My Creative Blog [Search results for Premiere] 

Last Sunday night we gathered together with 200 of our family, friends, crew, and blog readers to celebrate the premiere episode of our new show Knock It Off. (To watch full episodes online, click HERE. To see all the projects featured on the show click HERE)

To say the party was awesome would be the understatement of the year! We know many of you (our amazing readers) live far away, so we wanted to share our night with you!

A huge thanks to Nicole from Expressions by Nicole Marie for doing all the photography for the night. She's a Philadelphia area photographer. Check out her website to see more of her work.

The dessert table was by far our favorite thing ever! Linda (more explanation on her later) put this together and it reflected us perfectly!

Paint cans, paint sticks, adorable chalkboards, and mini tools captured our DIY theme perfectly.

Yes, Linda made all of the desserts including the tool cookies. They were a huge hit!

Who knew paint sticks could be so perfect as food labels? She dipped the end in paint and then stamped on them. This would also be a great idea for an art themed birthday party!

The tools were plastic and spray painted silver to accessorize the table.

Every little detail was thought of- look at the mini Jess and Monica!! Janeny from Craft that Party made the adorable peg dolls with Knock It Off on them. They made adorable cake toppers! Janeny does all kinds of custom peg dolls that are crazy cute!

Check out the centerpieces… quart-sized paint cans filled with custom Knock It Off lollypops from Vintage Confections. The tool keychains were our little party favors- I think my kids thought the tools were the coolest thing ever!

Jess and I were at the main entrance to greet all of our guests (which was super fun to meet so many readers!!), then everyone got appetizers and dessert and finally it was time to watch the premiere. And what's a premiere without popcorn?

Linda used some paint swatches (with permission of course) to make a garland for the popcorn table.

And now, who is this Linda woman you ask?? She is a blog reader we met and got to know by doing a Knock It Off episode at her home- check her out in an upcoming kitchen episode!
Linda owns Frog Prince Cake and Cookie Design and she also helps with party planning.

Linda is SO talented and we can't thank her enough for all her hard work. She thought of every detail and pulled everything off with perfect planning! If you have an event coming up and need amazing desserts or even help planning contact Linda! Also, be sure to LIKE her on Facebook and check out all of her awesome creations!

Check back on Monday when we're going to post on the decor of the party and where you can find all the fun items Linda used!

We also had a mini-Red Carpet leading to a Knock It Off Photo booth. The KIO logo decals came from Ten23 Designs- they do stock and custom design vinyl.

We're so happy that we have so many fun pics of our guests! Check out this weekend's episode to see this fun couple's bedroom transformation!

This couple were the stars of the premiere episode- they loved their dining room->playroom transformation! Plus, they're adorable!

Cute couple alert! Jess and Kev!

Me and my boys… (an no my hair isn't red, just looks like it in this light)

Baby brothers are always good for an extremely weird picture!

We're so thankful for fun, strong, supportive women in our lives!

Have we mentioned we have the BEST sponsors ever? This is Nancy from Bare Root Design Studio- We'll be sharing more about all the fun giveaways in another post.

And of course, we wouldn't want to be on this crazy journey with anyone else. Doing what we love and getting to do it together is the coolest thing ever!

We hope you're enjoying the show- if you've gotten a chance to check it out, we'd love to know what you think! Feel free to email us, leave a comment, or post on Facebook!

Wow, here we are just 2 years after we started East Coast Creative and we're celebrating 10,000 fans on Facebook! It has been quite a ride for us, from working with The Nate Show to now filming our own TV show Knock it Off! Honestly, we never could have imagined any of this and we couldn't have done any of it without the support of our amazing followers!
To celebrate and thank all of you, we put together a pretty fantastic giveaway. We wish we could give each and every one of you a prize, but in the end there will only be three winners. Bummer, but awesome at the same time!
The grand prize winner will receive a $200 gift card to Wayfair.com.

Whether you need a new bedroom set, coffee table, or a few picture frames, chances are Wayfair.com has what you're looking for. (I just ordered awesome wallpaper and can't wait for it to arrive!) They also have Halloween decor if you're still looking for fun ways to decorate, plus you can get a head start on your Christmas decor shopping as well! Be sure to enter below for your chance at winning a $200 gift card to Wayfair if you're in the market for new home decor.

