys at the Crowne Plaza worked it out and we got a room (a nice one, I might add!)

Upon arrival, we met some of the Haven crew and received our swag bags. There were some pretty sweet finds in the bag, but our favs were definitely the Annie Sloan Chalk paint, Purdy paint brush, Kreg Jig Jr. and a stencil from our go-to stencil girls at Royal Design Studio. Score!

We attended six sessions total, each of them were taught by some blogging bigwigs- do you see that list below? Southern Rhoda, Tracie at Beneath my Heart, Beth from Home Stories A to Z, Sarah of Thrifty Decor Chick, and Myra from My Blessed Life We were SO thrilled to meet these ladies in real life and hear all the stuff they've learned through their blogging experience. We also spent time talking with vendors (Monica won 3 awesome paint brushes at the Annie Sloan chalk paint booth), and with business cards in hand, checked out all the blogs we hadn't read before,.

Rashon Carraway, aka Mr. Goodwill Hunting, rocked the Thrifting 101 session! Remember him from The Nate Show? We had fun sharing stories about our times on the show and how great the staff was to us. Good times, I tell you.

Sherry and John from Young House Love were the keynote speakers, and not only were they adorable, they were so down to earth, full of good tips and witty, to boot. Not fair. We loved their mindset about writing their blog, and their honesty about sort of stumbling into blogging fame.
We could have talked with Sherry the entire night. She's totally like the other best friend we wish we had.

We LOVED meeting so many people with similar passions as ours, and discovering awesome blogs we had never heard about. No one truly understands blogging except other bloggers, that's for sure.

Beth from Free Stylin' and Jamie from C.R.A.F.T

The highlight of our trip was meeting our blog mentor, Beckie. We've been chatting with her on the phone every week for the past few months. We knew she was insanely talented and driven, but we were so not prepared for how awesome she is in person! And drop-dead gorgeous. Her session about advertising had everyone buzzing about her. And for good reason! Love.that.girl.

Monica was really excited to meet her, and I was scared, I guess. Awkward, Jess, awkward.
And I'm sure you've all heard of Allison from House of Hepworths, but we were psyched to meet her since we were in the Blogging 2 Better collaboration with her the past 6 weeks.

Layla from The Lettered Cottage, taught a killer session on photo styling that rocked our picture-taking world. How she preps rooms for photos is genius, and even though we learned a lot, we're pretty sure that she has a creative eye that can't be duplicated. I am a HUGE fan of hers, so was pretty excited that she sort of knew who we were (or pretended to, anyway!)

We also had the priviledge of hanging out a bit with Ashley and Whitney from Shanty 2 Chic. These girls make DIYing look amazing. A gorgeous, creative blogging duo.

And speaking of gorgeous-ness…take a look at Ana White building a rolling storage caddy in sky-high heels and tight cropped pants. Fabulous, isn't it? Makes us feel like we should maybe reconsider our t-shirt and sweatpants attire for DIYing. Or maybe not.

And finally, here's a shot of us fooling around at the Homes.com photo booth. Our new bloggy best friend, Karah from The Space Between, took this picture and we love it. And you'll love her. First of all, she lives in Curacao, and secondly she does great projects (just check out her rooftop pallet bed) and thirdly, she's a lot of fun to hang out with.

So that's our crazy recap! All in all we had as really fun time, and I can't say enough how much fun I have with Monica. It may actually be possible that two people share the same brain. Just sayin'.; )
If you could meet one blog crush, who would you choose?

We are thrilled to have the opportunity to introduce you to sweet Brook of Being Brook. She's a fellow contributor to Infarrantly Creative, and was a part of our Blogging 2 Better group. She's insanely talented and her projects are sooo beautiful! Her incredibly adorable fabric wall map happened to be our favorite project from our summer challenge!

Hi East Coast Creative Readers! I'm Brook and I blog at BeingBrook where I share tips and tutorials on building, sewing, crafts and home decor! I'm a military spouse so I move frequently and am always striving to Create Awesome wherever our family ends up!

Today I have a tutorial on how to make a keepsake hanger out of an antique doorknob!

