When the nice folks at Lowe’s told us that our challenge for the month was a “bird retreat”, I was not excited.  See, I DETEST birds.  They’re basically just rats with feathers, right?

My first idea was to take a picture of my dryer vent, because heaven knows there’s a bird in there every. single. morning.  And you can totally buy dryer vents at Lowe’s, right?  While this idea was a terrible one, it got the wheels turning and got me started thinking about other things that could become a bird retreat…like this mailbox:

(The how to on the polka dots will be in a separate post, probably tomorrow.)

I went to Lowe’s and picked up some supplies:

I got a mailbox (it’s the oversized kind), birdseed, chain, some little locking link things (close up picture later in the post), eye bolts, washers, nuts (which led to an exchange that embarrassed Macy so badly she hid on another aisle, but that’s a story for another time), drawer pulls, and machine screws.

The other 2 items in the picture are a vintage bottle hummingbird feeder and pre-mixed nectar.  Once the snow stops, I’ll hang it near the mailbox birdhouse for the ultimate bird retreat.  The vintage bottle feeders are about $15 at Lowe’s and frickin’ cute.  They also come in clear.

The first thing you’re going to want to do is mark where your eye bolts will be mounted (one at the front, one at the back).  A dry erase marker works fabulously for this.  I marked the center of the mailbox ends and then moved in about an inch from that mark when I made my holes.

Next, take a hammer and nail and tap the nail on your mark just enough to make a dent.  The dent keeps your drill bit from bouncing around once you start drilling.

Using a drill bit just bigger than your eye bolt, drill a hole in the mailbox.

Once your holes are drilled, put an eye bold through each one and fasten it securely on the inside with a washer and a nut.  You might need a wrench to get it really tight.

(Obviously not tightened, but I wanted to show you what I meant.)

Next, I decided where I wanted my drawer pulls turned bird perches mounted.  I marked the door of the mailbox

and then followed the same hammer and nail/drilling procedure that I used for the eye bolts.

Put the drawer pulls on using 1/2” machine screws.  The ones that come with the pulls are meant to accommodate a cabinet door, not a mailbox (strange, right?), so they’re too long.

Using these locking links (not the real name…you find them by the chain)

attach chains to your eye bolts.

I cut a piece of 2 X 4 the width of the mailbox and pounded it into the gap between the box and the door.  It keeps the seed from falling out and keeps the door open.  It fit in so tightly that I didn’t need to screw it in place, but you could for sure do that if yours doesn’t fit as tightly.  Somehow I missed photographing this step, but you can see it in the finished product pictures.

Keep in mind that I woke up to this:

So, it’s not hanging in an actual tree.  And I’m a wuss whose neighbors were staring, so some of the pictures were taken indoors.

(There’s a good shot of the piece of 2 X 4)

The birdseed goes here:

It holds quite a bit more than you’d think.

Don’t have a tree or a covered porch to hang it from?  You can buy pre-assembled mailbox posts (Lowe’s carries them for about $25) and could stick it in a flower bed or a garden.

Fun, right?

I’m glad Lowe’s got me to stretch a bit this month.  It felt good to get creative.

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 bird retreat.

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Hey!  It’s me.

I’m not dead.

Where have I been?  You know…around.  Lots of mom-ing.

(Gratuitous kid pic)

Macy’s the stage manager (or something) for the school play so there have been a lot of practices.  We also had PT conferences (YAY for good ones all around!) and a couple of days off school.  I’ve got several things that I’m working on (a Scribble Shop challenge, my Lowes project this month, a Rile Blake tutorial), so I promise a bunch of posts soon.

In the mean time, I’ve got a little something for a lucky reader in the Northern Utah area.

Last week, my friends The Crafting Chicks threw a little get together for bloggers AND their families.  (Tangent:  I freaking love The Crafting Chicks and I already have dibs on being the new chick if one of them dies, so don’t even try to get in on that action.)  They invited us all up to Get Air Sportsplex for a night of jumping (if your bladder works properly), pizza, and fun.

Some bloggers decided to show off a little:

Some kids decided to show off a little:

Some husbands decided to show off a little:

They had some great sponsors for the night, so we walked away with a bunch of goodies, too.  Who doesn’t love baker’s twine and mustaches from Pick Your Plum?

And, what about these super cool Lyke Watches.

Macy told me exactly which colors to pick and I probably will never see them again.

The folks at Get Air were also kind enough to give us each a birthday party for up to 10 people to give away!

Cool, right?

So, if you’re in Northern Utah or if you come to Northern Utah or if you have a friend or family member who lives in Northern Utah and you’d like to win a 10 person party ($140 value!!!) at Get Air, LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS POST.

Giveaway is open to US residents age 18 and over only and closes Saturday, March 17th 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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And what happened with Google Friend Connect?

Well, it’s still there.

Does it still work?

Don’t know.

Can new people join?

Also don’t know.

This sort of feels like that whole Y2K thing.

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If you’re just here for the details on this month’s Silhouette promo, I’ll give ‘em to you up top.

The brand new and fabulous 12”X24” cutting mat (only works with the CAMEO, not the SD) and both clean cut and sewable fabric interfacing  = $24.99.  GO HERE to pick it up and use code “CRAP” to take advantage of the savings.  Promo runs NOW through February 29th.

For some reason, my package from Silhouette include 2 packages of the sewable interfacing and none of the clean cut.  I think the name art I made with the clean cut last year would be pretty hard to top,

so I was OK with coming up with a project for the other stuff.

DIY Monogrammed Chevron Tote

I took a plain tote from Hobby Lobby ($9.99 without a coupon, way less with), and turned it into this:

Here’s a before shot of the tote:

Excuse the dancing assistant.  I get what I pay for around here.

