My Creative Blog [Search results for Conference] 

If you're new around here, let me catch you up a bit… We're partnering with Stone Depot and EP Henry and building a patio DIY style-we're crazy and we know it…(sing to the tune of LMFAO). You can catch up on the progress posts here, here, and here.

So, here's where we were when we left off last week…

We had finished the base wall and we could finally move onto the patio pavers and the sitting wall. Speaking of the sitting wall…Take a look at that beauty! We're waiting on a few more wall blocks to be in stock and then it will be finished.

Okay, so after the base wall was done it was time to get moving on the patio itself. This post is going to be chock full of DIY Patio tips, because we learned a lot along the way! We laid down the geofabric and then we needed to fill the entire patio with stone.

See all that stone? Well, multiply it times four! We needed over 35 TONS of stone and yes, we carried it one wheelbarrow at a time.

I had thought Eric dropped a pile of stone on the grass and the wall, until he explained this little trick. Worked like a charm!

When you need to work on a patio for 5 weeks and you have to move 35 tons of stone, it's important to have help…

This picture gives you an idea of what the stone was used for. We needed to apply it two inches at a time, run the tamp, and repeat until we raised it up the 20ish inches that we needed.

This is more than a tip, it's a must. There's no way a patio of this size can be done by hand. Time for the heavy equipment!

The stone needed to be 3" below the height of the wall caps. That's tricky to do everywhere, but there's a trick that works really well… although it is tedious!
(**Please ignore the spelling error below! I do know how to spell achieve. Thanks!**)

I also should mention that we had to be creative with ways to entertain the kids while we spent so many hours working… The"tractor"-waterfall-rides were a huge hit. Let me just tell you that never in my life did I imagine I'd own anything made by John Deere and I especially didn't foresee having kids that love driving it around the yard! lol

Alright, back to business. I thought this was a great idea and it helped keep all the leveled stone in place while we moved to the sand.

Leveling the sand it a two person job, but it was quick and easy using this pro method. You lay down 1 inch pipes, fill the area with sand, drag a leveled board across the pipes, and it smoothly levels the area between the pipes.

Look at that smooth sand! Nice work boys! (and yes, I still refer to my hubs as a boy even after 10yrs of marriage)

After the sand, it was the moment we'd all been waiting for and I was ready with camera in hand!

I'll be back next week with our final update before the grand reveal, but until then, I need some help in the lighting department. I plan to have two lights flanking the door and then I need four pillar lights as well. I definitely want an industrial feel. So, can you help a sister out and leave any recommendations in the comments? THANKS!

Wondering about the flowers on the steps? They're wildflowers that my kiddos had picked for me as a surprise when I got home from the Haven Conference. I'm a lucky gal.

The patio is so close to being finished, I can almost taste it (or perhaps that's just the black lung from all the stone and dust!) Can't wait to show you the finished product!

P.S. If you missed our Haven Conference Recap you can check it out HERE- it was awesome!

After you read all about our exciting Haven adventures, head over to Pretty Handy Girl where we're sharing our love of pallets. Yup, we still dig them.: ) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jess and I have been counting down the days and finally Haven is Here! What could be better than 3 days away with your BFF, surrounded by creative people from all over the country, talking blogging and DIY, and eating at great restaurants?? I'll tell ya, not much is better than that!
We're insanely excited about the keynote speakers… John and Sherry! We were brainstorming ways that we could be sure to meet them (yeah, we're creepy like that-Ha!) Some ideas were dressing in YHL fan club outfits, Making a movie where we dress up like John and Sherry, Dressing up like Eminem (Sherry had a thing for him back in the day) or simply pushing and shoving our way to the front and then acting like we just happened to be there. Each of those options, while fun, made us seem a tad psycho, so we're just crossing our fingers that we get to meet them! (Hint, Hint, if you're reading this Sherry)

There are tons of great sessions we'll be attending. To see the whole list of topics and awesome speakers you can see them here.

We'll be in Atlanta for the next few days, but we'll give you lots of updates on Facebook, so make sure you're following us (HERE). You might even see us with some of the stars of the blogosphere! Have a great rest of the week and don't worry, we'll still have awesome posts for you, so check back tomorrow!

D affodils are out! At least at our local grocery store. There's nothing that makes the dining room brighter than a dozen are so smiling daffodils.

We spend a lot of time in our dining room. We enjoy our meals there of course. Since we expanded the table, we've also been using it for many other pursuits. The large flat workspace has proven great for sewing projects, wrapping gifts, sorting through piles of paper in preparing our taxes, and Mike even used it recently to assemble a poster for a work conference.
However, the most wonderful thing about the expanded table is that there is plenty of room for two bouncy chairs! This allows us to be able to sit down to meals — together — much more often. Although this has always been important to us, it became harder to do with two newborn sweetie pie babies. xo
The babies gaze up at the chandelier as if it were a large mobile. When their interest begins to wane, we adjust the dimmer which creates different sparkles and hues. With all that gazing, I've had to put 'dust and clean chandelier' on my to do list.

