Hey RHBC Regulars! Have you ever had one of those pinch me moments? Well, today is one of those moments for us! We're guest posting over at U Create and we're crazy excited about it. So, head over to U Create, to see our post for today and of course while you're at it, check out all the fabulous stuff Kari has going on at her blog. She's totally a blog superstar, so you'll probably want to follow her blog if you don't already! Click here to go to U Create
***Oh and while you're here… We just found out that our Fabric Wallpaper project is in the Top 6 over at Not Just a Housewife. Do you mind heading over and voting for us? Thanks a million! Vote Here!
Welcome, U Create Readers! We're super glad you're here! If you want to see some of our favorite DIY projects, click on the picture below to go to our our DIY page.
If you want to know more about us, click the picture below to know the inside scoop on what being a REAL Housewife is all about around here.
Well, look around, make yourself at home and come visit us again! Thanks! ***Oh and while you're here… We just found out that our Fabric Wallpaper project is in the Top 6 over at Not Just a Housewife. If you think we're pretty okay, do you mind heading over and voting for us? Thanks a million! Vote Here!
**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!
Let's face it, with Halloween on one end and Christmas on the other, Thanksgiving often gets a raw deal. I know that when the holiday season is in full force, being intentional with projects and decor gets really hard. I find it so easy to scoot right by Thanksgiving, without a second thought, and dive right into Christmas stuff, so I decided to tackle a project that would keep my family centered and focused on being grateful throughout November. A Thankful Tree that can be reused every year!
Here's what you'll need to make your own:
Canvas (mine is 18in x 24in)
1/2 yard-3/4 yard of fabric
Spray Adhesive
Spraypaint
Mod podge (not pictured)
Baby clothespins (not pictured)
Step 1: Spraypaint the canvas in your color choice. If you want to cut back on some serious blinding glare, use a satin paint for a more matte look.
Step 2: Locate your tree image (there are tons of free clipart images listed in Google images) and enlarge it to fit your canvas. We love the engineer prints from Staples and use them all the time. Step 3: Use a sharp-edge razor to cut the tree out. Don't worry about all the little limbs, and focus on the larger ones. This seemed super daunting, but surprisingly went quickly and smoothly. I accidentally cut a branch that I wanted to keep on (doh!) but was easily able to use tape to fix it.
Step 4: Lay your image down on the backside of the fabric and trace it with a pen.
Step 5: Spray the fabric tree with spray starch and iron it to make it stiff. This makes cutting it out with scissors a piece of cake. Step 6: Center the tree on the canvas. Starting at the trunk, lift small sections and lightly spray with adhesive. Smooth out all of the bubbles from the center out to the edges. A little spray adhesive may get on the canvas where you don't need it, but that's ok. We'll be taking care of that later.
Step 7: Place stencils on your canvas and stencil away! I used Martha Stewart's self-adhering stencils which are awesome because you don't have to worry about them moving around while you stencil. (Insider secret: This project was originally posted on U-Create, so there was a deadline involved. I was actually stenciling this bad boy in the car in between a shift at work and tennis practice. Pure craziness, I tell you #cantwasteevenoneminute.)
Step 8: Mod Podge the entire canvas starting at the center of the tree and working out to the edges. This will seal the tree and make it more resistant to wear and fading. And remember that spray adhesive I mentioned before? The Mod Podge takes care of hiding that, too. Score!
It's scary at first, but dries clear!
Step 9: Spraypaint the clothespins and adhere them to the tree with hot glue.
Step 10: Print out our fun"thankful" labels on card stock (download them here) and cut them out using scissors. Have your family write what they're thankful on each of the tags and then clip them to the canvas.
Voila! You're done and are left with an adorable, re-useable canvas that will help your family focus on what's really important in the next two weeks. Plus, it's super cute, so it's a win-win!
So, that's it! I love that I can use this every year. I plan on writing the year on the back of each tag and keeping them to look through each year. I'm hoping my son won't say that he's most thankful for Cinnamon Toast Crunch every year. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aannnnnd since we've officially welcomed the holiday season here on the blog, we wanted to share something exciting with you! When we were looking around for cool Christmas vinyl options to share with you, we found very few that were modern and stylish. So, since we had several requests for the vinyl phrase we used on the front door last week, we decided to create a few just for you! A limited number of Be Merry Christmas decals are now for sale in our Etsy shop at a very reasonable price- only $8!! That's a whole lot cheaper than buying a new wreath, people. And we have a couple more coming this week, so be on the lookout. Get yours now!
The day is finally here! Submissions for Creating with the Stars are Open! We are so excited to see all of your submission projects!
