The last one started school this morning.

And, what did I do with 2 hours to myself?

Had a chocolate donut and a Diet Coke.

Took a load to DI and dropped off some clothes to a friend.

Got gas.

Went to the carwash.

Listened to whatever I wanted on the radio.

A girl could get used to this.

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My kids went back to school this week.

One started Monday.

One started Tuesday.

And, one started Wednesday.

The littlest one starts preschool next week.  And, for the first time in TWELVE YEARS, I will be kid-less for a couple of hours 3 times a week.  HOLY.  CRAP.

Whatever shall I do?

Have your kids gone back?

Do you take first day pictures?

Have other traditions?

I’d love to hear about them!

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The Silhouette CAMEO winner is Emily M.  If you are Emily M, check your email and spam and get back to me ASAP!

If you didn’t win, and you need to get your hands on a CAMEO and/or some vinyl, the promos below run through today.

GO HERE for the CAMEO + vinyl bundle.

GO HERE for Silhouette’s vinyl selection.

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It’s been 2 full years since the debut of my tiered skirt tutorial.  But, last week in Omaha, my niece needed a little somethin’ somethin’ to wear to her birthday bash.  What do you make for a girl who requested a Cars cake for her 3rd birthday?

A Cars skirt, of course.  If you’re a beginner sewist (we don’t say sewer, remember?), this is a good one to try.  I was at Hobby Lobby buying fabric shortly after they opened at 9 and this skirt was being worn before noon.  And the total cost including elastic and tax?  $6.47.

Have you made my tiered skirt?  I’d love to see it!

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This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Astrobrights Papers by Neenah Paper for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Are your kids back in school yet?

For the first time in 12 years, ALL of my kids will be in school…at least for 2 hours 3 times a week. (Hey, I take what I can get!)

But in the mean time, we’ve still got another 2.5 weeks of summer.

The fighting has reached epic proportions.

So, when AstroBrights Paper asked me to participate in the “Make Something Astrobright” design challenge, I jumped at the chance.  We needed a little something to cure the end of summer blues around here.

If you’re not familiar, AstroBrights Papers comes in 23 BRIGHT colors.  And if you know me, you know I love me some color.  (Aqua piano, anyone?)  I decided that the paper AstroBrights sent would be perfect for some origami.  My kids LOVE origami.  You will often find one or more of them making a swan out of the program at church (at least it’s quiet?).  I think we’ve checked out/purchased/borrowed at least 10 different books.  There are are a million videos on YouTube, too.

For this project, we (and by “we” I mean “Macy”) decided that we were going to make a lily.  She already knew how to make one and I was going to take pics and tutorialize, but then I found this origami lily tutorial and decided to just direct you there.

And now you see why.  

So, my kids folded up an assortment of lilies in fun AstroBrights Paper colors.

Then, we decided to make a bouquet for the teacher for the first day of school.

You’ll need: 
an assortment of origami lilies in AstroBrights Papers colors 
cheap pens 
floral tape

Snipe a tiny piece of the bottom of each flower.

Stick the pen inside the lily and out the hole in the bottom.

Grab your floral tape

and start wrapping at the base of the flower.

You’re going to want to wrap 4 or 5 times tightly and then start working your way down the pen.

Once you get to the point of the pen, wrap your way back up.

Finish off with a few more tight wraps around the base of the flower and then hand your teacher a bouquet of Astrobright delight to do a little first day of school kissing up.

AstroBrights is also offering all of you a chance to win a cash prize and school supplies valued at $30,000 for the school of your choice (K-8), plus a $500 gift card for yourself, in the "Give a Brighter Year" sweepstakes.  Nice!

Head on over to Astrobrights on Facebook to enter.  Or, if you don’t really like free stuff (you’re dead to me), you can just check out a bunch of other fun things to do with paper.

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This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Famous Footwear for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Do you have this many feet that need new shoes?

I do.

And by “need” I mean that the girl child wore a size 8 when I bought her shoes in February and the sandals she bought last weekend were size 10.  (Let’s not even talk about the time that she missed the Presidential Fitness 1 mile run time by 2 seconds and we discovered that her running shoes were a size 7.5 and when she ran it in some size 9’s a week later, she shaved 30+ seconds off that time.  Mother of the year?  Char Coester.  )

Yes, this is a sponsored post.  BUT, I agreed to do it because it’s somewhere I regularly shop and a deal that I’m going to use myself.

