Here’s that more accurate color shot of my Silhouette limited edition advent calendar that I promised you.

($10 off using code “CRAP” through the 11th)

And because we’re keeping it real, I still don’t have numbers on all the drawers.  I can, however, see my kitchen counter for the first time in weeks.  So that’s something, right?

Other random things about the advent calendar:

The information that comes with the calendar says it takes 25-50 sheets of paper.  That’s quite a range, right?  If you make the option with the drawers, 25 sheets of 12 X 12 will be plenty.  There’s no drawer cut that takes more than one sheet of paper.  If you have the Silhouette SD, you’ll have to be a little more careful about where you split your designs and how you cut your papers, but you’ll be OK.

If your paper is directional, be sure that one of the sides with the hole (which becomes the notch) in it is facing the right direction.  I did not do this and had to junk my first 2 boxes.

The papers I used came in a cardstock stack from Michael’s.  I think with a coupon it was around $12.

Save your scraps.  You’ll have plenty to put the numbers on your drawers.

There’s also a cutting template for a backing paper for each square, if you want it to look pretty with the drawers removed.  Or, if you want to use the shadow box as an actual shadow box/display case.

Other random things not related to the advent calendar:

You have until tomorrow night to enter the Rachael’s Soap giveaway.

I still haven’t heard from our Scentsy winner.  If your name is Beverly, you’d better be scouring your spam folder to see if you missed an email.

And, since football season is over and I finally have my life back, I got a new hair cut/color courtesy of Neighbor Jami.  It’s the reddest I’ve been since an unfortunate run in with a shade called Terracotta in college.  It should have been called Ronald McDonald, and that’s all I’m saying about that.

Hope your weekend is fabulous!  I’ve got big plans to do some serious decluttering and to remedy the Teen Wolf hair situation my boys are sporting.

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How’s about a fun little giveaway to get you through this dreary Wednesday?  (OK, it’s probably not low 30’s and drizzly everywhere, but it sure as heck is here.)

Meet Rachael.  She lives in the Seattle area and she makes soap.  Cool, right?  Rachael says:

I have been making soap for my family for the last 9+ years in my own kitchen.  Recently I have taken it to another level and participated in some local craft sales under the SassyMei name. I have had an overwhelming response to my soap and have decided to set up an Etsy shop, Rachael’s Homemade Soap Shop.

The soaps come in a number of different scents that sound good enough to eat.  Cranberry orange anyone?  How about black raspberry vanilla?

In addition to the soaps, Rachael sells delightful little scrubbies (and they’re only 75 cents!!!).

Wouldn’t a box with some of each make a delightful gift?

Speaking of gifts, Rachael currently has a special Holiday Cheer section of her shop to help with your holiday gift giving needs.  There you’ll find festively colored scrubbies and special holiday soap scents, among other things.

Everything in the shop (except for an entire batch of 16 bars of soap) is under $10.  Nice, right?

What’s in it for you?

Rachael is giving one lucky Crap I’ve Made reader 4 bars of soap and 3 scrubbies of their choice!

TO ENTER:

Click on over to Rachael’s Soap Shop on Etsy.  Have a look around.  Come back and leave a comment ON THIS POST (on the blog, not on Facebook or in response to your email subscription) saying what your favorite scent is.

Bonus entries:

“Favorite” Rachael’s Soap Shop on Etsy.  Leave a comment on this post saying that you did.

“Like” Rachael’s Homemade Natural Soap on Facebook.  Leave a comment on this post saying that you did.

Giveaway will close Sunday night at 10 pm MST.  Winner will be notified by email and will have 48 hours to respond.

FUN FREEBIE FOR ALL OF YOU:

Make a purchase from Rachael and mention Crap I’ve Made in the notes to seller to get a free scrubbie with your purchase!

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Did you survive Halloween?

3/4 of my children enjoyed it.  And, we had quite possibly the best Utah trick or treating weather ever.  It was so pleasant that I took the kids around wearing a cardigan.  No parkas and thermal undies this year, baby!

I wanted to pop in quickly this morning to tell you a couple of things:

Fun giveaway tomorrow!

and

There’s a new Silhouette promotion starting today.  They’ve put out a limited edition advent calendar!  Through November 11th, you can pick the calendar kit up for $29.99, a $10 savings, using code “CRAP”.

