Winner #1
#9, Mandi @ CRUSH
Winner #2
#5, Lisa
Winner #3
#38, kelly
SHOOT ME AN EMAIL ASAP ([email protected]) WITH YOUR MAILING ADDRESS SO KIRSTEN CAN GET THE PATTERNS IN THE MAIL!
Feature Friday
March 11, 2011 By 7 Comments
There’s no Flickr or Facebook involved this week. There is, however, FrogTape. Maybe I should have called it FrogTape Feature Friday? Too late. 
Sara (who is blog-less) emailed me after I posted about how I painted this mural with pretty much no artistic talent whatsoever and some FrogTape.
Sara took this $5 dresser (jealous…I never find anything that good for $5)
added some FrogTape
and turned it into this:
Thanks for sharing, Sara!
Friday features usually come from the Flickr group or Facebook page but feel free to email me ([email protected]) like Sara did, too!
Giveaway: GiftCardRescue
March 10, 2011 By 234 Comments
Hey there! Happy Thursday! You’ll be glad to know that I can actually stand fully upright today. Woo! I’m looking forward to a long and (hopefully) productive weekend with the kids, who have no school tomorrow. If you haven’t already, go enter to win one of 3 pillow patterns from my neighbor Kirsten. That puppy could close down at any second!
Have you heard about GiftCardRescue?
The premise is simple…you sell your unwanted gift cards and get cash in return (or an Amazon credit, if you’d rather, get all the details here). This idea really appeals to me.
Why?
I seriously just pulled all of those out of my wallet.
Yikes.
Some of them have been there for three or four a couple of years.
And the best part about GiftCardRescue? Many of the cards sell for up to 30% off face value!
So, what’s in it for you?
A $50 credit to GiftCardRescue, that’s what! Cool, right? $50 to pretty much anywhere!
TO ENTER:
Click on over to check out GiftCardRescue’s inventory. Have a look around. (Seriously…click over and look at their list. I see some people posting stuff that’s in my picture and NOT on GiftCardRescue at all. They’re offering you $50! You can make one click, right?) See which card looks the best to you. Come back and leave a comment ON THIS POST (not on Facebook or in response to your email subscription) saying what card you’d get with your credit.
Giveaway is open to US residents only and will run through the weekend.
Giveaway: LUCKY Pillow Pattern X 3 !!!
March 9, 2011 By 76 Comments
I’m glad relieved so many of you have craft room issues, too! I swear to you I’ll finish, but not today. My back’s out and even pushing the accelerator to drive my kid to preschool made me wince and curse.
So, Neighbor Kirsten to the rescue!
I’ve mentioned before that some of the best women on Earth live in my neighborhood, right? Remember when I was on TV and a whole bunch of them showed up wearing “CRAPPY FRIEND” shirts?
Pretty great, right?
I want you to meet another one of my neighbors!
This is Kirsten:
The one on the right…obviously. 
Aside from being one of the happiest and most pleasant people I’ve ever had the privilege of meeting and a SUPER mom of 5, she’s INSANELY talented! Her kitchen cabinets are green and her piano is red. She LOVES fabric and is “semi new-ish” to designing patterns. She also works a little at her (and my) favorite quilt shop, Material Girls, to get her fabric fix in.
Want to see some of her stuff? Of course you do!
And, my personal favorite, her Mongo bag:
I’m leaving this next part in Kirsten’s own words, because it makes me giggle:
I’m giving away 3 “Lucky” burlap pillow patterns (a greenishly embellished burlap pillow, to be exact)–it is a fun and festive pillow that uses burlap, green fabric scraps, torn cream satin, a variety of green buttons, a big blingy dangling gem, and my favorite ginormous green pom-pom trim. (Any excuse to use what may be the best fabric of all time, the Amy Butler geen dot, has got to be a good thing.)
Kirsten is giving away THREE patterns to make her LUCKY pillow.
These are actual paper patterns, which will be mailed to you. So, for that reason we’re keeping it brief (actual giveaway end date will be plugged in here once I confirm with Kirsten) and US residents only, please.
TO ENTER:
Click on over to Kirsten’s (work in progress, she’d like you to know) site, Pieceable Pear and have a look around. Come back and leave a comment on this post saying which of her patterns is your favorite.
That’s it!
Ready? Set? Go!
