So, I’ve been a little bit MIA as of late.  SNAP! happened this weekend.  I spent the Saturday before making decorations (cut a hole clear through my CAMEO mat), the Monday loading a trailer, the Tuesday making a sign and more decorations, the Wednesday towing a trailer for the first time, unloading the trailer, decorating, and filling swag bags.  Thursday, Friday and Saturday were all SNAP! all the time.  And that’s just the SNAP! stuff.  Wait ‘til you hear about the crazy life stuff…

Today?

Today I slept.  A LOT.

I have so, so much to say, but I have to get back in the mom zone:  orchestra concerts, tonsil follow ups, properly celebrating the kid birthday I missed on Saturday, etc.  In the mean time, I’ve got a little somethin’ somethin’ for you:

As part of this month’s Lowe’s room makeover challenge, they’re giving me a $100 gift card to give to one lucky Crap I’ve Made reader.

In addition to the cheap board and batten, the headboard for Macy’s room is done, and I’ll post about it shortly.  The drawers for the thrifted dresser and desk have been wood puttied and are strewn all over my dining area.  I didn’t make a whole lot of progress last week, though, because all my trips to Lowe’s were in the name of this:

Not bad for a couple of girls with 4 kids running around, right?

HUGE props to the nice Lowe’s employee who cut the plexi glass for me and didn’t even laugh when I told him what it was for.

So, do you want $100 from Lowe’s to make over a room in your house?  Or, do you need to make a ridiculously awesome sign? 

You might be in luck!

TO ENTER:

Leave a comment ON THIS POST (on the blog, not on Facebook or in response to your email subscription) saying which room in your home could use a Lowe’s makeover.

That’s it.  Quick and easy!

Giveaway is open to US residents age 18 and over only and closes Friday, April 27th at noon MST.  Winner will be chosen at random using a WordPress Plugin (And The Winner Is…) and notified by email.  Winner has 24 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen…I need the winner’s info before the end of the month!

And while you’re waiting to see if you won, head on over for your FREE Subscription to Lowe’s Creative Ideas Magazine:

Disclosure:  Lowe’s provided me with a gift card for this month’s room makeover challenge.

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This month’s Lowe’s challenge is a room makeover.  In the interest of keeping posts a manageable length, I’ll be breaking it up.

I’ve been meaning to get to Macy’s room since, oh, this post.  Let me refresh your memory with where we’re headed:

Let me also show you where we started:

Macy would like the record to show that the American Girl dolls had been moved to a bin in the garage.  She’s practically 12 now.  Geez.

As you can see at the top of the picture on the left, we already had some decorative molding about 6 feet up on the walls.  We’d also put up some flower wall decals above the molding.  They took massive amounts of the wall down with them.

(This is after I started spackling.  I love the kind that goes on pink and changes to white when it’s dry.  I tend to get a little impatient when it’s time to sand.)

After some massive spackling and sanding, it was time to paint.

The bottom portion of the walls is a semi-gloss paint that I had Lowe’s tint to match the trim in my house.

The top is a Valspar color called Icy Mint.

I picked up 2 gallons of the white, but I probably could have gotten by with one.  1 gallon of the Icy Mint was enough for the top portion of the walls and the entire ceiling (which was previously builder beige).

I looked at the selection of moldings and trims at Lowe’s, but they were all in the $3-6 per piece range.  I knew I needed at least 30, maybe more (depending on spacing) and that was going to eat up my budget FAST.  So, I needed another option.  I channeled my pal Mandi and decided to use her method for board & batten…having MDF plywood cut into strips.  When I got over to the lumber section, I discovered that the thinnest MDF was thicker than I was after.  You see, I didn’t want the B&B to stick our further than my existing molding and baseboards.  So, I went for some super cheap plywood that I believe was 5mm thick.  I had BC take it to his crate shop and cut it into 3” strips for me (the same width as my existing molding) on the big daddy panel saw.  The entire room took 2 pieces of plywood, or about $22….WAY better than $3-6 per piece of molding, right?  It WAS a little bit prickly on the edges, so I sanded the edges of the pieces with an electric sander before I got started.

For purposes of this room, I decided to center a B&B strip under the window, lined up with an outlet.  This is where your eye goes when you walk into the room and was therefore the wall I needed to have look the best.

Once I had the strip centered under the window, I decided on spacing for the rest of the strips.  I went with 15”.  BC says he would have gone for 12”, but I was the one doing all the work, so I won.  (Yes, that means I did all the sanding, cutting, and nail gunning.  Surprised?  )  I cut a scrap piece of wood to 15” in length and used that to space the rest of my strips.  The only time that didn’t work out was when I got to a corner.