Supplies: 2 pieces of pine 1"x4" cut into a square Annie Sloan Chalk Paint & Clear Wax Antique Door Knob Epoxy Resin (I used Envirotex Lite) Screw

I needed something to screw into and antique door knobs don't usually take standard screws. So I started by taping off my antique door knob and mixing up some resin to fill the old screw hole. Beckie from Infarrantly Creative has an in depth tutorial if you need more help with this part. Then I painted my two pieces of pine with Annie Sloan Chalk paint in French Linen which is the same color as my daughter's dresser.

On one of the wood pieces I used my keyhole bit on my router to make a spot to hang the little doorknob shelf from the wall. The other piece of wood I marked the middle and then 1/2 inch down on each side and traced two lines to give the front of the wood a little angle.

I used a miter saw to cut the angles out and then nailed the top of the shelf to the bottom piece with a nail gun and finish nails. You could totally glue and hammer this with regular nails too.

Now it's time to drill a pilot hole in the wood for your doorknob and drill a pilot hole into your doorknob where the resin is.

Then crew a screw through your wood into the doorknob. Once my little shelf was all built I touched up the paint and waxed it with some soft wax.

Finished! I am using my little door knob shelf to display my daughter's keepsake baby dress and a little cup that was a special baby gift.

Thanks so much for having me Monica and Jess! I'd love it you came by and visited me at BeingBrook to see some of my other projects! Little Girl Aqua, Red and Gray Bedroom

Build a Rustic Headboard for only $35

Organize the Laundry Room with Basket Dressers

Isn't she amazing?! We seriously envy that girls talent and creativity. Thanks, Brook!

**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!

{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 feels like I haven't blogged in forever! It's nice to be back… well, honestly if you told me I could jump on a plane now, I'd grab my suit and be gone in an instant. Mexico was insanely awesome. I'm going to do a whole post on it next Monday!
So we're supposed to be giving interesting statistics this week… I've got a good one for ya!

The Disappearing Giveaway.. If you've followed us since the very beginning you might remember a post about our Design Challeng{ed} contest… Or maybe you don't remember because not one single person entered. Ha! We'd only been blogging about two months and it was a major flop! It sure makes us laugh though!

Famous Angelina… Jess wrote a cute post about Cam's 3rd birthday party last year. It was a cute Angelina Ballerina theme. The post is fine, but nothing over the top. We didn't have great lighting and all the pictures are so-so… however, thanks to the post's title it was in our top 15 posts for landing pages! So many people have Googled Angelina Ballerina and found us! Ha!

So maybe we laugh a lot and blush a little over these silly posts, but it reminds us of the amazing road this blog has taken. We can't wait to look back next year and see what 2012 had for us!
Now, get ready for some stinkin' awesome giveaways! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We have three awesome giveaways for you today! The giveaways are separate entities (in other words, if you win, you don't win them all, but you can enter all three!) Please let us know which giveaways you're gunning for in your comments.
My Best Friend's Hair Giveaway My Best Friend's Hair is our most recent sponsor and it's the coolest concept! Their site can help you find the best stylists all over the country and get ratings and reviews. Want to find the best stylist in your area that can deal with insanely thick, unruly hair (that would be my wish)? They can help you with that! They also have tons of info about the hottest cuts and styles- so fun! Today they're giving away a Neuma Beauty Hair Products gift set. I don't know about you, but I love using high quality hair products, and getting them for free is even better!

To enter: (This giveaway is now closed)
1-Like My Best Friend's Hair Facebook Page and leave us a comment letting us know.
2-For an additional chance to win, head over to the My Best Friend's Hair website and either search for a stylist in your area or leave a review of your stylist and then leave a comment letting us know you did.

Scentsy Giveaway I must have been living under a rock for a while, because I had never tried Scentsy until Breanne joined our blog last fall. Honestly, I wake up, walk down stairs, and turn my warmer on immediately, my kids take turns picking out the scents we should use. It's awesome! Breanne is giving away one warmer and scentsy bar of your choice!

To enter: (This giveaway is now closed)
1- Go to Breanne's Scentsy website and then tell us in a comment what scent you'd love to try.
2-For an additional chance to win Follow RHBC on Twitter and leave us a comment letting us know.

Kotton Pickin' Kute Hat My poor kids were all born well before the world thought to make amazingly cute hats- boo! I honestly don't think there's anything cuter than a baby with a sock monkey hat! Krista hand knits all of her hats and lucky for us, she's giving one away! Don't have an itty bitty baby? No worries, she can make them in child and even adult sizes. I just might buy the hubs a sock monkey hat… actually, I won't because I could possibly die of laughter.