If you want to buy the pattern ($6) or a kit to make the pattern ($28), you can pick that up locally at Material Girls, along with burlap, jumbo ric-rac and pom-pom trim, giant flower buttons, and all other manner of fabulousness.
And, $50 value giveaway that EVERY single one of you can use coming your way tomorrow.
Keeping It Real
March 9, 2011 By 82 Comments
You know…because I usually don’t. 
I’m in the middle of a couple of projects that are not turning out as fabulous as they are in my head. And I’m annoyed. I’ve spent way more time on them than I intended to. One of them is not even for this site…it’s a guest post I’m doing elsewhere, which only adds to the pressure. And the annoyance.
So, in an attempt to clear my mind and do something else yesterday, I headed down to my sewing room. My sewing room is in the very furthest corner of the basement (sometimes I go a week or more without setting foot in the basement), so it’s out of sight and out of mind. Plus, you can shut the door and hide the mess. Usually.
View from the hall
I can’t believe I just posted that.
And it gets worse. Let’s start with this mess:
I had 2 lovely IKEA shelves mounted to the wall. Only my kids decided to use them for doing pull-ups. And they spontaneously (yeah right) fell off the wall, bringing all the contents down with them. Did I mention I had tiny little drawer units full of needles, sewing machine feet, snaps, etc on said shelves?
And then there’s this situation:
I know. I KNOW!
Someone dumped out my scrap bucket…
Really? That’s the least of my worries.
P.S. The remote for that TV is missing somewhere in the room, so I can only watch the one channel it’s stuck on (local CBS affiliate).
I spent 3 hours down there yesterday. I spackled. I vacuumed. I filled an entire big black garbage bag and 3 boxes for DI. And it’s still not done. Not even close.
I need IKEA. I need baskets and bins.
Or maybe I just need an intervention.
A bomb?
I WILL finish this. Hold me to it.
Basketball Pillow
March 8, 2011 By 15 Comments
***This is another project in the Utah Jazz Room we’re doing for my son. Click to see the others!***
I started with a basic zippered linen/cotton blend pillow cover from IKEA. It was $6. It’s really not worth making your own for that price, I promise.
Next, I printed off my basketball template (which you may remember from a freezer paper and bleach stenciled t-shirt last summer). I then folded the paper into fourths and ripped it along the fold lines. You could use scissors or some sort of paper cutter if the ripping bothers you.
I enlarged each fourth by 200% on my scanner/printer and taped them together.
I filled in any blank spots with a Sharpie, so it’d be easy to trace and then traced the pattern onto freezer paper. If you’re not familiar with freezer paper, go check out my freezer paper primer.
Get cozy with some sort of craft knife and cut out the basketball shape. Position your outer circle on your pillow cover and iron it in place.
I like the look of part of the ball hanging off. Do whatever you like! I also like to iron on junky old towels on my countertops instead of getting out the actual ironing board. Who’s lazy? Hint: me!
Cut out (if you haven’t already), position, and iron the rest of the pieces. I labeled mine, just in case (R1-R4 for the right half and L1-L4 for the left half).
After all the ironing was done, I put a piece of tape along the piping on the edge of the pillow cover because I didn’t want paint to get on the piping.
I filled in the shape using a foam brush and some Tulip Soft Fabric Paint. The color I used is Marine Blue. I let it dry for a bit and then peeled off the freezer paper.
(There’s a piece of freezer paper inside to prevent bleeding.)
I made one for the reading chair.
And another one for the bed.
Sponsor love:
Arizona GNO!!!
March 7, 2011 By 8 Comments
Is Creative Estates out of your budget? Do you have other commitments those days? Not even a blogger, but you like food and free stuff? (HA!)
Check this out!
Chat & Dine with other creative bloggers for a night of complete girly fun!
Hosted By…
Kristyn from Lil’ Luna
Kendra from My Insanity
and Stephanie from Somewhat Simple
With these Special Guests:
Jen from Tatertots and Jello
Shelly from House of Smiths
Char from Crap I’ve Made
Becca from Blue Cricket Design
Amy from The Idea Room
Tauni from It’s A Tradition
and Lara (Ellie G) from Less Cake, More Frosting
Join all of us for a delicious dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory in Chandler, AZ, at 7:30 pm
(immediately following The Creative Estates Handmade Market!)
The night will include:
-
A delicious dinner- salad, entree, drinks & dessert!