This group of blog stars is pretty epic! One of them could be your new partner in crime! 1- Sherry from Young House Love 2- Whitney & Ashley from Shanty 2 Chic 3- Brooke from All Things Thrifty 4- Jane from Tatertots and Jello 5- Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chick 6- Beckie from Infarrantly Creative 7- Mandi from Vintage Revivials 8- Jamielyn from I Heart Naptime 9- Shaunna from Perfectly Imperfect 10- Beth from Home Stories A to Z 11- Kari from U Create 12- Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Let's just recap CWTS a bit and then we'll get onto the How To details!If you missed the announcement post with ALL the details, click hereYou can submit one project that shows everyone your best stuff into the linky party below. Projects must have been made October 1, 2011 or laterand must be your own work. You have until February 21st to enter your submission. From those entries, 11 will be chosen by the blog stars and us as contestants and will be randomly paired up to work one-on-one with a Blog Star, to duke it out in a four-week competition to see who's the most creative. The Star will give suggestions, ideas, encouragement, and help so you can come up with the best project possible. Each round will have a theme and the bottom three will be eliminated based on reader votes. Once the contest is started, weekly projects are anonymous, so big blogger or rookie, everyone's on the same, even playing field! Find your favorite project to link up and be prepared to put your best foot forward if you want to survive!---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How to Enter CWTS:1.Link Up your Project. Use the Linky below to submit your project entry *Reminder: Be sure to link to the actual project page, and not just your homepage. 2. Grab a Button. You need to add a link back to EC2 in your submission post. Even if it's an old post, just grab the button code below and paste it into the post.
3. Follow EC2 on Facebook. Make sure you LIKE East Coast Creative so you get all the updates and info we'll be sharing there as well. (This step is a requirement to your entry- sorry to be big, bad, rule enforcers- We promise we aren't mean!)
4. Start Spreading the Word! The first 11 contestants will be chosen by the Blog Stars and East Coast Creative, but #12 will be chosen by popularity in the link party. Get your readers to come over and give your thumbnail a click- yours could be the most viewed!! (Just don't act like some weird robot and click on your own entry a million times, that's lame-o!)
And, as if you need any more motivation to enter, we have the BEST.SPONSORS.EVER!! The 2013 CWTS Prize packages Total over $4100!! A special thanks to Homes.com, HomeGoods, HomeTalk, and Home Depot for their generous sponsorship of CWTS.nWe're so honored to have them! The Grand Prize Winners (Contestant and Blog Star) will each receive: $500 from Homes.Com $500 Gift Card to HomeGoods Project featured by HomeTalk
All contestants that make it to Week 4 will be given a $100 Giftcard to HomeGoods to use during the week 4 home decor challenge! The Semi-Finals Winner will receive: $500 Gift Card to Home Depot (Contestant & Blog Star) $100 worth of Martha Stewart supplies from Plaid Crafts $125 Gift Card to Lucent Lampworks Project featured by HomeTalk
The Week 2 Winner will receive: $100 Gift Card to Royal Design Studio A pair of $120 Robert Allen pillows from Chic Decor Pillows Project featured by HomeTalk
The Week 1 Winner will receive: $50 worth of 31 Gifts products $60 worth of Twtsted Yarn products $70 of Henle Headbands products $100 Blog Re-design from 733 Design Project featured by HomeTalk
Okay, enough talking, let's get submitting! We're so excited to have each and every one of you!! Good Luck and May the Oddsbeever in your Favor (sorry, two Hunger Games lovers here!)
We can hardly believe it, but we're in full planning mode for 2014's Season of Creating with the Stars! We had so much fun hosting the world's best DIY blogger contest last year and of course we're planning to make it BIGGER and BETTER for the upcoming year! Remember how awesome last year's winner's projects were? Sarah Dorsey has mad talent and has had a huge year of success! If you haven't checked out her blog- umm do it!
Even though CWTS won't begin until Feb. 2014, we wanted some input from all of you! Tell Us… What Blog Star would ROCK your world?
Here's last year's epic line up…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 If you could pick anyone under the sun, who would you choose to be your STAR? Let us know in a comment below, and it just might happen. We can be pretty persuasive when we want to!
PS: We have the winners of our 10K Fan Giveaway…are you ready? Grand Prize of the $200 gift card from Wayfair.com goes to Kristen Derstein! 2nd Prize that includes gifts of $50 to Royal Design Studio Stencils, $50 to Gussy Sews Shop, and $35 to Vintage Vinyl Journals goes to Carrie Summerlin! 3rd Prize that includes gifts of $50 to Frog Prince Cake & Cookie Design, a $32.00 Mila Rose Designs headband, and $100.00 to HorseFeathers Gifts goes to Priscilla! We're so happy with the results of the giveaway, a big thank you to everyone who entered and thanks again for helping us reach 10K on Facebook. Congrats to our winners, you will be contacted by email with the details.
When we opened submissions for Creating with the Stars on February 4th, we had no idea how how incredibly amazing the submissions would be. Really, we knew we'd get some good ones, but this was out of control! You guys made choosing so.incredibly.hard! We want to thank all 361 of you that took the time to enter. It has already been a great start to our first season!