I know how expensive back to school shopping can be (times 4).

I know what it’s like to drag 4 kids around the mall trying to find stuff that fits.

I know how frustrating it is to buy shoes that you think are a good deal and have them fall apart a month or two later.

I know how bad the whining gets about wanting “cool” shoes.

I know the feeling of trying to cram your kid’s foot into the shoes that fit fine last month.

I get it.  Oh do I get it!

So, that’s why I’m sharing.

Now through August 18th, Famous Footwear has BOGO 1/2 off PLUS 15% off (and, if you join Famous Footwear Rewards, it bumps it up to 20% off).  Just print this coupon to take advantage of the savings.

BOGO + 15% off Famous Footwear Coupon

I swear to you that Famous Footwear Rewards IS NOT one of those annoying rewards programs that sends you spam every 10 minutes.  I’ve been a member for a couple of years now and all I ever get are rewards certificates and occasional coupons.  See?

You earn 1 point for every $1 you spend (in store or online) and can earn up to $100 back every year.  You also get a discount offer just for signing up (and remember that extra 5% off) and other discounts and perks.

So, I’ll see you there.  One store with shoes cool enough for my 12 year old (hint: her beloved Chuck Taylors) and sizes to fit everyone?  You can’t beat that.

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<90 days
5 local bloggers
1 designer

*sigh*

It’s beautiful.

This corner:

Went from this:

To this:

As this posts, I’ll be at the big reveal party.  Because there were a limited number of spots and because many of you are not local, we’re sharing it with you at the same time.

Come on in!

To the right we have the office, done by the fabulous Jen of tatertots & jello.  The details and how to’s for all of her projects will be on her site.

To the left is the formal living room, courtesy of designer extraordinaire (notice how I didn’t use “”, Brian?) Brian Clark.

And on the wall you can’t see, there’s a delightful family tree project that Jen and I got to help him execute.  We’ll talk more about that later (like next week…this post is going to be 8000 miles long as is).

Let’s go down the hall.

That delightful barn door and the mudroom just beyond it are the work of Amy from The Idea Room.  She’ll be sharing the details of her projects over there in the coming days.

And further down the hall, you’re greeted with the family room (on your left) and the kitchen (on your right) which are both the work of designer Brian Clark.

And just around the corner there in the kitchen is the dining area, featuring a pantry of epic proportions, by none other than Shelley from House of Smiths.

Upstairs is where things start to get crazy on account of me and Lara from Less Cake {more frosting} being on the case.

In no particular order, we worked on a nursery, a boy’s room, and a room inspired by the Make-A-Wish Foundation wish of a local girl who kicked cancer’s butt.

Lara and I will get into the details of our projects in the coming days/weeks, but here’s a look at our rooms.

The Nursery

(Crib from a reader and rehabbed by me, bedding sewed by me, art made by me with some design assistance from Lara, curtains modified by me)

(Freezer paper stenciled pillow, cut with my Silhouette CAMEO, pom pom trim from Pick Your Plum)

(Changing table purchased use for $20, rehabbed by me, broken board replaced, mis-matched shelves covered)

The Boy’s Room

(Valance and sham by me, duvet modifications by Lara, headboard by me, art by designer)

The Make-A-Wish Room

Ciearra’s wish was to go to New York and be a fashion model.  This room incorporates her dream and her favorite color…purple.  Brian also included pops of lime green, which is the color for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (the type of cancer Ciearra had).  You’ll find the word “courage” a few different places in the room.  This is in honor of Ciearra’s courage fighting cancer.  Any girl brave enough to walk into her first day of junior high 2 weeks late with no hair gets 1,000,000 courage points from me.

(Headboard by Lara, art above headboard by Lara, photos above desk from Ciearra’s photo shoot with Nigel Barker)

(One of the images from Ciearra’s photo shoot was abstracted and then painted tone on tone on the wall)

In addition to the kids’ rooms, upstairs you will find the laundry room, also by Amy of The Idea Room,

and the master bedroom by designer Brian Clark.