You get the white wooden frame and a download card that includes options for drawers

or boxes.

The nice folks at Silhouette sent me one to play with.  I’m working on the drawers option.

(Crappy weirdly colored cell phone pic)

I’ll be sure to post a finished pic as well as some tips in the next couple of days!

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Me, apparently.

So, I’ve recently become a member of the Sassy Scoops team.  Sassy Scoops is a local business review site.  When they approached me about  joining them, my head said “CHAR!  You’re out of your mind!  You’re WAY TOO BUSY already!” but something in my gut told me I should do it.  And my gut’s never led me wrong, so here I am.

Once a month I’ll be doing a quick summary of the businesses we reviewed that month.

Sharon Johnson Photography – Sharon shoots with film, which I was super intrigued by.  She is OBSESSED with customer service and will make sure your experience is a good one.  She also took a new headshot of me.  It’s on her site, if you’re not patient.

Birth Mother Baskets – Birth Mother Baskets was created by Gina, a birth mother who wanted to make sure that all birth mothers know they’re not alone.  What a fabulous organization!

Spotted Owl Soaps – This was a really fun night for me because Holly knows her crap!  The chemistry behind the stuff that you put on your body was fascinating!  Spotted Owl products would make EXCELLENT Christmas gifts.  You can also enter to win a Spotted Owl gift box over on the Sassy site here.

And Sammy’s – I wasn’t a Sassy yet for this one, but it sounds like I REALLY missed out!  Who doesn’t love shakes and fries?  Not me, that’s for sure.

And, last of all, if your name is Beverly, check your email.  You may have won $40 worth of Scentsy!

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So, you all know that I’m a Mormon, right?

Random off topic tangent one sentence into the post alert:

You know who else is a Mormon?  Brandon Flowers.  And there’s a YouTube video about it, which I enjoy.  Almost as much as Amy enjoys his version of “Bette Davis Eyes”.

End random tangent.

So, we Mormons are encouraged to have a picture of the temple in our homes.  One problem: I do not enjoy most Mormon art.  So, when I saw that Silhouette had temple cut outs available in their download store, I got an idea.  I cut out the temple shapes with my SD and thought they were a little too small, but I was willing to make do (because that’s all I had…ha!).

(I also had a little user error with the one on the right, but we’ll skip that part.)

When I got my new machine, I decided to recut.  And, because of the 12 X 12 capacity, I could rotate the image and get it even bigger…possibly too big for my frame, but I wanted to show just how much bigger it could go.

That’s a 16 X 20 frame, for size comparison purposes.

Much better, right?  And, for the price of a couple pieces of paper, I have some temple art much more my style.  You KNOW I like that.

So, if you need bigger, the Cameo is your guy. 

$299 gets you the machine and your choice of starter kit through the first over on the Silhouette site, through the 31st.

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I know I promised more of my opinions on the new Silhouette Cameo ($299 for the machine and your choice of starter kid using code CRAP through the 31st) yesterday, and they’re coming.  I’m done cutting, but I didn’t get to the picture part.  If you follow along on Facebook, you’ve already heard this.  If not, here’s the short version:

Keller’s football team had a trunk or treat last night, and I decided to force my little boys to wear last year’s costumes and decorate our trunk all Christmas-y and hand out candy canes.  Because I have a tendency to go overboard with stuff like this, we suddenly NEEDED a North Pole.  I made a quick stop at Lowe’s for some PVC pipe and Michael’s for colored Duck Tape and we were in business.  Throw in a canning jar ring, a Styrofoam ball, and some old grocery bags and you’ve got this:

 
(crappy cell phone pic)

Add a board from the garage, some craft paint, and some vinyl lettering and you’ve got this:

Let’s not mention the part where I hacked up a pool noodle with a bread knife and used a broken broom handle and more duct tape to get that baby to stand up straight…

So, I promise I’ll get to my other project a little later today.  In the mean time, don’t forget to enter to win $40 of Scentsy from my pal Emily (go here).  And then, head on over to the SNAP! site to send some love to sweet Ashley from Lil Blue Boo.  She’s been through the wringer this year.  Ashley is one of the most lovely people I’ve ever had the opportunity to meet.

Be back soon!

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It’s heeeeeeeeeeere!