Without further ado, let's get down to business… Introducing the Contestants for CWTS2013 (In no particular order)
1. Janel
#23 Boys Bedroom Makeover on a Budgetand her Blog Star is… Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl!
2. Jourdan & Ashley
#33 DIY Barndoor Headboard
and their blog star is… Beth from Home Stories A to Z!
3. Sarah
#48 80's Chandelier to Glass Mirror
and her blog star is… Brooke from All Things Thrifty!
4. Jane
#75 DIY Plank Wall
and her blog Star is… Jamielyn from I Heart Naptime!
5. Amanda & Corey
#131 Handmade Dining Room Light
and their blog star is… Beckie from Infarrantly Creative!
6. Nancy
# 137 Owen's Nursery Makeover
and her blog Star partner is… Kari from U-Create!
7. Jessica
#164 Anthro-Inspired Inventor's Bell Jar Lamp
and her star is… Mandi from Vintage Revivals!
8. Sarah
#223 Herringbone Metallic Artwork
and her blog Star is… Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chick!
9. KariAnne
#243 Shutter Wall
and her blog stars are… Ashley and Whitney from Shanty 2 Chic!
10. Nat & Holly
#281 Living Room Makeover
and their blog star is… Jane from Tatertots & Jello!
11. Ann Marie
#344 Mom Cave Makeover
and her blog star is… Shaunna from Perfectly Imperfect!
12. Melissa
#345 Bedroom Reading Corner
and her blog star is… Sherry from Young House Love!
Aren't those projects amazing? It's going to an incredible season! The first week's challenge is a fun one. Week 1: UPCYCLE
You Can Play Along with CWTS Too! Now, if we could have chosen all of you, we would have. We still want to showcase all of your talent and project. For every weekly challenge, we're going to have a link party where you can link up one of your favorite projects that fit in with the weekly theme. We'll pick our favorite project each week and we'll feature our favorite here on EC2. Get your Upcycle DIY projects ready for week one, starting next week! And we're sure don't need reminding, but just incase… we have an EPIC prize package! The 2013 CWTS Prize packages Total over $4100!! A special thanks to Homes.com, HomeGoods, HomeTalk, and Home Depot for their generous sponsorship of CWTS. We're so honored to have them!
The Grand Prize Winners (Contestant and Blog Star) will each receive: $500 from Homes.Com $500 Gift Card to HomeGoods Project featured by HomeTalk
All contestants that make it to Week 4 will be given a $100 Giftcard to HomeGoods to use during the week 4 home decor challenge!
The Semi-Finals Winner will receive: $500 Gift Card to Home Depot (Contestant & Blog Star) $100 worth of Martha Stewart supplies from Plaid Crafts $125 Gift Card to Lucent Lamp works Project featured by HomeTalk
The Week 2 Winner will receive: $100 Gift Card to Royal Design Studio A pair of $120 Robert Allen pillows from Chic Decor Pillows Project featured by HomeTalk
The Week 1 Winner will receive: $50 worth of 31 Gifts products $60 worth of Twysted Yarn products $70 of Henle Headbands products $100 Blog Re-design from 733 Design Project featured by HomeTalk
We've been so fortunate to have been featured on some pretty great blogs and websites, but there are a few totally awesome blogs/bloggers who have been major players in our continuing growth.
We've shared our love of Pinterest on more than one occasion and Monica even created a how-to video about it, but now we love it even more. U-Create, Vintage Revivals and Home Stories of A to Z were so good to us rookie bloggers. We hope we can pass the blog love forward to other small blogs just trying to grow in the same way they've helped us. And you already know how we feel about The Nate Show. So, from the bottom of our hearts, thanks blogging friends! We appreciate you.: ) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now, to cap off our Giveaways Galore Week, we have an unbelieveable giveaway for you!
We both have been thrilled with our stencils from Royal Design Studio (you can see my kitchen here, and Monica's wall panels here), but there are endless possibilities and choices for you at Royal Design Studio. Just check out these beauties:
{Swoon} Ok, time for the details on how to win: The Prize is a $75 Shopping Spree on Royal Design Studio. (Includes free shipping within the continental U.S.) All entries must be submitted by 11:59pm on February 26, 2012. Winner will be announced on February 27, 2012. 1. To enter, go to the Royal Design Studio website, pick your favorite stencil and comment with your pick. 2. Extra chances to enter by"liking" the RDS Facebook fan page and/or following them on Twitter and/or following them on Pinterest and commenting so on this post. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And finally, the winners from yesterday's giveaways: Scentsy
My Best Friend's Hair
Kotton Pickin' Kute
Congratulations! Email us to claim your prizes, girls! Thanks for celebrating our one year blogiversary with us this week. It's been fun.: )
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