I love his non-traditional take on board and batten.

The yard was designed by our friend Cynthia Bee over at the Conservation Garden Park and includes some fun expected touches like an arbor made from old doors

and a hanging daybed with a magazine holder made from a basket.

Thanks for coming on the tour.  This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I loved every second of it.  Who gets to do this with some of their favorite people on Earth???

If you have any questions, I’ll do my best to answer.

See you soon with details on some of my projects!

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If you remember from last month’s post, my deck is trying to secede from the union (aka my house).

I wish I could tell you that we had that situation all under control, but the reality is that my new deck is still in my driveway.

We had to order the color of decking that I wanted and then there was a delivery scheduling issue.  So, by the time it arrived I was way too in the middle of the DIY Blogger House projects/set up to be of any deck reconstruction help.  (I did, however, use 10 cans of Valspar spray paint on the crib and changing table for the house…that counts for something, right?)

So, I put BC in charge of “making our outside space more appealing, more fun and more memorable”, like Lowe’s had challenged me to do.

Because he’s a dude, that involved food.

His dad had one of these delivered to us recently:

So, BC headed to Lowe’s and picked up some lump charcoal (I don’t know what that is)

and some wood chips

and he got to grilling.

I’m going to share my favorite rib rub recipe (say that 10 times fast) with you.

1 T chili powder
1 t cumin
2 T brown sugar
1/2 t cayenne
2 t kosher salt
1 t pepper

Rub into baby back ribs really well (this is enough for 1 or 2 racks, I double it if we’re doing 3 racks)and then put them on a cookie sheet and cover with foil.  I bake at 275 for about 2.5 hours or longer…whatever.  You really can’t go wrong if you cook them low and slow.

After they’re done baking, cut the racks into serving size pieces (2 or 3 ribs) and slather with your favorite BBQ sauce.  We like Sweet Baby Ray’s.  Grill outdoors for a few minutes per side to get them nice and sticky and caramelized.  Mmmm!

Another family favorite this summer has been flank steak cooked on an oak plank (also from Lowe’s) sliced thin on a salad with Chunky Bleu Cheese Olive Oil Vinaigrette dressing from Bolthouse Farms.

What have I been doing during all of this?

(That chair is also from Lowe’s.  They’re under $20 and I may have purchased 4 of them.  They’ll go on the deck once it’s not falling off the house. )

Do you grill?

Charcoal or gas?

Have a favorite recipe you’d like to share?

And while you’re drooling and/or waiting for the grill to heat up, head on over for your FREE Subscription to Lowe’s Creative Ideas Magazine:

Or, check out the Lowe’s Creative Idea’s app (also free)!  I have it on my iPhone and it’s delightful!

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The nice folks at Silhouette sent me some fabric interfacing to play with this month.

And, since we’re back in the thick of football season,

I decided that Keller needed a new pillow for the reading chair in his room.

The pillow cover came from Dollar Tree.  I had never seen them before and have never seen them since, but that one day….it was magical. 

I cut out a helmet shape (from the Silhouette Online Store) on some navy fabric backed with the sewable fabric interfacing with my CAMEO.

Then, I traced the high school logo in the Silhouette Studio software

and cut it out of green flocked heat transfer.

I ironed the helmet to the pillow cover and then the logo to the helmet and stitched the helmet to the pillow cover.

Result?

Cute, right?

Wait.  You don’t call boy stuff cute.

Tough, right?

And, just a reminder that Tuesday the 31st is the last day to take advantage of the currently Silhouette promotion:

Go HERE and use code “CRAP” to take advantage of either deal.

Some of you have emailed about the fabric blades showing as not available…that’s just the single ones for now.  They are DEFINITELY still available in the bundles.

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Dudes.  Highlight of the summer, for sure.

Are you a giant dork too?

Do you need to make your own “Diamond Girl” shirt?

You’re in luck.  I’ve uploaded my Neil Diamond cut file for Silhouette for your own use.

Go here to enjoy that for yourself.

(The rhinestone portion of the design is not included.  That needs to be purchased from Silhouette.  That alphabet comes free with your rhinestone starter kit.)

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