To enter: (This giveaway is now closed)
1- Go to Kotton Pickin Kute's Etsy Store and then tell us in a comment what hat you love!
2-For an additional chance to win like Kotton Pickin' Kute on Facebookand leave us a comment letting us know.

Giving things away is so darn fun! I can't wait to announce the winners tomorrow! Hope you're enjoying our week of giveaways just as much as we are!

AND NOW FOR THE WINNERS FROM YESTERDAY!

The winner of the Thirty-one Gifts giveaway is: Dwell Wool Knits! Congratulations!

The winner of the Dream Dinners meals is: Whitney! (and I promise I didn't cheat just because she's having her first baby! Congrats Whitney!)

(email us your address so we can get you your prizes!)

Phew! We don't know about you, but we are exhausted after that month-long Creating with the Stars. But on the other hand, we really miss it! We could not be happier with the way our first ever contest went and hope you all enjoyed it and were inspired by it too! We are chomping at the bit to get back into the swing of our own projects,but before we do that, we thought we'd take a look back at the things we learned form Creating with the Stars 2013- David Letterman-style!

10. You get what you pay for. We learned this the hard way, for sure. We deicded to use a survey company that was very inexpensive to host each week's voting and we had major problems every week with it. You guys noticed it, too, and we promise that next year the voting will be sooo much easier! Putting out a little bit more money will be worth it if we can avoid all the hassles we dealt with!

9. Running the contest and trying to do each round's projects = Crazytown Even though we like the projects we came up with during the season trying to do them while hosting the contest, coordinating posts, emailing back and forth with stars and contestants, all while wrangling our kids and managing the rest of our lives and another HUGE project, we were on overload. Whoever thought of participating in each round (I'm pretty sure it was Monica,) is insane, and you WON'T be seeing that next season.: )

Week 1: Upcycled Door turned Desk, Week 2: Anthro Wood Cut Art Knockoff Week 3: Painted Piano, Week 4: Colorful and Fun Kid's Bathroom Makeover
8. You people are competitive! For real! We went into this season thinking it would be awesome and a whole lot of fun, not ever thinking people would be so into it! Even readers who weren't contestants got fired up about the littlest thing!. Honestly, we had no idea we would be dealing with so many Sherlock Holmes! Now we know you guys are in it to win it, and will back up your favorites no matter what!
7. Planning and preparation were key for these procrastinators! Posting seven days a week within a strict time frame is no joke. Usually, we decide the day before what we want to write about the next day, but not so with CWTS! We began seriously planning in October 2012- approaching sponsors and stars, writing emails, figuring out guidelines etc. We were super glad we did this because the contest went pretty smoothly. Thank goodness!

We finished our round 1 project last year at 1 AM. Procrastinate, much? 6. The pressure is on when the world is watching, We absolutely hate it when something doesn't go quite as planned. We recognize there were a few glitches in the contest and because so many people were coming here every day, those mistakes were just that much more noticeable. Ick, we really don't like that. No more mistakes next year!
5. Go big or Go home! We always say we're not afraid to try or go after anything and it worked in our favor with this contest! We landed some amazing sponsors by just asking if they wanted to partcipate! Plus, we went out on a major limb (that involved pretty lame dancing and fake mustaches) to get our incredible stars on board! (PS. this video gets a little long, so feel free to skip the middle!)

4. It's pretty darn fun to help new bloggers get a step up! We were unbelievably grateful to Tam for giving us a platform to showcase our fun ideas when we won last year. It made people notice us, and we were so thrilled to do that for these 12 crazy-gifted girls. We hope that you'll continue to support your favorites and follow along as they grow bigger than us!
3. The Stars you all love really are that incredible!
These ladies took time out of their very busy schedules to help better the contestants projects and photos. All of the contestants comments on how wonderful the stars were to work with. Thanks ladies!

2. It turns out we're not the only talented people in blogland. Ha! But seriously, the talent that the contestants showed, and the amazing projects you all linked up blew us away. We love that this blogging niche is so encouraging and open to sharing of ideas, and man, our list must-do project list grew by about a mile after all of the fabulous ideas we saw throughout the contest!