I just measured 15” along the baseboard and then leveled out the first strip on the new wall.

I used 3 tubes of DAP’s vinyl spackle to caulk the edges and some more of the DryDex I used to patch the wall holes to get the B&B ready to paint.  I applied 2-ish coats of paint to the strips using a Purdy brush (they’re the best).

And I’m kind of in love.

Here’s a shot of the corner where I ended after moving out in both directions from under the window.

Next up?

Doing something about this:

($25 thrift store find)

and this:

($50 thrift store find)

and a headboard involving a pallet and an outdoor light fixture.  Also getting Macy’s mattress off the floor in my room. 

Don’t forget to pick up a FREE Subscription to Lowe’s Creative Ideas Magazine:

You can also find Lowe’s Creative Ideas on Facebook.  (They’ve moved, so if you “liked” them before, you should “like” them again!)

And, now there’s a Lowe’s Creative Ideas blog.  Go have a look around.  You might recognize a face or two.

Disclosure:  Lowe’s provided me with a gift card for supplies for my room makeover.  They’re also providing me with a gift card to give away to one of you this month, so look forward to it!

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So, SNAP! is next week.  NEXT WEEK!!!

I know what you’re thinking… “I’m not going, so why do I care?”  Hold on, because I’m about to tell you.

1) If you live in Utah and you like to shop, you WILL NOT want to miss Queen Bee Market.

Some of my favorites are going to be there (hint: HoopLa) and I’m sure I’ll find some new favorites, too.

2) If you don’t live in Utah, but you still like awesome free stuff, some of the SNAP swag giveaways will be posted on Twitter and the SNAP blog.  These aren’t just fluff prizes either….no sir.  We’re talking a Silhouette CAMEO and a sewing machine.  AWESOME, right?

3) If you’re coming to SNAP, leave me a comment, will ya?  I need to know who to look out for! 

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First up, because several of you have asked, the CAMEO winner is Kelsey and the Riley Blake fat quarter bundle winner is Kristen.  They’ve both already responded to emails claiming their prizes.  Yay for them…sad for you. 

Second, here’s your friendly reminder that today is the last day to pick up a Silhouette CAMEO™ PLUS a heat transfer starter kit for $269.99.  Go here to add the bundle to your cart and use code “CRAP” to take advantage of the savings.  If you already have a Silhouette, you can get the heat transfer starter kit for $24.99 and/or take 40% off of all other heat transfer material using the same link and code “CRAP”!

The heat transfer is good fun, especially when it comes to hilarious t-shirts.

Third, I’m hard at work on a room makeover for this month’s Lowe’s challenge.  It’s becoming quite the project, so plan on seeing several normal sized posts about that instead of one post that takes you an hour and a half to get through.  Here’s a peek:

And what the other side of the room looks like:

Just keeping it real, folks!

And, lastly, I hope your Easter weekend (if you celebrate) was fabulous.  I’m including a couple of gratuitous kid pics for the benefit of my grandma.  (Yes, she really does read my blog.)

Macy is MIA on account of being in Nebraska at the time (or “juvie”, as Campbell told people at church ).

See you soon with some SNAP-py information!

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have left the building.

(Heavily drugged and fascinated by the monitor on his finger.  Not thrilled about the koala covered hospital gown they gave him..)

Keller had his giant streppy pus and stone infested tonsils removed yesterday.  And, once they got those suckers out of the way, they discovered that his adenoids were blocking about 50% of whatever it is that they shouldn’t be blocking (airway? throat? whatever), so they took those out too.

So far, it’s been really really really (knock on wood) really smooth sailing.  As in, “you’d have no idea the kid had just had surgery” kind of smooth sailing.

I’ve heard days 3 and 4 are where it gets ugly.  Tomorrow is day 3.  I’m bracing myself.

So, who else has been through this?  (There have got to be a lot of you!)

Any tips or secrets?

Were days 3 and 4 the worst?

******************

And just in case you haven’t been paying attention:

You can enter to win an iPad plus a bunch of other great UPrinting products here.

You can enter to win a Silhouette CAMEO™ PLUS a heat transfer starter kit here.

Or, if you’re a pessimist/realist and know you’re not going to win, you can pick up a CAMEO plus a the heat transfer starter kit for $269.99 through the 10th.  Go here to add the bundle to your cart and use code “CRAP” to take advantage of the savings.  If you already have a Silhouette, you can get the heat transfer starter kit for $24.99 and/or take 40% off of all other heat transfer material using the same link and code “CRAP”!