Happy daffodils (even the grocery store variety) to you!

This post brought to you by FrogTape brand painter’s tape. All opinions are 100% mine. So cutting hair isn't our normal post topic here on East Coast Creative, but when it involves Frog Tape® and a rockin' hair style… well, I think it's just right for EC2! Cutting a mohawk isn't easy business- do you have any idea how many crooked mohawks there are in the world? A lot let me tell you! (and yes, that claim is purely fictional, but I'm 99% sure I'm right!) Thanks to my ingenious husband (or maybe it's just DIY overkill that made him think of it) we created the easiest way to cut a straight, perfect, and rockin' mohawk!

And let me shed a little light on the old 'hawk before I tell you how to do it. Callen (my youngest) has my husband's hair- which means pouffy awfulness. It's okay, Eric owns it (aka shaves it all off!) It's just really bushy and we can't do anything with Cal's hair style-wise. EXCEPT… for an awesome mohawk! It's the best style because his hair is going to poof out and stick up anyhow, so it's just making the mohawk styling that much easier! Eric and I often chat about which of our son's hair styles the grandparents hate more… Cal's mohawk or Kade's super long shaggy mop. I still think the long hair gets to them the most!: ) (And no, we're not cutting the mohawk off before school starts next week. We get asked that a lot. Why would we get rid of his swagga just in time for him to meet all the little ladies??)
Alright, so let me tell you how to cut the perfect mohawk so that your kids' grandparents can think you're nuts too!
#1- Determine how wide you want the 'hawk to be. We liked a pretty thick one, so we used about 2 widths of Frog Tape®. Now, we were asked to share a project we'd done with Frog Tape®- they said it's multi-surface tape- good for a variety of materials. I had already cut Cal's mohawk and was like,"how's this for a unique material!" So, while Frog Tape® wasn't made with the mohawk in mind… it works like a charm!!

#2- Place the tape down on your kiddo's head exactly where you want the hair to remain. Make sure it's straight from front to back AND side to side. Remember… crooked mohawks just aren't cool! Don't worry about pressing the tape down too hard, the edge will serve as more of a guide for your buzzers, not an paint lock like we usually use Frog Tape® for.

I wonder if this little guy has any clue that this process isn't quite the norm… Such is the life of a blogger's kid! (Also, ignore the pile of clothes and messy bathroom. This is real life here people! )

#3- Use your buzzers to shave along the edge of the Frog Tape®. Don't press into the side too much, you don't want a wonky line. Any buzzers will do, but we've always used this Wahl kit.

#4- This is just a preference, but we always have our boys sit on a stool in the shower while we buzz. It's so much easier for clean up. We use a hand vac to get as much of the hair up as we can, and then the rest just gets rinsed down the drain. Easy peasy!

I couldn't love Cal's hair any more than I do. It's definintely my favorite and it's sticking around for a long time! Since cutting it in for the first time, we've trimmed the sides 3 or 4 times, so now the middle section is nice and long and big boy mohawk-ish!

If you're thinking of embarking on the mohawk journey, I definitely recommend this method to get the perfect mohawk! A little outside the box, but this straight mohawk just wouldn't have happened without FrogTape painter’s tape.
We really do love Frog Tape® and have done a lot of cool projects using it. Last year when we were at the Haven Blogger Conference, we got to meet our friends from Frog Tape® and we learned a lot more about its paint lock technology. Basically it seals the edge of the tape so the paint doesn't bleed through! That's huge for me because I have some perfectionist tendencies. Did you know that FrogTape painter’s tape also recently came out with Shape Tape®? It is patterned tape, so you can get waves, chevron, etc… without measuring! We think it's pretty cool! Check out a few other projects we've one

Check out a few other projects we've done using Frog Tape®! My Chevron Accent Wall

Mosaic Accent Wall

Fireplace Makeover

If you haven't tried FrogTape painter’s tape yet, what are you waiting for? I mean you can try it on an awesome DIY project for fall OR for the most epic of all mohawks! Frog Tape is also on Twitter @Frogtape- give them a shout out and share your fall projects!

Because we're always slightly afraid you'll get bored of our crazy antics, we have a treat for you today in the form of a guest blogger! If you don't already know her, Sarah from The Ugly Duckling House is stinkin' hilarious and super talented. We love the design of her blog (which she did herself), the adorable pics of her splattered with paint, and her magical touch with liquid gilding. Enjoy! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there! I'm Sarah from The Ugly Duckling House, and I'm thrilled to be guest posting today on East Coast Creative! I met Monica and Jess at the Haven conference earlier this year, and I think they come up with some of the most amazing projects!