1. Creating with the Stars is the Most Epic Blog Contest on the Web! We already can't wait for next year's contest. It's definitely not too early for you to start creating awesome things because submissions open in February 2014!

What did YOU think of the contest? Will you get your game on next year?

Want to catch up on all the projects from Creating with the Stars 2013? Click below!

Round 1 Projects & Winners Round 2 Projects & Winners Ro und 3 Projects & Winners Round 4 Projects & Winners

I feel very honored to have been awarded the 'Super Comments Award' by Mona from Providence ltd Design. Mona has been with me since my first day of blogging leaving wonderful comments for me along the way ever since, for that I truly thank her.

The way this works is you answer a series of questions about yourself and then pass it along to seven others who have left wonderful comments so without farther ado'.
1) Why do you blog??
I keep wondering that myself since I work ten plus hours a day and time has always been an issue for me but I can't help myself. I only just discovered blogs last year. I mean I saw them listed but didn't know what they were so always skipped over them. Last summer I opened one and I was enchanted. I mean here were all these people opening their worlds to us, sharing their homes. That first day I spent the entire day reading and after a month I wanted to be a part of that circle, so I took the plunge and dived in for better or worse.

2) Name your three best memories:
First is my Dad who's gone now'.riding around on my Dad's foot when I was little. I remember plopping on that poor guys foot the moment he walked in the house and he never minded and always gave me a ride'remember doing that? He also taught me how to tie my shoes and ride a bike, it's the little things that make me smile now that he's gone.
Second was the day I moved from Phoenix, AZ to New York City, NY to be with my future husband. I loaded up a large truck and drove across country all by myself. If you've ever driven a 22-foot long truck you'll know how much work it is coupled with the fact I was changing my entire life and leaving everything I knew. It was the scariest thing I've ever done but also the best. It showed me that I was capable of doing anything and from that moment on if I wanted to try something I did!
Third was the day we brought Dylan dog home four years ago. I hadn't had a dog in thirty years, dating myself here, I've had Persian cats. My husband really wanted a golden so I said lets get one and I've never regretted it. Dylan's great company, almost to smart for his own good, great to cuddle up next to and loyal beyond belief. But I think the best part about him is his eyes, you look into those golden brown eyes and you see love shining back!

?3) Name four of the best fiction books you've ever read: I don't have four favorites, I read all the time and there are to many to name. Some favorites I like revisiting are: Beauty by Susan Wilson The ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough I love mysteries by Mary Higgins Clark and Nora Roberts I read a lot of textile, art and decorating books too but what I like reading is all over the place.

4) What are the five best movies ever made?
Again I don't have favorites because I watch everything under the sun but when I'm alone I like light hearted movies, nothing serious and never anything scary....hate scary movies.
5) Name five things you cannot live without:
My family and friends. My best friend Deb is the sister I never had so I feel very blessed.
My antique textiles, I feel like I've finally figured out what I'm supposed to be doing in my life. It gives me a great sense of peace!
My computer, I have my web site/business on here and it's easier to talk to my friends overseas.
My monthly facials, it's relaxing, keeps my face in place and one of the few things I actually do just for me.
Auctions! I love auctions, the thrill of the hunt, the adrenaline rush just before you bid and sometimes winning, it's very exciting!
6) If you could change your name what would it be?
Chase! I saw a movie once with Rene Russo in it and her characters name was Chase, it was a really cool name. I like my name, Debra, but I introduce myself as Debra and people always say "hi Debbie", I HATE BEING CALLED DEBBIE! Not that there's anything wrong with being called Debbie....:)

7) Tell us a unique and interesting fact about yourself.
I can build! I decide one day to build a garden room in our side field and the first thing I needed were raised field stone garden beds. So I went out and bought a book, read it and went to work. See up in the far left corner my pile of rubble'these poker flowers are in a perfectly round garden bed that's twelve feet wide, I built that. You'll see better pictures in the spring, promise, now I'll bore you with my ability to build!

8) What do you love best about yourself?
My ability to do whatever I set my mind too. I believe everyone can do anything just stop talking about it and go do it. I've accomplished everything I've set out to do in my life so far, yes, it really is that simple. Just do it!
9) If you had a freaky Friday experience, who would you change places with?
Honestly, nobody because I like who I've become as a person. I've worked dang hard to become who I am why would I want to give that up? I'd like to have past and present people to dinner to pick their minds but trade places with them'nah!
10) What is the best thing about being a woman?
The ability to multi-task if I didn't I wouldn't get half the things done that needed to be done.