I downloaded the chevron background from the Silhouette Online Store and made it big.  Really, really big.  24” wide big.  I then ungrouped it and and removed the lines of zig zag that hung off the edges.  I moved the lines of zig zag around a little bit so that the in between spaces were the same width as the lines, and then I cut.

This gave me 9 rows of chevron-y goodness.  I used 4 per side of the tote.

I ironed them in place and then stitched them down.  I’m not gonna lie…stitching them down was a GIANT pain, mostly because the bag was already assembled and fairly rigid.  And the fabric was itchy.  If I had made the tote myself, I’d have sewed the strips down before assembling the bag.

Macy wanted the bag a little more colorful, so we added a hot pink monogram.

I think a cluster of flowers would be cute, too.

I’ll be back with my Lowe’s project/bathroom reveal on Monday.  Hope your weekend is fabulous!

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but last night I ran in the house to use the bathroom and my long flowy shirt got stuck in my zipper.  And I was stuck.  And I REALLY had to pee.

What was I to do?

Rip a hole in my shirt, apparently.

At least I didn’t pee my pants.

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Tutorials Page

I got an email last week alerting me to the fact that it is GONE-zo.  It was a linky and I apparently did not renew my subscription (didn’t get an email alerting me that it was about to run out, so…).  It’s gone for reals.  I’m exploring other options (leave a comment if you’ve got a suggestion) and will let you know when that page is back up and functional.  In the mean time, many of my tutorials/projects can be found on my Crap I’ve Made pinboard over on Pinterest.  You can browse and click through to the pages even if you don’t have a Pinterest account.

Google Friend Connect

Google Friend Connect is going away as of March 1st for all non Blogger blogs.  I’m not sure what this means exactly.  Will it just mean that new people can’t “follow”?  Will you quit getting blog updates completely if that’s the way you’ve subscribed?  I do know this:  I am not a Blogger blog.  So, if you’ve followed or subscribed solely through GFC, you’ll need to subscribe another way.

You can find my RSS feed here.

You can have new posts emailed to you by going here.

Or, you can sit and and reload my page obsessively.

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The 6th graders at my kids’ school have a Valentine’s Day dance.  They’re expected to dress up, and somewhere in the communicating of this information, someone said that the girls needed to wear dresses.  Because sometimes 11 year olds aren’t rational, it is easier to just go with this as opposed to trying to explain that a skirt is probably just fine as well…or so you think.  Then you start shopping.  And shopping.  And shopping.  And pretty soon you’ve been to every store in 2 malls and discovered that Juniors dresses are shorter than kid sized ones (some bordering on obscene) and that even tiny women’s sizes are way too big in the bust for a 5’3” 98lb 11 year old (as well they should be).

Enter eShakti.

I’ve seen them reviewed around blog land (my friend and neighbor Tam at Sew Dang Cute reviewed them recently), and wanted to know if they lived up to the hype, especially if you were paying for the product instead of getting a freebie.

It should be noted that there’s a $20 off for new customers on the eShakti homepage and that customizations are normally $7.50, but those were free for first timers, too.  So, I paid about $40 for what would normally be $67.50-ish.

We settled on the ruffle front poplin dress in coral.  (Random weird thing alert:  Macy wanted the turquoise one, which she had seen a few days before.  It was not there they day we ordered.  It has been back since, but it’s MIA again today.)  We ordered a size zero (based on the sizing chart measurements) and then had sleeves added and the neckline raised.  We also entered a bra size for custom sizing in that area.

We ordered on a Sunday afternoon and the dress arrived on the Monday the next week, so about 8 days later.

The result?

(The actual dress color is probably a combination of the two, maybe closer to the one on the left…not my best true color photography, for sure.)

Long enough, high enough, and age/school appropriate.  Plus, pockets!

Would I order from them again?  Absolutely.  I see us becoming eShakti regulars.

What didn’t I love?  The “Live Chat” wasn’t live.  I got a response about 2 days later.  I did get a response, though. 

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Are you all familiar with Riley Blake Designs?

We’ve given away some of their fabric before, and based on the number of entries, I think you loved them. 

Short version:  Riley Blake is a delightful new fabric company.  And, they’ve asked me to be a part of their Project Design Team.  (Go here to check out the rest of the delightful ladies involved.)  What does this mean for you?  It means that every Wednesday, you will find a fabulous project from one of us over on the Riley Blake Designs blog.

I had the opportunity to check out their warehouse and their offices on Friday…I want to move in.

And I’m feeling inspired, for the first time in ages.

Pom pom trim can do that to a girl.

Now if I could just settle on a paint color…

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I shared this post originally as part of the ONE WORD series over on Less Cake {more frosting}.  I’m re-posting here, in case you missed it.

I’ve had this word selected for quite a while, even before I posted a few weeks back about quitting the business of blogging.  In fact, this word may have been what drove me to it….

mend

1.  to make (something broken, worn, torn, or otherwise damaged) whole, sound, or usable by repairing.

2.  to remove or correct defects or errors in.

3.  to set right; make better;

Mend also has a sew-y connotation for me, which I love (I’m a sewing dork at heart).  I like the idea that mending is not “replacing with bigger and better and flashier”, it’s fixing what you’ve got and making it whole, sound, and usable again.  It’s admitting that what you have and who you are is good enough.  It’s a process of improvement and correction.

And so, I’m beginning to mend.

I’m beginning to mend relationships.

I’m beginning to mend habits.

I’m beginning to mend life.

If we’re keeping it real (‘cause that’s the only way I know how to be), we ALL have something that needs mending…something we want to “make better”, right?  Maybe you handled something badly with your kids or your spouse.  Maybe you haven’t called a friend you really should have.  Maybe you said something unkind.  Maybe you thought about doing a good deed and didn’t.

Now’s your chance.

Mend something.

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(for good reason)

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