The second winner will receive $50 to Royal Design Studio Stencils (you know how we love RDS stencils!), $50 to Gussy Sews Shop, and $35 to Vintage Vinyl Journals.

After receiving great feedback on the colorful stenciled accent wall we did on an episode of Knock it Off, we thought a Royal Design Studio Stencils gift card would be perfect for our readers. If you win you'll be able to create you're own accent wall, now don't forget to come back and share your design with us!
At Gussy Sews Shop you'll find an array of adorable handmade tote bags, diaper bags, zip pouches that are great for your makeup and sunglasses and crocheted infinity cowl scarves like the one seen here. Be sure to follow along on Gussy's blog for new product, sales, and a behind the scenes look at her busy, but inspirational life that includes her hubby and adorable baby boy.

Do you have a bunch of unplayable vinyl records just sitting around? Well, local Pennsylvania artist Katie, over at Vintage Vinyl Journals, figured out how to repurpose her scratched collection and turned them into something creative and useful again. She has classics like Sinatra, Elvis, and the Beatles, but can also customize gifts if you're looking for newer artists like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, or Beyonce. Stop by her site for updates on new journals as well as local shows she'll be selling at.

Last, but certainly not least, the third winner will receive $50 to Frog Prince Cake & Cookie Design (she did all the desserts for our KIO Premiere Party!), a Mila Rose Designs headband that sells for $32.00, and $100 to HorseFeathers Gifts!

Remember Linda from Frog Prince Cake & Cookie Design, who made these amazing mini tool cookies for our premiere party and you might recognize her from an episode of Knock it Off — that's where we met her! Well, now she will make customized cookies for you if you win the $50 gift card to her cake and cookie shop! Please note, she is asking for 4 weeks notice on any order.
Can you believe this cute floral headband from Mila Rose Designs is handmade? Melis has a beautiful collection of headbands, turbands, bows and more. She is currently running a sale for the month of October for Breast Cancer Awareness on a selection of pink bands and head scarves with 20% of the proceeds going to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
Whether your country chic or just looking for accessories that inspire you, HorseFeathers Gifts has what you're looking for. They are a mother daughter duo who hand create all of their unique designs and feature a selection of jewelry that gives back to amazing charities. My two daughters are crazy about these bracelets!
We can't thank you enough for all of your support, from the very beginning days of our blog to now watching our TV show. We appreciate every comment, email, and like! Enter below for your chance to be one of three lucky winners, each will be selected randomly.

One thing to remember with Rafflecopter… you have to do each entry task before you can click the green button to earn the entry. Clicking the button doesn't LIKE the page for you. And we're super excited about some new IG followers, so be sure to get that extra entry!! Thanks!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Typographic Gift Wrap

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

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

So, if you haven't heard (which is very unlikely because, let's face it, we're pretty excited about it and have been shouting it from the rooftops), we are working on our very own TV show for the Live Well Network! If you're not familiar with LWN, don't worry, you will be soon!! The team behind LWN is amazing and they're putting together so many cool, new shows!! Make sure to check your local listings for The Live Well Network- it's a national network, so even if you don't have cable, you can still watch it!

Anyhow, once we heard our official air date (which is only a month away!), we got to thinking that we couldn't let this momentous occasion pass by without a little celebration! So… we're having a big, ol' party!

And you know what? We want you to come! We recognize that not all of you live in our neck of the woods, and we'll totally recap the party for you here, but for those of you who live in the area, we would LOVE to meet you, give you a glimpse of what our show is all about, and of course, eat lots of good food! We're even going to have a few fun giveaways that you won't want to miss!



Here are all the details you need to know: Who: Well…us and you. Duh. What: A super fun party to celebrate our new show, Knock it Off! When: Sunday, July 7th from 6:00-8:00 PM Where: Mr. B's Cafe (Calvary Church of Souderton) Rt.113, Souderton, Pa 18964
We just ask one thing: would you let us know if you're planning on coming by Sunday, June 30th? You can RSVP by using the form below. Due to the nature of this party, we're asking that you leave any kiddos under the age of 10 at home. Thanks!