Now it's time to pass this gracious award on to some of the people who have brightened my days:
Stacey at: Style Addicted Mom Joan at: for the love of a house Sharon at: My French Country Home Jermaine at: French Kissed Deborah at: Boxwood Terrace Vanna at: lvroftiques better known as Delusions of Grandeur Debra at: 5th and State
THANK YOU!

I can't believe I actually won something but I did and it's fabulous! I want to thank Debra over at 5th and State and her nephew who chose my name, for the wonderful dessert cookbook by Chef Alain Roby. I can't wait to try out one of the recipes this weekend!

Hey y'all… How funny does that sound coming from me? Well, today we're taking some time to show you some amazing projects that some of our blogger buddies have been working on and one of them happens to have the sweetest southern accent, so I though I'd give the old y'all a try. I'm thinking it should never come out of the mouth of a Boston raised, Philly transplant (and yes, I had to Google it to even see how y'all was spelled! Ha!)
Anyhow, onto business. We want to introduce you to some crazy talented ladies that we're lucky enough to have met through blogging. If you don't already follow their blogs, you're missing out, but here are some of our favorite projects we've seen recently.
Kim @ Sand and Sisal Kim's posts are so dang pretty. Her pictures are amazing and this project is no exception. These glass vases can be made from paint and nail polish remover?!? I know right? I was amazed at the tutorial and will be going to the dollar store for vases STAT! Check out her tutorial! Painted Glass Vases

Shaunna @ Perfectly Imperfect This is the lady that says y'all and it sounds just lovely! Shaunna (in my opinion) knows her style and how to achieve it better than anyone in blogland (and yes, I know that's a BIG statement). If her rooms don't make you a tad jealous, than you're a better woman than I am! It might not even be my style, but the ability to take a room and pull it together so well is something to strive for. You have to check out all of her home before and afters. And funny side note… we were both on Nate the same day and didn't even know it! Jess and I were working like crazy on the 24hr backstage challenge! Home Tour Before and Afters

And I had to include this picture, because it's Jess' personal favorite of Shaunna's.

Brook @ Being Brook I think Brook is the next Ana White! Seriously, she has built so many awesome projects and this picnic table was just one of her recent masterpieces. Doesn't this whole set-up make you want to be invited over for a picnic? She also just made super cool wooden planters that would have cost big bucks from a store. Check out her blog for other DIY projects and to see all the details of this amazing table!

DIY Picnik Table

Allison @ House of Hepworths I've been following Allison's blog for ages now. It's awesome that I've actually gotten to know her! This project is really simple, but looks like something she bought at a high end store. I love Allison's ability to take something average and make it awesome. Check out how she added the awesome pop of color to these bowls and then turned them into art! (Allison also has a great link party each week it you're looking for a good one to join!)Color Backed Decor Bowls

Janena @ SAS Interiors Do any of you have"real designer" friends? Janena is my"real designer" friend and when she says a room I've done looks good, it's like a compliment x10! If you want to learn about styling bookshelves, or arranging a room, she is your girl, but she also does some great DIYs and this one spread like wildfire in blogland. Shower curtains are crazy expensive for cool ones, so Janena figured out how to use any curtain as one! Her steps are simple and will make it last, so check it out! Turn Any Curtain into a Shower Curtain

Now why do I want you to meet our blog pals?? I thought I'd introduce you to them # 1 because I think they're awesome and #2 because we've started a combined Pinterest Board called"Creative Minds" where you can keep up with some awesome DIY and decor projects. The 6 of us will all be pinning to it, to bring you one very awesome inspiration board! Make sure you're following on Pinterest and get ready to see some awesome projects coming your way over the next few days!

Good morning, everyone! I'm so excited to share this project with you today! I've been slowly working on making over our dining room which was sorely lacking in personality and style. You may remember that it looked like this back in the Fall of last year:

Then, I got tired of everything the way it was and removed the hutch from over the buffet, decided to refinish the table, and move everything around in the Spring:

I'm going to be sharing the reveal of my new coastal/cottage dining room sometime in the next two weeks, but I just had to show you what we've been up to so far. When AT&T sent me a new phone and a gift card and asked me to do a project to see how technology could help me out, I knew exactly what I was going to do. I've been a huge fan of Layla's dining room"wonder wall" and decided to come up with a way to duplicate the look of an older house inside my newer, 15 year old house.