A little more about me: I'm awkward. I can't cook. I hate cleaning. But I love tearing my house apart and putting it back together again. I've been working on my"Ugg-Duck" for nearly three years now, and I'm determined — hissy fits and all — to turn my 1980s eyesore into a home I can be proud of. DIY-ing on my own isn't easy (especially with a full-time job and grad school on my plate), and I have had my fair share of weird stories with my house — like finding fingernails in my fridge. Or 4 A.M. catfights. Or freaking out that I had a water leak in my brand new powder room… and realizing it was (possibly) a guest missing my toilet. Yes, that happened.
Right now, I'm working on remodeling my bathroom. But at any given moment, I have at least five other unfinished projects around the house. Sometimes when I'm in the middle of finishing up a full renovation, I use that momentum to give myself an extra push and do something smaller that I might otherwise put off — like my master bedroom jewelry organizer.

I've been spotting a lot of creative jewelry organization ideas on Pinterest, and even though I've been storing my jewelry neatly in a drawer in my closet, I realized I forget to throw on accessories when rushing off to work. These Rationell inserts from Ikea are meant to add storage space to pantries and other cabinets, but I saw the decorative pattern on top and thought it could really look snazzy (& functional, too!) as a jewelry holder.

It was so easy, I could even (sort of) hold my camera steady while putting the project together with one hand. Ha. I just measured…

Marked (simply pushing the tip of the screw into the wall will save you extra pencil marks)…

… and sunk the first screw into place.

And this is where I realized I'd forgotten my level in the bathroom! Ugh. Thankfully, I had a nifty iPhone app with a level that I could use to make sure I kept things straight and even.

By placing the organizer in between my remodeled master bedroom closet and the master bath, I have a great new spot for my jewelry — and less of an excuse to bypass the accessories in the morning!

There you have it — a simple and inexpensive way to get your jewelry in a prime notice me and wear me spot.
Thank you so much to Jess and Monica for letting me stop by, and I hope you visit me (and whatever current mess I'm making) over at The Ugly Duckling House soon! Sarah Psst: Want more? I love to post sneak peeks on Facebook and Instagram. You can also find me on Hometalk and Twitter at uglyducklingDIY.
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Thanks so much for visiting, Sarah! You're welcome back in our houses anytime.: )

I've mentioned it before… we love to have people over. One thing we loved about our new house from the start, was the large dining room. However, we soon realized that to buy a BIG table you need a BIG budget. We shopped and shopped and eventually settled on a table with all the style we wanted, a decent price tag, but we compromised on the size.

About a week after getting the table I had buyer's regret and tried to return it. No, soup… 7 day return policy. We kept it another month or so and finally I decided to call it a loss and sell it on Craig's list. Today we sold it to an awesome family and I'm left with this… back to square one…

Here are a few tables that I love, sans the pricetags…

Pottery Barn

Pottery Barn

Restoration Hardware

Restoration Hardware Although, these tables still aren't long enough for me. I think I need to give the Duggars a call, because I want something like this… (okay, maybe not that long!)

The next idea was to purchase a conference table. Yup, you read it correctly. A super modern approach with an awesome price.

While is option is still"on the table" (sorry,couldn't resist!) I'm not totally sold. So, here's my most recent plan… I'm making a Dining Room Table!
Thanks to Ana White's blog post I really think I might be able to pull this off! This is a table that another reader made herself and it was her first woodworking project as well. She blogged about it here, and the best part is that the total cost was under $200! Amazing!

These plans look simple enough right???

Thankfully, I have some talented people in my life that I will definitely be talking to for advice and instruction along the way. I am so excited to get started and plan on starting it this weekend! I also think I might go with these chairs from Better Homes and Gardens because they're only $39.99 each and I want about 14 of them!

So, am I crazy? Have you ever attempted something totally outside of your comfort zone?

{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?

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 have another treat for you today! Meet Beth, from Free Stylin'. She is a girl after our own hearts, since she LOVES decorating with style on a budget, and is pretty darn good at it, too.: ) We had the priviledge of meeting her at Haven, and she is so sweet and bubbly! We're sure you'll love her-after reading her post today, and then head on over to her blog to check out the fun stuff she does in her neck of the woods!
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Hey East Coast Creative Fans!! My name is Beth, and I blog over at Free Stylin'. You can find all kinds of posts about"living a stylish life without the expensive pricetag!" I've been big fans of Jess and Monica's since seeing them on The Nate Berkus Show. Those girls have some talent! It was such a blessing to meet them in person last month at Haven. (And yes, they are as sweet and friendly and beautiful in person!!)