That’s right…I was fortunate enough to get my hands on the brand new CAMEO, courtesy of the nice folks at Silhouette.

I’m going to give you the details on the Silhouette promo right away and then we’ll chat.

OCTOBER SILHOUETTE PROMOTION:

Silhouette Cameo + starter kit of your choice (vinyl, heat transfer, fabric ink, or rhinestone)

=

$299

Use code “CRAP” to take advantage of the promotion.  And according to my Silhouette guy, they’re fully anticipating them to sell out.  So, if you’re DYING to get one, go NOW!

OK, where were we?

I actually purchased the fabric ink starter kit on my own a few months back because I HAD to know how well it worked.  The stencil vinyl is 9” wide, so you can use it in your Silhouette SD as well as in the new Cameo (which cuts up to 12” wide and TEN FEET long).  Here’s what came in my starter kit:

Tangent:  The packaging on these new starter kits is DELIGHTFUL!  Nice job, Silhouette folks!

I moved the roller over to adjust the Cameo to cut 9” vinyl

and then got to cutting!

The starter kit comes with clear transfer tape, which has already been applied in this picture.

You will want to burnish the crap out of your design, particularly if it has small details like the peacock.  I don’t have the actual Silhouette tool for that, so I used a download card and a Pampered Chef scraper.

Then you’ll apply the stencil vinyl to your fabric

and apply the fabric ink with either a sponge brush or a sea sponge, depending on the look you’re going for.

(sea sponge on the left, sponge brush on the right)

Once the ink is dry, you peel off the stencil vinyl.

I was WAY impressed with the crispness of the details.

And I can’t wait to get my hands on a few more colors.  Two thumbs way up!

Tomorrow I’ll be trying out the new 12 X 12 cutting mat and letting you know how I feel about that.  In the mean time, feel free to post any Silhouette questions in the comments and I promise to get back to you!

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We’ve had Emily here before…she’s an Independent Scentsy Director (and a friend of mine from way back).

In case you’re not familiar with Scentsy, here’s the short version.  Bascially, Scentsy = smelly candles without the fire hazard (or am I the only one that can’t remember to blow those suckers out?).

(The Jolly warmer…HILARIOUS, no?)

Emily and I don’t live in the same state, but her customer service is fabulous.  One time I really really REALLY needed an aqua colored warmer. I guess it had been discontinued? Emily found me one and had it on my doorstep in a couple of days.

My new favorite thing is these cute little plug-in warmers.  You don’t lose any counter space. Heck, you don’t even NEED counter space!

(I’m enjoying this one in my kitchen right now.  The moon lights up all spooky like and it makes me WAY happier than it should.)

I have a Christmas one ready to roll, too:

So what’s in it for you?

Emily is going to be giving one lucky Crap I’ve Made reader $40 in Scentsy product of their choice!!!

TO ENTER:

Click on over to Scentsy and have a look around. Come back and leave a comment ON THIS POST (on the blog, not on Facebook or in response to your email subscription) saying what you’d spend your $40 on.

ADDITIONAL ENTRIES:

“Like” Emily Andersen, Independent Scentsy Director on Facebook. (Post a little “hello” on her wall, if you’re feeling frisky.)  Come back and leave a comment ON THIS POST saying that you did.

Click back over to Scentsy. Take a look at the fragrances and leave a comment ON THIS POST saying what your favorite one is.

That’s 3 potential entries, so get to commenting!

***Giveaway closes Friday, October 28th at 10pm MST. Disclosure: I received Scentsy product to review for this post. I enjoy Scentsy and use it in my home even when I’m not blogging about it.***

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The winner of the $50 Target gift card courtesy of Groopdealz is Lyndee.  If your name is Lyndee, check your email and respond ASAP to claim your prize!

Look forward to more free crap tomorrow morning bright and early!

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*****The Groopdealz giveaway closes tonight at 10pm MST.  Last call for $50 to Target!*****

You guys helped me find sandals (and started my Born addiction), so it only makes sense that I’m turning to you again in my time of need (er, want).

The days are getting shorter…

the weather’s getting cooler…

and I can’t stop browsing for boots.

Do I stick with my beloved Born?

Image from Born

Do I splurge and try the Frye?

Image from Zappos

Something else entirely?

Help?

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