C'mon, don't you want to hang out with us?!! We are so psyched and want to share this big event with you- Seriously, we wouldn't even have our own show without this blog and all of you!
We really hope to see you there!
PS- A HUGE special thanks to Linda from Frog Prince Cake & Cookie design who is taking the lead in making sure this party is the coolest! Thanks Linda! If you haven't checked her out, head over to Facebook now and give her some LIKE love!

When Jess and I saw this tiny galley kitchen, we knew we had to help! It's the kind of space that most people on a budget would call"hopeless" because it's really, really tiny and everything was dated. Thankfully, we really love a challenge, so we headed to Matt and Linda's to give them a colorful kitchen renovation for under $1200! To watch this full episode online, click HERE.

Matt and Linda are a great couple and this kitchen makeover meant a lot to them because they have a family of four using the kitchen, but also because Linda owns her own baking business out of their home.

She was the one responsible for all of the amazing desserts and decor at our premiere party. If you're local and in need of any desserts, you have to check her out. Frog Prince Cake & Cookie Design

Take a peek at these before pictures… does this look like a kitchen for a woman that spends a ton of a time cooking and baking?

Two things made the biggest difference in this space… Paint & Opening up the wall. Here's a rundown of all the changes we made to this space.

Painted Cabinets, Counters, & Appliances Paint is one of the least expensive and high impact things you can do to a space. We painted the cabinets a crisp, semi-gloss white and added new hardware. The counters were painted using a Rustoleum paint just for laminate. The appliances we coated with a stainless steel appliance spray paint. We'll give you the full rundown later this week. Flooring- The flooring project we did in this space could be one of my favorite DIYs of 2013 so far! I can't believe how amazing the effect was! We'll share all the details later this week on the blog, but who would have imagined that peel and stick vinyl tile could look this amazing!

Faux Subway Tile Renovating an entire kitchen for $1200 is tricky, so rather than installing subway tile we painted it! It took a LONG time, and I might have gotten a few grey hairs in the process, but it looked amazing in the end! (Full tutorial coming this week!)

Opening the Kitchen Wall This kitchen is tiny and we couldn't change the footprint, but we wanted it to feel bigger and less closed off from the rest of the house, so we removed the top half of the left wall. Instantly, the kitchen seemed twice the size!

Add Open Shelving Once the wall was down, we really didn't want to put the cabinets back up, because it would make the space seem closed off again. Instead, we purchased inexpensive Ikea floating shelves and displayed their dishes added lots of fun colorful accessories.

Create Additional Workspace We never like to waste anything, so rather than just getting rid of the cabinets we removed, we used them as base cabinets in the dining room. All we had to do was build a counter using inexpensive pine, and for almost no cost, we created a huge workspace and kept all of their storage!

Lighting and Window Mirror We added a fun pendant light and backed an old window with a mirror to add more light to the room. We love using old windows to decorate a space. This really helped make this tiny space feel larger!

DIY Bake Marquee Sign This was Linda's favorite project in the space. It was really simple to make, but added such a fun pop to the room! Jess will be back with the full tutorial later this week!

Fun Accessories Of course we added lots accessories to complete the space. We don't have a full source list, but most of the items were from Homegoods and Ikea! We really keep our eyes open for clearance and sale items!

This kitchen took a lot of hard work. All of the projects saved us big time budget-wise, but required some serious (wo)man hours. We were SO excited with how it turned out and actually, we were even more excited with how happy the homeowners were!

Our first Knock It Off kitchen renovation was a huge success and we can't wait to tackle another one! Kitchens are usually the most expensive rooms in a home, and to think we did an entire kitchen and dining room for about the cost some people spend just on countertops alone makes us pretty sure that Knocking It Off was the best route to go!!
Check back later this week for all of the tutorials! To watch this full episode online, click HERE.