-
A do-die for SWAG bag
-
A Chance to meet and hang out with other creative bloggers
-
And a Chance to win some AMAZING giveaways from our sponsors
To purchase your ticket, please click HERE
CanOrganizer winner!
March 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The winner of the 4 pack of organizers (one size of your choice) from CanOrganizer is…
#391, aka sarah*spunda, who said:
“definitely the cupboard size for my rinky-dink cabinets!”
Shoot me an email to [email protected] to claim your prize!
HUGE thanks to CanOrganizer for the giveaway!
Review & Giveaway: CanOrganizer
March 4, 2011 By 547 Comments
Are you familiar with CanOrganizer?
I’ll admit that I was not, until they contacted me about reviewing their products. I do, however, own 2 other brands/types of can rotation systems, and they were WAY more expensive than CanOrganizer’s. So, I was interested to see how their stuff compared.
The organizers arrived flat and wrapped in plastic. I was a little nervous about assembling them so I turned that job over to Macy. Plus, if a 10 year old can assemble them, anyone can…right?
Here’s what your CanOrganizer will look like straight out of the package:
I liked the fact that it was clearly labeled with which parts to remove and discard. One of my organizers was not labeled, which I’m guessing was a fluke thing, but it wasn’t a big deal. We used one of the others for reference.
There were also printed instructions. We had a little incident with ours getting cut in half by an over zealous kid with scissors:
No worries, though, because there’s also an assembly video online.
And then she got to work.
Success!
I got the cupboard size, because my pantry is RIDICULOUSLY small. It might be my least favorite thing about this house.
The cupboard size held 7 cans, in my highly scientific experimentation.
What I liked:
Both of the other can rotation systems that I own have tracks, making it so that you can only use very specific can sizes. The CanOrganizer boxes have “ramps” (for lack of a better term), so you can use a a variety of can heights. See how the mandarin oranges are way shorter than the rest? They rotated just as smoothly.
The different size options. My pantry is so shallow that the other systems I have don’t work in the pantry and are relegated to a storage room in the basement.
The fact that they could be easily labeled or even craftily embellished. 
What I’m not so sure about:
I’ll admit that I’m a little worried about durability, with them being cardboard. However, the cost is low enough that I’m willing to take the chance and I’ll definitely be getting some more.
And, we definitely could not have put them together using just the diagram. We for sure needed the video.
What’s in it for you?
A chance to give your own pantry/cupboard/storage room a CanOrganizer style makeover!
CanOrganizer is giving one lucky reader a 4 pack of organizers in the size of her (I mean it *could* be “his”, but I’m pretty sure there are no dudes reading this) choice.
TO ENTER:
Click on over to CanOrganizer and look at the sizes. Come back and leave a comment ON THIS POST (on the blog, not on Facebook or in response to your email subscription) saying which size you’d choose.
Get a second entry for leaving an additional comment telling me what food item you stockpile (for me it’s totally brownie mix).
I’ll leave the contest open through noon on Monday.
How to paint a wall mural if you’re not artistic, Part 2
March 3, 2011 By 25 Comments
Where were we? Oh yeah…trying to find away around my unsteady painting hand.
I taped off all the straight lines using FrogTape Painter’s Tape.
Image from FrogTape
I find it seals better than the blue stuff and it’s a little more see through. You’re going to want see through…trust.
Next you’ll want to put a piece of tape right over the top of the curved lines, too. See why you need to be able to see through the tape, at least slightly?
Take an X-Acto knife and cut lightly (enough to cut the tape but not enough to screw up your walls) along the pencil line. Peel off the excess tape. Here’s what mine looked like when I was done taping and cutting and peeling everything for the yellow part of my mural.
Apply the paint to the inside of the taped area. I used cheap-o foam brushes for the yellow and green (small) parts of my mural. I used a foam roller for the blue (large) parts. Here’s how much blue we’re talking…
I turned on the ceiling fan so it would dry quicker and applied another coat before peeling off the tape and I let it dry for several hours before putting tape over the top to paint another color.
Here’s a shot whilst I was waiting for the blue to dry so I could paint the yellow.
Clean up any pencil marks that are still visible. I used a fairly dry Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.
The final product?
Watch out for the fan when you climb on the bed to take pictures.
Aaaand one more shot:
So, are you gonna try it?