So, with a little help from my phone, and a lot of help from my hubby, here's what I came up with:

Now, obviously, this picture is completely undecorated, but I wanted to save the final reveal for later when the room is finished, but isn't it fabulous?!! This accent wall is actually remarkably simple and cost only $100! Here's what I did:
1. Decide on a layout for your shelves and mark on the wall with chalk. This is absolutely not neccessary, but it helped me a ton with visualizing the layout. I took pictures of it, so that I could look back and see the placement after the planks went on the wall. The camera on my HTC OneX phone came in handy because I documented the whole process (and texted Monica loads of pictures!)…

 2. Choose your supplies! Thankfully, I got a coupon from Lowes the day before we headed out to pick up supplies, so with that and the visa gift card, I knew I could get what I needed.

The funniest thing happened at Lowes. Kevin and I were chatting about our options and got cold feet right before buying the stuff we needed because we thought we should research our options online more. Just as we were leaving, I remembered that my phone had internet capability (remember I was living in the dark ages!), and that I could look stuff up while we were there. I pulled up Pinterest and got to work.

Our friend, Shaunna, used faux wood planked paneling in her dining room, and since it seemed relatively easy and looked gorgeous, we headed to that section first. Lo and behold, we found this 4x8 sheet of coastal cedar lookalike paneling.

We only needed 4 sheets to cover the wall, so this was going to be the most cost effective way to plank the wall. I snapped pics of the paneling and the price, so that I could go home and make sure the colors would work in the room, and that I was getting the best price on the paneling. Plus, I knew my hubs could use the extra guidance so that when he went back with the truck to pick it up, he could have all the info he needed right on his phone.

We also got 12 2x2's for the wood"studs" and flat, white paint, as well. 3. Measure, measure, measure and cut. We held each section of paneling up the wall and made marks on it where we needed to cut it with chalk. This project would have been super easy had we not had to make cuts around the window. We took it out to the garage and set up a makeshift workstation.

We honestly did measure at least three times before making our first cut. We didn't want to have to buy more paneling because of a mistake!

It was dark and our garage doesn't have the best lighting, so we had to hold a flashlight while cutting with the jigsaw. Not the perfect working conditions, by any means! 

4, Hang the paneling on the wall. The paneling is incredibly easy to work with. It's thin and light, which makes putting it on the wall a piece of cake. Make sure you level each piece before nailing it into place.

We shot nails into the ends of the planks, just as you would with real wood to give it an authentic look. 

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There were some really tricky cuts around the window, but a jigsaw works wonders!

Once all the planking was up, I was soo excited! It was coming along just as I had envisioned. Now for the"stud" shevling. 5. Paint your studs. I chose to use a flat white paint for a rustic look. I laid them all of the 2x2's in a row and knocked them out in about 30 minutes.

6, Nail the studs into the wall, vertical ones first, then horizontal shelves. We used the nail gun again to hang the studs. We started with the studs in the corner, and worked our way in to the middle, evenly spacing them as we went. Level the studs so that they are completely straight before nailing them in place.

I really wanted these to feel rustic, so we kept the nail holes visible.

The space under the window presented a tricky situation, but my hubs angled the wood down from the sill, and it looked so much better! 

9. Caulk the seams and spaces around the window. Sorry! No pictures of this step, but I'm sure you know what to do.: )
I am so happy with the way it looks, and can't wait to show you them all styled!

This project really was an easy one, and I can't believe how different the room feels now that it's done. Much more cozy and warm. And, if you like it now, wait until I reveal the finished room with all the fun accessories. I want to thank AT&T for the amazing phone that made this project go so smoothly! I was able to research, document the process, and update you via facebook, instagram (follow us at eastcoastcreative and Jess_EC2blog) and twitter. Seriously, my blogging life got 100x easier with this phone! Don't forget that you can enter the contest to win your very own HTC OneX Smartphone here!

So, what do you think of my planked wall? Are you in love like I am? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh! And there's only a couple more days to vote for Monica in Proctor & Gamble's Great Try Out contest, so please take a minute and go vote!

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