We've been doing some rearranging in our home the last few weeks. Charlie's room is in the process of getting a big boy room makeover (pics of that coming soon!) and we decided to build a bedroom in the basement for our new little guy coming this Fall. I even put a sneak peek of the space all cleaned out up on Instagram (@jess_ec2blog) a few weeks ago.

Some people might think it strange that we're going to put the baby in the basement, but we thought it through and decided this was the best and easiest decision for us in the long run. We have a three bedroom, cape cod-style house, so our master bedroom is on the main floor and the kid's bedrooms are upstairs. Rather than move the kids out of their bedrooms and into one (which would have been fine, just tricky with naptimes), we decided that building a room in the basement made sense, since either way, we'd be a whole floor away from the baby anyway. The last time anything was done to this part of the basement was for our first appearance on The Nate Show, when Monica gave it a nautical makeover using stuff from Nate's Crate.

Then, two years and a whole lotta toys later, it looked like this:

Just keepin' it real, folks,: ;)
Since the basement is already finished, all we need to do is construct a wall in the middle of the room and build a small closet. The other half of this side of the basement is pretty much staying as is, except that we're going to tear down the bar that is impossible to get behind and that takes up a lot of space (we'll get to that when we get to that, you know?)

My hubs and his dad got to work this past Saturday building the wall. I was filming all day, so I apologize for the pictures! And oh yeah, this is not a how-to-build-a-wall tutorial- there are tons of them online. I just wanted to show you our progress!

We decided to use metal framing because we had read and heard that it might be easier to install into the concrete and to attach to the drop ceiling frame. Turns out it's a bit more expensive than using regular 2x4's., but did the job pretty well, as expected.

Woohoo- it's coming together!

This is the view from the inside of the new room looking out towards the new wall. It's a pretty decent-sized space! Since this picture was taken, all of the drywall has been hung and is waiting to be spackled and sanded.

My favorite part of this space is the faux-built-in's. I can't wait to decorate these and make them useful for baby boy!

I'll keep you posted on the progress in this room as it happens. I'm hoping to have my hubs finish up the construction part and start painting in the next week or so. UPDATE: Several people have asked about the window situation down in the basement. Unfortunately, both tiny windows are on the other side of the wall. Our house was built before it was required to have an egress window in a finished basement,but we have plans to add an egress for safety reasons, anyway. We're just taking it one step at a time for now, especially since that's such a big project! Until then, anyone have any favorite places to buy cute, inexpensive baby bedding? I, of course, fell in love with this bedding on Etsy that is just more than I want to spend! Boooo.

I'm so excited about this space! Have you ever made drastic changes to your house when expecting a baby?Am I the only one?

PS- Did you see the invite to our premiere party? We want YOU to join us! Click here for all the info!

PSS- Don't forget to enter to win $400 in Ryobi Tools, just in time for Father's Day! Click HERE to enter!

This spring the Mangin family (that's us) decided to plant a garden! I grew up with my dad having a huge garden and I have fond memories of weeding it, going out to cut swiss chard before dinner, harvesting squash, and I'm 100% sure I hated every second of those chores as a kid. LOL Isn't it funny how we can tweak our memories over time! So we planted a medium sized garden and so far- so good! One thing I really wanted to try was potatoes!! I went to our local Agway and they were super helpful in teaching me all about growing spuds! Today I'm gonna share what I learned!

So, first things first… did you know potatoes don't grow down into the ground?? That's right, they actually grow UP! What the What?? I was seriously confused and shocked by that info! It was recommended that for a potato rookie like me, that I try a potato container garden first. You can use a plain, plastic trash barrel, but I had a metal bucket on hand. Any container that's a few feet deep will do.

Since my container wasn't intended for plants, I drilled some holes for drainage…

Next, I ripped up some old newspapers and put them at the bottom. Potatoes like really damp soil, so the paper will help retain the moisture better!

I bought Yukon Gold potatoes because they're my very favorite for mashed potatoes. Did you know that mashed potatoes are in my top 3 favorite foods??? Yup! And it was always was a tell-tale sign when I was preggers because I would want potatoes 24-7! One time we hadn't told Eric's parents yet that we were expecting baby #2, but I went and ordered Baked potato soup, mashed potatoes, and a baked potato for dinner at a restaurant. Ha! I think it was a tad obvious!