Me, Jess, Monica, and our cute friend Jamie

I was so excited when they asked me to visit with y'all about something I love to talk about…Decorating for FREE!! I am all about using what you've already got to make your space beautiful. I'm also way into projects that I can do right now. (I love instant gratification.) So today I want to show you…

5 FREE Home Decor Projects You Can Make TODAY!

Would you like a little more glamour in your bedroom? New sheet sets and pillow cases can get expensive, and if you try to save a little in price, it could cost you in comfort. BUT!! You CAN make pretty bedding pieces out of the"underutilized"; ) lingerie in the back of your closet. Choose the items that have the most material and add the satin fabric to a pillow case you already own. Or make a throw pillow using pillow fill you aren't currently using. Learn how to make your own HERE.

Trays are a decorating must-have, and they are as functional as they are decorative. A pretty tray can help complete a look, and you can make one for your home in about 15 minutes using an old cookie sheet and a piece of fabric. My tray, above, was made from a shirt I was about to give to the Goodwill. Instead I cut it up and glued it to the cookie sheet. Find out more about it HERE.

Sometimes you just need to see something in a new way. Take a piece of artwork for example. I could no longer even look at the Monet painting on our mantel. So, I sprayed the frame another color and painted my own abstract art instead. You can paint directly to the back of your artwork or buy a poster board for just pennies. See how HERE.

If you don't have paint, or can't because you rent, but you want a change today, try"wallpapering" a wall with maps or book pages or sheets of music. All you need is a stapler and some Mod Podge (or watered down glue) to seal the edges. The paper isn't permanent, but it makes a huge statement in your home. Check out how I papered my boys' bedroom HERE.

Decorating with plates is such a fun and interesting way to bring in color and shapes into a room. And don't feel like you have to limit the plates to just a dining room! Hanging plates on any wall in your house is quick and free…just raid your own kitchen cabinets! You can hang your plates with hot glue and paperclips, too. No fancy plate hangers needed. Go HERE to see how I used plates in my own living room.
I hope I've inspired you to try something new and FREE in your home today, using the items you've already got around you. It really does feel great to have a new look for nada lotta. Come stop by Free Stylin' for more tips and tricks like these.: ) Thanks SO much, Jess and Monica, for having me! Hope you're having a fun vacation!
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So much amazing inspiration in one place! I don't know about you, but I'm totally loving that abstract art she DIYed. Add that to my ever-growing list of projects! Thanks for being here, Beth!

We have another one of our Haven Conference pals visiting today! Story time: Jess and I were at Haven and noticed one of the cutest girls ever. We're talking adorable outfit, super no-fuss look, but yet perfectly put together. Then we both had a discussion about how I probably should go change my outfit because I tend to lean towards the overly casual side of fashion (what? My Phillies tee wasn't a good choice?). Anyhow, the adorable girl ended up being even cooler once we met her. Let us introduce you to Jamie!
Jamie has some awesome projects on her blog, but recently she hit a major home run with this cool kitchen organizer.

It is modern, awesome, and was featured by Design Sponge. Yup, we're talking the real-deal folks! So without further ado… Welcome to EC2 Jamie! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I blog over at C.R.A.F.T., where I Create Really Awesome (mostly) Free Things (it's a nifty little acronym) for your home (junk drawer organzier), wardrobe (pillow case skirt), kitchen (jalapeno hummus), and kids (dot painting)! I 'm super excited to be guest posting on East Coast Creative today… I met these awesome ladies in real life at Haven in July. I like them and their blog even more now: ) Today's tutorial is a great summer time craft since it is fun for kids and adults… It's a puzzle cube!

You'll need:

• wood glue
• q-tips
• paint
• wooden cubes

You can get these at Hobby Lobby or any local craft store: Here's what I did to make my cube puzzle…

Let me explain:

• Step 1: Count out 27 cubes
• Step 2: Build your 3x3 cube so you have something visual to work with…
• Step 3: Use a q-tip to carefully start gluing your cubes together. It gets kind of tricky.
• Step 4: A few times I glued only 2 cubes together so I could keep the 3x3 cube shape, and better see what I'm working with.

Now, it's time to paint… I picked an Americano theme only because those are the Plaid paints I had on hand. I don't suggest painting with q-tips… I tried since the Q-tips were out and I didn't want to dirty a paint brush… trust me on this one, it's not worth it: ) Not to mention, why I tried to paint and glue on a magazine, another dumb move… I could have at least opened the magazine up for more surface area!

I used sand paper after the cubes dried because a few pieces were clumpy. I like how it turned out. Take a few pictures like the ones below so that you can remember how the pieces go back together!

Fun and easy, right? If you like the puzzle cube, check out more C.R.A.F.T. projects to keep you and kiddos happy, entertained, and creatively inspired this summer! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks so much Jamie! I think this would look really cool as an accessory in my family room. It's functional and trendy looking. My ten year old now has a project to keep her busy this weekend! Thanks Again!