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If you follow along on Facebook, you may have seen my new business cards.

(Crappy cell phone pic)

They don’t really “go” with my current blog design.  I’ve got a new one in the works, which you should be seeing shortly.

I ordered from UPrinting based on the recommendation of paper nerd and print snob extraordinaire Lara (from Announced Design).

I placed my order on March 21st and had my cards in my hot little hands March 28th.  Nice, right?  (And plenty of time left to order before SNAP!, in case you haven’t done that yet!)  I went with the glossy paper and I’m seriously IN LOVE.  I didn’t have any issues with image formatting (which has happened in the past with other companies).  I want you to know that these cards weren’t freebies and that I spent my own real money on them.

The only thing I’d change?

Next time I might spring for the die-cut business cards with the rounded corners.

I guess I could just get busy with my corner rounding punch instead…

So, what’s in it for you?

In addition to a bunch of their fabulous printed items (canvas print, custom stickers, business cards, magnet printing, custom postcards), UPrinting is giving away an iPad!

There are several of us participating in this giveaway, so to make entering easy and central, we’re using Rafflecopter.  You don’t have to leave a million comments either.  Nice, right?

[Read more...]

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Guess what I’ve got!

A fat quarter bundle from the delightful Riley Blake Daisy Cottage line.

NOTE: This fabric is NOT laminated like the stuff I used for my shower curtain.  This just regular old (fabulous) quilting cotton.

TO ENTER:

Leave a comment on this post (on the blog, not on Facebook or in response to your email subscription) telling me what you’d make with this bundle of awesome.

OPTIONAL ENTRIES (leave a separate comment for each one):

Like Riley Blake on Facebook

Follow Riley Blake on Pinterest

***3 possible entries per person***

Giveaway is open to US residents age 18 and over only and closes Saturday, March 31st at noon MST.  Winner will be chosen at random using a WordPress Plugin (And The Winner Is…) and notified by email.  Winner has 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.

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sharing a SUPER easy shower curtain tutorial over on the Riley Blake Designs blog.

Go here for the tutorial.

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Confession:  In high school I took ceramics and social dance for my art credit.

Why?

can’t draw.  Like, not at all.  I think I’m too uptight or something.  I also can’t paint.  My grandma tried to teach my brother and I to oil paint one summer.  It didn’t end well.  I wonder if my mom still has my floating peach painting somewhere…

You know that you can draw with your Silhouette, right?  I made some art for above my headboard a couple of years ago:

(You can read all the details here.)

One of the features of the Silhouette Studio® Designer Edition software is the ability to change pretty much ANY of the designs into a sketch.

Macy loves old cars (specifically ‘55 Bel Airs).  Her bedroom makeover (which I have big plans to finish before the end of April) was inspired by some classic car prints.  I found a car design in the Silhouette Online Store:

I ungrouped the design:

I stacked the design pieces on top of each other in the software, like you would if you were assembling the design out of paper:

And then I grouped them back together so I could resize/flip/whatever without undoing all my hard work:

Then choose the sketch menu and whichever sketch option you like:

I’m a fan of the “continuous” option myself. 

I started out with a silver pen, because I thought it looked like a pencil sketch, but the pen died on me.

I decided to try a couple of different glitter pens instead.

Fun, right?

And just a friendly reminder about the current Silhouette promotion:

Silhouette CAMEO™ + Silhouette Studio® Designer Edition = $269.99

That’s a savings of almost $80!!!

Go here to add the bundle to your cart and, as always, use code “CRAP” to take advantage of the savings.

If you already have a CAMEO and just want to pick up the software, it’s 50% off using code “CRAP” as well.

The promo runs through the 28th.

See you soon!

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Briefly:

Silhouette CAMEO™ + Silhouette Studio® Designer Edition = $269.99

That’s a savings of almost $80!!!

Go here to add the bundle to your cart and, as always, use code “CRAP” to take advantage of the savings.

I used the Silhouette Studio® Designer Edition software in my post yesterday about painting a polka dot mailbox.  I’ll be back with another project later (need some light for pics).  In the mean time, here’s a little run down on the other features:

Silhouette Studio® Designer Edition contains all the same functionality as Silhouette Studio® plus the following designer features:

• Ability to open, manipulate, and cut .svg files

  Rhinestone tools to convert designs into rhinestone templates and create your own rhinestone designs
  Sketch tools to convert designs into several styles of sketchable art
  Creative knife tools to allow you to clip designs using different patterns
  Enhanced eraser set to modify designs with more precision
  Built-in ruler and guide lines for precise alignment and drawing

• Happy Thursday!

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