If you want to grow potatoes, you can't just use store bought ones- they can introduce disease to your whole crop. You have to buy seed potatoes (you can use store bought ones and grow your own slips, but it's super complicated sounding and seed potatoes cost like a buck!)

Add 2 inches of dirt on top of your paper- potatoes like really loose soil, so don't use hard rocky stuff. Each potato should have some eyes and you'll want to plant them with eyes facing up! My spuds had really sensitive eyes, so I loaned them my shades. (#cheeseballblogger)

Layer another 2-3 inches of loose soil over your potatoes and you're done… for now…

Your potatoes will begin to grow and once your shoots are about 3 inches tall, you'll add more dirt to cover them up again. I told Kira and Callen it's like potato hide and seek. They helped me plant these and we're excitedly waiting for our little shoots to be tall enough to"hide" them again!
So, if my pals at Agway are right, later in the season we'll be harvesting our first potato crop! This was such a fun and quick project that the kids and I had a blast doing. I definitely recommend giving it a whirl!
Have you ever planted spuds? Any potato lovers like me out there?

PS- Did you see the invite to our premiere party? We want YOU to join us! Click here for all the info!

PSS- Don't forget to enter to win $400 in Ryobi Tools, just in time for Father's Day! Click HERE to enter!

Remember that time that we were invited by that cutie Nate Berkus to be a part of one episode on his show?

Remember how we loved working with Nate and were so flattered when he invited us back for 3 more episodes?

Well those amazing experiences helped us realize a few things… 1- We love a good DIY challenge 2- We really enjoyed being part of a TV show 3- People said we're not half bad at it
We are crazy, over the moon, still can't believe it ourselves, excited to announce that starting July 2013 we'll be the hosts of our very own DIY Show!!!

We're so glad that we can finally tell all of you! This has been such a hard secret to keep!
So here's the deal… Our show is called,"Knock It Off" and we get to do exactly what we love… Get high end looks and amazing style without spending a fortune!! We're going to help viewers"knock off" those pricey styles the DIY way! Being on a show is great, but having a network believe in you enough to create an entire show around you is beyond amazing! We've noticed a bit of a trend in home shows… it's all huge makeovers with enormous budgets- fun to watch, but not something most people (including us) can do in their own homes. Knock It Off is the home show for REAL people- people with a budget- people who want to have an amazing home, but not break the bank- people that love simple, creative ideas- people like YOU!!

We'll have tons more details to share as our premiere gets closer, but for now, here are a few details What: Knock It Off Where: Live Well Network (ABC/Disney) When: Starting July 7, 2013 Make sure to check your local listings for The Live Well Network- it's a national network. If you're not familiar with LWN, don't worry, you will be soon!! The team behind LWN is amazing and they're putting together so many cool, new shows! They just premiered a new vacation rental show called"Sweet Retreats" and we're loving it!

As we get further into the show, we'll be sure to fill you in on some fun behind the scenes peeks. We love our crew and it has been a blast to work with them!

Our official Knock It Off Facebook page is live we're ready for followers!! Of course our regular EC2 page will still be active, but if you want sneak peeks, exclusive show content projects and more, be sure to LIKE our Knock It Off page!
Also, we'd be so thrilled if you'd help us spread the word! We want the world to know that Knock It Off is coming soon!! Thanks!We're sure you guys have some questions about the show, how it all went down, and more and we'd be super happy to answer them!! Leave a comment below. Thanks so much for taking this amazing journey with us! We are beyond excited and hope we make you all proud!!

PS- We'll still be posting regularly here on EC2, but don't panic if you see a tiny slow down. Monica is still working full-time teaching, so we do all of our Knock It Off work on the weekends. Our pace is a little intense until summer, but we're so excited about it all, that we hardly notice!! We have plenty of fun posts planned for the next two months!! PSS- The design team is working on the show graphics and we can't wait to be able to share those with all of you too!! Make sure you've liked the FB page so you'll know as soon as it's ready!!